Radiant Black Animated Video Recruits Will Friedle to Voice the Image Comics Superhero
The Massive-Verse had a surprise for readers of Radiant Black #15 in the form of an animated video featuring the voice of Will Friedle. The original animated short, titled "Versus," came from Tiger Animation and Black Market Narrative. Tiger Animation is behind popular animated series such as Castlevania, Justice League Dark: Apokolips War, Avatar: The Last Airbender, and more. Of course, Black Market Narrative is a creative collective founded by #1 New York Times best-selling comic book author and filmmaker, Kyle Higgins. Radiant Black #15 from Higgins and Marcelo Costa included a QR code that took readers to the five-and-a-half-minutes long animated short.
"The first time I met Radiant Black in a comic book, I knew immediately what would happen: I would need to get caught up on all things Nathan and Marshall. And that's exactly what I did," said Seohoon Son, Executive Producer & CEO at Tiger Animation. "I have put a lot of thought into how to express Radiant Black's actions, movements and effects for animation, as powerful as Kyle and Marcelo have imagined. Along with my Tiger Animation team, it has been an honor to work with Radiant Black and to get to know him even better in the process."
"For as long as I can remember, superheroes have been an important part of my life. But while I pursued a career in comic books and filmmaking because of them, it was animation where I fell in love with them. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Batman: The Animated Series, X-MEN, Spider-Man, Gargoyles, Batman Beyond…say what you will about the '90s, it was a pretty golden age for one of our favorite mediums," Higgins told IGN about the video Easter egg.
He continued: "One of the goals with Radiant Black has always been to find ways to both celebrate the things that we love while also pushing the boundaries and conventions of what we think a modern superhero book can be. The opportunity to build an in-universe short film like this, working with an amazing cast of collaborators, has been very special."
Higgins added how creating the Radiant Black animated video gave him the opportunity to revisit one of his older works, C.O.W.L., which also takes place in the Massive-Verse.
"It also brings things full circle, giving Alec [Siegel] and myself the chance to revisit the world of C.O.W.L. and our short film that inspired it, The League," he said. "Rick Cramer and Reginald James even came back to voice Geoffrey and Blaze, some 15 years after we made the original short film with them. Oh yeah and then, you know, throw in Mr. Batman Beyond himself, Will Friedle? So schway."
What do you think about the Radiant Black animated short? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!