Lots of comics have claimed to undertake the scenario of super-heroes/super-powered beings in the "real world," and lots of those series have plenty of virtues. However, the only comic book that has ever really made me feel that it encompasses the complexities and emotional layers of "real" super-beings is Paul Chadwick's Concrete.Quick origin summary: Ron Lithgow, former congressional speechwriter, was abducted by aliens while camping and had his mind transfered into a very large, hawk-eyed, re...

CONCRETE: DEPTHS and CONCRETE: HEIGHTS by Paul Chadwick - this is my third time reading this material (though not in this format). I tend to think of Concrete in relation to his contemporaries Hellboy and Savage Dragon: all three seem inspired by Jack Kirby/Stan Lee’s Ben Grimm, though each take the Kirby/Lee influence in a very different direction. Mignola makes the Kirby/Lee idiom a vehicle for Weird Fantasy stories in the Robert E. Howard tradition, and Hellboy is best seen as a Conan-like he...

I picked up THE HUMAN DILEMMA as it was coming out close to 10 years ago and got instantly hooked; I've been gutted that there's been no new CONCRETE since. The stories are deliberately small in scale, occasionally reaching for medium, and honestly that's perfect -- it's rarer and rarer for superhero books to examine what there is for a superhero to do, not in a world that's menaced by villains that are scary and dangerous enough to test their power, but in this world, where unimaginable power h...

As a Marvel and DC guy I decided to try a different type of read. Using Hoopla I found this interesting story. It was good. It did lack the excitement of the super hero comics I am use to but Concrete is definitely an interesting character. I just wish he was part of a greater comic universe and could see his interaction with other characters. I will eventually read the other volumes. It is a nice change of pace for my comic reading.

Ok, what am I missing? I guess the book has a certain zen-like embrace of the mundane. In concept this turns the whole the super hero stereotype on its head, but really for the most part there isn't much excitement here. I understand how the world needed an anti-Grendel at the time, but after the 25+ years since this has been released the market has been flooded with indie navel gazing. I'm not sure that this has that much going for it to rise above the rest other than getting there first. Frequ...

This is the first collection of Concrete in the series and was really really good. What can I say, it is about a man turned into a concrete monster who decides to take up his childhood dreams of being an adventurer and writing books about it. It covers how concrete became concrete, concrete trying to swim the atlantic ocean, concrete saving miners, helping some oceanographers, losing a friend in a cave.... The writing is really top-notch. 20 years later, this still holds up well, and I got it gr...

This isn’t anything groundbreaking, but it’s thoroughly enjoyable. It has a similar feel to some DC series I’ve read from about the same time (e.g. Shade the Changing Man, The Invisibles, and some of the more grounded parts of The Sandman), though Concrete leans a bit more into comedy. Its main distinguishing feature is its consistently good-looking black-and-white artwork, all of which is drawn by Paul Chadwick – a sharp contrast to the rotating rosters of rushed and often sub-par artists that

Art: 5Story: 3(Full review later)

Concrete as very often noted is not a superheroes story, rather, the tale of a regular guy stuck in an alien body and trying to cope with the fact he will not be human anymore. Most stories are contemplative, introspective and most of the time there is no action at all. Concrete is a flawed hero and not indestructible.I am a big fan of B&W comics and I think Paul Chadwick is one of the best comic artists in this world. He is a terrific writer as well.

This didn't hold up quite as well as I remembered, or maybe I expected too much from all the adulation I remember it receiving. It's pretty great to see a well-crafted comics story that is less power fantasy and more of an exploration of the world through the lens of some supernatural twist. And the visual fluency and control of Chadwick's pen makes me infinitely jealous. Maybe it was more a matter of timing than overall content: here was a bit of non-super hero alternative comics fiction hittin...

The book has an appeal that I can't quite articulate. It wasn't as good as I hoped and expected, though. The art is quite good, but the the chapters' plots are simplistic, the story pacing is erratic, and the dialog is stilted. The series has a good reputation -- maybe it gets better over time (it did improve over the chapters in this book)? Or maybe it's one of those books that doesn't age well?

Concrete could be a super hero, if he was part of a super-hero world -- but he's not. He's trapped in a rocky body akin to The Thing of the Fantastic Four in a rather mundane, realistic world. Without a clear path ahead, he and his companions go on moderately entertaining adventures and get philosophical. It's one of those graphic novels that make you say, "okay, this is pretty good," with its detailed black-and-white art, solid writing, and original ideas.... but I have to admit that I didn't r...

It's been a long time since I've read comix, so it took me a while to get into the groove of this volume. Though the series is "legendary," at least according to the blurb on the front cover, I had never heard of Concrete. Thus, the stories were mostly a pleasant surprise. A side note: Holy hell, I am glad that the thought bubble has all but evaporated from illustrated storytelling. Too much telling, not enough showing. The presence of thought bubbles dates the work for me, which makes it somewh...

Though comics are just about my favorite thing in the world, I will admit that I find they often walk a weird tightrope for me, when it comes to what holds my interest. If, on one hand, the stories are too "slice of life," I find that I'm not that interested in reading them. With a storytelling medium that allows a single individual to tell a story with a near-limitless budget; it seems like a waste when most indie comics seem content to tell self-indulgent stories about their creators sitting a...

This review originally appeared on my blog, Shared Universe Reviews. Concrete is the superhero comic that could, but chose not to. I’m so impressed that Paul Chadwick deliberately chose to take his comic in a different direction. Let me explain. Concrete, I’ll call him Ron (his real name), is a seven foot tall creature with a thick skin of concrete which makes him very resistant to physical stimulus. Ron became this way after being abducted by aliens who transferred his brain into a new, concre...

Concrete's first storiesI loved Concrete when it first came out as single-issue comic books (and before that as stories in 'Dark Horse Presents') I still enjoy them now. They can be too wordy and full of Concrete's thoughts, but when they hit, they hit hard. The drawing is frequently beautiful and I sometimes stop to study a panel (particularly when Chadwick is drawing intensely detailed images of sea life).The stories that I remembered from having read previously were:- 'Lifestyles of the Rich

Wow. Oh man. This is an incredible find! I am already done now with the 2nd in the series (of 8?) and I am a superfan who is totally hooked on Concrete! I cannot get enough. We are already thinking of investing in the full-cover collection. Anyway, this is kind of an unlikely superhero story...A guy gets his brain transplanted into this big concrete body...There's a little gov't conspiracy stuff, w/o being unpatriotic...There's mystery and intrigue, but mostly a thoroughly human story about how

This comic was... fine? Competent? Mostly unobjectionable?I can see why it was so well-regarded in the 80s. It's well-drawn, dense, competently constructed. Not too meditative or rambling like a lot of indie comics. There are some interesting concepts and interpretations, like the way Concrete is almost entirely excited about his transformation. The reaction of "Hey, I'm super strong and durable! I'll never have to worry about that awkward sex stuff again! I'll never get a sunburn!" is basically...

this is such an incredible series, I cannot believe I was unaware of this gold!

4 out of 5 stars*Some spoilers for Concrete's origin story ahead*One phase I went through when I was young was a brief fixation on Dark Horse Comics. Having no money and being forced to simply stare at the contents of their online store, I swore when I was old I'd read all the Dark Horse Comics I wanted. Well, here I am. I stumbled upon Concrete in an ad within the pages of my first rather mixed foray into Dark Horse properties via The Mask. As will probably be documented here, I am a sucker for...