Review – Black Beacon #1

Review – Black Beacon #1

Writer: Ryan K Lindsay

Artist: Sebastian Piriz

Publisher: Heavy Metal

Release Date: July 28, 2021

The Marketplace of Oh Dears!

There’s an intergalactic space station out there bigger than our solar system where wants everyone to come along and meet up. The beacon made it sound like a utopia, but what Niko finds upon her arrival is a lawless expanse where everyone is out for themselves and she’s so late she doesn’t even have a seat at the table. A story of survival, truth, and experience lies in front of Niko if she can figure out who to trust and what to do before the secret of her journey catches up with her.

Writer: Ryan K Lindsay

Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!

So the famous poem The New Colossus reads at the bottom of the Statue of Liberty, Lindsay takes this idea to a galactic level with Black Beacon. Niko crashes into the Market of Oh Dear! and is saved by Bar V the last policeman in the market. Niko explains that she is a refugee invited there by the Black Beacon, but Bar explains that the reality is that Utopia is full and you need to kill someone to take the right to remain there.

Bar takes her to his friend the Healer who checks if she has any malicious intent, instead, he finds that she vibrates with a strange energy. she sets out to explore the area around the Mosaic Heart the area near the centre. She finds an old lantern jammed into the hands of some dead aliens and decides to keep it. Meanwhile, Bar takes on Wailes a fanatical alien to try and provide Niko with a plate to stay on the Utopia.

Artist: Sebastian Piriz

Piriz work is amazing creating a whole universe of cultures, beings and rituals in single panels. Have a look at the stunning double-page artwork for the Bar’s flight to the Healer showing the size and scale of the station. The added touch of the footer border throughout each page adds a connective element as Bar and Niro seem connected via the scenery. The colours are bright with hints of pastels.

Overall Thoughts

Lindsay holds a mirror up to the current refugee crisis showing that even in a world as large as the Utopia it’s first come, first serve. Perhaps the wider point is that we are all refugees in a way drifting through space looking for our own Utopia. Piriz’s artwork though is a joy with hundreds of tiny details catching your eye as you re-read a panel or page. Bar is the old cop character worn down by life while Niro is a young energetic explorer looking for mysteries and carrying hope it’s a classic but great pairing

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