Written By: Ken HulseyWhat could be cooler than a comic book heroine created by legendary film maker Roger Corman?
Last August Bluewater Comics and Corman announced that they had agreed on a partnership that would bring many of the director/producer's creations to print.
One of the first of these titles to emerge from Bluewater's Washington state digs, is a series about the revenge driven female character, "Black Scorpion", who has already graced cable television, played by the buxom Michelle Lintel, in the form of two made for Showtime movies and a twenty-two episode series on the Sci Fi Channel (SyFy).
The first issue's story, as you would probably guess, is a straight forward 'origin' story. Detective Darcy Walker is not afraid to stick her nose into places where it doesn't belong, a trait that she inherited from her father who just happens to be the Police Commissioner. Of course, the lovely detectives rogue antics drive her higher-ups bonkers.
While attempting to apprehend a sinister criminal, known as 'The Prankster", who has just wasted a hostage and gotten away with a hefty amount of ransom money, Walker's straight-forward approach allows the criminal to get away, and lands her a nasty crack to the noggin.
Now, I want to stop here for a second to talk a little bit about "The Pankster". "Prankster".....hmm....."Prankster?".......sound like any other comic book villain?
.....hmmm.......maybe like....Oh, I dunno...."The Joker!"
Well. that is exactly what we have here......literally, an African-American version of "The Joker", complete with scared smile, but no clown makeup.
As the story unfolds, The Prankster manages to bribe the mayor and other city officials to look the other way as the master criminal and his gang begin to eliminate all that oppose them and go on a crime spree.
As you may assume, Commissioner Walker, isn't the kind of guy that you can buy off, so he gets murdered in cold blood.
The elder Walker dies in his daughter Darcy's arms in a very emotional, and very cliche, scene.
Seeking revenge, the young detective fixates on a Scorpio pendant that her father gave her just a day prior, and ala "Spider-Man", the "Black Scorpion" is born. Though we don't get to see the shapely Darcy Walker in the latex in this issue.
Overall the quality of this issue is pretty good, albeit the story, by Paul J. Salamoff, is fairly cliche, and the main villain is 'borrowed' from "Batman".
The art-work, produced by the combined talents of Darren G. Davis, Wilson Ramos Jr., Zac Atkinson and Daniel Cuchacovich is quite good.
It will be interesting to see just how this story will develop over the next few issues, hopefully expanding into more Corman-esque fair with a sense of camp and a more creative story line.
See Also: Cape Town South Africa Is Under Attack By Six-Legged Cephalopods! / Vincent Price Presents - A Wonderful Horror Comics Anthology From Bluewater / Plan 9 From Outer Space Strikes Again / The First Look At The Giant Octopus From It Came From Beneath The Sea.... Again / The First Image From Todd Tennant's It Came From Beneath The Sea Again / Todd Tennant To Illustrate Blue Water Comics It Came From Beneath The Sea Again / The Work Of Ray Harryhausen Comes To Comics In Matt Frank's Wrath Of The Titans: Cyclops
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