Summary
Menace, Taffy and Chrystal are a group of female drug couriers/assassins who make deliveries for and take out competition for a dealer named “Black”. They broker a deal for Black with another dealer named Dill. After the deal goes down, they kill the clients. Black in turn sets Menace up and has her gunned down at a phone booth. Rushed to the emergency room, Menace realizes she is dying and starts to say over and over again that she doesn’t want to die. While in ER dying and seen by only her, she is visited by a malevolent being named Malick, who tells her that he is there to redeem her soul and “bring light to her consciousness He places his hand over her face and she relives her past. She dies and is buried, but is resurrected as a Dark Angel.
Thoughts
The character and story are both from the mind of Jada Pinkett Smith, and was intended to be the launching point for an ongoing series. Smith wrote the book when she was in her 20’s (she’s 43 now) and in Smith’s own words from a recent post, ” I felt then there were not enough comic book characters of color and after all this time… I still feel the same.” Too bad the series never got off the ground for she was poised to make a dent in the white-male dominated genre and turn it on its ear! When the story was originally pinned, drugs and gang violence ruled the streets as much as gangster rap ruled the airways. The images of the youth of the ghetto acting in total disregard for his brother permeated the big screen as well. It is in this back drop that we see a character such as Menace emerge. A dark character for an even darker time ready for atonement and to serve a higher purpose. With Dan Fraga on artwork duty, the book is both outstanding in picture and story alike. Page after page of beautiful illustrations the book is a visual delight. Jada expressed that she would love to see someone take up the story where she left off; I would love to see that come into fruition! The book is a must have for any collector and rates 5/5 stars!
