Review: HUCK #1

HUCK No. 1
IMAGE COMICS – @ImageComics

[This review originally appeared on Patreon.]

WRITER: Mark Millar – @mrmarkmillar
ARTIST: Rafael Albuquerque
COLORS: Dave McCaig
LETTERS: Nate Piekos of Blambot
COVER: Rafael Albuquerque
VARIANT COVER: Rafael Albuquerque
28pp, Color, $3.50 U.S. (November 2015)

Rated T / Teen

Huck is a new comic book series created by writer Mark Millar (Kick-Ass, Chrononauts) and artist Rafael Albuquerque (American Vampire).  The series focuses on a young man who essentially performs acts of super-heroism anonymously in a small town.

Huck #1 opens in rural Maine.  In a quiet seaside town, there are picket fences, farms, old-fashioned gas stations, and everyone knows everyone.  Life is a good, and it is made better by Huck, a young man of mysterious origins.  He humbly works at a gas station, but he has special gifts and physical abilities.  Each day, he uses his gifts, such as super-strength, to do a good deed.  His neighbors return his favors by keeping Huck's abilities a secret, but newcomers to the town see money in telling secrets.

When one considers writer Mark Millar's previous work on comic books like The Authority and his creation of such comics as Wanted and Kick-Ass, it not unreasonable to be shocked that Millar could write a first issue like Huck #1.  By turns sweet and sentimental, Huck #1 is like a retelling of the early years of Clark Kent, but by way of Mayberry instead of Metropolis.  Millar tries to create the spirit of genuine Americana, and maybe he can pull it off in a way two boys from Cleveland could not.

I have mixed feelings about artist Rafael Albuquerque's work in Huck #1.  Albuquerque is both a distinctive stylist and storyteller, but you could not tell that from the flat work he delivers in this debut issue.  Here and there, some moments stand out visually or graphically.  I hope that Albuquerque can do something special here, and perhaps, he will later in the series.  I get the feeling, however, that there are several comic book artists who could have done Huck #1 as good as or better than Albuquerque.

B+

http://www.millarworld.tv/

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux


The text is copyright © 2015 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog for reprint and syndication rights and fees.