Headhunter #1
Sitcomics 2018
Written by Darin Henry
Illustrated by Steven E. Gordon
Coloured by Glenn Whitmore
Lettered by Marshall Dillon
Headhunter - the homeless hero who fights for the frail, battles for the broken and speaks for the silent - not with words but with actions... often very violent actions! But fate will suddenly and irrevocably change the life of the nocturnal knight. And in order to save the life of another, he may have to forfeit his own!
I love small press or indie books and I feel like a broken record saying it but so many people are stuck in their own groove of DC or Marvel and I don’t understand their fear in reading books from another publisher. It makes no sense to me and if I could I would open my own shoppe and focus on these companies and help spread the word on just how gosh darn good they are. We see all the basic superhero tropes done time and time again and it’s hard to come up with a truly original character so inevitably comparison’s will be made but here so far the now three I’ve had the pleasure to read, and review, stand out as originals in my book.
So amidst all the dark and violence that comes with being an anti-hero or vigilante Darin has decided to infuse humour in the form of the narrator. The narrator takes us through the first half of the story and that voice adds the missing link that’s needed to balance out the darker aspect of what’s going on. It is a pretty brilliant idea to do it that way and I found myself laughing despite the situation and that’s priceless. Darin continues to impress me with the level of talent, skill and creativity he brings to his work and he’s made me a firm believer who will pretty much read whatever he writes.
The way the book is structured is fantastic. Darin manages to create a great ebb & flow to the proceedings as we get to see action and story at times become one. While the narration is silly and fun it doesn’t really give clues as to who the Headhunter is so his origins remain a mystery. Now I am in no hurry to learn it either, after all not knowing in this instance is more intriguing than having it spoiled too quickly. Personally I never saw the attraction of having to know everything about the main character right off the bat, I want to get to know someone and then work their origins into the story naturally as an interaction with someone else maybe I am the odd man out but I stand by it.
I like the interiors here. The work falls somewhere in between standard comics fare and Saturday morning cartoons of old and it really works well here. There is some nice attention to detail going on here and I like the way the varying weights of the linework are used to show contrast and highlight those things features that should be noticed first. The utilisation of page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels shows off a nice eye for storytelling. I would love to see more backgrounds being utilised because when we see Headhunter’s dwelling that was phenomenal and really expanded what we think. The work on that and the outside of the church complete wow moments and that’s what this could benefit from more of.
So I like the concept of the character and how he’s presented. I like he too has an old time feel about him thanks to how we see his costume or mode of dress whichever one seems to be appropriate. That he crosses over with Blue Baron and that crew drew some great characterisation and made me like the solitary hero aspect of him. I’m in and not just with this but I mean with all of it the company, the creativity and imagination on display and just the overall vibe and feel of the story. You need to tell your shoppe’s to order these books and help spread the word.
Sitcomics 2018
Written by Darin Henry
Illustrated by Steven E. Gordon
Coloured by Glenn Whitmore
Lettered by Marshall Dillon
Headhunter - the homeless hero who fights for the frail, battles for the broken and speaks for the silent - not with words but with actions... often very violent actions! But fate will suddenly and irrevocably change the life of the nocturnal knight. And in order to save the life of another, he may have to forfeit his own!
I love small press or indie books and I feel like a broken record saying it but so many people are stuck in their own groove of DC or Marvel and I don’t understand their fear in reading books from another publisher. It makes no sense to me and if I could I would open my own shoppe and focus on these companies and help spread the word on just how gosh darn good they are. We see all the basic superhero tropes done time and time again and it’s hard to come up with a truly original character so inevitably comparison’s will be made but here so far the now three I’ve had the pleasure to read, and review, stand out as originals in my book.
So amidst all the dark and violence that comes with being an anti-hero or vigilante Darin has decided to infuse humour in the form of the narrator. The narrator takes us through the first half of the story and that voice adds the missing link that’s needed to balance out the darker aspect of what’s going on. It is a pretty brilliant idea to do it that way and I found myself laughing despite the situation and that’s priceless. Darin continues to impress me with the level of talent, skill and creativity he brings to his work and he’s made me a firm believer who will pretty much read whatever he writes.
The way the book is structured is fantastic. Darin manages to create a great ebb & flow to the proceedings as we get to see action and story at times become one. While the narration is silly and fun it doesn’t really give clues as to who the Headhunter is so his origins remain a mystery. Now I am in no hurry to learn it either, after all not knowing in this instance is more intriguing than having it spoiled too quickly. Personally I never saw the attraction of having to know everything about the main character right off the bat, I want to get to know someone and then work their origins into the story naturally as an interaction with someone else maybe I am the odd man out but I stand by it.
I like the interiors here. The work falls somewhere in between standard comics fare and Saturday morning cartoons of old and it really works well here. There is some nice attention to detail going on here and I like the way the varying weights of the linework are used to show contrast and highlight those things features that should be noticed first. The utilisation of page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels shows off a nice eye for storytelling. I would love to see more backgrounds being utilised because when we see Headhunter’s dwelling that was phenomenal and really expanded what we think. The work on that and the outside of the church complete wow moments and that’s what this could benefit from more of.
So I like the concept of the character and how he’s presented. I like he too has an old time feel about him thanks to how we see his costume or mode of dress whichever one seems to be appropriate. That he crosses over with Blue Baron and that crew drew some great characterisation and made me like the solitary hero aspect of him. I’m in and not just with this but I mean with all of it the company, the creativity and imagination on display and just the overall vibe and feel of the story. You need to tell your shoppe’s to order these books and help spread the word.
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