Review: Heart of the Black Matrix (Bayan Knights)

Heart of the Black Matrix

Script: Don Celedina and Mark Wong

Story: Gilbert Monsanto

Art: Erwin Ropa

If you love action heroes but apprehensive of picking up a Bayan Knights comic because of its multitudinous cast, trust me when I tell you to have an open mind and read the character-driven “Heart of the Black Matrix.”

SPOILER ALERT

The story is about five mostly street-level Bayan Knights sent to rescue a half-breed Aswang child being grafted with the so-called “Black Matrix.” But while a couple of characters were just following orders or hangers on, other characters Kawal, Mao and Zheya had their personal reasons in joining the mission.

I generally enjoyed it because the writers balanced characterization and action in the story. The scribes know that to write an effective superhero story, they have to make readers care about the characters first before throwing them in a fight.

By looking at the art, you would know that the artist enjoyed drawing action-packed scenes. My only complaint was the panel showing Overdrive getting nun-chucks. Were these weapons teleported to him? It was not clear how he received his weapons.

I am intrigued by Kawal, a character who can morph his arms into various weapons, not because of his power set but his quest to find his true identity. Did he lose his memories or is he an artificial man with blank slate? I believe the issue primarily advanced Kawal's story and made this reader hugely interested.

I hoped there was a hint why Mao, a doctor wielding a half-shear from another dimension was valuable to the mission. He was not really effective in the fight itself that I began to question why the team's enigmatic deployer Council, I suspect, had to kill Mao's lady friend to mislead him in joining the mission. Sure, Council may have been shown to have the power to resurrect the dead, which I assume, he did to Overdrive, but I think inflicting the pain of being stabbed with a bamboo stick or a metal rod, especially to a woman, is inhuman for someone who was supposed to be on the side of angels.

I also did not understand why Mao had to be plucked from his home dimension to join Bayan Knights. Are there not enough heroes who can match whatever power set or medical skills Mao has? I suspect Mao was created as an extradimensional character because his own continuity does not fit in the BK universe. Creators have to show in the upcoming issues how essential he is to justify why Council had to practically drag him to the mission and to their universe.

But I must admit, this is great way to advance the character of Council as a manipulative “fan” of BK. I just hope to read a story where Council pays for his actions.

I wished I was the guy who created Talim. He's awesome! I dig the character design and can only dream to borrow Talim to have him team-up with my character Muckraker in Segovia Solutions. But what he showed off in combat, he lacked in character development. But hey, we can't give everyone the spotlight.

I was not exactly a fan of the elven-dreamwalker Zheya being included in the team but the dream-walk sequence was fantastic. Zheya though is the most likely candidate to expose Council's machinations, if there are.

Overdrive was cool but I hope his death and resurrection would somehow have an effect on his character in the upcoming issues and other titles. I suggest to have the character deal with his mortality and “second chance” in life. This reminds me of Impulse maturing and becoming Kid Flash after being shot on the knee by Deathstroke.

All in all, it was good team book. I congratulate the people behind the “X-Force” of Bayan Knights. Sure, I may have raised some points for improvement (Blame Overdrive creator Mark Rosario; he asked me to make a review.) but I have re-read the book five times so far. I guess it is an understatement to say that I enjoyed it. I slept beside the book with a smile on my face on the night of Summer Komikon.

Jerald Uy