X Marks the Spot
Or, How to Hook Your Readers Into Submission
I love getting Kickstarter Rewards from fellow indiecomics creators. When that creator is both an icon and a friend, it’s doubly-special. That said, I’ll give this a review with that disclaimer, but I’ll say what I need to say cuz I just drank three hard ales and one hard tea, so… this will likely be a verbal shit-show. 🤣🤣🤣
From the latest Kickstarter:
THE RED HOOK x DEAN HASPIEL is the third installment in the Dean Haspiel Deep Cut Universe. A 24 page, black-and-white, limited-edition comic book.
New Brooklyn bartender Sam Brosia, aka The Red Hook, faces an existential crisis when he wonders whether he's wearing the superhero mask or is the superhero mask wearing him? Who is Unmarked Bill, and how does Dean Haspiel fit into his own award-winning comix series?With COVID Cop, I took two taboo subjects and merged them into a pandemic-inspired 21st Century antihero to root for.
Billy Dogma and Jane Legit featured erotic noir about two love titans attracted to conflict and is the most adult-oriented comic I've ever done.The Red Hook X Dean Haspiel is where I merge the two genres I'm best known for, superhero and memoir, and have been producing separately for the last 30+ years... until now.
And with the introduction of cartoonist Dean Haspiel into the New Brooklyn Universe, is THE RED HOOK evolving into a speculative memoir?
Hook, Line, and Drinker
The book opens up in a bar, more or less, and we’re introduced to the mains and their respective existential crises. That’s not to belittle what’s there — I’m just being pithily synoptical. Go ahead and look that up, I’ll wait…
Sam Brosia, aka The Red Hood, is struggling with a superheroic version of imposter syndrome. What’s the point of the mask if his identity is known? Is the power in the mask or in the person? If the former, does the latter matter less? If the latter, then what’s the point of a secret identity at all anyway, then?
Dino isn’t going to waste time answering all of your questions. Sorry. But, he does dive into these questions at a personal level. Oh, and we are introduced to a new character in the story to character this forward: Dean. Haspiel.
No, seriously.
The lead characters exchange dialogue in the bar and set a tone for their respective developments. It’s really very very well done. The exchanges are great and none of the dialogue is wasted. Dino’s sense of economics are on full display here. It’s terrific.
Well, Well, Well. How the Turn Tables…*
And then the action hits! I can’t go too much into things because it’d be pretty spoilery, so lemme say that if you’ve read a Dino work before you know he doesn’t short us on action and adventure. So, LET THE FUN BEGIN!
The existential crises that started this book carry throughout the action and reach a really satisfying close.
If you haven’t read either COVID Cop or Billy Dogma and Jane Legit you can still enjoy this story as a standalone issue. If you consume the trilogy you get the fuller vision and Dean’s picture for New Brooklyn. I recommend checking out all three!
If You Missed Out
I spoke with Dean directly via text and while The Red Hook X Dean Haspiel isn’t available online right now you can request a copy of this limited edition book via Venmo or Paypal.
Here’s the info:
The Rating
Of course I recommend this one. Did you not read the text I took the time to write above?? 🙃
Thanks for your sweet review, Charlie. MUCH APPRECIATED!