Warning: contains potential spoilers for Black Sight #1!
Summary
- Black Sight #1 dives into real-world CIA conspiracies from the 1960s, shedding light on the horrifying black sites that existed post WWII.
- Stephanie Phillips and Conor Boyle create a claustrophobic horror story that perfectly invokes a sense of dread and unease.
- The terrifying aspect of Black Sight lies in its basis in real-world history, exposing the dark side of the CIA and their experiments on citizens.
The forthcoming ComiXology series Black Sight dives into real-world CIA conspiracies from the 1960s. The latest offering from ComiXology's Originals line, Black Sight follows an idealistic young woman as she is plunged headfirst into a nightmarish labyrinth of conspiracies and lies — with some very real world origins.
Screen Rant is pleased to bring fans a first look at the new series by writer Stephanie Phillips and artist Conor Boyle. Black Sight #1 — lettered by Tom Napolitano and with a cover by Dave Johnson — opens with Alex Greer having just arrived in Amsterdam in 1964. Her mother, the sole surviving member of her family, recently ed away, leaving Alex lost and confused. Deciding that she does not want to live her whole life in the American Midwest, she decides to see the world. In Amsterdam, Alex shares an intimate moment with a mysterious woman — only for Alex to wake up the next morning to find her new lover dead.
Blamed for the crime, Alex is hauled off to prison, but there is clearly more going on than meets the eye. Mysterious people are watching Alex, intending to use her in a horrifying experiment. Black Sight’s first two issues will also feature a backup story by Daleyna Abril and Marco Fodera that will shed further light on the book’s characters. Check out some exclusive preview pages below.
Black Sight Has a Horrifying Real World Origin
Horrifyingly, Black Sight is grounded in reality. Phillips acknowledges the book’s basis in the real world, saying in a statement from ComiXology that “this story is based on real-life black sites that existed post-World War II to carry out the nefarious work that was started by Nazi researchers during the war.” In using these CIA black sites, Phillips says the creative team is “interested in telling a claustrophobic horror story about what happens when someone is taken to one of these black sites.” This approach led Phillips to ask Boyle to be the artist for the book.
Phillips and Boyle have created a spectacular horror comic in Black Sight, perfectly invoking the claustrophobic approach the creative team was aiming for. The opening page, with Alex in a panic, sets the stage for the horrors that follow. This opening sequence is contrasted with Alex in a club, enjoying herself. Yet even in the revelry, Phillips and Boyle impart a sense of dread and unease; the reader knows Alex is headed for a dark place, and watching her world slowly unravel makes for an unnerving read.
Black Sight is One of the Year's Best Horror Comics
And yet what makes Black Sight truly terrifying is its basis in real world history. The nefarious doings in Black Sight are not the actions of a demented super-villain, or even a foreign government. Instead, the enemy is the CIA, an agency of the American government, who are conducting experiments on their own citizens. There is documented evidence of this happening all through the late 20th century, particularly in programs like MKUltra. The black sites are yet another unfortunate legacy of the Cold War, and the new ComiXology series Black Sight mines these real-world horrors to brilliant effect.
Black Sight #1 is on sale September 26th from ComiXology Originals!
