Comic Book Review – Massiveverse Part One

Radiant Black Volume One (2021)
Reprints Radiant Black #1-6
Written by Kyle Higgins
Art by Marcelo Costa

Radiant Black Volume Two (2022)
Reprints Radiant Black #7-12
Written by Kyle Higgins
Art by Marcelo Costa

Radiant Red: Crime and Punishment (2022)
Reprints Radiant Red #1-5
Written by Cherish Chen
Art by David LaFuente and Miquel Muerto

Inferno Girl Red Volume One (2023)
Reprints Inferno Girl Red: Book One #1-3
Written by Mat Groom 
Art by Erica D’Urso and Igor Monti

Supermassive (2022)
Written by Kyle Higgins, Ryan Parrot, and Mat Groom
Art by Francesco Manna, Melania Palladino, Simone Ragazzoni, Marcelo Costa, Abel, and Erica D’Urso

Creating a new superhero universe isn’t something that happens very often. DC and Marvel have dominated that particularly robust branch of the comics family tree. If you look at other companies, you’re more likely to find licensed books or stories from any genre other than superheroes. You have to wonder if there will be another big, successful superhero universe besides the Big Two. After working on IDW’s Power Rangers books, Kyle Higgins brought his variation on that concept to Image Comics and has built up a universe of superheroes alongside other writers.

Nathan is a failed writer who moved back in with his parents in suburban Illinois. He’s reconnected with his childhood friend Marshall while trying to put together pieces of his life. After a night at the bar, the duo is walking home when they encounter a strange black hole-like object. The entity bonds with Nathan, transforming him into a costumed being with many super abilities. Marshall plays the sidekick role as Nathan is wowed by these new abilities. Then, he goes back to trying to write his novel.

This was the big problem I had with this comic. It doesn’t know what to do when its main character gets his powers. They don’t seem to change his life in any meaningful way. Instead, we get an entire issue about Nathan’s writer’s block as he tries to get work done. I don’t find stories centered around a writer’s inability to get work done to be that interesting. Fellini nailed that one with 8 ½, and anything I’ve seen after adds very little to the conversation. Then, the story finally gets to the point, and by the final third of this book, Radiant Black reveals its actual direction. Most of what we’ve read doesn’t really matter in any way because the real star of the comic is someone else entirely.

What’s very interesting here is that #6 is a spotlight on a character Nathan meets, Satomi, aka Radiant Red. She wears a similar suit but with different powers – able to increase her body mass and become bulkier. Satomi uses her powers to commit robberies, stealing heaps of cash. This origin story presents a far more compelling character in its 30 pages than we get from the entirety of Nathan’s arc. This story and the switch of Radiant Black’s powers to a new host got me interested. It was a shame I had to read through so much fluff to get there.

However, once I got into Radiant Black Volume Two, we returned to treading water territory. The new Black encounters two more Radiants – Yellow and Pink. There’s lots of punching and hitting as these characters meet, fight, and then form tentative alliances. Meanwhile, there’s a long stretch where we’re waiting to see what happens to Nathan after his severe injuries. Like the first volume, this drags out for far too long while we get many teases about the cosmic beings behind these powers. 

We get another spotlight issue, this time about Radiant Pink, a streamer who felt pressured to keep being online and her fan base happy. It’s okay, and we see how her powers are unexpectedly linked to Radiant Yellow. I just had trouble buying the streamer premise. Her rationale for being so consumed by the job feels flimsy and not centered in reality. We’re meant to believe she thinks her streams keep some people going in a dreary world and not that she does this because of money/sponsorships/etc. Some people stream because they believe it makes a difference, but I think a more shallow character would be a more interesting take to explore. It would make her a foil for Radiant Red in many ways – a good person forced to use their power for ill vs. a greedy person forced to use their power for good. 

Radiant Red is better, focusing on a more interesting protagonist than many others. This is a lesson in meaningful stakes that don’t have to be world-ending. Satomi’s husband is under a mountain of gambling debt. He tries to act like everything is fine until it all boils over and mobsters make their presence known. Then Satomi encounters the Radiant and gains her powers. She quickly realizes they will help her with the financial tangle her husband has gotten them into. This doesn’t help, and she comes under the scrutiny of even worse elements of the underworld who see her power as a tool they can use. Satomi meets Shift, a villain using Radiant tech that hints at future use by other villains.

This was more of what I was hoping for from Radiant Black. Radiant Red takes the premise of an everyday person being thrust into superherodom and does some interesting things with it. Satomi is a more compelling character than Nathan. I honestly wouldn’t mind her being the lead of this Radiant series. Hoping to see more of her as this saga goes on because her story is a perfect example of writing a strong female character without losing the vulnerability that makes character arcs so compelling.

Once upon a time in Apex City, the striking figure of Inferno Girl Red kept the city safe. Then she disappeared. Years later, teen Cassia Costa was accepted into an illustrious university. Her proud mother shares stories of being a sidekick to Inferno Girl back in the day as they drive there. However, mysterious forces encase Apex City under an energy dome. Around the same time, a mysterious bracelet appears on Cassia’s wrist. When she says the right words and holds her arms crossed, she transforms into the new Inferno Girl, the only person who can stop this threat.

I like many of the ideas here, especially the history Inferno Girl Red has in this world. There’s a background character I would bet money will be revealed as her previous alter ego. And those sorts of things undercut my enjoyment of the comic. Too much-decompressed storytelling. It’s become an overwhelming trend in comics to tease out mysteries to the point of being ridiculous. The vibe I got here was a mediocre YA novel, and I wish more had been done with the concept. The character isn’t developed enough beyond a series of cliches to be interesting. I can see its seeds there, but I think the comic leans on its art to avoid better writing.

This first year culminates in Supermassive, which will become an annual event for this shared universe now called the Massive-verse. Here, we learn that Inferno Girl Red takes place in another universe. There’s a breach, and she ends up in Radiant Black’s world. Additionally, we’re introduced to Rogue Sun, a hero with a more significant legacy in this world. The three team up and fight some monsters, which is standard.

I plan to read through additional chunks of this line of books, but I can’t say I’m excited to continue. I was hoping Higgins would play with Power Rangers tropes more since this series is clearly inspired by the sentai concept. Instead, it’s a lot of hinting at some larger galactic war out in space with characters who aren’t very interesting to follow. Radiant Red is the big exception here. It has an excellent superhero origin and is the sort of moral struggle that adds complexity to the sentai concept.