space
head
headheadhead
HomeContactRSS Feed
COMICS   •   MOVIES   •   MUSIC   •   TELEVISION   •   GAMES   •   BOOKS
Comic Review: Henry and Butcher #1
space
Ryan Midnight   |  

Henry and ButcherHenry and Butcher #1
Story by Gonzalo Ventura
Art and Letters by Martin Blanco
Pit Bros. Productions
Cover price: $2.99; Available now

Locked in a madhouse, an ex-boxer and ex-muscle for the mob named Henry once again tries to piece together what he remembers was his last night of freedom before he was put away. He recalls his night out with his friends having beers, where he once again tells the story about how his friends and wife made his life right. He recalls a drunken drive home, where he crashes his car, and stumbles home only to discover another family living there. And he recalls his dog, Butcher, talking to him and telling him that there is a way back to his normal life. Things are looking pretty bleak for Henry, but if he can avoid the lunacy that even a sane man will contract from being stuck in a padded cell, he may just figure out what the hell has happened to him.

“I loved my wife.” This is the opening downer of a line that writer Gonzalo Ventura, co-founder of Pit Bros. Productions, begins this sprawling and hard-edged story with. From here, Ventura leaps to flashbacks and flashbacks-within-flashbacks to unfold a gritty and maddening story that would have made a great first chapter in a sleazy, cheaply-printed paperback. His use of time-hopping emphasizes within the reader the disorientation that Henry is going through as he tries to collect his thoughts. Within Ventura’s washed-up ex-boxer character we associate the great cinematic boxers who have fallen on hard times, even though his character more physically resembles the assassin from the Hitman video games than Rocky or Terry Malloy. Henry knows that he has done wrongs in his past, and as he has made his confession to us, we can forgive and want to see him escape his unjust imprisonment.

Ventura’s words are backed by artist Martin Blanco. Blanco’s black and white foreground artwork is filled with dark grays and shadows, like pieces of Henry’s past that he can’t quite get the imagery right on. His backgrounds further push the memory motif, as Blanco uses what appear to be actual photographs that have been put through the ringer and slightly distorted to mesh with his art. This multi-layering of images gives the work a slightly 3D look and keeps the eyes focused on Henry’s more important recollected details rather than the unimportant backdrop.

Henry And Butcher #1 sets up what should turn out to be a hard-boiled mystery, with plenty of face-pounding and arm-breaking violence given Henry’s violent past, and plenty of delicious red herrings to prolong the pain and confusion he will have to suffer before reaching his destination.

Available at IndyPlanet.

1 Comment »

No comments yet.

RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URL

Leave a comment

space
Tags:
space
Previous Article
space
Next Article
«
»
space
space
space
Amazon.com
space
You may have noticed that we're now AD FREE! Please support Geeks of Doom by using the Amazon Affiliate link above. All of our proceeds from the program go toward maintaining this site.
space
Geeks of Doom on TwitterGeeks of Doom on FacebookGeeks of Doom on InstagramFollow Geeks of Doom on TumblrGeeks of Doom on YouTubeGeeks of Doom Email DigestGeeks of Doom RSS Feed
space
space
space
space
The Drill Down PodcastTARDISblend PodcastWestworld Podcast
2023  ·   2022  ·   2021  ·   2020  ·   2019  ·   2018  ·   2017  ·   2016  ·   2015  ·   2014  ·  
2013  ·   2012  ·   2011  ·   2010  ·   2009  ·   2008  ·   2007  ·   2006  ·   2005
space
Geeks of Doom is proudly powered by WordPress.

Students of the Unusual™ comic cover used with permission of 3BoysProductions
The Mercuri Bros.™ comic cover used with permission of Prodigal Son Press

Geeks of Doom is designed and maintained by our geeky webmaster
All original content copyright ©2005-2023 Geeks of Doom
All external content copyright of its respective owner, except where noted
space
Creative Commons License
This website is licensed under
a Creative Commons License.
space
About | Privacy Policy | Contact
space