Blackout is a book built on mystery.  It is also a new superhero title that falls under the Project Black Sky imprint from Dark Horse Comics that is a very solid and entertaining read.  Written by Frank J. Barbiere, the man behind the brilliant Five Ghosts, and drawn by Colin Lorimer, it chronicles the tale of a man who unexpectedly comes into possession of an armoured suit, one that gives him a number of fantastical powers.  This plot device has been used dozens of times before, but in this case, it comes to a man who at first does not even want it, but more importantly, arrives with more questions than answers and a note that says, ‘find me.’  It is that note that sends Scott Travers on a path he never thought he would have to travel, looking for his Uncle Bob who has vanished.  Unknown to Travers, the suit he how wears, codenamed Blackout, comes from the very same company that he and his uncle worked for and also discovers that his boss has been creating weapons for a group of mysterious people, a group that will protect their assets at any cost.  But with the help of his friend Ash and a person on the inside who decides that what the company is doing is wrong, Travers might just get to the bottom of it.

Everything in this book is one big puzzle, from the way the suit works to what it does and just what that strange dimension really is when Travers jumps through those portals.  Seeing Travers try and figure it all out is quite fun as well as he is essentially learning as he goes.  Barbiere’s depiction of our hero is not what is usually associated with the superhero crowd as Travers does not even want the armour.  But by the end of the first story-arc, he starts to take things a little more seriously and realizes that no one else is going to find his Uncle Bob.  Adding to this, aside from the disappearance of his uncle and the Blackout armour is the mystery of why the company is doing what it is doing and wondering exactly what else they are hiding.  As more and more things start to rear their heads, they seem to be just more pieces of a larger, fragmented picture that Barbiere wants to keep close to the chest, as he ratchets up the suspense and the action.  The book has layers of intrigue and endless questions that Travers needs to unlock, but with his inexperience and the determination of the company to find out who he is and retrieve the armour; our hero is going to have to do more than his best.

Volume one of this new book does what it should, introducing us to our main character, setting up the obstacles he will have to overcome as well as tying it all together with a narrative that is both interesting and compelling enough to warrant the reader’s attention.  Barbiere does all this and more and though we might have seen some of these situations in other books at other times, the writing and pencilling is top-notch and will definitely make you want to come back for more.

3.5 out of 5