Reviews»Comic Books»Blackout #2
blackout
Kareem Ali 2.5

Blackout #2

 

  • The good

    King Tiger feature has an interesting story line

  • The bad

    Uneventful, potential antagonists are uninteresting due to giant mechanical suits being beaten before. Nothing gripping about the story.

  • The ugly

    • Blackout #2 continues the story of Scott Tavers as he adjusts to his new suit and its special abilities while trying to investigate the disappearance of his benefactor Robert Marshall. However he’s already on the radar of those looking for the suit and those whose bad side he’s gotten on while conducting his investigation. This would explain his current predicament of being restrained by blackout operatives conducting their own investigation at the location of Robert’s disappearance. But when you have a suit that can create portals to another dimension it’s not a difficult task to escape this situation, and that’s what Scott does bringing one of the operatives into this shadow dimension. And since only someone wearing the suit can survive in that dimension for an extended period of time, Scott eventually pushes the operative back into the lab, grabs the disk drives from the operatives and makes his exit. The fact that this isn’t the first time he’s made light work of these operatives is the reason Mechatronics has been working on specialized combat units to take him out and protect their investments. Is Scott finally in over his head with Mechatronics taking the gloves off or does he have more to worry about with the suit itself and the impact the shadow dimension has on others who enter it?

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    I was looking forward to this series after reading the preview but I wasn’t really feeling the first issue as much as I hoped I would. I wasn’t really feeling the protagonist and aside from being thrown into the middle of a story, which I’m accustomed to at this point even though issues are labeled #1, I didn’t feel engrossed in it, and the suit seemed slightly underwhelming. The protagonist comes off much better this issue and his interactions with other characters is better as well. However, this issue was underwhelming for a couple of reasons, the first being it was very short. It was only 16 pages long and before anything substantial or revealing could happen it was over. And the second reason is very similar to the first and that’s nothing interesting happens and there are just temporary dead ends, and anything that does unfold is at best a setup for events next issue and at worst just cliffhangers to be resolved in a panel or two. And the fact Scott destroyed a huge mechanical robot prior to issue #1 where we see the aftermath it’s not even suspenseful or impressive that Mechatronics would unveil new mechanical robots to stop Scott because that was already done. And the three testing the suits came off more as caricatures then anything else because nothing substantial has happened to give them any context and so the reaction to their testing rung hollow as well. Basically, something needs to happen that pushes the story forward whether it’s a revelation about the suit or some progress with their investigation to give some clarity on what’s going on. As of right now I’m not intrigued by this series.

    Now, there’s an additional short story in this issue and it’s part 2 of King Tiger and it’s actually a lot more interesting than Blackout. It’s about a man who has a demon attached to him and has been searching for help for his condition without knowing about the hidden demon. He ends up finding King Tiger, who can only help him using magic. So part 2 picks up from that point and with the explanation given in part 2 I’m definitely looking forward to the next part of this short feature.

     

    SUMMARY

    Blackout #2 is a disappointing issue as the series intends to stretch out this period that lacks any substantial progress story wise or with character development, and as a result even the new robotic suits come up flat. Granted I don’t expect everything about a story to be revealed in the first issue but when the only thing that has occurred and not just alluded to after two issues is the protagonist has jumped in and out of portals it is extremely difficult to be invested in the events taking place. Hopefully this changes next issue with the way this one concluded but at this rate I would have to see that occur first. And even though King Tiger is interesting I can’t recommend a series just for the short included in it at this point.

     

    Release Date: 4/30/14

    Writer: Frank Barbiere, Randy Stradley

    Artist: Colin Lorimer, Doug Wheatley

  • Rating ( 5 )
  • Total score 5.0

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