Higgins said the comic was borne out of his interest in Japanese sci-fi film and TV, which he’d explored while writing “Power Rangers” for BOOM! Studios, and “The Rise of Ultraman” for Marvel. “The more I’ve familiarized myself with their different storytelling conventions, scope, and themes, the more I’ve found myself thinking about how those elements cross over with what we — in America — traditionally think of as superheroes,” he said. He then pitched the concept to Image publisher Eric Stephenson during a conversation about doing something brand new in the superhero genre.
He also said the book is inspired by his personal life, elaborating, “Nathan’s situation is something I relate to on a variety of levels — getting into your 30s and feeling like you’re not on the right path, or not even knowing what the right path is, I think is incredibly relatable. Or at least, it’s something I’ve struggled with quite a bit over the years. I’ve worked very hard, but I’ve also been very lucky. I’m doing OK, but I’m nowhere near where I’d like to be. I have debt, failures and plenty of insecurities. In 2016, after a bad breakup, I moved back home for a bit, too. While this isn’t a story about me, there’s a lot of me in this story. Down to Nathan’s hometown also being Lockport, Illinois.”
Costa said, “‘Radiant Black’ has two things that I love — superheroes and Sentai. When Kyle told me he wanted to mix these two worlds, it was immediately interesting to me.” Regarding the title hero’s look, he said he “feel that a good superhero design needs to be modern, simple and unique,” and that “the idea has always been that Radiant Black could be both an urban hero battling bank robbers in the city as well as a galactic warrior who battles alien threats. The design had to have characteristics that would work for both. We worked on several concepts and several different suits, but none gave us the result we wanted. It was only when I abandoned all previous ideas and started over that Radiant Black really came to life. It was an incredible moment.”
For more from the creators, including how working on “Power Rangers” has “almost permanently scarred” Higgins “when it comes to thinking about trying to convey emotion through static helmets,” head to io9, who also have covers and preview art. “Radiant Black” #1 will arrive in physical and digital comic book shops on February 10, 2021.
