Just as the phrase “Hold my beer” entered the lexicon to signal that an amazing and potentially foolhardy thing was about to be attempted, the increasingly ubiquitous phrase “Your mileage may vary” has come to mean that the proponent of a thing recognizes that the thing they are espousing may have somewhat less than universal appeal. It’s a hedge. It says that if you share a certain sensibility with me you might like this. If not, well, bygones. It’s a phrase that gets at the heart of any worthwhile criticism while also failing to add anything else to the conversation. It may as well be punctuation. To be clear, I’ve used this phrase many times.
Written by Matt KindtCover by Matt Kindt
Illustrated by Tyler Jenkins
Colored by Hilary Jenkins
Lettered by Jim CampbellThe Badge of Champions competition reaches its bloody conclusion, and the Black Badges uncover secrets generations in the making.
Matt Kindt and Tyler Jenkins’s “Black Badge” has revealed itself as an acquired taste even for the staunchest fans of the creators (at times, myself included). It’s a book that almost seemed destined and in fact designed to cater to readers looking for something quirky and yet deadly serious. From its initial solicits, the premise was both intriguingly grounded and outlandishly ridiculous: the adventures of a covert international black ops team comprised of teenagers with a Scouts of America sartorial flair. It almost begged readers to dismiss it as poppycock. If the series hoped to hook into an ingrained nostalgia for these types of long running slice-of-Americana youth institutions, it has unequivocally succeeded on that front so far while fleshing out the team of protagonists with revealing backstories and unique and delineated characterizations. With each passing issue, the welfare of these young protagonists is becoming a growing concern. They actually may be in over their heads.
Issue eight arrives soon after the titular team’s victory at the Jamboree, a competition that pitted divergently talented but similarly constructed troops against each other on a remote island and frankly may have played out a bit too succinctly to carry much dramatic weight. What it did provide however was a glimpse into an even larger world of intrigue that Kindt is now famous for weaving throughout his creator-owned writing projects. In issue eight, Kindt again delves into the personal lives of the Black Badge team while they are on R and R, the seemingly unwelcome reward for their Jamboree win by showing each member under surveillance by the more espionage-saavy White Badges. This construct drives the narrative in an increasingly compelling and dramatic way as each Black Badge member is given a threat level by their observers. You see the White Badges are a part of an even more clandestine group, The Honour Society, whose machinations and purpose must be protected at all costs.
The issue also ends with a game-changing act of violence. It may be the series’ first truly jaw-dropping moment that will force readers to flip back and scrutinize the art on the preceding pages, and it’s one that will undoubtedly change the course of the rest of the series. What might have been read as a swashbuckling but relatively low-stakes affair has become deadly, and the cliffhanger should serve the series well. Eight issues in, the book could have been pigeonholed as a book concerned with showing youthful empowerment and survivalism in the face of adult corruption, but to show the lengths to which youth can be corrupted might just make for a more harrowing and intriguing narrative for an already enjoyable but slightly breezy adventure yarn.
Jenkins’s accompanying artwork on the series has been Spartan, oftentimes appearing to be something more akin to polished thumbnail sketches layered with bold blacks and watercolor-like flourishes provided by Hilary Jenkins. The art gives the narrative a guerilla-style documentary feel, increasing the immediacy. It can be alienating, and it’s hard to fault readers for not vibing with the sketchbook aesthetic. This reviewer finds the look of the book refreshing, challenging readers to overcome not only their prejudices about the narrative premise but also with its presentation. The economy of Jenkins’s style is a welcome respite from the most liberal doses of over-produced four color artwork and is masterful in its narrative efficiency. His use of negative space can make the book feel slight at times, but looking back on this issue and the installments that preceded it, much has happened even if it is only recently that readers have been given a reason to care about the characters in light of their tragic and conflicted personal lives. Again, it’s a welcome dramatic weight that the series sorely needed.
The solicitation text for the issue seems to suggest that even Boom, the publisher of “Black Badge,” is at a loss for ways to market the book. Half of it is virtually copy and pasted from the previous issues’ text, and the other half of the solicit is just downright misleading. To be fair, the book unabashedly defies the type of elevator pitch marketing that steers the bus on these types of non-cape and cowl stories. Like the youthful agents “Black Badge” portrays, the book seems to be working against long odds. If Kindt and Jenkins can turn this story into a must-read title for more readers by the time it eventually concludes, I wouldn’t be surprised. If anyone could pull it off, it would be Kindt. In fact I can almost hear him, sitting in his studio and muttering, “Hold my beer.”
Final Verdict: 8.0 – After a somewhat underwhelming lead-in issue that nevertheless gave the series underdog a chance to shine, “Black Badge” #8 ratchets up the stakes. If you’ve wandered away from the series, it’s time to find your way back.
