Queen in Black: Defenders of Light and Dark #1 – For Asgard and Earth

Knull, defeated and drained of his power by Hela must become that which he once sought to destroy. With Hela as the new Queen in Black, Knull has become a god of light. As the two battle for control of Earth, will the defenders of Earth be able to rise and stop one or both of them? Which heroes will show up to defend Earth? It may be some you don’t expect.

This review is brought to you by Nerd Initiative’s Shawn!

Creative Team

Writers: Al Ewing and Tom Waltz
Artist: Zé Carlos
Color Artist: Fer Sifuentes-Sujo
Letterer: Joe Caramagna
Cover Artist: David Marquez
Cover Color Artist: Federico Blee

Writing

Right out of the gate, I really love the teams and the way they break down in this series. Al Ewing and Tom Waltz are doing something really unique with the team light and team dark setup. Not only is it giving characters we aren’t seeing much like Beta Ray Bill a chance to shine, but who wouldn’t want to see Monica Rambeau and Tandy Bowen team up to face off against Hela’s army? Perhaps the most impressive aspect of issue #1 of Queen In Black: Defenders of Light and Dark is the way that, despite nine different characters functioning across two teams, Ewing and Waltz seem to perfectly capture what makes each team and the characters on the team unique.

This is best illustrated when Tandy questions her role on the team due to the presence of heavy hitters like Sunfire and Photon on her team. Despite her power and abilities, Tandy has always been a little self-conscious about her abilities when functioning as a team outside of just her and Ty. They capture Monica’s humor and dedication perfectly. Ewing also masterfully works in a bit of a plug for The Mortal Thor in the event someone picks up this issue that hasn’t been following by reinforcing the fact that some heroes don’t know what Asgard is. What an ending to this issue! I can’t wait to see where Ewing and Waltz go from here.

Art

Zé Carlos, Fer Sifuentes-Sujo, and Joe Caramagna did a superb job with this initial issue. Carlos perfectly captures the characters with beautiful line work, particularly with Knull and Ty. As beings of light and darkness, it can be hard to really make them stand out, but Carlos does a wonderful job of making them distinct and powerful.

Fer Sifuentes-Sujo really got creative with the color palette in this issue. I would imagine that working on an issue that features such drastic contrasts as light vs dark can be both challenging and a color artist’s dream. Sifuentes-Sujo really runs with the challenge crafting not only beautiful colors for the panels but breathtaking backgrounds. The cosmic nature of this battle really let them play with the look, and it turned out so good. Joe Caramagna deserves a special tip of the cap for his work on this issue. On top of managing separate battles between two teams, there’s also managing the communication between Tandy and Ty which Caramagna handles perfectly. Despite the chaos going on within the panels, I never struggled to follow the story or be aware of what was going on.

Final Thoughts

This was a really exciting entry into the Queen In Black series. I like the team-ups and enjoy seeing some characters that we don’t get to see often. Ewing and Waltz crafted an enjoyable story while Carlos and Sifuentes-Sujo put beautiful art on the page to push the story even further.

Overall Grade: 9/10

What did you think about this new series? Let me know in the comments