Saladin Ahmed

Blending genre settings with social commentary offers a lot of potential and crafts a literary heft I enjoy in what's otherwise comfort reading. There seems to be a renewed recognition of this, spotlighted in recent television adaptations as Lovecraft Country or Watchmen, the Jordan Peele cinema offerings Get Out and Us. Ahmed does well in the same sandbox, without feeling at all derivative.

Abbott blends Detroit locale & the cultural zeitgeist of late 60s / early 70s (age of aquarius, race show more relations, black panthers, chocolate city, women's lib). This story takes place 1972, the sequel itself is titled "1973". The intertwining of plot and social mileau is underscored with chapter titles lifted from song titles or lyric.

Ahmed very well might leaven the text with various blaxploitation references, I'm not familiar enough to identify them, but it feels like they'd be there. Weird references include the name of the local professor and suspect, Philip Howard Bellcamp: HPL, Frank Bellknap Long. Overall there seems to be plenty of layering, perhaps extending to the artwork, it's detail like that which will reward another read.

//

As her support network begins to fail her and her luck appears to be running out, the story takes a turn: with some changes more believable than others (Fred, Sebastian), Amelia, no cop access to Sgt Gratham. Somehow that left me with the impression of a story that wasn't superhero, wasn't inevitable that she would triumph. I liked it -- though I somehow missed how she got her '68 Mustang fixed. show less

Adoulla Mahkslood is getting too old for this shit. He’s been fighting ghuls and the men who create them for more than forty years now, and he’s tired of facing indescribable horrors and courting death. But while he may be a grumpy old fart who’s more than earned his retirement, he’s also a hero, and he can’t bring himself to leave anyone he could have saved to their cruel fate. So, with revolution building in the background and visions of city streets becoming rivers of blood show more haunting his dreams, he sets out to fight the most dangerous enemy he’s ever encountered. With him are his assistant Rashid, from a religious demon-slaying order, a retired pair of married magicians, and Zamia, a young woman who can transform into a lion and is seeking vengeance for her slaughtered family.
It was exciting, full of action, emotionally intense and had great characters. And I love the fact that the protagonist is fat and still badass, never seems insecure about it and doesn’t so much as think of losing weight. show less

I saw this book in a display at my local bookstore for books by Michigan authors and I was intrigued (but broke). So when I saw it at the library of course I had to check it out.

I LOVED THIS BOOK SO MUCH. I mean, I was drawn in from the back-cover description of Elena as a "hard-nosed, chain-smoking tabloid reporter," and she was, indeed, a great character. Following leads regardless of danger to herself, eye-rolling at woo occult forces despite the weirdness she's already seen, stubborn, show more driven, with a strong sense of moral outrage.

Now. Let's talk about the art. It's such a magical thing when the art style perfectly matches the voice of the story -- and this does. The drawings seem designed to both reference and subvert blaxploitation aesthetic and tropes. With a lot of great Detroit signatures thrown in. Then on top of that add the coloring. I don't know how much I've ever noticed the colorist as a distinct part of the art team before -- but the effects here are magnificent. The way the whole color palette shifts scene to scene -- the warm peaches/tans/blue-grays of daytime and office work, the pinks and mauves when meeting with Amelia at the club, the violets/indigos/hot pinks and reds of the occult influences/creatures at night. Each color change invokes its own mood while still transitioning into each other seamlessly.

I made two pair of earrings to coordinate with the cover, but I'm also tempted to design earrings for individual page spreads.

Anyway, if you like weird retro occult detective stories, especially if you'd like them updated with intersectional feminist/racist call-outs and LGBTQIA+ representation, this book is for you. show less

I was dreading reading this, because Marvel's push of the Inhumans is the least interesting thing about Marvel by a long shot, and Black Bolt is the King of the Inhumans. But it turns out that if you take the King of the Inhumans and put him into space prison, allow him to speak, and team him up with the Absorbing Man, a hood from Brooklyn who used to fight Thor, he suddenly becomes enormously interesting! Well, interesting enough to hang an enjoyable story off, anyway. This is fun and show more well-done, a prison break narrative featuring superheroes and -villains; in addition to Blackagar Boltagon and Carl "Crusher" Creel the Absorbing Man, there's an old alien man (apparently a Hulk villain), a kid with many eyes, and a Skrull pirate who refuses to shapeshift because she likes herself the way she is. Christian Ward's art is sometimes a little difficult to follow, but usually incredible, handling conversation and surreal space torture with equal aplomb. The best issue is the one where Black Bolt and Creel are trapped in a room together as the air runs out, and Creel reveals that amidst his superpowers, he has an all-too-human tragic backstory-- but also hopes and dreams. Funny and touching. All this plus Lockjaw! Who knew I could be made to care about an Inhuman? I think this is one of those ongoings that gets cancelled after twelve issues, so one more collection will see the series off; I'll have to check it out from the library. show less