Issue #2 of Black Mask’s new series ‘Black’ was one I’d been looking forward to checking out. The premise of the book thus far is that black people are discovered to possess superhuman powers and which are unique only to them. We’ve got a story from issue number one that seems ripped from today’s headlines as three innocent black teenagers are attacked by corrupt cops. When one one of the wounded teens figure out he’s got superhuman powers he escapes the police and meets a mysterious man who promises to train him hone his unique abilities.

Issue #2 follows the main character Kareem as he’s being trained how to fight by his new allies and soon he sets off on his first mission in New Orleans. A bit of a nod to the X-men. The story continues to show some truly vile white red necks as they attempt to kill a black man by burning him alive in the woods. But remember, some people possess super powers and soon the white trash have got some serious problems on their hands when Kareem and his crew arrive. The man who’s to be burned becomes the burner. That’s not all though they’re also being followed by powerful secret Gov’t agents who’re intent on capturing them. Yeah they show up too. I’m enjoying this series so far, it goes the distance perhaps a bit far with the consistent theme of racism throughout the first two issues. It tries really hard to pull heartstrings.  I liked how the first issue kicked off as it felt pretty damn relevant but by issue number two the racism showcased again seemed a bit forced. I hope that this series is not only and just a continuous series of horrendous racist events occurring to the black characters. I expected of course this team to be tackling this serious problem but so far it’s come on pretty strong.

I think it’s important for this series to have something to say about the real life issues people are facing but I hope every issue isn’t always focusing on this. It could be coincidence that this issue features extreme life threatening racism once again & we’ll see what the next issue holds. I’d like to see the story tackle these issues of racism but I’d also like to see our characters experience different threats in their adversaries for different reasons. I don’t feel every issue needs to cover the topic of race, unless that is indeed the sole purpose of this book. Now that’s not to say that the book doesn’t feature some positive non-black characters, it definitely does and I dig the offbeat idea of once race developing powers. It’s a cool twist and certainly empowering -I hope they bring about some truly memorable black super heroes from this book.

I’m hoping issue #3 branches out a bit more and sprinkles the racism about in a more believable manner. A good example would be the Luke Cage Netflix series which handles the issues pretty gracefully without feeling forced. I’m not sure every central character needs to have his origin buried in a racist act. The second issue brings some pretty decent solid artwork back along with a simplistic easy to follow story. That being said I do feel that this issue is bit to quick of a read. We get a lot of big panels with pretty minimal dialogue which with new comics means it takes about five minutes to read.  Also we get a pretty shocking cover sure to raise some eyebrows. Anyway I’ll be around to check out issue #3 to see exactly where this story is all headed. Overall a unique series thus far worth picking up if you’re looking for something a bit different from the average super hero tale…