The Black Coat
52-page One-Shot
Heart of Ice/First Blood
Written by Ben Lichius
Pencils by Garbriel Hardman, Ben Lichius
Inks by Jeremy Colwell
Letters by Dave Rothe, Chris Studabaker
Colors by Joe Suitor
Covers by Jim Charalampidis, Garbriel Hardman, Ben Lichius
Ape Entertainment
Cover price: $6.95; Available July 2008

The tyranny of The Crown is getting evermore so bold as it levees taxes against its colonies and fights to keep the rebels and dissidents under control in the mid-1700s. This is seen no where more apparent than in the streets of New York City, where the redcoats marching in the streets remind the citizens on a daily basis that they are not free-living Englishmen, but children or even slaves to the King. But amongst these citizens is a group of spies and politicians who call themselves the Sons Of Liberty, who are dedicated to freedom for all and speak loudly against the grip of control the King has over them.

Among the Sons Of Liberty is a man known as The Black Coat, an especially daring and talented individual whose skills as a detective are as equally sharp as the blade on his sword and the tip of his quick-witted tongue. His adventures at the dawn of the Revolutionary War have already been chronicled in Ape Entertainment’s trade paperback A Call To Arms, and now here in this one-shot some of The Black Coat’s earliest adventures in the days following the French and Indian War are being brought to light.

In Heart Of Ice, the Black Coat learns that the Indian legend of The Chenoo, a monstrous beast who lives in the woods and attacks all who dare enter its domain, is indeed real and that a young Indian woman has dedicated herself to finding a way to melt its frozen heart. When the Black Coat heads out into the woods to find the beast himself, he is saved from an attack by Indians by a mysterious man who is a practitioner of magic and has a secret that will all too soon be discovered by our masked hero!

Meanwhile, in First Blood, a diabolical attack by a group of redcoats on a symbol of the colonies’ freedom unknowingly releases a dragon from Norse mythology on the City of New York! It is up to the quick-thinking Black Coat and his closest companions to figure out just what the creature is and how to send it back from where it came from. As the Black Coat and his trusty companion Ursula dig through books to learn the dragon’s weakness, the dragon itself makes a surprise visit on the historical Battle of Golden Hill!

Co-creator of The Black Coat Ben Lichius returns to the pen for both of these stories, which take on more of a fantastical sword-n-sorcery feel than the cloak-n-dagger motifs that were so prevalent in the original mini-series, but are still quite engaging and full of swashbuckling goodness and fantastic action sequences. As both of these stories are prequels to the main series, Lichius is careful to give the Black Coat a more novice approach to his tactics — his armament is nowhere near as sophisticated, while his detective skills and understanding of the world around him show a tinge of inexperience. And like Indiana Jones in The Temple Of Doom or Frank Miller’s Batman in Year One, the Black Coat’s impatience has yet to be tempered. It is these little traits that make the Black Coat a dynamic character worthy of as much attention as he can muster.

Artist Gabriel Hardman takes on a much more lighter tone in his black-and-white pencils for Heart Of Ice than previously seen, but does retain the kinetic energy and excitement that Francesco Francavilla established in the first mini-series. For First Blood, which was originally published in issue two of Comics Now Magazine, Lichius himself provides the artwork and for the first time the Black Coat gets the full-color treatment courtesy of Joe Suitor. Suitor’s work is a shock to the system and gives the book a more “comic book” feel, but with a story involving a dragon flying high over colonial New York City there couldn’t be a better time to introduce color to the world of the Black Coat. Here’s hoping this is not a one-off decision and that Lichius decides to keep the adventures in a glorious full-spectrum of color.

This one-shot marks the return of the Black Coat to comic book shelves after a nearly one-year hiatus. With any luck, this will renew interest in the comic book character for those already in the know, and a put a spark to the powder keg to ignite interest in new readers. The series is addictively fun and a guaranteed good time for those that enjoy high adventure. Plus, with the book being released just before the 4th of July, forget the undercooked hamburgers and bottle rockets and spend the afternoon declaring independence against the Crown than with the Black Coat!