Advance Review: A Great Start To `Sins Of The Black Flamingo’ #1
by Tom Smithyman
Overview
Just in time to close out Pride Month, this premiere issue features a queer protagonist (and antagonist) unlike any you’ve encountered before. That breathes fresh air into a Robin Hood-like story of a thief who steal from the rich because the poor have nothing worth taking.
Overall
9/10Sebastian Harlow is not your typical comic book hero. In fact, he’s not your typical anything. And that helps to make Image Comic’s newest limited series, Sins of the Black Flamingo, a welcome addition to readers’ pull lists.
Harlow is a queer, ostentatiously dressed thief who goes by the Black Flamingo alter ego as he takes on “ridiculous” jobs, including bringing a golem to life and encountering angels. His latest is trying to stop some modern-day Nazis from getting their hands on a demon. That involves getting into a swank party in Key Biscayne, which he does with the help of his friend Ofelia, who is apparently a witch. The Justice League, this ain’t. And that makes it even more compelling.
Writer Andrew Wheeler turns in an intriguing, irreverent script that moves the plot along while still giving the reader the necessary background. The issue is packed with more caustic zingers than the most cynical Spider-Man writer could deliver in a year. “Being the worst means never fearing the worst.” “I rob from the rich because the poor have nothing worth taking.” And perhaps the most timely: “God knows what those idiots would do If they captured a demon. Elect him, probably.”
Artist Travis Moore has fun with the flamboyant Flamingo and his bedazzled mask. Harlow claims it stops the cameras from recording his face, but the truth is he think it makes him look fabulous. Moore seems equally at home depicting a homeless man stealing a urinal and a woman marrying an iguana (It is Florida, after all) as he is in drawing a few pages of rotting humans that could easily be found in The Walking Dead. He’s also not afraid to make the male body look sexy, even throwing in a couple of butt shots for good measure.
This initial installment has the makings of being a breakout hit for Wheeler and Moore. The next few issues will be instrumental in building off that momentum and delivering readers a must-have series.
Sins of the Black Flamingo #1 will be available for purchase on June 29, 2022.
