Everything is about to change.
Creative Staff:
Story: Joe Pruett
Art: Szymon Kudranski
Colors: Guy Major
Letterer: Marshall Dillon
What They Say:
Jim Loudin life’s has been shattered. The BEK have caused the death of his wife, the corrupting of his son and the near death of his daughter. Now his comes face-to-face with the monster behind all his pain, the impish leader of the Black-Eyed Children. But will he survive the encounter?
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
I had reviewed the first issue of Blacked Eyed Kids back in April 2016 when it came out and I’ll admit some surprise upon getting a review copy for the fourteenth issue. With AfterShock being a young company and more focused on what seemed like shorter run series to get a variety of things out and see what works, a title going on its second year is pretty welcome to see. I had really enjoyed that first issue from Pruett and Kudranski and was definitely curious to see what the book is like at this point, albeit not having read anything in between. Sometimes seeing how accessible a book is just jumping in can tell you a lot about a series, since you have to have some element of accessibility if your book is on the rack and it catches someone’s eye.
While I was able to reconnect with the book on some level as it brought back an inkling of that first issue, this is an area where I’ll admit some frustration with AfterShock books as they don’t have that credits page where they do a mild recap of recent events of a series overview to date like we get in a lot of other titles. They’re helpful and would have made this book a bit more accessible, especially since this is a seemingly key issue to the ongoing storyline. The focus on the character of Michael, the so-called impish leader of the Black-Eyed Children, as he deals with Jim is interesting. Michael’s looking to deal with a man that has caused some problems and is someone that he’s pushed back on well, with Jim’s wife dead and his kids nowhere near the normal kids they used to be. There’s a despondence in Jim at this point, especially knowing that his son is essentially lost to Michael, but also a real concern over his daughter because she’s had to go through so much and is fighting back in a way that will likely cost her her life.
All of this taking place in the house is definitely well done, a tight encounter with so many dark colors that Guy Major really does succeed in making this feel utterly oppressive as it should be. A lot of the dialogue isn’t exactly over my head but I lack the story connection to piece it together but it does make for an interesting time with Michael being informed that a key person has been found, looking to the creation of babies in this form, and a reinforcement of their design to eliminate the weak human race and chart their own history with mankind not even being a footnote. It’s a grand plan but one that feels like it has that edge of being possible because of the way these creatures work, and the kind of innate fear that people have of them as we see in the hospital scene early on.
In Summary:
Getting back into this book after only reading the first one isn’t exactly easy but it was a reminder that I really do need to check this series out in full. There’s a really neat level of oppressive atmosphere about it and I love Kudranski’s designs because they, combined with Major’s color work, gives it a really intense kind of surreal feeling that tickles that fear sensor in your head just right. A lot of story points floated right over my head here as there isn’t any sort of recap accessibility for new readers but what little I remember of the first issue and what I can figure out by supposition made this a fun enough experence where I want to learn more about it. Definitely a title to keep watch on and support if you’re interested in this flavor of storytelling as the creative team is firing on all cylinders with this book.
Grade: B-
Age Rating: 15+
Released By: AfterShock Comics
Release Date: September 20th, 2017
MSRP: $1.99
