Beyond The Panels #26- A Life Furnished In Early Hickman
So, I can't say I was one of the OGs with Jonathan Hickman. I can't even say I was an OG for his Marvel work- the only Hickman stuff from Marvel that I read was Avengers and New Avengers.I liked what I saw though in those books, though. Hickman had a gift for capturing characters we knew and loved well, while introducing the kind of cool as fuck sci-fi shit that you can do with the Avengers. One day, I'll go back and get his Fantastic Four stuff, but I'm not in a rush. There's a rather nice treasury of Hickman stuff at Image that I've found.
First off, let me take a second to praise East of West. This post is mostly about three of his earliest Image works, but I feel I would be remiss if I didn't mention East of West. It's apocalyptic, alternate timeline sci-fi, steeped in religion and war. It's another one of those books where if after reading that sentence, you aren't onboard, I don't know what to tell you, but it possibly starts with, "Look, I'm pretty sure there's no way we can be friends." It's the kind of book where you buy the first volume and a week later, you're completely caught up and have added it to your subscription at your LCS, bank account be damned. It's that good. There's multiple plots happening at once, all coming to a head and you know at some point, it's all going to come together and set the whole thing on fire. Artist Nick Dragotta is amazing- his pencils have an Adam Kubert flavor to them, but are still unique and highly detailed. Everything works together so well.
Well, now that's out of the way, let's get to some early Hickman.
So, we'll start with The Nightly News. It's a weird story to read in today's political climate and in a lot of ways owes stuff to it's spiritual successor, Fight Club. Basically, the story is about a secret organization targeting the media for destruction. Throughout the book, Hickman has all kinds of infographics highlighting the relationship between the media and government, media conglomerates and their practices, and other little factoids about 21st century life. It was written during the tail end of the Bush years and is rather apolitical in it's own way. It seems to borrow heavily from the movie version of Fight Club, but is also entirely different. Fight Club is a satire about masculinity. There is nothing satirical about The Nightly News. It teaches you some things about the news media and the way it operates, but it's not casting the whole thing in a funny light. You won't empathize with the followers of the Voice, the organization carrying out terrorist attacks against media targets and if you do, well, by the end, you won't anymore.
If I had to give the book a thesis statement, it's basically this- any time you listen to anyone who isn't you, there's a chance they're trying to manipulate you and if there's money and/or power involved, they're definitely trying to manipulate you.
I feel that much like Fight Club, if a certain segment of the population read it, they'd use it as a new polemic in their war against the "lamestream media" (if it's not obvious, I'm talking about Trump voters). It's infographics would become holy gospel, revealing the relationship between media and the deep state, and soon you'd have Churches of the Voice springing up online. This would, of course, entirely miss the point of the book, but when you've voted for Trump... well, you seem to be really good at missing the point of a lot of things. All that said, much like Fight Club, it's still a very worthwhile read. Interpretation is everything and all that, but it also comes down to the interpreter. Personally, I've always known, much like any smart adult knows, that the media is corrupt in many ways. It's a business. Businesses are corrupt. The book taught me very little I didn't know, but gave me some cool facts to pull out, and that's always nice. The Nightly News is enthralling and I highly recommend it. Unless you're a Trump voter.
Let's talk about Pax Romana.
So, Pax Romana is an alternate history thing, much like East of West, with a twist- the book opens in the future, as the Pope is telling the young Emperor his bed time story- a story about the truth of his Empire and how it came to be and survive far into the 21st century.
That's really it. That's all the concept there is to it, but it's a massive concept. If you were able to pick and choose any time period to go to and throw your modern military might behind any given power, which one would you choose? Which do you think would mean the most safety and security for the world? Which one would you change the entire existence of humanity to ensure would survive? Hickman does this brilliantly. As usual, I'm not going to get too into the actual nuts and bolts of the story, but this is one of those books where you really just read it.
Reading these two books, you get a flavor for what one of the people who wrote one of the forewords for the books called "Hickman-esque" (I'm 90% sure it's Pax Romana)- lots of words and infographics, lots of white space and unconventional panel and page layouts. Hickman himself drew both of these books and it's a surprise he hasn't drawn anything else- his style is striking and unique, all heavy lines that convey a sense of power and command over the page and what it contains. Hickman created a certain narrative flavor with these books, a very good one, but what really speaks to his talent is that he hasn't fallen back on this technique too much. Maybe it was working in the panel grid world of Marvel, but his style on his later books is vastly different and speaks to his growth and versatility as a creator.
The last Hickman book I'm going to spotlight is Transhuman, and in a lot of ways it's the most interesting one.
Transhuman is about two companies in the near future who got into the business of human modification, one with genetics and one with technology, and who came out on top. However, the books gets into the minutiae of venture capitalism and the petty squabbles of the visionaries more than the actual tech and what it meant for the human race. The book is funny in a lot of ways- funnier than most Hickman stuff is and the ending works as a joke and cautionary tale.
I think the reason the book focuses so much on the funding, business, and interpersonal aspects of the whole thing is to make a very good point about humanity in general- we are capable of great, wonderful things, yet we allow our own greed and human pettiness to make those great. wonderful things into less than they should be- products. Every revolution in human history has eventually been turned into a weaker product and sold to us. Dude, go back in time and tell yourself that one day, you;ll carry a computer in your pocket and all you do with it is read dumb blogs, bitch about things, and take pictures with inane filters, and hopefully, your younger self will smack the dogshit out of you. That's what happens with technological advances in our society, any advances really- we make them into products, ways to pacify the populace, and move on to the next big thing. In Transhuman, by the end, you realize what this very human attitude leads to. In our real world society, you see it every day, too, if you know where to look.
Unless you're a Trump voter.
Hickman doesn't draw Transhuman, and that's both sad and perfectly acceptable. While the infographics would have been cool for the info dumps, Hickman fits them into dialogue by telling the story like a documentary in progress. In that way, it makes sense to have characters explain things- they're doing it for the audience. While I like Hickman's unconventional layouts, I don't know if they would have worked as well in Transhuman- since it's being presented like a documentary, it's better for it to be more of a traditional comic. That said, there are still somethings I would have enjoyed seeing in Hickman's style.
Go out and check these three books out. If you've only read Hickman's mainstream superhero stuff, you're going to see a side of Hickman you've never seen before and it's pretty great. Jonathan Hickman is one of the most unique voices working in the comic industry right now, and these three works will definitely sell you on that fact.
Next Issue: Seeing as how next week is the first week of 2018, I'm going to be talking about what I hope to see in comics next year. Want to know what I want from 2018? Then, join us next time, here at.....
Beyond The Panels!!!!!!
First off, let me take a second to praise East of West. This post is mostly about three of his earliest Image works, but I feel I would be remiss if I didn't mention East of West. It's apocalyptic, alternate timeline sci-fi, steeped in religion and war. It's another one of those books where if after reading that sentence, you aren't onboard, I don't know what to tell you, but it possibly starts with, "Look, I'm pretty sure there's no way we can be friends." It's the kind of book where you buy the first volume and a week later, you're completely caught up and have added it to your subscription at your LCS, bank account be damned. It's that good. There's multiple plots happening at once, all coming to a head and you know at some point, it's all going to come together and set the whole thing on fire. Artist Nick Dragotta is amazing- his pencils have an Adam Kubert flavor to them, but are still unique and highly detailed. Everything works together so well.
Well, now that's out of the way, let's get to some early Hickman.
So, we'll start with The Nightly News. It's a weird story to read in today's political climate and in a lot of ways owes stuff to it's spiritual successor, Fight Club. Basically, the story is about a secret organization targeting the media for destruction. Throughout the book, Hickman has all kinds of infographics highlighting the relationship between the media and government, media conglomerates and their practices, and other little factoids about 21st century life. It was written during the tail end of the Bush years and is rather apolitical in it's own way. It seems to borrow heavily from the movie version of Fight Club, but is also entirely different. Fight Club is a satire about masculinity. There is nothing satirical about The Nightly News. It teaches you some things about the news media and the way it operates, but it's not casting the whole thing in a funny light. You won't empathize with the followers of the Voice, the organization carrying out terrorist attacks against media targets and if you do, well, by the end, you won't anymore.
If I had to give the book a thesis statement, it's basically this- any time you listen to anyone who isn't you, there's a chance they're trying to manipulate you and if there's money and/or power involved, they're definitely trying to manipulate you.
I feel that much like Fight Club, if a certain segment of the population read it, they'd use it as a new polemic in their war against the "lamestream media" (if it's not obvious, I'm talking about Trump voters). It's infographics would become holy gospel, revealing the relationship between media and the deep state, and soon you'd have Churches of the Voice springing up online. This would, of course, entirely miss the point of the book, but when you've voted for Trump... well, you seem to be really good at missing the point of a lot of things. All that said, much like Fight Club, it's still a very worthwhile read. Interpretation is everything and all that, but it also comes down to the interpreter. Personally, I've always known, much like any smart adult knows, that the media is corrupt in many ways. It's a business. Businesses are corrupt. The book taught me very little I didn't know, but gave me some cool facts to pull out, and that's always nice. The Nightly News is enthralling and I highly recommend it. Unless you're a Trump voter.
Let's talk about Pax Romana.
So, Pax Romana is an alternate history thing, much like East of West, with a twist- the book opens in the future, as the Pope is telling the young Emperor his bed time story- a story about the truth of his Empire and how it came to be and survive far into the 21st century.
That's really it. That's all the concept there is to it, but it's a massive concept. If you were able to pick and choose any time period to go to and throw your modern military might behind any given power, which one would you choose? Which do you think would mean the most safety and security for the world? Which one would you change the entire existence of humanity to ensure would survive? Hickman does this brilliantly. As usual, I'm not going to get too into the actual nuts and bolts of the story, but this is one of those books where you really just read it.
Reading these two books, you get a flavor for what one of the people who wrote one of the forewords for the books called "Hickman-esque" (I'm 90% sure it's Pax Romana)- lots of words and infographics, lots of white space and unconventional panel and page layouts. Hickman himself drew both of these books and it's a surprise he hasn't drawn anything else- his style is striking and unique, all heavy lines that convey a sense of power and command over the page and what it contains. Hickman created a certain narrative flavor with these books, a very good one, but what really speaks to his talent is that he hasn't fallen back on this technique too much. Maybe it was working in the panel grid world of Marvel, but his style on his later books is vastly different and speaks to his growth and versatility as a creator.
The last Hickman book I'm going to spotlight is Transhuman, and in a lot of ways it's the most interesting one.
Transhuman is about two companies in the near future who got into the business of human modification, one with genetics and one with technology, and who came out on top. However, the books gets into the minutiae of venture capitalism and the petty squabbles of the visionaries more than the actual tech and what it meant for the human race. The book is funny in a lot of ways- funnier than most Hickman stuff is and the ending works as a joke and cautionary tale.
I think the reason the book focuses so much on the funding, business, and interpersonal aspects of the whole thing is to make a very good point about humanity in general- we are capable of great, wonderful things, yet we allow our own greed and human pettiness to make those great. wonderful things into less than they should be- products. Every revolution in human history has eventually been turned into a weaker product and sold to us. Dude, go back in time and tell yourself that one day, you;ll carry a computer in your pocket and all you do with it is read dumb blogs, bitch about things, and take pictures with inane filters, and hopefully, your younger self will smack the dogshit out of you. That's what happens with technological advances in our society, any advances really- we make them into products, ways to pacify the populace, and move on to the next big thing. In Transhuman, by the end, you realize what this very human attitude leads to. In our real world society, you see it every day, too, if you know where to look.
Unless you're a Trump voter.
Hickman doesn't draw Transhuman, and that's both sad and perfectly acceptable. While the infographics would have been cool for the info dumps, Hickman fits them into dialogue by telling the story like a documentary in progress. In that way, it makes sense to have characters explain things- they're doing it for the audience. While I like Hickman's unconventional layouts, I don't know if they would have worked as well in Transhuman- since it's being presented like a documentary, it's better for it to be more of a traditional comic. That said, there are still somethings I would have enjoyed seeing in Hickman's style.
Go out and check these three books out. If you've only read Hickman's mainstream superhero stuff, you're going to see a side of Hickman you've never seen before and it's pretty great. Jonathan Hickman is one of the most unique voices working in the comic industry right now, and these three works will definitely sell you on that fact.
Next Issue: Seeing as how next week is the first week of 2018, I'm going to be talking about what I hope to see in comics next year. Want to know what I want from 2018? Then, join us next time, here at.....
Beyond The Panels!!!!!!
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