The truth of the trial.
Creative Staff:
Story: Christopher Cantwell
Art: Adam Gorham
Colors: Kurt Michael Russell
Letterer: Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou
What They Say:
The Blue Flame digs deeper into the Tribunal Consensus as he weighs the decision of defending all of humanity before them… but wait, shooting victim Sam Brausam is in a coma in Milwaukee, and his estranged sister doesn’t know if he’ll wake up.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
The opening installment of Blue Flame was one of the stronger ones in recent memory for me and it delivered well on a pair of interesting stories and casts of characters. Christopher Cantwell has always been a mixed bag for me in what works but when the project clicks I end up all-in on it like this one. Adam Gorham made a lot of it really fun as well, with the creativity of the outer space sequences with all that we encounter there, to the more humdrum mundane material of Sam and his friends in the Night Brigade before they go out to do the deed and all. The expressiveness of the cast is what’s key in this installment, however, and Gorham delivers on that quite well.
The earthbound side focuses on Dee as she tries to go through her life as normal with all kinds of hints about it. With it taking place the day after the murder of the Night Brigade and a dozen or so others, that’s all that’s new on the news and all that anyone is focusing on. It’s a quiet look at the way tragedy is so outsized in some ways with how we all focus on it and can’t help but to talk about it. But what changes for Dee is that eventually, she learns that her brother Sam was there but was a member of the Night Brigade that didn’t die, which has her rushing to the hospital. There’s a lot that will be explored there in terms of family, secrets, and sense of responsibility as we see that there was a real distance between the two that again, tragedy, can break through.
The other side of the book is just as interesting, though I’ll admittedly lean toward it more because it’s up my alley. With Sam being held to go to trial in defense of humanity, he’s spent some time trying to escape and has now learned just how much worse things would be if he did try. The prosecutor of the case is doing his best to educate him now and to get him to see the scale of things that are going on here, what consensus is looking for, and that he has to spend some time really working this to figure out what humanity has to give up. It’s an elusive and illusive question in a way and I love that when he gets the materials for his defense to use, it’s so slim in the scope of human history. But we also see that it’s a sliver compared to some other species, ones that have suffered far worse, and that there’s more to this than just our violent natures.
In Summary:
The scope of the story expands while at the same time becoming all the more personal – on both fronts. I’m naturally more attracted to the galactic questions being posed here by the consensus and the like than the human drama of Sam and his sister if only because the latter is far more accessible across a lot more media. It’s well-done and I’m interested to see where it goes and if it ties to what Sam is going through. At the same time, the big questions being asked of Sam are things that tend to be dealt with less frequently so I’m definitely a lot more interested in seeing that unfold. Both are done just right and Cantwell and Gorham have another very solid installment.
Grade: B+
Age Rating: 16+
Released By: Vault Comics
Release Date: June 23rd, 2021
MSRP: $3.99
