Trade Review #14--Young Terrorist and Calexit (BM #2)

I've finally had the time to start knocking out the end of my initial Black Mask purchase (don't worry, I have more!).  It was time to dive solely into the political realm with today's titles.  I had paused from some of the more overt political books just because of burn out and frustration with work (government teacher), but I needed a new taste, especially with two books which focus on burning down the system.

Young Terrorists (Black Mask)
By: Matteo Pizzolo, Amancay Nahuelpan, Jean-Paul Csuka, Jim Campbell and David Hopkins

A young woman is set to inherit her father's wealth and prominence, but once she figure's out what he is wrapped up in, she want's no part of it, and aims to burn everything down from the inside-out.

This book brings back the old-school NWO conspiracy in the most glourious fashion.  In the early pages of the book we get an infographic of the different factions and all of their corporate and political alignments to see the whole depth of what our heroes (yep, we are rooting for the terrorists in this one) really have to face and dismantle.

The storyline focuses primarily on Sera (the heiress) reflecting through the physical and mental struggles of her childhood where her father was essentially was training her to be a fighter and a killer (we get this throughout various flashbacks). It also focuses on Cesar who is an animal rights activist who is constantly fleeing from the law.  He is essentially recruited to be a part of Sera's organization.  We witness his programming, his brain being um....reset... and wondering if he can rise to the level of Sera's organizational demands.

This story has everything.  Conspiracies, high action and lots of blood, interesting character narratives, technological and body modification, and dna-splicing with mushrooms. The art in this book is on fire. Character reactions, the way shadow is different on naked (and clothed) human bodies, the battles show the full breadth of conflict, everything was on-point.

What sold me on this book was the small essay written by Pizzolo about how this book is a massive F-U to lobbies, big corporate money, politicians who don't care about their constituents.  This book is the rage I've felt bubbling inside me on a daily basis where I have to espouse the greatness of politics and participatory democracy to all of my students.  So, this was a good bit of outrage and catharsis for me.

Calexit (Black Mask)
By: Matteo Pizzolo, Amancay Nahuelpan, Tyler Boss, Jim Campbell 

This book perfectly captures the what-if notion of if California (or parts of it) decided to secede from the union.  In a world where California decided it was a sanctuary state (a very real thing) there became several factions who wished to separate from one another while others decide to remain loyal to the US Government.  This creates not just a small band of revolutionaries with a bill to fight, but also a large presence of Natural Guard forces stationed throughout California.

This book focuses on increasing the will of the revolutionaries to recruit normal Californians to fight against the tyranny of the US Government vs the will of the state to increase suppression of the revolution.  This book is gritty, its sardonic, and it does a great job capturing a lot of the political pressures of today's world. It also does a great job of showing the revolutionary will to fight, and how it could be unlocked in the rest of us.

Conclusion

Both of these books are gritty, revolutionary political thrillers that I thoroughly enjoyed. The art, the writing, the colors are all exceptional, and I enjoy both of these titles as much as I did the first two I reviewed (Godkiller and Black) and I'm excited to keep reading more Black Mask Titles.