BLACK (+ BLACK AF) ...where the concept was better than the execution

Imagine a world, where only BLACK people have super powers...

This week we're talking about "BLACK" and its sequel "BLACK AF" by Kwanza Osajyefo + artists Tim Smith 3 and Jennifer Johnson (respectively). The books made quite an impression on the industry when they came out from 2017-2018, and was recently announced to being adapted to film by Warner Brothers. But we ask...was the book as good as the hype/concept?

The book posits that in a world that already hates and fears them - what if only Black people had superpowers? In book 1 we meet the protagonist - a young man gunned down by the police, who miraculously survives, and discovers a long held conspiracy held secret over the years, that the powers that be - and the powers that have - don't want the world knowing - for very different reasons. You can probably guess where that goes.

Book 2 has a pretty unique take in the already established universe, as we follow a young woman with a very Small-vill-ian origin story - as she navigates the brave new world.

The usual superhero fisticuffs aside - BLACK makes room for a commentary with a pretty unique premise. It's at times ambitious, at times revolutionary, and sometimes even cringe-inducing, but regardless of how you feel, the book leaves its mark.

We're not going to pretend we are even MARGINALLY qualified to comment on the Black experience in America.- but the past several months of a dumpster fire of 2020 has our country having a long overdue conversation about race. Joining us for our conversations is friend-of-the-pod, and fellow not-a-Black-person Paresh.