A Dash of Awesomesauce: Halcyon #1

Title: Halcyon #1

Author: Marc Guggenheim & Tara Butters

Artist: Ryan Bodenheim

Publisher: Image Comics (Collider)

Rating: 16+

Release date: November 10, 2010

Verdict: 10/10!!!

A few months ago while going over the upcoming comics from Image, I saw the cover for Halcyon #1 and was immediately drawn to it. The cover was simple and straight forward with 6 characters plus a dog on a simple white background with the word “Halcyon” through the middle. At the time I had absolutely no idea what the book was about, but you could tell from the cover that this book was going to be beautiful and it was going to involve super-humans doing some cool super-human shit.

The series is written by Marc Guggenheim, one the up and comers over at Marvel who also happens to work in television as a writer/producer (currently the executive producer on No Ordinary Family). I’ve quite enjoyed his stuff over the last few years, but from the looks of it, the real star of this series will be artist Ryan Bodenheim. Now you may have never heard of Ryan before, but I can guarantee that he is one of the next big artists in the industry. The only book of Ryan’s that I’ve read up to this point was his beyond excellent mini-series, Red Mass for Mars, released by Image and written by one of my favourite writers today, Jonathan Hickman. The only downfall of Mr. Bodenheim is his seeming time to complete an issue. Red Mass for Mars was a gorgeous four-issue mini-series, but it took about a year for it to come out. When I first saw his art I was immediately reminded of a cross between Frank Quitely, Cameron Stewart, Tony Moore, and Geoff Darrow, and when it comes to scheduling problems, these guys are some of the worst offenders. But on the other hand, their artwork is some of the best in the industry, so even if this book was released quarterly, it would be better than nothing. So how was the actual issue?

The story opens up in Peshawar, Pakistan with a super soldier named Jarhead being dropped right into the middle of a fire-fight with militant extremists. He takes them apart one at a time with ruthless efficiency. Right off the bat the artwork is striking in its beautiful detail. Every tread on every boot and every fold in each piece of clothing is visible. Simply awesome! From there we are introduced to Oculus, the world’s greatest super-villain, as he hides away in his fortress on a parallel Earth with other iterations of himself. Just picture Doctor Doom hiding away in the negative zone where bunches of other Doctor’s Doom are also passing the time. Do you see the crazy potential?

After only the first issue, I would say that I’m definitely hooked. This first storyarc has an interesting angle it looks like it’s going to follow (ie. Crime is drastically down across the globe in a huge way. What does this really mean?) and the creators working on this are perfect. I don’t speculate often about #1 issues, but I’m relatively certain that this book will be optioned in Hollywood any minute (if it hasn’t been already) and the price for this first issue is going to sky rocket. Don’t waste any time, come in and get your copy today. The second printing should be announced very soon.

Invincible, The Walking Dead, Proof, Chew, Cowboy/Ninja/Viking, and now Halcyon. Image is quickly becoming my favourite place to go for my monthly dose of comic book perfection. What did you guys think of this issue? If you didn’t love it, then I think you’re nuts! Let’s chat about it in our awesome comments section below. Some (obvious) advice before I see you again next time: PICK UP HALCYON #1! You won’t be disappointed J .