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
