Saladin Ahmed, Black Bolt Volume 1: Hard Time

The first volume of the comics featuring Black Bolt, Black Bolt Volume 1: Hard Time, written by Saladin Ahmed and illustrated by Christian Ward, is up for a Hugo award, so naturally I read it. And, although the quality of both the writing and the illustrations are solid, I bounced right off it.

Perhaps it’s just that, way back when I was a comics reader, in my youth, I was always more into the DC comics than I was their rival, Marvel. And there are some stylistic differences, though I’m not sure I can pinpoint them. But I just found no point of connection with Black Bolt, and that made reading the comic a rather intellectual exercise, rather than one of identification and enjoyment.

I did not find the story particularly compelling, which is odd, because usually, one way to get me emotionally invested in a character is yo have them treated unjustly, which one assumes is the background to the opening set-up. Black Bolt, King of the Inhumans (whom I gather are some sort of mutant or possibly a human/alien hybid), wakes up in a prison, with his power, which is to destroy with the sound of his voice, gone. He escapes, his initial confinement, only to find himself in a large prison with other not particularly human inhabitants, who want to fight him. So he fights some people, and then he allies with them, and they go on to fight more creatures, go after the jailer, and despite some success, end up imprisoned again. Then they escape again, and go after their jailer again. In between, there’s a lot of dying and being reborn, and some dark brooding on his former life, which apparently involved getting imprisoned on a variety of other occasions. If anything, I found myself more engaged with one of his enemy-turned-allies, Crusher Creel, also known as the Absorbing Man, because we get a coherent backstory on him, and it is the sort of ‘young boy with horrible family life gets no breaks’ story that does create some empathy.

It looks as though it’s going to be a redemption story. It’s pretty clear that Black Bolt, intentionally or not, has done a lot of unpleasant things, and has a lot to seek redemption for, and the whole prison experience of this first volume has been about underlining that for him, but... in the end, I just don’t care quite enough to find out more. Others who are more into this line of the Marvel universe may differ.

Kristen Britain: Firebrand

Kristen Britain’s latest novel in the Green Rider series, Firebrand, is an entertaining addition to the saga of Karigan G’ladheon, the exceptional young woman who so far has foiled the assassination of a king, cleaned out a corrupted centre of ancient evil, travelled to the future, seen visions from the past, uncovered and helped to foil a revolution, and various and sundry other things, Karigan is definitely a hero in the tradition of David Weber’s Honor Harrington, in that she does everything astonishingly well, gets showered with unusual accolades, and just keeps going on, facing more and more challenging enemies. She’s also clearly a ‘chosen one’ - there are all sorts of portents and prophecies and odd coincidences that of course are no such thing, but Britain pulls it off well. And despite all her heroic deeds, Karigan remains an approachable, human hero, who needs coffee, gets grumpy, loses people dear to her and grieves them, holds grudges and has doubts.

There’s a lot going on in this latest installment. Karigan is on a mission to the north, not far from the lands held by the Second Empire accompanied by the Eletian envoy Enver. (Eletians are an ancient, very long-lived race with unusual magical abilities, this world’s version of elves.) During one of her previous adventures, Karigan uncovered evidence suggesting that another ancient race, the p’edrose, long believed extinct, may yet live, and she has been sent to try and find them, with Enver’s help, and ask them to ally with Sacoridia. Travelling with them is Estral, a musician, daughter of the country’s chief bard, searching fir her missing father, and the unknown person who used magic to steal her voice.

Meanwhile, an ice elemental, summoned by the leader if the rebel Second Empire forces, which had been routed by the defenders of the palace including Karigan, has returned, infatuated by the vital life force and beauty of the queen of Sacoridia, who is carrying twin heirs to the throne. The elemental has trapped King Zachary, the ruler of Sacoridia, in its secret air two others, a human and an Eletian woman, that it has kidnapped for its amusement, and taken the king’s place by enchantment.

Other plotlines of some significance are the stories of a young servant girl, Anna, who aspires to become a Green Rider, and of Mr. Whiskers, the last known surviving gryphon, in search of a mate.

As usual, the book ends with several pointers toward the next planned adventure for Green Rider Karigan, and the series continues to be fun reading so I’ll be waiting for the next volume.