Writer – Brian Augustyn
Artist – Rags Morales
Colours – Eric Kachelhofer
Letters – Gaspar

The second issue of Black Condor takes the time to introduce its first villain, the incredibly goofy Sky Pirate. It is hard to tell if writer Brian Augustyn is trying to create a serious superhero book, given the tone of the first issue and the demeanour of Condor in this one but such as it is, this issue is more on the comedic side with a little whimsy thrown in by the man here and there. Almost the entirety of the book is taken up by Sky Pirate and his origin, a tale that finds the man essentially a nobody at first, who then finds his inventions of interest to the ‘man’ but turns another way and falls in with some hippie freedom fighters. Working with sonic vibrations, the man is able to do things nobody else can do and uses it to rob planes and such, making tons of money for his friends and colleagues until finally, they retire him, which he is glad to do. For a long time, he lives a life of peace until he sees one of his old friends on the cover of a magazine, now incredibly rich and no longer fighting the good fight which angers Sky Pirate to no end. So it is that he comes out of retirement, looking to get his cut of the pie and earning the ire of Black Condor in the process. All in all, the book is a good read and Augustyn definitely captures the attention of the reader by making Sky Pirate’s origin quite captivating. Be that as it may, most origin stories usually grab the attention of those who peruse them, this one being no different as it is always interesting to learn the beginnings of a hero or a villain. As for Black Condor, he figures into this all quite by accident as he is flying by when he gets hit by the sonic vibrations that Sky Pirate’s machines set off. If it was not for that, the hero would not have interfered and the villain might have gotten away with his plan. Be that as it may, the story ends on a cliff-hanger, to be continued in the next issue and as silly as this tale might be, one still wants to find out how it ends both because of that and because of the mystery that Augustyn and Rags Morales began in the last issue with Condor’s very own origin which continues in part right here.

3 out of 5