Black Cotton #1 is set in an alternate universe where the historical norms for African Americans, and Caucasians Americans have been switched. The story kicks-off when an African American police officer shoots an unarmed White Woman walking alone in her neighborhood at night. As it turns out the Cop is Zion Cotton, is the son of a Billionaire Elijah Cotton.
Amidst it all, pressure has been mounting on the Cottons, as hundreds of people demonstrated in Virginia against the killings by police. Particularly, a black cop involvement in shooting of a Caucasian Woman. Elijah Cotton’s daughter Qia, who apparently is being groomed to run the family business, has been dispatched to handle the situation with the lawyers and media.
The script by Patrick Foreman & Brian Hawkins, is ambitious, and has potential, but it will need to take a little more time to world-build. I have so many questions, but the main one is, why is the Son of a Billionaire drudging around as a beat cop?
There is a lot of good stuff to pull from this issue; however, some of the brother-to-sister dialogue tends to drag and feels unnecessary. On the one hand it didn’t really cover any new information, but it did introduce the concept of Implicit bias nicely. We are not meant to just gloss over the fact that White Men and Women do get shot by the cops; however, implicit social cognition may be the reason it happens at a higher rate in the African American community.
The art for Black Cotton #1 was done by Marco Perugini. The imagery in the panels seem familiar: Protesters marching in cities, shutting down freeways and commercial areas. I needed a little more definition in the characters. Due to my own Implicit Bias, it took me several pages before I realized the races of the character involved.
4 out 5 stars. This issue does not cover any new ground on policing the police. Or Whose lives matters over whom. It did make me aware of my own Implicit Bias, and that is a good thing. I see this as having the potential of being the next Bitter Root, so I as speculator I“m going to pick up a copy and keep an eye on this story.
[yasr_overall_rating size=”large”]
Created by / Story by: Patrick Foreman & Brian Hawkins
Script: Brian Hawkins
Art: Marco Perugini
Letters: Francisco Zamora
Published by: via Scout Comics
Black Cotton arrives in February 2021.
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