IT WAS ONLY A MATTER OF TIME

It already seems like most of the comics on the stands these days have forsaken character development altogether and focused on action. Now, we have one of the first books to hit stands that does so willingly and on purpose. The question is: how does it work?

HYSTERIA: ONE MAN GANG #1-2
Written and Drawn by Mike Hawthorne
Published by Image Comics

Port Aesteria is subdivided and ruled by four gangs. One simple tenet sets the tone: cross into another gang’s territory for any reason, no matter if it is justified, and it’s war. So when Bruce Lopez, the ass-kicker known as One Man Gang, saves a little girl from being hit by a runaway truck, he’s about to find that no good deed goes unpunished, because he crossed into the Eggs Gang’s turf to do it.

The action kicks off fast and furious, as by the bottom of page one, the tale is underway. Essentially, OMG is one long action sequence, moving from set-piece to set-piece and never really stopping to take a breath. Kung-fu fights, rooftop chases, car chases… Hawthorne is leaving no stone unturned as he moves Bruce and the little girl from one place to another. Along the way, he pays homage to some of the best action actors and sequences ever, as well as classic manga like LONE WOLF AND CUB.

Making the book even more intriguing is the behind-the-scenes material provided in issue two. Hawthorne demonstrates how he puts his pages together, and how OMG isn’t actually “written” in the traditional sense; instead, he storyboards the flow in a huge notebook and comes back to add words much later. That creates what he refers to as a “freestyle” comic, and while I think it would suck bunches for most comics to adopt this method, for OMG it works.

Why? Because the book sets out to deliver a certain type of comics with a certain type of look and tone, and it delivers what it sets out to do. If I were in a shop and looking for a pure-action book that would occupy my attention and provide plenty of cool moments, I’d eat this stuff up with a spoon. And because Hawthorne is a talented guy with the ability to mix action and sight gags like a professional chef, so much the better. I suppose some reviewers might say that HYSTERIA: ONE MAN GANG is a guilty pleasure, but they’ve got it exactly wrong. There’s no guilt here at all. This book works.

/Mason