Patrick D. Foreman

A big swing premise -- an alternate history where Africans settled North America and are the present-day majority and holders of privilege -- whiffs as the ramifications are not fully examined, explored, or exploited. A Black police officer shoots an unarmed young white woman in a hoodie, and all it does it set off the same events it does in our world when a white cop kills a Black person: people of higher class with political and economic power manipulate events to prevent consequences even in the face of protests in the streets.

The reversal fizzles even more in a black-and-white comic where the race of everyone in any given panel is not always immediately evident.

And then, like a bad joke, sword-wielding Japanese people seeking revenge for the sake of family honor are dropped in apropos of nothing. It's odd to see such stereotyping in a book that is supposed to be questioning and challenging that very thing.… (meer)