Black Bolt started out as a bit of a disappointment for me. Long one of my favourite characters, I was very interested to see how they would get a character who couldn't speak to carry a whole book. Unfortunately they decided not to make themselves work so hard and came up with a situation where he can speak just the same as anyone else. I thought this betrayed the fundamentals of the character and I very nearly didn't pick this book up.
Add to that, with my aforementioned hatred of dialogue-heavy comics, to find an entire book that consists of 2 guys sat in a room talking didn't fill me with enthusiasm; for an ardent Black Bolt fan it must be horrific. And yet, this book was OK. Not fantastic, because the problems I have already mentioned don't go away, but I actually found myself enjoying this book, if working a little hard to get through it.
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| There's wlays that one guy at the bar... |
Enter the always interesting, fairly complex, and strangely likeable Carl 'Crusher' Creel. Well known for his appearances with the Wrecking Crew in various books, he has been added to this story to give some much-needed contrast to Black Bolt, both of whom find themselves slowly suffocating to death in this issue. They have nothing to do but talk, hence the following pages carrying a LOT of dialogue, but thankfully that dialogue is well-written, quite human and heartfelt, and really makes you care about both of them. If you don't know Crusher Creel, you really should read this; yes there are character bios available in every corner of the internet, but to hear it all from Creel himself really makes you appreciate what a rich history even some of the lesser-known characters in the Marvel Comic Universe have.
It is testament to Saladin Ahmed's writing that a book that had already let me down with the overall storyline, and crammed the comic full of dialogue, managed to produce a readable and fairly enjoyable issue. I am not normally very keen on Christian Ward's art but he has done a great job here, with the use of images that stretch across panels particularly effective. If you don't mind heavy dialogue and you're not that familiar or invested in Black Bolt to care if he can talk, this could be a really great read for you, but personally I was hoping to see his lack of speech used imaginatively and it's disappointing that never happened.
2.5 / 5
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