The cover is as impactful as the story inside. This is the kind of story that stares directly into you and makes you question yourself. Lots of exciting things happened but you can also feel the heart put behind it. It's a well crafted title deserving of every minute of the reader's attention.

I'm not exactly sure what I read. Or I'm not entirely sure what the purpose of this comic was. From the synopsis, I thought I would get a story about a boy journeying to uncover the truth about his random ice power by heading toward a raging wildfire and why he can see spirits. Instead, the story's main focus was questioning, "Is it because I'm Black." Trust me, I know alllll about this internal question whenever I go up against anything, but I'm not sure what the mentality and the random superpowers have to do with each other.

On a side note, this has nothing to do with the author and more with NetGalley formats, but I would have loved to see this comic in color. I missed out on the intricacies of artwork and detail because there was no color. The boy mentioned a few times that people were turned off by his blue eyes, and I couldn't relate because everything was black and white. NetGalley dropped the ball on that one. And the cover seems so vibrant.

I was very interested in the journey and wonderment of how this boy gained powers, but I wasn't expecting internal racial undertones to be on the surface part of the story. I think the story needs more development and a clearer understanding of what we're about to get into. I rated it 2.5 stars

This was requested when I first found out about NetGalley and I had requested so many ARCs that I could not get to all of them before they were archived. I really wanted to get to this one, as it seemed interesting. If I can find this somewhere for a reasonable price, I will try to get it! I am giving this book three stars, as I don't want to give it a good or bad rating, since I did not get to it and we have to leave a star rating.

I really wanted to like this one, but I just couldn't get past my distaste for the art style. It felt lacking and wasn't really adding anything to the story.

I wasn’t much of a fan of the art style, especially more so that a lot of panels are repetitive and/or would take the whole page. The book is 300 pages long because of it and we still don’t know much about the plot. Besides that, the book shows and discusses hate towards black people well since it is written by a black author. Overall, I don’t really have much of an opinion beyond these points and not being a fan of the humor so I don’t really plan on continuing the series.

Thank you Netgalley for providing me with the digital copy for an honest review.

The main character seems like one I could get attached to but I felt the story lacked a conclusion of any kind. There was no explanation of the protagonist’s powers and the final pages bring no resolution as to the point of his going towards a wildfire, nor to the mysterious figure he meets upon his arrival there. It felt like it was clearly setting the reader up for more, but it ended pretty abruptly. The visuals were kind of cool, but I thought it really begged for color.

Overall, I’m intrigued by the project, though I’m not entirely sure I understood this volume.

This was a tense but enjoyable graphic novel! I sincerely hope there’s a second volume, because I had SO MANY QUESTIONS at the end, but in a good way!

This one was confusing because I'm still not sure what happened to him, but I really enjoyed the book. Great illustrations and captivated my attention the entire time. Will purchase for our library.

I knew from the moment I started this book that the art style was going to distract me from the story. I can't fault the author or even the illustrator for that, but this was not my jam.

A queer black superhero? Yes please!
Manga-style art? Sign me up.
Commentary on Black Lives matter and what it's like to be a queer black kid in American? Awesome!
What wasn't great was how confusing the story was, as it jumps around in time a lot, and you never really know what is happening or why. Clearly this is deliberate, as this seems to be a slow-reveal series. Overall, I'm intrigued and would read volume 2.

This was an absolutely wonderful graphic novel!

While I've read a lot of sci fi in this vein, it's rare to see ones with Black protagonists and this story brought in so many fresh elements and perspectives to topics that have been becoming oversaturated within the genre.

I was instantly hooked into the style from the first page. I do wish it had been coloured because the colours on the cover are so striking and I think using colour could have really heightened and highlighted this story wonderfully.

CW: Racism, Police Brutality

This book left me wanting to know more. More about the powers Oscar has and why. Even though this is a longer issue, it has no answers. Was only a setup for what may come. And I am all for it. I needs to know.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

So that was interesting. I love graphic novels, sci-fi + fantasy, and stories centering Black characters and this is definitely that. The premise of a teenage boy inexplicably drawn to a wildfire after waking up with a new ability to create ice.

I was invested in the plot and the mystery. What’s going on here isn’t exactly clear and I can only hope that this is volume one of a series, but if it’s not it stands oddly on its own. What worked well was the introspective narrative of our main character Oscar, and I enjoyed the time he spend with Freya.

One thing I struggled with was the lack of color or skin shading. Don’t get me wrong- I *love* manga, and mostly enjoyed the manga style here. It’s just that for a comic that centers race so crucially, the absence of shading in the main character's skin combined with the less-realistic manga style drawings had me genuinely unsure if a character was a person of color or not. And even beyond that, I honestly didn’t realize the main character was wearing all black until he specifically mentioned it. I misinterpreted the cover as something metal when it’s actually his dark gray jacket.

And the thing is, the absence of skin shading combined with the actual shading of his ice blue eyes honestly had me forgetting about his eyes every time he wasn’t talking about this. The author does sell a digital-only version of the book wherein Oscar's eyes are shaded blue. I think that should be the default. I think the author wanted to capture a contrast between the inky black creatures Oscar sees, but I think they could have made both work.

Overall, I did really enjoy Black Ice. I hope there’s more to come to expand on where his powers came from and why since the author created such an interesting world of transcendental creatures with a drizzle of lore that I need more of. It really seems like there will be more, but I’ve read more cryptic comics.

Really wanted to love this but I’m feeling a bit confused? I think the biggest problem here is the pacing things are just kinda dropped and then left, it made reading it a little clunky. I think there’s a lot of important topics here, racism, sexual identity, discovering yourself, but it got a little lost.

This was a pretty interesting graphic novel to read. Something strange has happened to Oscar, and he finds himself with new powers. He can also see strange looking beings, and he has no idea why he can see them but no one else can. He is also dreaming about a mysterious woman, but has no clue who they are or what they want with him. As this graphic novel comes to a close, life for Oscar changes in a big way.

There’s not a clear structure to the story, it starts in the middle of it and jumps around a lot. It gets weirdly political at times even though the main storyline shouldn’t and isn’t supposed to about politics. Its a confusing story to try to follow along with, but the art and drawings are really cool!

for parents: there is a one use of fuck so keep that in mind if purchasing for younger readers

A creative story with a sense of black humor in the end.
Don't know if this title has a sequal, but I'd like to know more about Oscar.
The drawing is simple but powerful. But I think it would be better if it was a full-color comic.

I feel very conflicted on this book. On the one hand, it works perfectly. There is a very strong and clear message about racism that is portrayed well as far as I can tell. However, you also have these superpowers and a fantasy aspect to it, which just leaves the reader confused.

The back of the graphic novel reads "He has no idea what is happening to him or why he seeks out to journey towards the fire. But there seems to be someone, a lady, he saw the night he awoke with his powers. Who is she?". Do not expect any answers on these questions, because you won't get any. The reader is left in a similar state as Oscar, confused with no idea what is happening to him. And who is the lady?

Overall, it is unfortunately not a graphic novel that worked for me. It should have focused on either of the two things and done it properly, but if the author wanted to make this a superpower / fantasy graphic novel, there is information lacking to keep the reader hooked for a next installment.

Utterly bewitched by this story, this art, Oscar. Only complaint is that I don't want to wait for more.

This book really felt like magic.

Thank you NetGalley for allowing me to be able to read this copy in advance.

This graphic novel has so much potential. It follows a teenage black boy who is coming into his sexuality and his magical powers at the same time. I wanted to love this just based on those facts but reading through this book left me more confused than not. Maybe there is more to this story?