The Complete Concrete [Paperback]

This is one of the best comic books and graphic novels
I have ever read! I got this by chance at Pass It On Thrift
Store in Crestwood, IL here in the USA. It was a great
book to read filled with an interesting and exciting
cast of characters, storyline, plot and drama not to
mention comedy, action, adventure, romance and plenty
of ads in a few panels advertising real world products
or knockoffs of them.

Paul Chadwick did a great job writing this series
and this particular book in general.

The Complete Concrete by Paul Chadwick is a most awesome
grapic novel and a different take on the superhero genre.

It stands out from other books and graphic novels in
that it has a somewhat different story then most superhero
comic book and graphic novels.

The cast of characters, dialogue, story, images, product ads
and events and people we can relate to along with numerous
pop cultural references make this a fun and interesting graphic
novel to read along with plenty of drama and tension at times.

Many of the same dilemmas, challenges and emotions that we
face in real life is what Concrete and his companions face
even adversaries at times.

A great graphic novel.

I give it 5/5 stars.

All in all a great read and a must have
along with Watchmen and Batman Year One
and Batman Thew Dark Knight Returns.

;)

From wiki

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concrete_(comics)

"Concrete is a comic book series created and written by Paul Chadwick and published by Dark Horse Comics. His first appearance is Dark Horse Presents #1 (July, 1986). The eponymous central character is a normal man whose brain was transplanted into a large, stone body by aliens, and who lives an extraordinary life on Earth following his escape.

The Concrete series focuses on realism. Apart from the aliens (which disappear in the origin issue and are never heard from again) and Concrete's own high-tech artificial body (which includes superhuman sight), there are no supernatural or science-fiction elements to any stories.

The hero tries to use his body for noble endeavors, such as helping out on a family farm. Leter, Concrete climbs Mount Everest, becomes involved with a group of hardline environmental militants, and reluctantly agrees to become the spokesperson of a campaign to voluntarily reduce the earth's population.

Concrete's sexuality is addressed in the series. An artist at heart, he collects paintings of female nudes. He is noteably embarrassed at his lack of sexual organs.

Real-world physics apply to Concrete. Examples include Concrete breaking objects by sitting on them, or Concrete being shot forward from a braking car, due to the momentum of his large body. He is constantly breaking telephones and doorknobs, and must hire an assistant Larry Munro, because his hands are too clumsy to handle a pen.

The series makes frequent use of thought balloons, showing characters' interior thoughts and feelings.

In addition to the comic, Paul Chadwick has drawn Concrete in many paintings. Most show the character wandering in nature, perhaps looking at a flower or some other natural curiosity."

"Awards and recognitionThe series won the Eisner Awards for Best Continuing Series for 1988 and 1989, Best Black-and-White Series for 1988 and 1989, and Best New Series for 1988, and their Best Writer/Artist Award for Paul Chadwick for 1989. It received the Harvey Award for Best New Series in 1988, and won Chadwick their Award For Cartoonist (Writer/Artist) for 1989."

I hate how Concrete gets so overlooked. It really is one of the greatest examples of comics ever made. I'd put Concrete up to any story created for any medium. Amazing stuff, track it all down!

P. Chadwick was able to give humanity, warmth, depth and humor to his Concrete series of comics. It's not suprising that his writing is literate given his obvious talent. The comic books convey story in a visual manner so this an opportunity to explore Concrete worlds in a more in-depth way. Too bad the movie was never made. Concrete remains a complex character worthy of cinematic treatment.

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