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Hepcats #2
Snowblind Part One
new condition
216 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1995
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
February 20, 2020
#ThrowbackThursday - Back in the '90s, I used to write comic book reviews for the website of a now-defunct comic book retailer called Rockem Sockem Comics. From November 1996:
HEPCATS RETURNS :
Hepcats (Antarctic Press)
Martin Wagner's cult series is being reprinted from the beginning in comics form. It has previously been self-published by Wagner's Double Diamond Press and collected in trade paperback format. Now Antarctic is allowing you to pick up this great series for only a few bucks a month, and Wagner is previewing new installments of his next storyline in each issue.
This month Previews will be soliciting issue #2. But before you start thinking you've missed out because you didn't order issue #1, I have to tell you that you're wrong. While #1 is a good book, it is irrelevant to the 18 chapter novel which begins in issue #3. That novel is called "Snowblind."
"Snowblind" is the life story of a woman named Erica. She has just become engaged to a fellow named Arnie and is giving up her exotic dancing job for school and a new career. Her life should be perfect. Unfortunately, Erica has been keeping a secret from Arnie. The secret begins to unravel one day when a man from her past spots her walking through a mall and calls her Kathryn.
The story is told via narration by Erica and a series of flashbacks. The first flashback shows Erica in the hospital recovering from a near drowning. Was it suicide? Arnie is determined to find out what's going on. The secret is revealed to us in chapter 9, a wrenching "silent" issue told only in pictures.
Not only is Wagner's writing gripping, his art is beautiful. His characters' bodies are extremely realistic and anatomically correct (in all senses of that phrase). His backgrounds are meticulously detailed--only Cerebus and Akira can compare. The only flaw is Wagner's artistic choice of putting animal heads on human bodies. I would have preferred complete realism since he is so obviously capable of it. However, the animal heads aren't too distracting and make character identification easy, so I can live with it.
Due to some nudity, adult language, adult themes, and a lack of flying men in tights hitting each other, this book is for "mature readers" only.
Grade: A-
HEPCATS RETURNS :
Hepcats (Antarctic Press)
Martin Wagner's cult series is being reprinted from the beginning in comics form. It has previously been self-published by Wagner's Double Diamond Press and collected in trade paperback format. Now Antarctic is allowing you to pick up this great series for only a few bucks a month, and Wagner is previewing new installments of his next storyline in each issue.
This month Previews will be soliciting issue #2. But before you start thinking you've missed out because you didn't order issue #1, I have to tell you that you're wrong. While #1 is a good book, it is irrelevant to the 18 chapter novel which begins in issue #3. That novel is called "Snowblind."
"Snowblind" is the life story of a woman named Erica. She has just become engaged to a fellow named Arnie and is giving up her exotic dancing job for school and a new career. Her life should be perfect. Unfortunately, Erica has been keeping a secret from Arnie. The secret begins to unravel one day when a man from her past spots her walking through a mall and calls her Kathryn.
The story is told via narration by Erica and a series of flashbacks. The first flashback shows Erica in the hospital recovering from a near drowning. Was it suicide? Arnie is determined to find out what's going on. The secret is revealed to us in chapter 9, a wrenching "silent" issue told only in pictures.
Not only is Wagner's writing gripping, his art is beautiful. His characters' bodies are extremely realistic and anatomically correct (in all senses of that phrase). His backgrounds are meticulously detailed--only Cerebus and Akira can compare. The only flaw is Wagner's artistic choice of putting animal heads on human bodies. I would have preferred complete realism since he is so obviously capable of it. However, the animal heads aren't too distracting and make character identification easy, so I can live with it.
Due to some nudity, adult language, adult themes, and a lack of flying men in tights hitting each other, this book is for "mature readers" only.
Grade: A-
November 11, 2025
One of the great What-Ifs. It really is a huge shame that this series had to end so prematurely. The characters' transition from gag strip to serious serial is surprisingly smooth, and the characterization they built up in the dailies helps them shine here quickly. Leaving them dead in the middle of such a serious story, never to be heard from again left me feeling empty, but even the short time I got to spend with them made me feel a part of their small circle of friends.
I'm not holding out hope that Martin Wagner will ever come back to Hepcats after the 30 years he's been gone, but maybe in his retirement he'll have the time and desire to revisit his characters and the loyal fans who are still waiting to see them again.
I'm not holding out hope that Martin Wagner will ever come back to Hepcats after the 30 years he's been gone, but maybe in his retirement he'll have the time and desire to revisit his characters and the loyal fans who are still waiting to see them again.
June 2, 2024
I believe this comic deserves a lot more attention than it has gotten over the past decade or so. Everything from the characters to the themes of the book feel so real and gut-wrenching, like my heart has been ripped out. The art style is very simple at times, and yet also realistic in the best way possible. I recommend this comic wholeheartedly (that is, I would if this comic hadn't ripped it out lol).
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June 22, 2019
September 30, 2024
Wow. Just wow. This is one of those almost-lost materpieces. I wish the whole series would get a reprint so it's all in one volume because.... wow.
April 16, 2014
Hepcats was something of an indie darling in the early to mid 1990's- an anthropomorphic college tale drawn with great detail by cartoonist Martin Wagner. I had read about Hepcats before, mentioned in the same breath as classics like Dave Sim's Cerebus and Jeff Smith's Bone. While that's quite a pedigree I avoided Hepcats because the whole "human body/cartoony animal head" design of Wagner's characters was never something I much cared for aesthetically. If I'm being honest, it freaks me out.
When I ran across the first (and only) two collections of Wagner's series, I figured it was as good a time as any to get over my prejudices and check out Hepcats. While the first trade amounts to little more than a collection of college comic strips, Snowblind, Part 1 collects issues #3 through #10 of the original series, meant to form the first half of a larger narrative.
I enjoyed Snowblind, Part 1. Once I got over the weirdness of the character designs, there's much to admire about Wagner's work. While the characters look like they came from a Saturday morning cartoon, Wagner gives them a depth to which most comics of that era never aspired. These characters' conversations are engaging, intelligent and human, despite their wild appearance. One of my litmus tests for good comics is whether a character's dialogue would fit if another character was saying it. If the dialogue is interchangable, it's a good bet you're reading a lousy comic book. Here, Wagner beautifully distinguishes between his cast. An Arnie line wouldn't work coming out of Gunther's mouth and neither of those two guys sounds like Joey. These characters feel lived-in and I liked meeting them.
Wagner further grounds this story with incredibly detailed, real world settings. Truly, Wagner's backgrounds are inspiringly awesome here, especially the sequences set at a shopping mall. It's the mark of a great artist if they can make something as mundane as a mall as vibrant as Wagner makes it here.
The plot centers around Erica, the girlfriend of Arnie. Erica has a past filled with violence and deceit that's begun to come home to roost for her. The psychologically dark ways she deals with her personal history forms the spine of this first part of the story... and here I'm sorry to note while I can tell you I found this collection to be readable and enjoyable, Snowblind is an incomplete story and will probably remain so for a logn time. Wagner produced two issues after this collection but then went off the rails on Hepcats and the comics industry, sadly.
It's a shame to read a story with such promise while knowing it will never be completed.
When I ran across the first (and only) two collections of Wagner's series, I figured it was as good a time as any to get over my prejudices and check out Hepcats. While the first trade amounts to little more than a collection of college comic strips, Snowblind, Part 1 collects issues #3 through #10 of the original series, meant to form the first half of a larger narrative.
I enjoyed Snowblind, Part 1. Once I got over the weirdness of the character designs, there's much to admire about Wagner's work. While the characters look like they came from a Saturday morning cartoon, Wagner gives them a depth to which most comics of that era never aspired. These characters' conversations are engaging, intelligent and human, despite their wild appearance. One of my litmus tests for good comics is whether a character's dialogue would fit if another character was saying it. If the dialogue is interchangable, it's a good bet you're reading a lousy comic book. Here, Wagner beautifully distinguishes between his cast. An Arnie line wouldn't work coming out of Gunther's mouth and neither of those two guys sounds like Joey. These characters feel lived-in and I liked meeting them.
Wagner further grounds this story with incredibly detailed, real world settings. Truly, Wagner's backgrounds are inspiringly awesome here, especially the sequences set at a shopping mall. It's the mark of a great artist if they can make something as mundane as a mall as vibrant as Wagner makes it here.
The plot centers around Erica, the girlfriend of Arnie. Erica has a past filled with violence and deceit that's begun to come home to roost for her. The psychologically dark ways she deals with her personal history forms the spine of this first part of the story... and here I'm sorry to note while I can tell you I found this collection to be readable and enjoyable, Snowblind is an incomplete story and will probably remain so for a logn time. Wagner produced two issues after this collection but then went off the rails on Hepcats and the comics industry, sadly.
It's a shame to read a story with such promise while knowing it will never be completed.
April 28, 2012
A comic about the stuff going on at a college campus among a small group of friends. Don't let the cute animal heads fool you, it ends up being quite gut-wrenching.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews