Season Review: Black Dynamite Season Two

Fact: Black Dynamite still ranks as the most expensive show that Adult Swim has ever made. Even first season stuff still out ranks anything else that the network has put out since then, and with good reason. For starters, it’s one of the best shows on television due to it’s 100% hand-drawn production, top-notch cast, and stellar attention to comedic detail. A similarly produced series, The Boondocks, pretty much made its exit last year on Adult Swim, could Black Dynamite do he same after this season?

It shouldn’t. It’s too important. For all we know, it’s a series that is pretty much one of the last of a dying breed. Not a lot of animated television is produced the hand-drawn way that Black Dynamite is, and worse yet, the series is one of the few that keeps action as a rather central focus. Yea, don’t get me wrong, it’s one of the most well-written comedies on television, with constant jabs at pop culture icons like James Brown, Bob Marley, and Woody Allen, there’s a bunch to chew on.

The problem is this. True 2D action cartoons are rare as shit on television these days. Aside from the random DC/Marvel fare that ruins the majority of time slots, you really get no original action cartoons on television here in America. Black Dynamite gives us this on top of a paradoxical look at pop culture that gives us a mix that is simply too much to handle…but in a good way. ‘Black Jaws’ and ‘Wizard of Watt’s’ are fantastic examples of the series featuring Black Dynamite kicking as much ass as anyone else on TV, but pilfering us with constant comedic jabs that lasts for days. Hell, it’s been a few days, and I STILL have Black’s solo stuck in my head.

Less we forget, Black Dynamite is a series inspired by a live-action movie. Gone are the days where people were looking for homages to one of the best blaxploitation parodies to ever release, and in are the days where, similar to South Park, what THESE writers are going to say about say an Al Sharpton or what have you. For some reason, the series feels so contemporary, even if it takes about 9 to 10 months of production per episode. Heck, the finale dealt with racial inequalities versus the police force…if it weren’t for Charlie Hebdo, people would STILL be talking about all of the distrust there is among police officers and civilians. It certainly makes you stop and wonder, ‘How did they do that?’

My answer is quite simple…by hand.