Blacksmith is written by Malik Evans and Richard Sparkman, who are billed as newcomers. (I did find a Malik Evans who’s running for the State Assembly in New York. I assume that’s not the same guy.) If this is their first comics work, it’s really impressive. It reads a little like a movie script to me, but since more people buy movie tickets than read comics, I don’t really see that as being a problem. It’s cinematic, with cool action scenes and strong characterization. And I love that they didn’t go in an easy direction with the story. Rather than having a story that’s nothing but guys with increasingly complicated guns shooting at one another, this is a more human approach to Alex’s story. The big guns are just window dressing.
