Black Dynamite

by Brian Ash, Yassir Lester, Jun Lofamia (Artist)

HE'S A POWDER KEG OF BLACK FURY THAT'S ABOUT TO EXPLODE! The baddest kung-fu cat to ever appear on screen is coming to comics, so you suckers better duck! Former CIA agent, international ladies man, and sworn ass-kicking enemy of The Man... he's BLACK DYNAMITE -- and he's about to walk into the most dangerous journey of his life!

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Humor, Action

148 pages, Paperback

First published July 8, 2014

Reviews

[Cale · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is walking the line between parody and sincere homage to 70's era blaxpoitation, and suffers a little for the lack of focus. There are fun moments, some nice wordplay, and some good action beats. Each of the issues is a self-contained story, starting with an extra-long story about Black Dynamite destroying tourist trap Slave Island. Yes, the place is as terrible as you think (the map has a number of nice little callouts). Other stories include pacifist monks, Illuminati training, and a host of other absurd but period-appropriate opponents, all of whom Black Dynamite dispatches with ease. The art is period style and looks good for that.
Overall, it's a fun story that's not afraid to throw racial tropes around, and lean into them when appropriate.

[Clayton · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you're at all familiar with this character, whether through the cartoon or the movie, you'll see almost immediately that these comics are written true to the voice of Black Dynamite. If you haven't seen the movie or the cartoon, you might not get as much out of these comics.

The art was provided by a handful of different artists, of differing quality. I enjoyed seeing Sal Buscema ink a couple of issues, and the work by Jun LoFamia was fantastic.

[Naaaddiaa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this with my closest friend and we could not stop laughing!! Dynamite is as clever, provocative, and bad ass as in the films. Definitely held our attention with every page.

[Ezma · Rating 4 out of 5]

More like a high 3.5. This is a fun way to spin the character into comics. It avoids the misstep the animated series made of relying too heavily on jokes from the movie. The Slave Island one-shot and the 4th issue were our favorites because they went the extra mile to make them look like comics from the 70s.

That said, we didn’t think this book was necessarily the funniest. There were a couple good laughs (61 hours later got a guffaw) but most of it is just playing the ridiculousness straight. It’s an entertaining read but stuff like the aforementioned Slave Island has more weight than the movie’s tone. Also issues 1-3 are an arc while the 4th issue is a one-shot. There was clearly more set up for the series to go and it’s a little disappointing this is all we got. More time could’ve evened out some of the roughness with the tone.

Overall though we liked it but not sure we’d rec unless you’re a big fan of the movie

[SaraCat · Rating 3 out of 5]

I give this 3.5 stars. I liked the overarching story and I thought a lot of the topics and points around racism that they tackled. There were 5 different stories compiled into this volume and each had a different art style. Most I personally liked, though even the ones I didn't like as much I felt fit well with the particular story they were telling.

Black Dynamite is not a character I am interested to read more about, but I'm glad that I did read this anyway because it was interesting to read something I don't normally pick up.

Content Warning: violence, some gore, mentions of sex, slavery, racism
Not really a content warning, but there is a lot of swearing if that is something you aren't a fan of.

[Chad · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is ridiculously over the top trying to ride the line between parody and homage to blaxploitation films. At one point he fights a shark and racist whites who own Slave Island as a tourist attraction. There's some anachronisms since this is supposed to be in the seventies. The stories are all over the place. The Illuminati are in one. People get flung into the sky. As long as you don't take it too seriously it can be fun. There's a lot of artists working on this. I thought they were all decent except for Ron Wimberly. His art sucks.

[Mee Too · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you ever watched black exploitation movies then you probably get it. However if you didn’t and this is your introduction to black Americans, and you’re not very knowledgeable about people different then yourself, then please let me inform you, that the characters in this book do not represent the black community.

That being said this was better than I expected. I also find that not many people do “race” humor well. Dave Chappell is/was just somewhat of a savant, and there are not many like him.

Art 3
Writing 2.8
Storylines 3.1

A reasonable 3 ✨book

[Cavak · Rating 4 out of 5]

Black Dynamite basks in its nostalgia trip and smokes it up for the camp fire. Slick artwork, clean design, surprisingly deep messages here and there. There's times when I'm really moved.

And then suddenly Black Dynamite kicks a Great White's ass with his bare hands.

I mean, Black Dynamite is so hammy that I can't tell if I want to laugh at its humor or be in awe of such refreshing sincerity and audacity. By the end I kinda went, "Yeah, sure. Why not?" Yup.

[Zay · Rating 4 out of 5]

Let me tell you about a cool ass kicking jive talking car named BLACK DYNAMITE !!! - Bullhorn voice

If you’re not familiar with the character you might not understand or like his antics or the dialogue throughout.

“ See, my oriental brothers might not now karate … But they know Ka-razy! “

4.5 Very good read would’ve been a 5/5 but he knocked out by a badminton… a freaking badminton ball aka shuttlecock.

[Vince · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you love Black Dynamite, you'll love this one!

Let me tell you a story about a cat I know, they wrote a comic book about him you can read in one go. It's taken me a bit of time, to come up with these Bullhorn Rhymes. If you want to feel all right, read this comic about Black Dynamite!

[Robert Marsh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant! Funny, smart, cool art. Good times guaranteed.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not as funny as the movie but worth a read if you're jonesing for more Dynamite.

[Chloe H. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Has a lot of the same satirical humor of the original film that I love, but the tone is a little off, and I really disliked the art.

[Elliot · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was so good I want to see the film and adult swim series!

[Kris Shaw · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was lucky enough to catch the film at the former Burton Theatre in Detroit (now under different owners and called Cinema Detroit) when it was making the indie rounds and have been a fan ever since. I was also lucky enough to have a first printing of Slave Island, which I dumped on eBay and cashed in on, using the money to buy this book. Black Dynamite paid me to buy this book.

While the aforementioned Slave Island one shot is the best issue in the book, the other issues are all good in their own right. Issue 1 is the weak link, but 2 through 4 are all great. Each issue is a self-contained story. I especially enjoyed the one with Tibetan monks, although the one about the shoes was equally memorable.

This is tongue in cheek satire and homage to and of the Blaxploitation genre. There are many jokes about race, so super-sensitive politically correct types need not apply. Those of us with a sense of humor will enjoy this immensely. While word on the street is that the animated series won't be back for a third season, one can only hope that we get another movie or some more comic books.

[Deirdre · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not my kind of thing, you'd really have to be into the franchise. I got bored half-way through with the message and skim read the rest.