Comic Book Review: Black Bolt by Saladin Ahmed & Christian Ward

The Comic Book

Black Bolt (Issues 1-12), collected in Vol. 1 and Vol. 2
Written by Saladin Ahmed (Twitter | Patreon)
Art by Christian Ward (Website |Twitter | Tumblr) & Frazer Irving (Tumblr |Instagram)
Goodreads (Vol. 1 & Vol. 2)
Marvel Unlimited
Published by Marvel, 2018

What It Is

Black Bolt is the King of the Inhumans. Well, actually, he was King, but he abdicated his throne and now finds himself in an ancient Inhuman prison out among the stars. He had meant to place his brother, Maximus the Mad, in the prison, but Maximus used his technology and wits to change places with Black Bolt.

The prison would be terrifying by anyone’s standards. Black Bolt’s powers are gone, and he has died many times at the hands of the mysterious Jailer, only to be brought back to life. He meets some of the other prisoners and befriends them, and they work together to escape. Their escape comes at a cost though.

This series explores Black Bolt’s history, his relationship with his son, Ahura, and who he is versus who he wants to be.

In case you’re not familiar with Black Bolt or the Inhumans, here’s a quick refresher:

My Thoughts

I loved everything about this series, from the writing to the art. Especially the art. I remember picking the first few issues of this series up in my local comic book shop months and months ago. I wasn’t a big Inhumans fan, but Black Bolt seemed like a pretty interesting character. After all, writing a character that cannot speak takes talent (Black Bolt’s power is the ability to topple enemies and even entire cities with just his voice). The reason I ended up buying all of these issues, however, was due to Christian Ward’s spectacular art. Every time I open up one of these issues, I’m blown away by the characters and the vibrant colors.

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Those are a few of my favorite examples, but it’s all good. Good art is vital for a comic book series; I can’t tell you how many issues I’ve picked up and abandoned because of how terrible the art was. After reading this Black Bolt series, however, I have found myself seeking out all of Christian Ward’s art.

I need to talk about Saladin Ahmed’s talent as a writer as well. As I mentioned before, a writer needs to get creative when telling the story of a character who cannot speak. Granted, there are parts of this series, such as in the prison, when Black Bolt loses his powers and is able to safely talk with his friends, but for the most part, he’s still the same Black Bolt we’ve come to know. With creative storytelling and the art to back it up, Black Bolt is an incredibly dynamic character who wants to save his friends and return to the world he knows.

I appreciated the character of Blinky a lot. She’s a child who was thrown into the prison after stealing at a bazaar and can use her Inner Eye to communicate with others and share memories. I love the childlike innocence her character brings to the story.

Blinky

Another aspect of the story I enjoyed was the peek into Black Bolt’s past, where he was completely isolated and experimented on by his parents. His son, Ahura, gets to relive his father’s memories alongside Blinky, and the last couple of issues deals with Black Bolt’s fragile relationship with his son, and Ahura learning about some of the reasons his father acts the way he does.

The last thing I’ll say about this series has to do with a panel that made me laugh. For those of you who might not know, Black Bolt is short for the masterpiece that is his real name: Blackagar Boltagon. Seriously. His real name always makes me giggle, but I lost it when I came across this panel:

Verdict (Buy/Borrow/Skip)

Buy. This is an amazing series, and a great introduction to Black Bolt if you’re new to comics.