« Fifth Review: HERO | Home | IDMOS: Kimono’s Townhouse »
Review: Hero By Night
By Xenix | August 18, 2007
I had never seen a “journal-style” comic before the first part of Hero by Night and, frankly, I think I prefer it to the modern day sections of the comic.
It really does read like two different comics, which struck me in different ways.
I really like the Golden Age era done with modern art and writing, especially the occasional schematic or news clipping to make things seem real. Some of it made me think for a moment how Hero could be that naive, but then.. it was a simpler time, or so people tell me.
Hero was an awesome individual, and more than just some caped crusader out to change the world by beating up the bad guys. One of my favorite lines in any comic comes from the Rising Stars’ character Jason who remarks that he can fly extremely fast, is invulnerable, and he can split mountains.. but he can’t teach a kid to read, or stop people from hating each other.
Hero actually did something to help the people in his city, as did the other heroes that we would see. Well, at first, at least… The farther Hero got form his city, the shallower the superheroes seemed to be… Even the Society of Shadows seemed like they were out for personal gain or just plain secrecy instead of actually helping anybody, and the American and Dr. Justice? Meh..
But all of those do provide adequate foils for Hero. They show him to be different from what most superheroes turn out to be simply because he actually tries to help people all of the time, not just when it’s something big and heroic.
Next, the modern day segment of the comic seemed a lot like what the real life modern day is stereotyped as: shallow, irreverent, and with a lot more gray than either black or white.
I couldn’t get into this part as much. There seems to be the stereotypical Young Hero, Knowledgeable Sidekick, Childhood Friend/Love, Evil Overlord, Brutal Henchmen, and a Power-Hungry Middle Manager. Stop me when I run out of cliches, please.. Those in and of themselves don’t make for a bad comic. By itself, the latter half of Hero by Night could have been quite enjoyable… Once paired with the journal entries, however, it seems dingy by comparison.
All of that said, the art and writing are both good throughout the comic, pleasing to the eye and easy enough to follow (but with just enough missing information to make you think), but I overall preferred the archival quality of the journal entries to the “discovering his powers” feel of the current pages.
A rousing 4 out of 5. I’ll keep an eye on it, and it was definitely worth the read.
And, for all of my griping, who knows… the modern day segment may just grow on me..
Topics: Review | No Comments »