Review of "Strange Fruit, Number 1 of 4," Boom! comics

 Review of

Strange Fruit, Number 1 of 4, Boom! comics

Five out of five stars

Great first segment of what can be a classic story

 The location is Chatterlee, Mississippi and the year is 1927. At that time, the Klu Klux Klan (KKK) was the real power in the area, the hooded night riders terrorized blacks and any whites that sympathized with them. It is April and the rain has fallen nonstop all the way along the Mississippi. Whole towns have been wiped out in the north and that crest is on the way to Chatterlee. There is a concerted effort to build a levee to hold back the water, but like all other aspects of southern society at that time, bigotry and segregation limit all attempts to have all work together for the common good.

 Even as the water rises and there is not enough people working to shore up the levee, the KKK carries out its’ vendetta. The federal government has sent a skilled engineer to give expert advice to the people, but he is black, and his advice is not welcomed. The white men simply will not take instruction from an educated black man despite his clear expertise in the area of flood control.

 Suddenly, there is a light in the clouded sky as a meteor comes down and crashes. It is actually a spaceship, and it contains a large and extremely powerful black man. He is clearly intelligent and when he encounters armed white men, there is a hint that he was also the victim of some form of imprisonment and torture.

 With all the backdrop of racial bigotry, the genuine desire of some to build the protective levee and the frustrations of blacks only a step above slavery, there are many different and concurrent paths that the plot can take. This first issue has whetted the reader’s appetite for learning what comes next. I read this comic at night and purchased the next installment the following day.