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

Black Condor is still reeling from the effects of the vibrations that Sky Pirate’s vehicle and gadgets give off and he can barely get his bearings. Soon enough though, Condor fights back against those dizzying effects and is able to stand and fly once again. It is not long before he confronts the man again, this time with a more congenial approach – simply talking instead of fighting and tells Sky Pirate that his business is his business as long as innocents do not get hurt and he goes on his merry way once it is all said and done. Terms are agreed to and that should have been that. As it is, Black Condor decides to continue to poke his nose into it and a wee bit more action is had as the former colleague that Sky Pirate is trying to embezzle from decides to renege on their deal and kill the man. Black Condor cannot condone that and so intervenes, saving Sky Pirate and stopping the real villain of the piece letting it all end on a happy note. Surprisingly, this was a pretty fun tale with Brian Augustyn and Rags Morales treading a fine line between a comedic and serious story and while it was entertaining enough, there still feels like there is something missing from it all. Could it be the lack of a real villain or even some sort of direction other than the ‘here is Black Condor and here is what he is going to do today’ type of deal. The best part of it all perhaps was the quick flash to his past where the scientists are working on him to give him the powers that he now sports. It adds a bit of much-needed depth to the character, letting readers know that he went through something bad and if he takes the time to fly around and do his thing, he has earned it. That being said, it would be nice if Augustyn really got into the origin part a little more and even better, brought those scientists forth to the here and now so that Black Condor would have some sort of purpose and nemesis to face off against. A directionless book is not necessarily a bad thing but the character has to be interesting enough to make readers come back if nothing else does and so far, Black Condor is not all that interesting and neither is the book even if this particular story was enjoyable. That does not guarantee the next one will be but such as it is, there is also no reason not to read the next one either. Altogether a good affair but not great.

3 out of 5