Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
Writer: Joshua Hale Fialkov
Artist: Manuel Garcia
Release Date: 19th February 2014

Upon completing the first issue of Skyman I was very skeptical of what was actually trying to be accomplished with this story. It felt as if it was going to be an affirmative action type of story. It begins with a Caucasian, from the Skyman program, attacking an African American. The Caucasian utters, though not completely, a hateful racial slur. Then the government, in an attempt to turn attention from that, decides to kidnap and force a crippled African American Veteran to don a superhero suit and become the new face of the Skyman program. That initial concept turned me off, and adding to it the fact that the man chosen was just going to be the promotional face while another individual put on the Skyman suit to continue with the ‘off-book’ work it was designed for, resulted in me totally losing interest. Enter issue 2!

The second issue begins to give more insight into who Eric Reid really is. He is more of a hero without the suit as he could be with it on. Disabled in some sort of flight accident while he was a pilot, which has yet to be fully revealed, leaves him unable to walk and doing all he can to walk again. Family man, soldier and determined individual who is kidnapped and forced to do something against his will, he is beginning to make the best of his situation. Events unfold and we are introduced to the true heart he has for life, and the perseverance someone can have to overcome the obstacles in their path to save an innocent life.

The artwork is clean and very well done. The characters come to life well in action scenes and emotion is shown well in scenes of conflict and conversation. The writing is intelligent and the dialogue is on point and relative to what the reader needs in order to follow the story and see the development of characters and plot lines. Well put together on all fronts, solid defining moment story telling.

The character development has been handled well, even when the first issue initially turned me off. I now find myself waiting to see what will happen in Reid’s story next! It is a story with a hero full of heart and full of promise, fighting against all odds to be the hero a country needs.

INTERIOR ARTWORK PREVIEW
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The writer of this piece was: Shane Hoffman (aka “Hoff”)