One of the best parts about having a comic book addiction is searching out and finding new and otherwise unknown comics to read, and possibly start following. Mostly I've always stuck to indie comics for this fascination, but thanks to a subscription to Amazon's comiXology, I've been able to explore some of the more mainstream comic book houses and the latest offerings they have.

Black Hood #1 The Bullet's Kiss is the first book in a new series to comiXology and is published by Dark Circle Comics. Dark Circle's other comic offerings include:

• The Fox - A tongue-in-cheek comic tale where photojournalist Paul Patton, Jr dons a mask and suit.
• The Hangman - A horror comic and urban legend. Created by Felix Ruiz (WOLVERINE MAX, HALO).
• The Legend of The Shield - An American Superhero and military weapon
• The Mighty Crusaders - A full cast of character and their version of The Avengers.
• Sam Hill - A Graphical Novel about a former NYPD Detective.

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The Black Hood takes place in the mean streets of Philadelphia and focusses on motorcycle patrolman Gregory Hettinger. Hettinger answers a call to a disturbance at a local elementary school alone, (where's his partner?) and ends up in a shootout with the bad guys. He's abruptly shot in the face and in the wounded stupor, winds up gunning down the original outlaw vigilante, The Dark Hood.

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Once recovered from the shotgun blast to his face, Patrolman Hettinger is left unable to speak much and is befriended by Jesse DuPree, a speech therapist that helps him with his vocal recovery, as well as coping with his recent disfigurement. Suffering from trauma and sever pain, Hettinger is prescribed Percocet pain killers, which he quickly becomes addicted to. His addiction looks to be a focal point of the series going forward.

High on opioids, severely depressed and languishing over killing someone who mostly didn't deserve it, Hettinger sinks into a drug induced fog and finds relief in covering his disfigured face with a replica of The Black Hood's mask. I'll stop here as I don't want to give too much away.

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The Black Hood Main Characters

Gregory Hettinger - The Hero in the series, Officer Hettinger is a beat cop in Philadelphia that as a result of a horrific facial injury, becomes addicted to pain killers and assumes the Black Hood persona.

Jesse DuPree - The speech therapist that requested to be assigned Hettinger's treatment because her baby brother was a student at the school under siege.

Devon Allen - Hettingers friend and police partner. There seems to be more to this character that should be revealed in subsequent episodes.

Kip Burland - The original vigilante Black Hood character that Hettinger accidentally kills, and subsequently assumes his crime fighting role.

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I actually enjoyed reading The Black Hood and plan to continue on with the remainder of the series. The creators speak in-depth about their roots in Philly in the epilogue portion of the book and clearly will have the ability to make the city very believable going forward.

Gregory Hettinger is a compelling character which I found very believable. I really enjoyed learning about his life leading up to the current events, and I like the relationship he has going with Jesse DuPree. I feel there could be a tormented love affair brewing there.

The art in the book takes on an almost charcoal - pastel visual. It does come across a bit rushed, and I'm hoping their continued syndication will encourage them to put more work into the visual aspect. That being said, I feel they may be trying to convey their close ties to Philadelphia with this style. You be the judge.