It’s rare to see a comic hero that is not white. A character of any other race sometimes does well (“Spawnâ€) while others don’t. Joshua Hale Fialkov’s “Skyman†dares to make a character whose main focus is that he’s black. The trade paperback collects the first four issues in the series and is a sad excuse for a story, one that focuses more on race than anything of real substance.
Eric Reid is an Afghanistan War vet who was injured in battle to the point where he lost his ability to walk. He is now forced to wear a superhero suit that enhances all his abilities including making walk again in what’s called “Operation Skyman.†After a while he finds out the truth about the operation and goes AWOL.
The story is about as basic as you can get. Former soldier gets back into the fight and is given some new gear that’ll help him out. The story was supposed to be about a black soldier going against a racist psychopath. That goes down the toilet as you read more into the comic. The idea that Eric is black and his number one enemy is a racist has about as much to do with the story as his shoe size. It is possible to make an interesting black or, for that matter, any non-white character and not draw attention to his race. Look at “Spawn†for example. Does his race come into the comics at all? No.
Let’s also look at the fact that he also comes into contact with Captain Midnight. This is going the “Marvel†or “DC†route where it was obvious the writer had no faith in his creation and needed to bring in another character from another series to help out. That’s not good storytelling, that’s lazy writing.
The art by Manuel Garcia is fine for the most part. The character designs look top notch and the action flows nicely. The only major down side is character faces. Some look OK while others look deformed and terrible.
“Skyman TPB #1†introduces readers to a basic and familiar story that seems all too familiar. The race card is played as a marketing ploy if even that.
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