---
product_id: 55159296
title: "BLACK BOLT VOL. 1: HARD TIME Paperback – December 5, 2017"
brand: "saladin ahmedchristian ward"
price: "1102403₫"
currency: VND
in_stock: true
reviews_count: 13
url: https://www.desertcart.vn/products/55159296-black-bolt-vol-1-hard-time-paperback-december-5-2017
store_origin: VN
region: Vietnam
---

# BLACK BOLT VOL. 1: HARD TIME Paperback – December 5, 2017

**Brand:** saladin ahmedchristian ward
**Price:** 1102403₫
**Availability:** ✅ In Stock

## Quick Answers

- **What is this?** BLACK BOLT VOL. 1: HARD TIME Paperback – December 5, 2017 by saladin ahmedchristian ward
- **How much does it cost?** 1102403₫ with free shipping
- **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship
- **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.vn](https://www.desertcart.vn/products/55159296-black-bolt-vol-1-hard-time-paperback-december-5-2017)

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## Description

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## Customer Reviews

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 







  
  
    The opening half of something truly special, regardless of how much you've ever cared about Black Bolt before
  

*by J***E on Reviewed in the United States on July 25, 2018*

I really love Saladin Ahmed, who wrote one of my favorite fantasy novels ever (Throne of the Crescent Moon), whose Twitter feed brings joy and insight into my world, and whose mind is constantly full of ideas (see his short story collection or his great creator-owned comic Abbott). But even so, it took me a while to pick up his 12-issue run of Black Bolt. It's not that I didn't trust Ahmed with a superhero comic - far from it - but this was a character I knew nothing about and who I had little connection to. Add to that how little I read real superhero comics anymore...well, I bought it, because I love Ahmed and trust him, but I didn't read it for a while.Then the run ended, which meant that I knew I had a complete story on my hands...and what's more, a story that ended up winning an Eisner award for best new series. That's no small thing, and it gave me the push I needed to bump Black Bolt to the top of my "to be read" pile.And I'm so glad I did, because what I got is one of the best stories I've read in years, regardless of whether I knew a thing about Black Bolt or not.What Ahmed pulls off here - along with his partner, the astonishing artist Christian Ward - is miraculous, taking a character I knew nothing about and creating something that absolutely invested me not only in his success, but in his emotional well-being. This is a redemption arc on a big scale, but it's also a look at how we're perceived by other people, what happens when we let down the ones we love, and what legacy we leave behind after we die. It's also a book about imprisonment and what being in prison does to people, how it can institutionalize them and change them forever. It's a book about how people become "villains" and how often that label doesn't get at the shades of gray that fill our lives. And it's about love - parental love, spousal love, and so much more.And, it's also a comic about super-powered characters punching each other, fighting, using powers, and generally being superheroes.In other words, Ahmed and Ward create not just a superhero comic, not just something thoughtful and emotional, but something that unites the best parts of both, giving us a look at what happens when someone is forced to make their peace with their mistakes and come to terms with the things they've done - and how you move on from there.The first volume, Hard Time, opens with Black Bolt awakening in a prison. He doesn't know how he got there, or even exactly where he is - and nor do we. Christian Ward's psychedelic, hyper-colorful art immerses us quickly in this bizarre landscape, though, giving us walls that don't always look exactly right, boundaries that seem to shift, and a general sense of unreality that keeps us ill at ease. It also allows anything to happen - a young alien girl who's being tortured comes back to life; a monstrous creature that runs the prison emerges, terrifyingly, from the shadows; and a notorious super-villain, Absorbing Man, seems to emerge as the prison champion.But it doesn't take long for us to understand that so many of our assumptions don't apply here. Not everyone that's here is a villain; what's more, even those that are don't deserve a punishment that seems more intent on mental and physical torture than any kind of redemption. (As always, any resemblance to any matters in the real world must be coincidental, right?) Nowhere is that more clear than in what Ahmed does with Crusher Creel, a b-villain who becomes genuinely tragic and moving here, explaining how he gradually became a supervillain from a lack of choices and desperation, and what it feels like to be not only defeated, but brutalized, so often by "heroes". It's a remarkable feat, and gives this first half of the series an absolute wallop, emotionally speaking.Which doesn't even get into the fact that Black Bolt is, so often, incredibly funny. (There's a joke here about Black Bolt's name that absolutely cracked me up.) Nor does it convey that, for all its big ideas and emotional heft and points about imprisonment, that this is an exciting, unpredictable comic that makes great use of its characters' wide-ranging backstory, filling in gaps and drawing off of a mythology that's never been explored in depth. (One sequence, which tells the story of Black Bolt's childhood through the eyes of an unexpected faithful companion, is beautiful and moving in its simplicity.) And it also doesn't convey just how gorgeous it all is to look at, with Ward filling every page with unreal art that leaves you in awe of how it all fits together on a page. (I loved reading this on a screen and going panel by panel, but I would also always stop and take in the entire page, especially with my screen able to truly make the colors pop.)Hard Time is a complete arc in of itself, dealing with Black Bolt's time in this bizarre prison, his relationships with the inmates around him, and the choices he makes with regard to them. It's also, though, the story of the choices he's made in the past - choices with real consequences, and his own ability to accept his failings as a hero, a father, a king, and even just as a human being. It's beautiful, heartfelt, and really incredible work - and somehow, does all of this in six issues. Especially when put together with volume 2, Black Bolt does something incredible: it takes characters that I had next to no emotional connection with and makes them truly empathetic, investing me in their mythology, sure, but more importantly investing me in their self-worth, their efforts to make peace with their shortcomings, and their journeys to find redemption and peace. That's universal stuff, no matter if the people involved have superpowers or not, and the way that Ahmed approaches his material gives us a sense of the universality of his tale without ever forgetting that he's telling a superhero story. I truly loved Black Bolt in a way I haven't loved a comic in a long time - it's funny, it's jaw-droppingly gorgeous, it's exciting, and it packs an emotional punch that hit me hard. It's perfect in pretty much any way I can think of, and deserves every bit of the acclaim its gotten and then some.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 







  
  
    Strong
  

*by C***N on Reviewed in the United States on December 18, 2017*

Saladin Ahmed's writing manages to get around some of the more difficult elements of the Black Bolt character while keeping him engaging.  It was skeptical as I have often found some of the post-1990s attempts to expand the role of the Inhumans in the Marvel universe both forced and tended to hit narrative limitations quickly.  Ahmed's arc here,while not perfect, does give the Black Bolt some depth and a subtly cosmic scale that does feel forced or artificially silver aged.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 







  
  
    Boring Bolt is not so Boring anymore
  

*by A***O on Reviewed in the United States on June 25, 2018*

Saladin Ahmed and his artistic collaborators managed to make me care about what happens to a character I've always found boring and stuffy. Of all of Marvel's classic Inhumans line-up, Black Bolt has always been the last interesting to me. Ahmed and company's work is proof that in the world of comics there are very few bad characters -- something interesting can always be done with them with the right creative team.

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*Product available on Desertcart Vietnam*
*Store origin: VN*
*Last updated: 2026-03-16*