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Black Summer #0

By Jason Mott
October 11, 2007 - 11:36

Do you ever get the feeling that the American government is full of evil, mustache-twisting, maniacal-laughing, frightened by crucifixes and burned by holy water type villains? Ever wish there was some hero (or superhero) type that would just come along, clean house and give everyone the chance to start over? Well, if you answered yes to either one of these questions, then Black Summer is the book for you. Issue #0 opens with nothing less than a bang when John Horus, a superhero member of a team called “the Eight Guns,� kills the president of the United States claiming that the administration was one of evil and corruption and that the duty of superheroes is to fight evil on any level, even the Executive. In the wake of all this, Tom Noir, former teammate of John Horus, having drunken himself into a hole, comes out of retirement to save his own life and, reluctantly, try to stop the homicidal Horus.

If the early indications are to be trusted, Warren Ellis’s Black Summer may turn out to be the sleeper hit of the year. Ellis’s writing is crisp and complex. The entire premise of this issue is an examination of superhero fiction and political/social responsibility. It’s refreshing to see such aggressive, unabashedly directed writing. With just this very first issue Ellis manages to raise questions of civic responsibility, personal duty and the role of heroes/superheroes in both real and imagined society. Quite a task for such a small, concise issue. Ellis manages to be heavily dialogue driven without becoming dull or meandering. Each dialogue bubble serves a very distinct purpose, both developing characters and furthering the plot. On a more personal level, Ellis really puts his political beliefs out there for the reading world to see with this series and this issue. Accompanying the story in this issue is a brief, two page dissertation by Warren Ellis on exactly how this series came about and why the British writer felt so compelled to write this “only in America� story.

On pencils, Juan Jose Ryp has a richly detailed style that is reminiscent of Barry Windsor-Smith. Ryp has a strong sense of kinetic energy, tone and mood in his pencils. It’s a style that seems both simultaneously classic and contemporary. The larger, highly-detailed panels are so complex and intricate that the reader really gets a chance to sit back, take it all in at their own pace, and spend hours marveling at just how thoroughly constructed the images are. Being a large BWS fan, it’s great to see another artist that follows in the footsteps of an artist I love while still managing to make his own mark. It’ll be interesting to see how much more complex Ryp’s pencils can get with the issues yet to come.

Overall: 5 out of 5. Something great seems to be in the works.

Last Updated: January 17, 2025 - 08:20