Scan barcode
A review by manwithanagenda
The Complete Concrete by Paul Chadwick
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
The same man that gave me 'The Cowboy Wally Show' thrust 'Concrete' into my hands and, again, I'm grateful.
Concrete, the intelligent man trapped in a body at once empowering and limiting, is not a character I could have come across on my own. My dalliance in comic books has been slight enough that even a title this universally admired would have escaped my notice.
Paul Chadwick takes a man who goes through a horrible trans-formative experience equal to most superheroes and, after some perfunctory government prodding, is placed instead in 1980s LA at a loss as to what to do with his powers. He accomplishes some great things, but he is also very much a fallible, awkward man. I love the humor, in the writing and in the subtlety of the pictures. Chadwick can do big panels, but the real magic is performed with the shifts in Concrete's eyes as he looks at Maureen. Even when he is playing bodyguard to a fatalist rock singer or climbing Everest, Concrete is endearingly vulnerable.
Either Virginia Woolf said it, or it came from some essay commenting about her, but the thought is that even the most mundane moments, properly observed, make the greatest art. 'Concrete' is a shining example of that, however extraordinary Ron Lithgow has become.
Chadwick's labor of love continue in Concrete's 'Collected Short Stories, Vol 1'
Concrete, the intelligent man trapped in a body at once empowering and limiting, is not a character I could have come across on my own. My dalliance in comic books has been slight enough that even a title this universally admired would have escaped my notice.
Paul Chadwick takes a man who goes through a horrible trans-formative experience equal to most superheroes and, after some perfunctory government prodding, is placed instead in 1980s LA at a loss as to what to do with his powers. He accomplishes some great things, but he is also very much a fallible, awkward man. I love the humor, in the writing and in the subtlety of the pictures. Chadwick can do big panels, but the real magic is performed with the shifts in Concrete's eyes as he looks at Maureen. Even when he is playing bodyguard to a fatalist rock singer or climbing Everest, Concrete is endearingly vulnerable.
Either Virginia Woolf said it, or it came from some essay commenting about her, but the thought is that even the most mundane moments, properly observed, make the greatest art. 'Concrete' is a shining example of that, however extraordinary Ron Lithgow has become.
Chadwick's labor of love continue in Concrete's 'Collected Short Stories, Vol 1'