Creed: The Next Round #1 Review

Creed: The Next Round #1 Review

Creed: The Next Round #1
Writer: LaToya Morgan | Jai Jamison
Artist: Wilton Santos
Colorist: DJ Chavis
EP: Elizabeth Raposo
AP: Christina Raquel
Publisher: Boom! Studios

Amara Creed was born deaf as we learned during the events of the film. In this story, Bianca has lost her hearing completely but in typical Creed fashion, they have pushed through these obstacles and now communicate using a mix of Black American Sign Language and lipreading to communicate amongst each other.

This is interesting to bring into a comic and it was done beautifully largely due to the hard work of all the creators and the help of a BASL consultant Roxanne Dummett.

Creed: The Next Round #1 delivers a punch that catapults us into the future as we follow the rise of Amara Creed while Adonis and Bianca Creed work on establishing his life outside of boxing and building his empire.

The genius of this debut issue is that it manages to push us into the future for the next generation of the Creed legacy but also pulls us back into an origin story we have seen in Adonis as Amara looks to make a name for herself on her own two feet while Adonis has trouble letting go of his grip as a father to let her flourish. Is it the curse of being a father or is it the wisdom of a good trainer?

Amara would argue the fact that she is not ready but much like Adonis and Rocky, that father figure mentality kept Adonis from rising as he would have liked. This is the drama and pull that we have loved from the films and to see it on the pages of a comic book just brings one of the best film franchises into a new dynamic and medium for a brand-new way to enjoy.

It wouldn’t be a Creed story without some wreckless behavior and it’s all fueled by the hunger to win and be the best. It also sees Amara trying to crawl out of her father’s shadow. Making the same “mistakes” depending on the lens you view it.

Amara finds herself at odds with her father and runs into her own David vs Goliath story as an undefeated fighter finds Amara in her crosshairs which has all signs pointing to a showdown. Adonis doesn’t approve and this puts Amara at the doorstep of her aunt Artemis Creed’s doorstep. A prominent fighter in her own right.

Even with a brand-new era and the spotlight shifted to Amara. This is a story that bleeds the name Creed. This comic has taken what works from the films and revamped it for a comic book universe and the implementation and representation of BASL is clever and puts a spotlight on a very important variation of dialect.

Even as we see a story we have seen in the Rocky and Creed franchise, the character development continues to propel this universe with the mentality of it isn’t broken, don’t fix it.