Black Beacon #3

Black Beacon #3

Heavy Metal Comics 2021

Written by Ryan K. Lindsay

Illustrated by Sebastian Piriz

Lettered by Jame

Niko finally gets some answers about the Sphere as she travels inside it to meet the army of robots that clean and tend to its maintenance. Unfortunately, this means she must also give up answers, and having her sole friend see how horribly beats the heart of man is a tough reveal. Thankfully all introspection will meet action as the Xed show their hand in the dirty war they wage.

As Niko learns more about this world we learn right alongside her. Only not everything she learns is what she wants to hear and it seems that these alien species have easily figured out just how volatile and warlike humans are or can be. It is funny, but not really, how easy it is to understand the majority of human nature, I say majority because not everyone is the same. I love the opening here with the Fifth Dimensional Sentient Machine and how we see the interchange between the two. I think that this does a magnificent job in setting the stage for what we are going to be seeing throughout this issue and those that follow.

I’m a huge fan of the way that this is being told. The story & plot development that we see through the narration, the description paes, the dialogue, the character interaction as well as how we see them act and react to the situations and circumstances which they encounter does a magnificent job in bringing their personalities to the forefront. The pacing is excellent and as it takes us through the pages revealing more and more of the story the more we want to see and learn. There are many species that we see and many plates where they inhabit that we want to see more of and we only get glimpses of them and that’s enough to wet the appetite.

I’m really impressed with how we see this being structured and how we see the layers within the story continue to emerge, grow, evolve and strengthen. These layers we see open up new avenues to be explored and whether they are explored or not they all add this great depth, dimension and complexity to the story. Niko’s adventures, including her trying to see her ship, lead to a whole lot of interesting moments. How we see everything working together to create the story’s ebb & flow as well as how we see it move the story forward is immaculately rendered.

The interiors here are fabulous. How we see the linework and its varying weights and techniques being utilised to create the detail within the work is sensationally rendered. We see some nice backgrounds being utilised but there could always be more to really enhance and expand the moments. How we see the composition within the panels to bring out the depth perception, sense of scale and the overall sense of size and scope to the story is incredibly well rendered. The utilisation of the page layouts, which is utterly fabulous, and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show a remarkable eye for storytelling. The various hues and tones within the colours being utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work shows a great eye for how colour works. How we see things being applied, gradation and blocking, is incredibly well rendered and it really makes some moments pop.

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I still can’t tell if Niko is male or female and we know she had a female lover so this starts to make more sense to me. That she’s the one who arrives first in essence to pave the way for the rest of the humans who are supposed to come should prove to be interesting in its own right and if they do arrive they shouldn’t or won’t be welcomed with open arms though she does have her own plate where humans could now settle. Not that humans are content to stay where they are designated. Regardless this engages the reader beautifully and if my rambling doesn’t show this then I don’t know what will. The writing is smart and interesting while the characterisation is intelligent and fascinating and these interiors really do a magnificent job in bringing the whole thing to life.