Issue 2 of Black Cotton, a Scout Comics miniseries delves deeper into a fascinating “What If”: What if white people were the minority of the US population and black people were the majority? 
In issue 2, black police officer Zion Cotton faces public outcry after shooting Elizabeth Nightingale, an unarmed white woman. He’s from a wealthy family, but does that help or hinder?
Writer Brian Hawkins has a gift for drama and dialogue. The characters act and react to each other inside a sense of real space and time. They live and breathe. The story flows effortlessly, embued with all the essentials of great storytelling.
Plus there is a wonderful melding here of narrative between Hawkins and artist Marco Perugini. Perugini handles his visuals so deftly; only the essentials are illustrated. Figures with thick and thin minimal strokes uncannily portray gesture, mood, emotion. The ratio of light to shadow is exquisite. The art is so striking in black and white and grey halftone. Not only does this seem appropriate, given the subject matter, but it fits the film noir mood. Dark space, punctuated with white space.
This is a strong book, “punching far above its weight”, as the cliché goes. If you like complex drama, the examination of racial bias and role reversal, and a gripping narrative that makes you sit up and pay attention, you should pick up this series now!
Scout Comics, Black Cotton #2, $3.99 for 26 pages of content. Teen
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