Radiant Black is Blowing Up: An interview with Its Writer, Kyle Higgins

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Buy Radiant Black: radiant.black/issues/
Segments:
Intro: (0:00)
Darkhawk and MS: (3:35)
Filmmaking Background: (13:34)
The Kuleshov Effect: (16:35)
How Kyle Broke Into Comics: (20:07)
Getting into Creator Owned Comics with Rod Reis: (27:24)
Hints at the Future of Radiant Black: (30:57)
Writing the Transforming Hero: (32:40)
Writing Power Rangers: (34:12)
Writing Ultraman: (42:40)
Optimism within Writing: (44:34)
Working with Power Rangers Actor Jason David Frank: (47:17)
Becoming Popular: (50:28)
Chris Gushes Over Radiant Black: (52:34)
Radiant Black's Storytelling Structure: (50:39)
Working with Co-Writers: (1:05:04)
Blacklight Issue: (1:12:24)
Are There Too Many Radiant Black Spinoffs?: (1:17:51)
Kyle Interviews Comic Tropes: (1:30:22)
Plugs for Upcoming Books: (1:33:44)
The Batman Used Some of Kyle's Batman: (1:35:44)
Kyle Higgins is a writer with over a decade of experience working with Marvel, DC, Boom, and Image Comics. One of his current books, Radiant Black, is a creator owned superhero title whose popularity has recently led to Image releasing a series of related titles in a shared universe. This interview digs into Kyle Higgins' background and how that influences his writing style.
We discuss how Kyle has carved out a niche writing comics about transforming heroes: Power Rangers: Shattered Grid at Boom, Ultraman and Darkhawk at Marvel, Radiant Black through Image. How do you find new angles to the concept?
We have a deep dive into Radiant Black itself: what makes the title connect with readers today? What's the process for working with various co-writers on the book? Are the related books spinoffs and does that make it intimidating to new readers?

[@armanireyes753]

I didn’t think I could love a new comic series again UNTIL I read Radiant Black. I’m 25 & it touches my soul. The dialogue in the book is so good I can feel it jumping off the page, like I’m having a conversation. Amazing book, beautiful artwork, and I can’t wait to see what’s to come!

[@pursuedburrito]

Literally had the pleasure of meeting Higgins this weekend for free comic book day and he sold almost everyone on this series. Spoke with everyone had a smile the whole time. Definitely can tell he cares about his readers and the work he does. Bought the book got it signed and holy shit I’m in now!

[@TrillgataQ]

Met him at a signing once, Higgins is the man, Massiverse is the most unique comic universe in print right now

[@Martin_TheCollector]

Niiice!! I really like Kyle's work on Nightwing and Power Rangers. If Radiant Black gets a big hardcover I'm absolutely getting one.

[@forsakenV12]

Yes .. waiting on the hardcover

[@grantnewton4230]

If you like Batman Beyond he has a phenomenal 3 volume run

[@RighteousBrother]

Its gonna blow up even more now! I'm definitely going to check it out, great work Chris!

[@TAKTAK_Toys]

I love the Radiant Black series, I’ve made a Radiant Black custom action figure to honour the series!

[@faherty87]

😂it looks like you're in the same room. Just started and instantly like him. I'll be sure to check out Radiant Black. I see it everywhere

[@MatthewNovak]

I got into Radiant Black last month and love it. I'm fully invested in the Massive Verse now that Radiant Red and Rogue Sun are here too.

[@JeffBigler]

Great interview. I've enjoyed Radiant Black and Darkhawk as well. I was a huge Darkhawk fan when it came out, had the whole run. I tended to follow Image style artists back then, but Darkhawk as well as New Warriors managed to hook me.

[@da1onlynickvicious]

Oh my god you just told the story of my childhood lol..darkhawk was my fovorige character outside wolverine and I distinctly remember the round robin series where moon knight and the new warriors cross over? I think lol but I had ever issue of the darkhawk run ..they did a great job with making kids identify with Chris and his family

[@jonathansoko1085]

read Radiant Red and Rogue Sun

[@Delta-bq8iy]

He’s my favorite writer, if anyone is interested you should read ordinary gods from image by him. Fantastic story and art

[@danhendricks68]

Seeing that page at 29:15 made my heart happy.

[@ScotRotum]

The politeness and mutual respect is so strong.

[@DzustComics]

Honestly Kyle has done stuff I loved like Nightwing New Oder or Magus and stuff I couldn't care for to safe my life like Cowl. BUT Radiant Black is one of the best books I've read in my life. Unpredictable, many things to say, especially about fear and personal growth and kick ass action. This one is just a masterpiece! If you happen to be reading this Mr Higgins, thank you for that book! It helped me have more faith in myself again! Stay radiant!

[@derekgreen7319]

I really love the Kyle Higgins nightwing run. It's super underrated

[@jameshutchins3798]

Great interview so far. About halfway through it. Thanks, Chris.

[@theradiantblackpodcast6267]

Great interview from one of our favorite channels out there! Radiant Black and ComicTropes are both awesome!

[@TheMelMan]

This was great Chris! As always.

[@chumgruntley896]

Haven’t read this yet but I’ll drop a like and comment and come back when I do! Thank you Chris

[@zentik7494]

I really want him to write nightwing again

[@oliverortiz8507]

I enjoyed watching two individuals talk about comics who love the medium. A very good interview between two stimulating people.

[@victorvelasquez2918]

That was fantastic. I am definitely checking out Radiant Black. Great conversation.

[@gazz_N7]

Wonderful interview. I'm going to give Radiant Black a go. Thanks for sharing!

[@iOnRX9]

"kids don’t know how good they have it” …. truer words were never spoken.

[@Nono-hk3is]

Thank you Chris!

[@Sharkpowder]

Great Interview, never heard of radiant black before but I'll defo be checking it out after this

[@thecraigbyrne]

Kyle Higgins' Darkhawk comic was SO GOOD and I really like what I've read of Radiant Black.

[@chicotedelaacera7937]

Ok Ive never been interested in Darkhawk but im reading it now

[@johnv3623]

Great interview!!

[@LucasDarkGiygas]

Thanks for the interview

[@tonybeltran3321]

Great interview. Peaked my interest thanks!

[@sergioruiz733]

Great interview Chris!

[@91neo]

Hey Chris! Really enjoy your videos and learn a lot from them. I just wanted to say congrats on getting Kyle Higgins for the interview, and as you get even more awesome guests, the interviews will be so much better if you just let them speak till they are done making their point. You tend to interrupt them and sometimes at moments when they are going to go deeper into their point and then it just dies off. But other than that, I really enjoyed the interview and I hope for more soon!

[@ChA0s_AgeNt]

Nah, I prefer this myself. It's an organic convo between two passionate folks, not a scriped Q&A. They play off each other really well, imo.

[@joedent3323]

Well done Chris - another inspiring listen. Cheers! "LiL'JpD."

[@mistrdevine]

I don’t know anything about Radiant Black, but will definitely be checking it out after this interview. I loved Darkhawk back in the 90’s and Miracleman is my #1 favorite book of all time. Great name-drops, I’m intrigued.

[@Jaddaprog]

This deserves more views. Great interview. Kyle seems like a cool guy.

[@thecomickeeper5127]

Best intro in the youtube comicverse ! :) Great interview !

[@peterburman5193]

Wow! Kyle seems like a pretty down to Earth guy! Somehow I haven't heard of this series but I'd like to check it out!

[@graysonred2641]

Great interview

[@mechfan01]

Wow, I learned a lot from this interview. You interview folks well.

[@filthybrown]

really great video and chat, super interesting to hear a real auteur talk about their work like that. i liked and commented just to give the algorithms something to chew on

[@elizabethmolino8262]

Great interview Chris.I'll definitely check out Radiant Black.

[@stevymoful]

Just starting reading radiant black. Couldn’t put it down! Awesome interview!

[@BrotherJohnComics]

Great interview. Really enjoy Kyle's work. Was bummed to see Kyle wasn't going to make GalaxyCon in Richmond but glad he is doing well.

[@andeven1]

Can’t wait come back to this video after I read his comics.

[@gillywritescomics]

Splendid interview. Loved Kyle on Power Rangers and never knew he wrote a Darkhawk run. Also cool that he is a TMNT fan. Subbed to the channel. Hope to one day be interviewed by you.

[@Doctor-Shoebill]

Skipping the Batman spoilers, but excellent interview as usual. I haven't read Radiant Black before. I had no idea what it was about, but I'm going to go check it out immediately. Keep up the great content!

[@neothefault9969]

With the inspiration for the comic the final arc will be top kino like most toku

[@voidcoupon6930]

I definitely will want to check out radiant black now, the covers were very cool looking

[@UberOtaku001]

Radiant Black is the only currently publishing western comic I read. It's so refreshing.

[@Supergrunt8]

Just decided to pick up the radiant black tp after watching this

[@Pensadordosceus]

Thanks

[@joedent3323]

Kyle (Higgins) and his Radiant (Black Magic).

[@peterlinfield]

Great conversation! Kyle seems like a very thoughtful creator. Like you Chris, I never read the Power Rangers stuff (though heard good buzz around Shattered Grid) and wasn't very interested in Radiant Black because of that comparison. Guess I should put that preconception aside and check it out.

[@func8647]

Amazing!

[@southerncomicgeek1626]

DC and Marvel would be better served long term to acknowledge the creators financially. They would hold onto the good ones longer. I just picked up Radiant Black. Like you, I had held off on reading it because it was marketed the way it was. After I read it I was hooked. Good interview.

[@AnArmyOfFish]

I almost picked Radiant Black up the other day but I'll probably pick it up soon now that I know Higgins is associated with it.. loved all his stuff on New 52 Nightwing, and I wasn't feeling confident which Image comics to grab if any but now I'm definitely gonna grab that Radiant black run next time I'm there

[@cravencomics5887]

Not gonna lie, I just discovered Radiant Black thanks to the issue 14 cover swipe of Hulk 340. Now I'm interested in more and going back to try and find the back issues!

[@crithon]

cool video

[@grahamodom2819]

Could you please do a video about Gerry Conway or Steve Englehart?

[@heavyrice8836]

Watching this 8 months behind but I bought the first 10 and fell off. I am just now reading them and thoroughly enjoyed them and then saw this interview. I saw the spin-offs starting to pop up when I was checking previews and it worried me. Glad you asked that question.

[@truetype80]

Interesting, so the hub in batman begins was his creation.

[@lunarmodule6419]

Fun thx

[@forsakenV12]

Reprint nightwing please!! Great interview 👍

[@foyoGames]

I didn't even realize Ultra Man was the precursor to Sentai

[@benjaminb.algarin7432]

I read it and ti was really good

[@PyroDragonis]

Wow! This book is blowing up so much that I have never heard of it before this video!

[@kevinpillar6934]

Cool

[@alexisdogbo7958]

FIRST! Great vid.

[@RighteousBrother]

Oh well done you.

[@needfoolthings]

You don't know that yet.

[@_Dawson_]

1:22:55 Matt and Ryan? from SuperMega?

[@robertheadley8561]

The content was great ☆☆☆☆ I'll be preaching a redolent issue Im. Extremely interesting ♡ Thank you

[@jonathansoko1085]

Radiant red is GREAT, havent read this one yet. Rogue sun is another great new image book. All 3 titles are 100% derivative but thats okay, they do it well

[@GenX_Catholic]

The question about are there too many spin-offs kinda made Kyle blue screen.

[@shadowofbosstown]

No one at my local comic ship even heard of this.

[@Fabulist]

I love the comment about “kids today don’t know how good they’ve got it compared to the 90s”. 😂🤣 You guys should’ve been around in the 70s. We had 4 or 5 superhero shows on TV and maybe 4 more on Saturday morning, and usually only 2 at once. If the schoolbus ran late I’d miss the beginning of the Speed Racer/Ultraman reruns on channel 22. There were more SFF shows debuting THIS WEEK than we had in our entire childhoods. By comparison the 90s were like a firehose of geeky goodness. 😆

[@ReaperXC]

Watched an interview with Higgins last year; the interviewer stated a fact, Huggins said “no that’s wrong. I’ll look it up.” Interview progressed while Higgins googled the fact and found he was wrong. Never apologised or admitted he was wrong. A huge problem with the world currently; people that think getting something wrong means admitting defeat or just can’t be vulnerable. It’s okay. People with different beliefs and opinions used to be able to get along now everyone finds their niche and attacks the others. Let’s get along people. No to war.

[@kalenberreman8252]

I wonder how Ordinary Gods is doing, he didn’t seem that interested in plugging it.

[@dcamaag709]

I like Radiant Black but man it's barely been a year and they're tryna to do a shared universe I think there's too much on the plate when the main narrative hasn't progressed that much 😕

[@Rorysammy]

On the one hand I was glad ANY Darkhawk was being made, but his mini series was very lackluster, almost no action. Hope they quickly bring the original Darkhawk back.

[@grios5530]

I'm only person on planet apparently that isn't feeling radiant black

[@TheLegendKiller94]

I really tryed to Like it but it didnt Work .

[@joedent3323]

I'm curious yellow - but am not tickled pink.

[@grios5530]

@@TheLegendKiller94 radiant Red wasn't doing it either

[@ljavwa3459]

I was an early adopter of Radiant Black, having pre-ordered at least one copy of every cover for #1. Unfortunately I identified with the main character. I say "unfortunately" because he was written off into a coma around issue 5. Yes, really. I've tried to enjoy the run since then, and it hasn't been horrible, but I'm fatigued. In one year we are already THREE spinoffs deep lol. Rogue Sun, Radiant Red, and Dead Lucky (not to mention the one-shot Supermassive). Fa-tigued! I've recently removed Radiant Black from my weekly pull (I used to order up to get the 1:25 on a monthly basis). Maybe I'll buy the trades when they are on sale, or at a used book store. But for now I'm also in a coma when it comes to Radiant Black lol

[@Rorysammy]

Sorry but the 90’s had both the Batman Animated Series and X-men cartoon, tv shows like Sliders, Star Trek TNG, and $1.50 comic books. I’m not sure kids in the 90’s didn’t have it better than today. Oh and then the stupid little kids liked that Power Rangers stuff my generation laughed at as a generic Voltron.

[@pathevermore3683]

Lmao, voltron's source material was inspired by power ranger's source material.

[@Bloodonsatansclaw]

As a writer and comic book Creator, only on a small time independent scale, but I've been doing it for the last 30 years, let me just say when one of my characters was seen by me in almost mere image on the front of a Grendel comic I decided to change the characters look a little, and then venom came out about 6 years later, I then had to pitch a character I have been working on for about 12 years since I was a teenager. I figured I could strip them down but then you have the darkness and so I just threw them away completely. Pretty heartbreaking. Then I add another character much like this guy was talking about he was my main character for a comic I wrote about 20 years ago but never published, but I did plenty of prints of him and even copy wrote the name at one point, and then I saw kirkman use him as a side character in invincible the powers are a bit different but the look is almost totally the same again. Now I worry if I use him because I'm actually getting ready to publish my first actual graphic novel, and again this is a guy I created about 25 years ago, I'm also a musician and of course I've struggled like many artists and musicians with depression mental illness and addiction, so sometimes there are periods where you just either literally don't have a place to live to do the work or the place you live unfortunately you're unable to have an actual workspace or afford good board and pencils and pens. The medium is now so f****** oversaturated mostly because of the marvel and DC movies, cuz trust me it ain't just people reading comics look at the sales that ain't that. But the movies I think certainly bring younger people into the comics, unfortunately a lot of the newer stuff or the newer versions of those characters which are complete garbage, every mainstream character doesn't need to be a platform. That said comics are the perfect medium to tell stories and comics have always been a medium where controversial politics have been addressed, so I don't know why everybody gets so upset. Anyway the market just seems so over-saturated right now and I also seems like there's a lot of people out there who are quickly willing to point the finger that someone stole their idea. The fact is there are only so many ways to represent the same laws of physics the same apocalyptic worlds the same anti-heroes and the same Superman, Batman, and Captain America archetypes. That is when a Creator needs to rely solely on the contents and quality of the story and the depth of character he is creating. I'm sure a lot of people feel the way I do I don't mean to complain but it sure does get the pressing sometimes to the point where I can't tell you how many times I've quit but it's just part of who I am so I always pick back up when I can and I'll never stop fighting to get my creations out there I don't care how long it takes.

[@TheFerg714]

Ngl it's kind of off-putting how he kept trying to walk back the idea of all of this being a big interconnected universe.

[@ComicTropes]

I got the impression he was clarifying that they ARE in a connected universe but not spin-offs where you have to read each one to get a whole story. That was how I interpreted it and why I eventually ended that line of questions.

[@TheFerg714]

@@ComicTropes Yea, I didn't really get that feeling tbh. To me, it seemed like he was really trying to get as far away as possible from saying that these series were connected in any way. He made it very clear that each is their own series, and it doesn't really matter that some exist within the same universe. Just look at Supermassive. It was marketed as a big opening to a brand new universe, but in reality it was just a one-shot about a cute team-up, and afterwards everyone went their own way. It was really good, but still, I feel a little disheartened. I went into this expecting more connective tissue, but it seems like Higgins wants everything to be separate. Thank you for responding. I'm loving all of this stuff, including Radiant Red and Rogue Sun, so I promise I'm not trying to be a Negative Nancy. Just sharing my thoughts.

[@notmyname5591]

Gee, what was KH going to say about Darkhawk at the end? Learn how to interview dude, learn how to interview. Stop interrupting and talking over your guests.

[@Bloodonsatansclaw]

Wow he stole my logo. Of course that's ridiculous since it would be like stealing a :-) Sun, I'm just making a point so that once I put out my book and he tries to sue me all the people who would say how ridiculous my claim was can then realize how ridiculous their claims are when he says I stole his logo. Because no matter how cool these guys seem to be that's exactly how they seem to be. All that said.... congratulations on the success of your book brother! Do I sound old and jaded yet?

[@Pleasestoptalkingthanks]

You sound senile for sure.

[@joedent3323]

Nope: You sound young and lifted.

[@flipflopmcgurt3403]

Higgins is a jerk. I once wrote that issue 3 was slow and was the build up was getting long and like a wounded lamb he asked if I wanted my money back. Obviously can’t take criticism. Now that we know he’s a one trick pony and can only write Power Ranger like characters, I should’ve gotten my money back. This book drags like RuPaul. Glad I stopped reading this crap.

[@ComicTropes]

You’re mad that he offered you a refund? I feel like that’s pretty amazing customer service.

[@flipflopmcgurt3403]

@@ComicTropes It's "HOW" he wrote it. All I wrote was how issues 3 - 5 were slow paced and had less action and wasn't getting to the nitty gritty. Nothing bad. His response was that of a jerk who can't take criticism. He should expect it in this business but now that I see that he's a One Trick Pony and can only mooch off Power Rangers and steal from Invisible and Spider-Man, I'm glad I stopped getting this title. He's a jerk: plain and simple. YOU, however, are GREAT and I absolutely love your videos. Please don't hold it against me.

[@trissc6855]

@@flipflopmcgurt3403 You make him sound like an entitled creator, but you make yourself sound like an even bigger entitled fan with that "he should expect what's coming from this business". Like what part of the comics industry are you except the complaining fan?

[@flipflopmcgurt3403]

@@trissc6855 Bruh, I'm the consumer. Well, I was. I even explained to him what I meant when I wrote him that in a DM and he didn't reply. Obviously cannot take criticism. It wasn't even a bad review from me. The guy's a jerk: period.