The Blue Flame by Christopher Cantwell is about an HVAC repairman who creates a suit that allows him to travel into space. Sam Brausam is a blue collar repairman during the day and at night, he is Blue Flame, a vigilante, who fights crime.
At a local convention to showcase the acts of Blue Flame and his fellow vigilantes, an unexpected and horrific tragedy occurs. The tragedy leaves many people hurt and killed, including Sam and all of his friends. While Sam is trying to come to terms with the aftermath, he is given an impossible task.
There is another story arc, where Sam uses his special suit to visit another planet. While there, he is captured by the native inhabitants. His captors put him on trial and tell him that he must prove why humanity is worth saving, otherwise they will wipe Earth of all humans. Sam isn’t sure if he is able to help humanity when he is barely able to help himself overcome his grief. Will Sam be able to pull himself together to help humanity one more time?
I thought the graphic novel was a confusing read. I normally don’t read sci-fi novels but the premise of this one seemed interesting. The story did have a few twists but I had a hard time following the two different timelines: 1) where Sam survived a shooting and 2) the timeline where the world depended on Sam. I didn’t understand why he was on trial to defend humanity. Was this a test that his conscience came up with or is this actually happening? I felt that the ending was a bit abrupt and didn’t really let the audience know what humanity’s faith was. Were we supposed to read between the lines? The book was boring and it didn’t help that the author didn’t flesh out the story to help understand why Blue Flame specifically was on trial.
