Spotlight Review: CHILDREN OF THE BLACK SUN #1

CHILDREN OF THE BLACK SUN #1 by Dario Sicchio and Letizia Cadonici (Ablaze Publishing, January 2023)  "It is not difficult to be happy under a blue sky. But it takes a lot of courage to be strong even under a black sun."

      While reading this I experienced a sense of deja vu, as anyone might who is familiar with THE VILLAGE OF THE DAMNED films (1960, and John Carpenter’s remake in 1995) THE CHILDREN OF THE DAMNED (1964 film sequel) or THE MIDWICH CUCKOOS (John Wyndham’s 1957 novel which formed the basis for the film adaptation). I’m familiar with all of those, but I admire the premise and welcome any and all twists on that theme: a strange event results in women in the affected area becoming pregnant and giving birth to children who resemble each other with unusual features and seem to share a telepathic bond. 

  More recently writer Matthew Klickstein and artist Evgeniy Bornyakov put a modern digital spin on this theme with YOU ARE OBSOLETE (AfterShock Comics, 2019).  A disgraced journalist is invited to investigate a mysterious story on an isolated European island that houses a school for special children. As she discovers, the children have taken control of the school and nearby village and are killing off all adults by their 40th birthdays. She was invited to write about this through the children’s manipulations. She has to stay on the good side of the children’s harsh leader . . . or she’s next. Chilling and disturbing. 

     In CHILDREN OF THE BLACK SUN the strange event is the appearance of a black sun which has occurred twice in the story, the last time being twelve years prior. Under a dark dawn the rays have messed with people’s minds turning many into raging berserkers or become suicidal - - cause enough for people to fear the return of the black sun. Also, while under the shadow of a black sun event, all the women who became pregnant have birthed babies with similarities: white hair, pale skin, unusual proportions, and red eyes. 

    The story takes place in a small town with the ironic name of Brightvale. The Children of the Sun who live here are treated with contempt, which reaches a dangerous level near the anniversary of the two disasters. That hatred cause the Children to unite for protection and a feeling of belonging.

   The town’s feelings and the isolation that the Children feel is brought home so effectively in the opening scenes as a middle school class reads aloud their term paper assignments: discuss the Black Sun events. One student concludes his terse  incomplete assignment with a statement that exemplifies resident’s misunderstandings: “Scientists have yet to find an explanation, but mom says that’s because they’re stupid and they would not be able to recognize the devil even if he took a dump on their lawn. . . . . . Mom says that we must not be scared, and that the Black Sun won’t come again if we love Jesus.”

    The teacher chastises the student for not including any hypotheses that were made about the effects on society and the economy, or even mentioning the Children of the Black Sun. Then, one of only two Black Sun Children in the classroom finishes the story, explaining that research found nothing to conclude that the Children were different from other children. Still, he is met with cold indifference from his classmates.

 

In the lead-up to the World Day of Hope and a festival to help residents overcome their jitters that it may be past time for another Black Sun event, townsfolk are fearfully blocking their windows and keeping their children at home. One of the Children is accused of killing a neighbor’s dog, and only the arrival of some older Children (from the first event 16 years ago) calms the crowd’s growing hostilities. Enter the first generation Children Ivan and Ophelia who exhibit not just powers of persuasion but also an ability to mind-read as well as other strange abilities. They are here to educate the second generation about their “true nature.” 

   This is very promising. I’m getting those deja vu vibes all over again. FOUR AND ONE-HALF STARS.