Comic Review: Black Cotton #5 (Scout Comics)

Black Cotton #5 from Scout Comics increases the danger and savage brutality factor. It’s another gripping chapter!

For those of us who have just ‘woken up’, here’s an elevator-intro to Black Cotton: What if black Americans were the dominant majority of the US population, and white people were the downtrodden minority? And if a black cop from a wealthy family accidentally shot a white woman, what would transpire? And when Asian assassins arrive, wielding their swords and serving it up raw??

Writer Brian Hawkins does much more than simply turn the status quo on its ear when he composes this storyline. Things are turned on their head, as the What If? approach plays out in various scenarios. But to Hawkins’ credit, it’s not a simple ‘formula explored’. We get past the top layers, which begins to allow the characters to develop and breathe. The end result is a very human story, made so much more meaningful and captivating by his use of natural speech cadences. The dialogue runs deep and the scenes of comfort and confrontation are just wonderful to experience here.

Artist Marco Perugini’s approach, a black and white ‘performance stage’ with the characters wandering in and out, lends itself to emphasizing the scripted drama. The panels are light on background detail and heavy on facial expressions and intimate up-close moments of gesture. So good, so fluid and primal. Letters by Francisco Zamora.

I’m tellin’ ya, this is a dramatic, nuanced book, and you need to jump in now to take advantage of this passing train of performance!