RAd’s Page Turners | Paul Chadwick’s Concrete

Seeing a tweet from Paul Chadwick showing an inked page from a new, yet to be released Concrete mini-series sent me on a comic book high that I don’t typically feel with news about an upcoming DC/Marvel superhero film.

Around 15 years ago, I started to gravitate towards creator owned and/or independent comics and away from the usual superhero stuff that I grew up with. Concrete published by Dark Horse, is one such title that appealed to my evolving tastes and I faithfully bought the new trade reprints as soon as they were released. Since then, Concrete has become one of my all-time favorites.

Concrete is actually speech writer Ron Lithgow who got abducted by aliens during a camping trip and had his brain transplanted into this hulking, rock hard body. His new body gave him super strength, amazing eyesight and the ability to hold his breath for a long time among other things but it came with a price as he could no longer hold a pen, drive a car, and get physically intimate with another human being. Guiding Concrete as he goes on in his daily life is Maureen Vonnegut, a doctor fascinated by his alien body and Larry Munro, his assistant/driver/aide, etc.

Despite Concrete’s amazing adventures made possible by his extraordinary body, the comics are still very much grounded in reality and they feel very human. This and coupled with Chadwick not shying away from real world issues is what really hooked me up with the series.

There are currently seven volumes of the black and white reprints namely Depths, Heights, Fragile Creature, Killer Smile, Think Like a Mountain, Strange Armor, and The Human Dilemma. Since then, there had been a few new short stories that originally appeared at the relaunched Dark Horse Presents and were subsequently compiled and released in a single comic form Three Uneasy Pieces.

Paul Chadwick said that patience is required for the new Concrete mini-series. Rest assured, I will be patient. Until then, I will give my Concrete books another read. I sometimes see a volume or two in the graphic novel section of finer bookstores in here. Go get it and it doesn't really matter which volume one starts with.