It wasn’t that I had my doubts about Black Badge. After finishing The Grass Kings, I’d put my trust in the creative team of Matt Kindt, Tyler Jenkins, and Hillary Jenkins any time. Like The Grass Kings, Black Badge took a few issues to settle into itself. The entirety of issue seven had me exclaiming out loud at the end, “Oh, sh*t!”

The Black Badges are one sect of elite scouts that are sent into dangerous military and political-level situations, because no one will suspect a kid of being there to extract a prisoner or locate the exact drop point of a missile, etc. Now, the Black Badges have come across a conspiracy in which one of the other sects may not be as good as everyone believes them to be. The last few issues have been a YA reader’s heaven, as all five scout sects have raced across an island to come in first at their jamboree. It’s been dangerous and thrilling, but this issue belongs to Willy.

Willy is the newest Black Badge; he’s had a terrible time fitting in and gaining the other’s trust. He finally gets to show off his stuff, and it’s awesome. In issue seven, secrets are revealed, and the danger escalates.

The thrilling thing is that the more I read, the more I feel this does exist in the same world as Mind MGMT.

When Tyler Jenkins is on, he’s on, and in this issue, he nails it. From panel to panel, the adventure springs to life. Hilary Jenkins’ colors are really beautiful in this issue, not only bringing to life the island they find themselves on, but finding really interesting color palettes for the flashbacks: a pale green for the instances of destabilization around the world, and then a warm amber when Willy and team leader Kenny connect. Choices like that not only help to tell the story but involve the emotions on levels beyond the writing. This is a great team on a comic that continues to get better and better with each issue.

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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