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This is not for me : although labeled as a modern classic by some, this bores me to death.
Concrete was a series of adult comics released in the 1980s that centered on the experiences of the eponymous Concrete a former political speech writer who, while on a camping trip, ends up having his brain implanted in a large "concrete" body by aliens. The setup sounds a little "out there," but Chadwick uses the concept to explore adult themes from familial bonds to the cold war which was still occurring at the time. I enjoy the series a great deal as it gives you the opportunity to learn a gr...
I didn't find myself very engaged during most of the book. I'm sure the settings were more meaningful when this was written in the late 80s. The characters don't talk like people naturally talk -- lots of complex sentences (in the grammatical sense) and parantheticals, for example. Decent art, some interesting ideas.
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When Stan Lee wrote The Fantastic Four in 1961 he called it an "anti-comic" because the crux of the stories generally involved the Four squabbling with each other over petty arguments as well as the fact that they didn't wear colourful costumes but instead wore uniforms. However, I'd say Concrete has him beat for the title of anti-comic. Concrete revolves around a man turned into a stone creature by aliens. Despite that, there's actually very little sci-fi or supernatural elements in the series....
the book just dragged. cool concept but poorly executed.
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 h
Not as strong as the first volume. Aside from a cool story about hiking Mt. Everest, a lot of the stories get into territory that just wasn't interesting and didn't play to the strengths of the storytelling, including one where Concrete was a bodyguard to a singer reminiscent of Prince.
More of Chadwick's warm, witty, inspiring stories. This second volume was just a little less varied than the first, and a couple of the stories didn't really go anywhere, but the collection as a whole was still enjoyable. I'll probably read the third too.
So much better than Volume 1: Depths. Paul Chadwick has grown as a writer, crafting interesting stories around the concept of a man made of concrete, rather than relying on the concept almost entirely in the first volume.
A beautiful comic, in terms of story, design, art, and theme. It's just top-notch. My only complaint is the smaller-than-standard-comic page size is not good for some of Chadwick's rich and dense page lay-outs.
Chadwick is one of my favorite artists and certainly is an accomplished writer. However, this volume continues where volume 1 ended and nothing really happens differently. I made a huge effort to like this as much as I liked volume 1 but all I got here was an intense desire to sleep profoundly.
Heights collects Concrete issues #6-10 and numerous shorter stories from various anthology comics.The concept of the comic is summarized often to introduce each story and the adventures are mostly episodic in nature. Volume 1 isn't really a prerequisite.Former Senatorial speech writer Ron Lithgow is trapped inside a 7+ ft. and 1,000+ lb. body of stone and known to the world as Concrete, the result of a government cyborg project. The story is a compromise with the government to allow him some fre...
These books are classics, and their greatness is especially sharp when the books are put into the proper historical context. In the late 1980s these books were truly revolutionary; they were a subversion of the super-hero genre on par with, if not surpassing in terms of ingenuity and depth, the Watchmen series. Aside from the occasional origin-story track-back Chadwick does an excellent job of advancing and elaborating upon all the existential struggles Concrete faces as an altruistic asexual pi...
Maybe 4.5
It gets better toward the end.
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...
OOOOOOoooo I just LOVE him! The character AND the writer. This volume gets way interesting. Way deep. Sad. Good. INTENSE. Can't say any more, I don't want to ruin it for the rest. PLEASE go read it! See my review of volume #1 for more.
