Written by Geoffrey Thorne
Drawn by Khary Randolph
Published by Marvel Comics

PREVIOUSLY: MOSAIC prelude

Alright, so here we are with the first issue of this new ongoing series. We’re introduced to Morris Sackett, pro-basketball player for the New York Stride, in the midst of a championship game where he makes the winning shot. We learn that this is now the 5th straight championship that the team has won since Morris joined it. He also wins the MVP award. This man is not shy at all, nor humble in the slightest. He’s the best there is at what he does, and is not afraid to brag about that, which doesn’t exactly sit well with his teammates. We meet his father, referred to by Morris only as “Pops” here, who is also his manager, and his girlfriend Tia, known as T-Fleek. She’s a White woman who appears to be some kind of pop star. She and Morris are a ultimate celebrity power-couple. But then at a big party later that night, Morris get exposed to a T-Cloud and finds himself in a coma while morphed into some kind cocoon. The story jumps 3 weeks later, with no change in Morris’ condition. He’s being monitored by doctors while Pops and Tia maintain a vigil. But then Morris comes to, bursting out of the cocoon but he’s covered in some kind of all-black energy or something, and is falling out of a window.

That’s when things really pick up as Morris becomes the energy being that we saw in the prelude and falls into the body of a young Black teenager, nicknamed Fife. And it just moves faster from there. Morris tries to orientate himself as Fife’s memories and thoughts begin to collide with his own. Then before he knows it he jumps into the body of an old Korean businessman. Then some Hispanic guys try to hassle him on the subway and this time, without touch, he jumps into the body of one them, named Beto, and then with his friend and girlfriend he finds himself participating in a robbery. And then…well, anymore would be a major spoiler.

At 29 pages, this story is a little longer than the average comic-book, but it moves at such a fast pace than by the time it’s over, you can’t help but want more. But the best thing about the fast pace is that it puts us in Morris’ mindset. This is all new for him too and he has no idea what’s happening to him, so you can feel all of his fear and confusion and he’s trying to figure out what the heck to do, when he just wants to get back to Pops and Tia. We get brief hints as to how his powers work, seeing that when he’s in someone’s body he knows what they know (for example, if they can speak another language, then so can he, or if they have special skills, now Morris has them) and he seems to retain some of that knowledge when jumping into the next person. He also can feel their emotions. He also has that person’s physical limitations when he’s in their body. But there’s still much more for us and Morris to learn.

Khary Randolph’s artwork has kinetic energy to it, which makes him the perfect illustrator for this story. This is very well-done first issue which I highly recommend. Grade: A

MOSAIC #1

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