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Radiant Black
Radiant Black, Vol. 2: Team-Up
The first wave of cosmic forces have arrived on Earth, desperate to reclaim the Radiant - and as they tear through Chicago, the only thing standing in their way is RADIANT BLACK and some unexpected new allies. In the aftermath, the city of Lockport starts to heal - but if they no longer want a superhero living amongst them, is it already time for our hero to hang up his suit for good?
Collects RADIANT BLACK #7-12
Collects RADIANT BLACK #7-12
192 pages, Paperback
First published March 22, 2022
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194 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 119 reviews
February 18, 2022
With Nathan out of action, it’s down to his bestie Marshall to take up the mantle of Radiant Black and battle the mysterious glitchy Radiant, with the help of the other coloured Radiants he’s recently met, and find a way of saving Nathan’s life. Also, Radiant Pink’s origin story.
The second volume of Radiant Black is a very disappointing follow-up to the decent first book. No part of this book’s story was at all compelling or fun to read. The first couple issues are just one long dumb superhero punch-up as the sub-Power Rangers throw colourful lights at one another pointlessly until they don’t - I couldn’t have been more bored.
One of the aspects of the first book that I found appealing was Nathan struggling to figure out how to become a successful writer. With Nathan in a coma for most of this volume, that aspect is completely missing in the book and the focus instead is on his dreary friend Marshall who lives a completely empty existence where he’s either at Nathan’s bedside at the hospital or failing at his retail job. Marshall’s just not an interesting character to spend time with.
He’s also weirdly concerned with being liked by the world at large and spends a lot of time trying to make people fans of Radiant Black, as well as make money off it. Like all of the characters in the book, Marshall isn’t particularly likeable. Kyle Higgins keeps throwing in references to COWL, his terrible Image series from 2014 (you haven’t heard of it for a reason), and the world at large seems to have oddly quite easily accepted the existence of colourful superheroes.
I didn’t really get what that whole sequence in the Tron-like world of the giant Radiant was about - it felt like a neon-coloured therapy session more than anything - or how it turned things around for Nathan. There’s also too many characters in this series considering how we’ve barely begun the story. There’s a new character who’s a supply teacher who’s involved in some black market Radiant stuff or something introduced towards the end - eh, I didn’t care.
Speaking of not caring, we get Radiant Pink’s origin for no reason. Like Marshall, she’s another boring protagonist. She’s a Twitch streamer who stumbles across the Radiant after looking for a replacement mic - it’s such a convenient and uninspired origin.
I’d hoped the second volume would at least be as good as the first book, if not better, but it was a complete fail unfortunately. It abandoned the things that made the first book unique and, rather than attempt anything original, leaned heavily upon genre tropes instead. I didn’t find it the least bit entertaining and the second book was so bad I think I’m going to abandon the series entirely - don’t bother with Radiant Crap, Volume 2: Team-Up.
The second volume of Radiant Black is a very disappointing follow-up to the decent first book. No part of this book’s story was at all compelling or fun to read. The first couple issues are just one long dumb superhero punch-up as the sub-Power Rangers throw colourful lights at one another pointlessly until they don’t - I couldn’t have been more bored.
One of the aspects of the first book that I found appealing was Nathan struggling to figure out how to become a successful writer. With Nathan in a coma for most of this volume, that aspect is completely missing in the book and the focus instead is on his dreary friend Marshall who lives a completely empty existence where he’s either at Nathan’s bedside at the hospital or failing at his retail job. Marshall’s just not an interesting character to spend time with.
He’s also weirdly concerned with being liked by the world at large and spends a lot of time trying to make people fans of Radiant Black, as well as make money off it. Like all of the characters in the book, Marshall isn’t particularly likeable. Kyle Higgins keeps throwing in references to COWL, his terrible Image series from 2014 (you haven’t heard of it for a reason), and the world at large seems to have oddly quite easily accepted the existence of colourful superheroes.
I didn’t really get what that whole sequence in the Tron-like world of the giant Radiant was about - it felt like a neon-coloured therapy session more than anything - or how it turned things around for Nathan. There’s also too many characters in this series considering how we’ve barely begun the story. There’s a new character who’s a supply teacher who’s involved in some black market Radiant stuff or something introduced towards the end - eh, I didn’t care.
Speaking of not caring, we get Radiant Pink’s origin for no reason. Like Marshall, she’s another boring protagonist. She’s a Twitch streamer who stumbles across the Radiant after looking for a replacement mic - it’s such a convenient and uninspired origin.
I’d hoped the second volume would at least be as good as the first book, if not better, but it was a complete fail unfortunately. It abandoned the things that made the first book unique and, rather than attempt anything original, leaned heavily upon genre tropes instead. I didn’t find it the least bit entertaining and the second book was so bad I think I’m going to abandon the series entirely - don’t bother with Radiant Crap, Volume 2: Team-Up.
September 29, 2022
This one was so awesome!
We do bounce around in time here like the team up that happens and the big kaiju monster fight and its all good and then the characters meeting each other up and like the origins and Marshall fighting new villains and I have a feeling it will lead to something big next and one of the best moments when he goes to heaven sort of to rescue his friend Nathan and its so awesome and the story with them now will get even more crazy and better and the origin of Radiant pink which was cute so yeah overall a great read and its like a lot to take in sometime but it will lead to big things and also setting up the massive-verse from here on!
We do bounce around in time here like the team up that happens and the big kaiju monster fight and its all good and then the characters meeting each other up and like the origins and Marshall fighting new villains and I have a feeling it will lead to something big next and one of the best moments when he goes to heaven sort of to rescue his friend Nathan and its so awesome and the story with them now will get even more crazy and better and the origin of Radiant pink which was cute so yeah overall a great read and its like a lot to take in sometime but it will lead to big things and also setting up the massive-verse from here on!
March 28, 2022
Kind of a hard swerve away from the first volume in terms of protagonist and style, but this is not altogether an unwelcome development.
The art remains a major strength, which is fortunate when it comes to depicting some pretty far out things:
The last story arc of the volume was my favourite, I'm interested to see what these characters choose to do next.
The art remains a major strength, which is fortunate when it comes to depicting some pretty far out things:
The last story arc of the volume was my favourite, I'm interested to see what these characters choose to do next.
March 13, 2022
After the big twist in volume 1, volume 2 of Radiant Black attempts to walk it back just a little, both to its benefit (the character work's great) and to its detriment (because it kind of cheapens the motivation of the main character if the thing he's fighting for isn't quite true anymore).
Despite this, Radiant Black's second volume continues to expand on the mythos it set up in the first volume by bringing in some other Radiants and having them team-up (hey, there's the title!) against a bigger threat. And just like the first volume, the final issue here is an origin story for another Radiant (Pink this time) which sheds some new welcome light on her.
While I might not agree with every story direction here, I've got to say that I'm still hooked on the series. The artwork from Marcelo Costa is still beautiful, and every new layer of the Radiants that gets explained opens up even more potential going forward. And with the series expanding into a Supermassive one-shot and a Radiant Red mini-series, I can only imagine how big this is going to get before it's over.
Despite this, Radiant Black's second volume continues to expand on the mythos it set up in the first volume by bringing in some other Radiants and having them team-up (hey, there's the title!) against a bigger threat. And just like the first volume, the final issue here is an origin story for another Radiant (Pink this time) which sheds some new welcome light on her.
While I might not agree with every story direction here, I've got to say that I'm still hooked on the series. The artwork from Marcelo Costa is still beautiful, and every new layer of the Radiants that gets explained opens up even more potential going forward. And with the series expanding into a Supermassive one-shot and a Radiant Red mini-series, I can only imagine how big this is going to get before it's over.
January 16, 2023
This volume is still good. But it's a step down from the first all because of one person.
This guy.
I don't hate Marshall.
Okay, maybe a little bit.
Listen, I just don't like characters like Marshall. There annoying and I don't find them likeable at all. There fine as side characters, but anything more than that, is just too much. Plus, he's just a depressing character to read about.
That's why when he took the mantle of Radiant Black in the last volume, I wasn't exactly thrilled. But, I assumed (hoped) that this would just be a one arc thing.
Well, guess what?
It isn't.
Now maybe Nathan will return, but at the moment it's not looking likely. Maybe they'll do a Firestorm type thing in the future. But at least for now Marshall is here to stay.
*groan*
Now this volume isn't all bad. There's actually a lot of good. We get to meet the other radiant, which is quite a lot of fun. The only issues, I didn't like was 9 and a little bit of 10. So overall I had fun with it, I just wish Marshall wasn't the main character.
This guy.
I don't hate Marshall.
Okay, maybe a little bit.
Listen, I just don't like characters like Marshall. There annoying and I don't find them likeable at all. There fine as side characters, but anything more than that, is just too much. Plus, he's just a depressing character to read about.
That's why when he took the mantle of Radiant Black in the last volume, I wasn't exactly thrilled. But, I assumed (hoped) that this would just be a one arc thing.
Well, guess what?
It isn't.
Now maybe Nathan will return, but at the moment it's not looking likely. Maybe they'll do a Firestorm type thing in the future. But at least for now Marshall is here to stay.
*groan*
Now this volume isn't all bad. There's actually a lot of good. We get to meet the other radiant, which is quite a lot of fun. The only issues, I didn't like was 9 and a little bit of 10. So overall I had fun with it, I just wish Marshall wasn't the main character.
May 14, 2022
This is another great volume. It does jump around a lot in time, but it makes sense. The main hero from the first book is in a coma and his best friend takes over the Radiant Black mantle. He's not nearly as kind or nice, but he does what he must. We find out more user who can use this power. We get to see a villain of sorts chasing them. We also get a surprise by the end and a returning character.
I feel this is alot of building blocks but the results are eventually going to be amazing.
A 4 out of 5.
I feel this is alot of building blocks but the results are eventually going to be amazing.
A 4 out of 5.
April 12, 2022
3.5 stars. A pretty solid volume. Opens up right where the last volume left off, the Radiants battles some other powered mystery person and it wasn’t going well for the Radiants. There were some interesting questions raised throughout this book however. Like, at one point, the pink and blue Radiants teleported to space and saw some wild ish. Like what was that about. Then Marshall goes somewhere crazy to rescue his friend. That was trippy. But yeah, this was pretty decent.
March 26, 2023
3.5 Star
I still enjoy the writing and the art is wonderful, but when the action kicks in things get confusing in a hurry. I could see myself liking this series better as things establish some more.
I still enjoy the writing and the art is wonderful, but when the action kicks in things get confusing in a hurry. I could see myself liking this series better as things establish some more.
June 23, 2024
v2 is a mixed bag.
BAD
The first half is just a chaotic fight between the four Radiants and the stronger supervillain that popped up at the end of v1. It's visual bedlam. Action lines; random teleporting; power beams and splosions; robots and spaceships; forcefields and special effects and onomatopoeic sound balloons and all five combatants look mostly the same and it's all just nonsensical chaos. Yaaawn. It doesn't even lead anywhere, could have skipped it with virtually no effect on the story.
GOOD
The second half actually tackles something meaty and interesting: superheros in the age of social media. Outside of his powers, Marshall's life is going nowhere so there's immense pressure to monetize Radiant Black and to manage his PR. He starts doing product endorsements. He cuts a profit-sharing deal with a team of Youtube blowhards who have a disturbing amount of social influence. When he does get around to actually fighting supervillains, he has genuinely difficult choices to make as they're sometimes poor people in legitimately dire circumstances rather than the power hungry megalomaniacs we all remember from our Saturday morning cartoons.
BAD
The volume also wastes a whole issue on a sort of vision quest in an alternate, Radiant, dimension. The art does interesting things with text orientation and eschewing panels to convey Otherness, but it's still a lot of pages wasted on just snapping Nathan out of his coma.
GOOD
Also an issue dedicated to the origin stories of the pink and yellow Radiants. Nothing mindblowing but well written.
So. Mixed bag. When it's good it's REALLY good so looking forward to v3.
BAD
The first half is just a chaotic fight between the four Radiants and the stronger supervillain that popped up at the end of v1. It's visual bedlam. Action lines; random teleporting; power beams and splosions; robots and spaceships; forcefields and special effects and onomatopoeic sound balloons and all five combatants look mostly the same and it's all just nonsensical chaos. Yaaawn. It doesn't even lead anywhere, could have skipped it with virtually no effect on the story.
GOOD
The second half actually tackles something meaty and interesting: superheros in the age of social media. Outside of his powers, Marshall's life is going nowhere so there's immense pressure to monetize Radiant Black and to manage his PR. He starts doing product endorsements. He cuts a profit-sharing deal with a team of Youtube blowhards who have a disturbing amount of social influence. When he does get around to actually fighting supervillains, he has genuinely difficult choices to make as they're sometimes poor people in legitimately dire circumstances rather than the power hungry megalomaniacs we all remember from our Saturday morning cartoons.
BAD
The volume also wastes a whole issue on a sort of vision quest in an alternate, Radiant, dimension. The art does interesting things with text orientation and eschewing panels to convey Otherness, but it's still a lot of pages wasted on just snapping Nathan out of his coma.
GOOD
Also an issue dedicated to the origin stories of the pink and yellow Radiants. Nothing mindblowing but well written.
So. Mixed bag. When it's good it's REALLY good so looking forward to v3.
August 28, 2022
Well, this second Radiant Black volume has fewer Power Rangers vibes, I'll give it that. But where the first volume was mostly dumb fun, this second volume gets bogged down in psychedelics. Namely, Marshall goes on some kind of cosmic trip to determine why he wants so badly for Nathan to take back the Radiant superpowers. It's morose nonsense that's nearly impossible to follow. And it's probably intended to be world building?
I simply don't know what the deal is with the Radiants or the villain guy or the robots fighting in space, and by the end of the second volume, you should probably have an idea of what's going on in the bigger picture. Sure, maybe this is some Paper Girls shit where it's never really going to make sense, but at least that series has characters worth following. Here, we've got a sad-sack writer who just wants to get back to his job at the video rental store.
I'm still a little curious about Radiant Black since Kyle Higgins seems to be trying real hard to create a universe. But it's not going well so far.
I simply don't know what the deal is with the Radiants or the villain guy or the robots fighting in space, and by the end of the second volume, you should probably have an idea of what's going on in the bigger picture. Sure, maybe this is some Paper Girls shit where it's never really going to make sense, but at least that series has characters worth following. Here, we've got a sad-sack writer who just wants to get back to his job at the video rental store.
I'm still a little curious about Radiant Black since Kyle Higgins seems to be trying real hard to create a universe. But it's not going well so far.
January 12, 2023
Don't you love when Volume 2 is MORE awesome than Volume 1?? We got a ton of worldbuilding in this Volume as well as some much need character development for Marshall, Nathan and even Satomi. I'll be honest, I wasn't the biggest fan of Marshall in Volume One. However, after taking on the mantal of Radiant Black and saving his friend, Marshall has grown on me as a character. This Volume is raw with human emotions and problems in superhero costumes. This was sold to me as Power Rangers for adults and it delivers! If you haven't read Radiant Black yet, get both volumes now! This story shows the real humans behind the masks and the reality of the call to Adventure in comic form. Amazing story! Can't wait for more.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 12, 2022
I don’t know. The first book was somewhat more fun, now it’s just getting too Power Rangery for me. Thought maybe it’s because the characters are so young and emo-ish, but no, this is legit Power Rangers thing, the costumes, the colors, it’s ever advertised as such.
I mean, it’s ok, it reads quickly too, but nothing special and nothing worth continuing the series for.
I mean, it’s ok, it reads quickly too, but nothing special and nothing worth continuing the series for.
May 25, 2023
Otro gran volumen
February 24, 2022
Fun world-building with some particularly vibrant, kinetic art. The colors and paneling were absolutely killer.
September 15, 2024
After my interest was piqued from the first volume, it was chilled after reading this. In issue 10, the art really shines. It's stunning to look at. The last issue was an interesting one-off.
April 24, 2022
A somewhat uneven continuation of the series.
There's some very human stuff, including a background story on Pink, and that's all terrific. But there's also fights with interstellar threats and a bizarre metaphysical journey, and that largely fails. I'm also disappointed that the continuing mythology of the series seems to be, "Hey, there's a lot of suits".
So, still kind of neat as a pretty original take on superheroing, but it doesn't entirely succeed.
There's some very human stuff, including a background story on Pink, and that's all terrific. But there's also fights with interstellar threats and a bizarre metaphysical journey, and that largely fails. I'm also disappointed that the continuing mythology of the series seems to be, "Hey, there's a lot of suits".
So, still kind of neat as a pretty original take on superheroing, but it doesn't entirely succeed.
January 30, 2023
The "Radiant Black" saga limps along in this not entirely incoherent second volume. There is some fairly convincing and strongly needed adulting on the part of Marshall. Additionally, the pink and yellow Radiants get a bit of a backstory. However, the strongest characters, Satomi and Nathan, are mostly missing and the volume feels more like a random jumble of issues than an actual graphic novel.
March 10, 2025
Marshall’s adventure continues as we get more into the mystery of the radiant along with some others possessing the powers and skills. Best line was in issue #11 in which an older lady sees Marshall as Radiant Black on the streets while seeing him flying and says “A-are you an angel?” And Marshall replies “No Ma’am. I’m a Millennial”.
Props to issue #11 mostly taking place in Milwaukee, WI!
Props to issue #11 mostly taking place in Milwaukee, WI!
July 23, 2022
3.5 still needs a lot of world building but overall a really fun journey. Can't wait for vol 3!
July 28, 2022
3.5 Stars.
The title which started with Radiant Black, then moved to vs. Radiant Red, has now added Pink and Yellow to the Radiant crew, AND given them new villains to fight. Chief amongst those is 001, a sword wielding Radiant with ties to that strange fleet of bots and ships out in space. Nathan (previous RB) is still in a coma, but Marshall (current Radiant Black) visits him often in the hospital. Hoping that the radiant inside him can help fix Nathan, Marshall puts himself in danger and ends up in "Existence", a realm where Marshall can directly interact with Radiant... but stay lost in there for 6 weeks.
Black and Pink have a good partnership, but these powers feel slightly fickle....
I do enjoy this comic, but need more regular content on it I think. Perhaps before I go on to Volume 3 later this year, I'll reread 1 and 2.
Recommend, with slight reservations.
The title which started with Radiant Black, then moved to vs. Radiant Red, has now added Pink and Yellow to the Radiant crew, AND given them new villains to fight. Chief amongst those is 001, a sword wielding Radiant with ties to that strange fleet of bots and ships out in space. Nathan (previous RB) is still in a coma, but Marshall (current Radiant Black) visits him often in the hospital. Hoping that the radiant inside him can help fix Nathan, Marshall puts himself in danger and ends up in "Existence", a realm where Marshall can directly interact with Radiant... but stay lost in there for 6 weeks.
Black and Pink have a good partnership, but these powers feel slightly fickle....
I do enjoy this comic, but need more regular content on it I think. Perhaps before I go on to Volume 3 later this year, I'll reread 1 and 2.
Recommend, with slight reservations.
June 15, 2024
This one bounces around a lot in time, which gets quite confusing, but I did enjoy getting Eva's origin, and seeing the big team up fight! As I said though, the jumping about in time made things confusing, so I wasn't entirely sure what was going on at times, which also wasn't helped at times by the artwork.
Overall though, still really fun to read!
TW for near death of a friend, drugs and alcohol, comas, violence, grief, threats of death.
Overall though, still really fun to read!
TW for near death of a friend, drugs and alcohol, comas, violence, grief, threats of death.
May 19, 2022
Collects Radiant Black issues #7-12
It has been a few months since I read Volume #1, so I know that I'm forgetting some plot points, but I still really enjoyed this second volume. There were a few moments in this book that gave me the exact type of shocked response that I love to get from a great comic book story. I appreciated both the straight-forward elements of the story, and the trippy elements.
It has been a few months since I read Volume #1, so I know that I'm forgetting some plot points, but I still really enjoyed this second volume. There were a few moments in this book that gave me the exact type of shocked response that I love to get from a great comic book story. I appreciated both the straight-forward elements of the story, and the trippy elements.
October 15, 2022
I definitely liked this volume better than the first one! The story really seems to be coming together, there was a lot more action, and I’m enjoying learning more about the characters. Artwork continues to be amazing!
January 6, 2025
Solid continuation of the story. Love how the characters are being developed and mysteries and details of the world are slowly being revealed.
January 6, 2023
It just gets better. One hell of an artpiece.
December 21, 2023
Pretty solid book. Can’t wait to keep reading!
May 1, 2024
Really really digging this mish-mash of Power Rangers and Spider-Man, and in this volume we get to explore Marshall a bit more and learn about the other Radiants. Great stuff!
May 8, 2024
It’s Radiant time! We get to meet more Radiants and they team up to fight another Radiant?
We also get to see the ‘Robot’ a bit more. And Nathan and Marshall deal with some weird Robot space continuum.
The art is good and the story is okay. Still interested to see where this is headed but it’s taking a while.
We also get to see the ‘Robot’ a bit more. And Nathan and Marshall deal with some weird Robot space continuum.
The art is good and the story is okay. Still interested to see where this is headed but it’s taking a while.
May 5, 2024
"I've got some time to kill. I'll sit down and read something fun, like Radiant Black." And then I read one of the most nuanced, moving, emotional graphic novels I've ever encountered. Unbelievable. Can't wait to see where this series goes from here.
THERE IS ONLY TRUTH IN EXISTENCE.
THERE IS ONLY TRUTH IN EXISTENCE.
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