Now here’s one I’ve wanted to review for a while, but never got around to actually doing it. DJ Coffman of Yirmumah fame went and entered this little contest put on by Platinum Studios a couple years ago called The Comic Book Challenge, beating out hundreds of other young, talented comic creators, and turned his pitch into a miniseries, a new webcomic, and now, an ongoing series. Not bad.

The result of all this hard work is Hero by Night, an homage to the silver age (and if you look closely, to the late Jack Kirby) that comes across as a very fresh take on superheores. When Jack King happens upon the journals and costumes from the Hero by Night, who disappeared many years ago, he tries to capitalize on his discovery, and auctions the goods on Ebay. However, this catches the attention of the HBN’s old nemesis, The Iron Talon, who hunts down Jack, seeking the journals and the ring that the old HBN always wore. It’s a good story, and a great set-up for what hopes to be a long-running comic.

The art is good - Coffman pushes himself to produce great work, and Jason Embury’s colors are soft yet sharp; none of the pages look muddied or lose detail to coloring. Coffman has the first four issues of HBN on the Hero home page, so you can read the entire miniseries before you settle on adding this to your reserve pile at the comic shop.

But there’s more - Coffman really goes the extra mile to give his readers a fuller, more engrossing experience. You get to see a section of the journals, as well. That archive bar under the comics - those strips were released before the comics ever dropped. It was a nice touch, great teaser material, and really got his potential readers interested and invested in HBN before the first issue ever came out. It’s not required that you read it before starting the comics; you may even want to check those strips out after reading the miniseries, but it’s a good supplement that gives you more insight into the story.

Bottom line - the comic’s good, you can read the miniseries for free, so why not go sample it? This project got DJ to put Yirmumah on the backburner indefinetely, so you know it’s gotta be worthwhile.

If you liked that, try...

1. Webcomics Idol - A Bomb Shelter Comics Contest
2. 30 Days of Night
3. Comic Rundown: Zombies By Night
4. 30 Days of Night In October
5. Droop by KC Green

1 Comment »

1. 
   Migo
   December 5, 2007 at 1:39 pm

   There’s a link between this years Comic Book Challenge winner and last years winner, DJ. That link is former fellow Bomb Shelter Comics member Wiz Rollins. Wiz is doing the lettering for Gunplay, the winner of this years challenge, and used to write for Yirmumah. DJ also has been a judge on both our Webcomic Idol competitions, nice guy that DJ.

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