Deron Generally
Deron Generally
Black Badge #1
Boom! Studios
Written by Matt Kindt
Art by Tyler Jenkins
Colors by Hilary Jenkins
Letters by Jim Campbell
A group of scouts is making their way to a river to begin a journey and the newest member of the group Willy is full of questions. He is definitely the more talkative of the group and that is because he is the new guy in this group of elite scouts. As they wind their way along the river, Willy continues to ask questions of this new group of scouts that he finds himself a member of.
When they reach their destination and make camp, Willy tells the group of the circumstances that led him to becoming a member of the group and his quest for the mysterious Black Badge. He also notes that this particular mission and the journey they have taken has brought this scout group deep into North Korea and only Willy seems to be bothered by that fact. As the other scouts prepare for their mission, we see that these are not ordinary scouts and their mission to secure a North Korean nuclear scientist isn’t about getting a merit badge.
There is a lot to admire and enjoy in this first issue. Having Willy constantly trying to break the ice with a group of scouts that seem world-weary and battle hardened is a nice touch by Kindt. There is a level of mystery to this group and that mystery is interesting enough for me to want to know more as this story progresses. I like the tone of the story itself and hopefully, readers will get to see the characters as people at some point so that a connection can be made to who they are and what they do.
Tyler Jenkins’ art is good. A minimal style works for this story because so much of what is going on involves the characters. Jenkins does a good job of framing panels to feature one or two characters at a time in order to keep the narrative intimate. There isn’t a lot of action in this issue but there is potential for some really interesting action beats to come.
Black Badge #1
