A review by bluehairedlibrarian
Virgil by Steve Orlando

dark fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.0

This is a paint-by-numbers of exploitation story, this time with a gay Black protagonist that has to go against his own when his fellow police officers murder his friends and kidnap his boyfriend for being queer. The set up is basic. The violence is basic. Why the police officers kidnap the boyfriend when they think Virgil is dead is a giant mystery that is never explained. 

It wasn't until I discovered that this was an all-white creative team that things started feeling wrong. A similar story could have been told that did not involve strictly black-on-black violence told by white people. That makes me feel very uncomfortable.

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