Radiant Pink #5: From Mad Love To Bad Blood

Like many finale issues and episodes, Radiant Pink #5 attempts to wrap up all the story’s loose ends while leaving a door open for the titular character’s possible future story arc. In the process, however, it rushes through the story, not allowing itself to develop at a good pace that makes it feel like it was initially intended for a 10-issue series, but the other five got slashed.

Issue 4 ended with Eva (Radiant Pink) and Kelly (EMT lady) finally making it back from Earth and embracing each other after Eva struggles with her powers, narrowing escaping Katneep IV and the oversized cats forcing them into servitude, and an ominous, mysterious being asking Eva if she’s ready to commit to the war that is coming.

Issue 5 starts with them madly in love (more so than before) on Eva’s stream, quickly leading to a heated offline argument between Kelly and Eva’s best friend, Maddie, about Eva leading her triple life (herself, her streaming persona, and Radiant Pink). There was minimal build-up to this point, leaving us to figure out how and why this animosity exists between the two characters.

Although the readers can figure that out on their own with enough details knowing that they’re at odds with Eva in the typical best-friend-vs-new-love trope, being thrown at this at the beginning is almost jarring for those who’ve been reading the series closely.

Eva and Kelly’s relationship development was also somewhat rushed, albeit there were nuggets in earlier issues that allowed us to see at least this coming, which is not surprising. It went from mad love to bad blood very quickly, but one could understand why that was the case given Kelly’s decision, and the resolution at least made it palpable that it wasn’t so absolute with the transition.

The last aspect of the story that leaves the readers a little lost is the fight sequence between Eva and Kelly towards the end. Somehow Eva went through some transformation that wasn’t clear why she went through it or how, and it never really explains it either.

The rushed aspects aside, this issue does an excellent job of tying some of those loose ends in the story and giving it the resolving pace for Eva to realize that she needed to slow down in her superhero and personal life. Camarena (Radiant Black, Power Rangers Unlimited: Hyperforce) and Flores (The Dead Lucky, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers) write the issue in a way geared toward a younger audience but relatable enough for any reader to enjoy. It shows the red flags of Kelly, both as a love interest and as an adversary, and Maddie’s loyalty to her best friend, regardless of the spat that they just had. It’s a great story that incorporates many inclusive characters and moments in a way that it’s not forced but makes it ubiquitous and aspirational for stories that include people of color and the LGTBQIA+ community.

The artwork by Emma Kubert (Stoneheart, Frank Miller’s Pandora) is lovely, as usual. Her style shines through with this kind of story; seeing any other art style would have made it a different story altogether. Colorist Rebecca Nalty (Star Wars: The High Republic Adventures, Xena: Warrior Princess) creates an outstanding balance with the subject and background with her colors. She also utilizes the white spaces of the pages in the issue by filling it in with some pink graphic styles that don’t distract from the main story but enhance it that match the story’s tone as fun but serious. The lettering work from Becca Carey (Wonder Woman, Buffy the Vampire Slayer) was also enjoyable, especially when she broke out from the usual mold of lettering to enhance the gravity of the situation, such as using a pink stroke around black text in a critical moment of dialogue.