There is definitely a televised, serial feel to Matt Kindt and Tyler Jenkins’ newest series, Black Badge. I’m reminded of the TV shows I grew up on in the ’80s – The A-Team, Macguyver, and Charlie’s Angels – where there was a hero or group of heroes that went on missions and while the episode specifics were different in what they had to accomplish and how, the same formula was used pretty much every time. This third issue throws a bit of a wrench in the formula, but not quite enough to elevate the stakes . . . yet.

The Black Badge is a select group of Boy Scout elites who are sent into the most dangerous areas of the world to accomplish things adult soldiers could not, because kids can be innocent and ignorant. So far, the missions have been interesting, but nothing that’s put the kids in too far over their heads, at least not in ways that have really rattled them. The kids themselves remain a bit of a mystery; there are a couple of them that are a little more developed than others. There’s definitely the leader and the newbie, but the rest, while they look different and are all resourceful in different ways, sort of blend together. We keep getting back stories, and, in this issue, it’s finally revealed what happened to the previous Black Badge. With the final twist, I feel like maybe we’re about to really dive head first into the story, but we’ll see.

Tyler Jenkins’ work is really interesting to me. Sometimes, he’ll capture this poetic beauty of a moment in an image, but I haven’t seen that as much on display in this series. I feel like, while the book is very enjoyable, it hasn’t opened up yet. It hasn’t hit its stride. The next issue may change that.

Creative Team: Matt Kindt (story), Tyler Jenkins (art), Hilary Jenkins (colors), Jim Campbell (letters), Eric Harburn (editor), Scott Newman (designer)
Publisher: BOOM! Studios
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