Jim Woodring

None of your friends hate you & wish you death by firing squad

Concrete by Paul Chadwick, is a comic book series published by Dark Horse comics starting in 1986. As far as I can tell, issues have come out all the way till the early 2000’s I feel every year, I fall back into reading issues of this series. Concrete. The story of a man trapped in a rock body. He’s not a superhero in the classic Marvel Universe sense, even if he IS stronger and more durable than regular people( he can also holds his breath for a few hours which is beautifully used in some of the stories). Paul Chadwick broaches heavy themes like overpopulation, deforestation, the loss of identity. There are also some fun stories like when Concrete gets hired as a stunt man on a movie set. What drew me in at first is the artwork. It’s not the slickest, not the easiest to get into but it is one of the more immersive type of storytelling I’ve read. When Concrete is waiting outside a motel in the desert at night, I can almost hear the sounds of cars in the distance, going down the freeway. The way Chadwick paints the night right up to the edge of concrete feels like we are wrapped in this world with him. There is a great story where the summer heat beats down on people in LA.I felt sweaty and uncomfortable in the best way possible while reading it. It’s not necessarily an easy book to get into. The writing is interesting. It can be a little meandering at times. It feels more like real life thinking than a plot driven story It asks a lot of focus from the reader. There is a lot of text and it is not designed to flow like an action comic or a children’s books. This is a book that needs to be read with a certain abandon, a certain desire to explore, ask questions and face uneasy answers. It is one of my favorite comics #paulChadwick #Concrete #Darkhorsecomics

Quino

RIP  Aline Kominsky-Crumb