HE’S A POWDER KEG OF BLACK FURY THAT’S ABOUT TO EXPLODE! The baddest kung-fu cat to ever appear on screen is coming to comics so you suckers better duck! Former CIA agent, international ladies man, and sworn ass-kicking enemy of The Man… he’s BLACK DYNAMITE–and he’s about to walk into the most dangerous journey of his life!

I have heard of Black Dynamite before this, I know that there was a live action movie and an animated cartoon series, but I never watched either and didn’t know much about it other than that it was some kind of Blaxploitation parody. So I don’t even know why I decided to buy this first issue, it was just sort of an impulse thing, but let me tell you that I am very glad that I did!

Written by Brian Ash, with pencils by Ron Wimberly (and inked by the legendary Sal Buscema), this 4-issue miniseries is published by IDW Comics. The story is called “EVERY ORIGIN HAS A BEGINNING”, although it doesn’t real tell us the origin of Black Dynamite. He’s already an established figure when this book begins. In fact, he seems to be retired. He’s wandering the rainy streets of streets of Havana in 1976, being secretly stalked by a mysterious group of men. Then it flashbacks to a few years earlier, where we are watching a block party in “the community” (unnamed, but it appears to be somewhere in New York, like Harlem or Brooklyn). The fun times are interrupted by a super strong villain called Too Swole. Black Dynamite arrives on the scene to face Too Swole, taking him after a pitched battle utilizing his awesome Kung Fu skills. But instead of being praised by the community, Black Dynamite finds himself being criticized for his actions. The one and only Alex Haley shows up to inform Black Dynamite that he’s actually doing more harm than good in the Black Community.

Over the next few pages we get some more flashbacks of Black Dynamite fighting other over-the-top villains, and a recounting of all the damage these battles cost. People are grateful that Black Dynamite has cleaned up the streets of regular criminals, but now that super criminals are actively coming into the neighborhood specifically to challenge him, and that’s putting everyone else in even more danger. And that’s what leads Black Dynamite to make the decision to leave the community, for their own good. He says his goodbyes and then hits the road, eventually ending up in Cuba, which is where this story began. Soon a White man with a gun approaches Black Dynamite, who assumes that the man is with the C.I.A., but all I’m going to say that it is clearly a MUCH bigger organization behind this. TO BE CONTINUED

I thought that this was a very good issue, for what it is. By that I mean that is a homage to 70’s Blaxploitation films, so if you’re a fan of those types of movies and stories, then I’m positive that you will enjoy this. It’s not super-deep or anything, but it’s fun. Brian Ash manages to write the characters in a way that’s just a little over-the-top, but he keeps it from coming off like slapstick. And Ron Wimberly’s art captures the mood of the era perfectly. This miniseries is off to a wonderful start.

FIVE STARS

Available for purchase on Comixology.com