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Hard Time #2
Hard Time: Sixteen
A high-school shooting costs four students their lives, and 15-year-old Ethan Chiles his future. Now he's got 50 years of hard time to look forward to. Something powerful has been growing within Ethan, and on the day of his sentencing, it escapes at last. It will change a life that has already been completely changed. It will follow him into the savage environment of a maximum security prison, where each day is a struggle for survival. Will it be a source of massive power, a chance at redemption, or the cruelest of curses?
In this second HARD TIME collection, Ethan leaves solitary confinement and rejoins the prison's general population. But can his strange power keep him and his few friends alive?
In this second HARD TIME collection, Ethan leaves solitary confinement and rejoins the prison's general population. But can his strange power keep him and his few friends alive?
144 pages, Paperback
First published January 8, 2013
31 people want to read
About the author
Steve Gerber
639 books66 followersSteve Gerber graduated from the University of Missouri with a degree in communications and took a job in advertising. To keep himself sane, he wrote bizarre short stories such as "Elves Against Hitler," "Conversion in a Terminal Subway," and "...And the Birds Hummed Dirges!" He noticed acquaintance Roy Thomas working at Marvel, and Thomas sent him Marvel's standard writing test, dialoguing Daredevil art. He was soon made a regular on Daredevil and Sub-Mariner, and the newly created Man-Thing, the latter of which pegged him as having a strong personal style--intellectual, introspective, and literary. In one issue, he introduced an anthropomorphic duck into a horror fantasy, because he wanted something weird and incongruous, and Thomas made the character, named for Gerber's childhood friend Howard, fall to his apparent death in the following issue. Fans were outraged, and the character was revived in a new and deeply personal series. Gerber said in interview that the joke of Howard the Duck is that "there is no joke." The series was existential and dealt with the necessities of life, such as finding employment to pay the rent. Such unusual fare for comicbooks also informed his writing on The Defenders. Other works included Morbius, the Lving Vampire, The Son of Satan, Tales of the Zombie, The Living Mummy, Marvel Two-in-One, Guardians of the Galaxy, Shanna the She-Devil, and Crazy Magazine for Marvel, and Mister Miracle, Metal Men,
The Phantom Zone
, and The Immortal Doctor Fate for DC. Gerber eventually lost a lawsuit for control of Howard the Duck when he was defending artist Gene Colan's claim of delayed paychecks for the series, which was less important to him personally because he had a staff job and Colan did not.
He left comics for animation in the early 1980s, working mainly with Ruby-Spears, creating Thundarr the Barbarian with Alex Toth and Jack Kirby and episodes of The Puppy's Further Adventures, and Marvel Productions, where he was story editor on multiple Marvel series including Dungeons & Dragons, G.I. Joe, and The Transformers. He continued to dabble in comics, mainly for Eclipse, including the graphic novel Stewart the Rat, the two-part horror story "Role Model: Caring, Sharing, and Helping Others," and the seven-issue Destroyer Duck with Jack Kirby, which began as a fundraiser for Gerber's lawsuit.
In the early 1990s, he returned to Marvel with Foolkiller, a ten-issue limited series featuring a new version of a villain he had used in The Man-Thing and Omega the Unknown, who communicated with a previous version of the character through internet bulletin boards. An early internet adopter himself, he wrote two chapters of BBSs for Dummies with Beth Woods Slick, with whom he also wrote the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode, "Contagion." During this period, he also wrote The Sensational She-Hulk and Cloak and Dagger for Marvel, Cybernary and WildC.A.T.s for Image, and Sludge and Exiles for the writer-driven Malibu Ultraverse, and Nevada for DC's mature readers Vertigo line.
In 2002, he returned to the Howard the Duck character for Marvel's mature readers MAX line, and for DC created Hard Time with Mary Skrenes, with whom he had co-created the cult hit Omega the Unknown for Marvel. Their ending for Omega the Unknown remains a secret that Skrenes plans to take to the grave if Marvel refuses to publish it. Suffering from idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis ("idiopathic" meaning of unknown origin despite having been a heavy smoker much of his life), he was on a waiting list for a double lung transplant. His final work was the Doctor Fate story arc, "More Pain Comics," for DC Comics'
He left comics for animation in the early 1980s, working mainly with Ruby-Spears, creating Thundarr the Barbarian with Alex Toth and Jack Kirby and episodes of The Puppy's Further Adventures, and Marvel Productions, where he was story editor on multiple Marvel series including Dungeons & Dragons, G.I. Joe, and The Transformers. He continued to dabble in comics, mainly for Eclipse, including the graphic novel Stewart the Rat, the two-part horror story "Role Model: Caring, Sharing, and Helping Others," and the seven-issue Destroyer Duck with Jack Kirby, which began as a fundraiser for Gerber's lawsuit.
In the early 1990s, he returned to Marvel with Foolkiller, a ten-issue limited series featuring a new version of a villain he had used in The Man-Thing and Omega the Unknown, who communicated with a previous version of the character through internet bulletin boards. An early internet adopter himself, he wrote two chapters of BBSs for Dummies with Beth Woods Slick, with whom he also wrote the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode, "Contagion." During this period, he also wrote The Sensational She-Hulk and Cloak and Dagger for Marvel, Cybernary and WildC.A.T.s for Image, and Sludge and Exiles for the writer-driven Malibu Ultraverse, and Nevada for DC's mature readers Vertigo line.
In 2002, he returned to the Howard the Duck character for Marvel's mature readers MAX line, and for DC created Hard Time with Mary Skrenes, with whom he had co-created the cult hit Omega the Unknown for Marvel. Their ending for Omega the Unknown remains a secret that Skrenes plans to take to the grave if Marvel refuses to publish it. Suffering from idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis ("idiopathic" meaning of unknown origin despite having been a heavy smoker much of his life), he was on a waiting list for a double lung transplant. His final work was the Doctor Fate story arc, "More Pain Comics," for DC Comics'
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
October 27, 2023
For Hard Time, Gerber and Skrenes envisioned a story that combined prison life with superheroes, trauma, and ancient mythology. It would follow six or seven different characters with different goals, problems, and affiliations. It was a wildly ambitious story, and while the first volume was a bit weak, I think he might have been able to pull it off if he had been given the time. It's in this volume that Gerber finds the right voice. The art also improved a bit. The series could have been something special.
Sadly, these two volumes plus seven issues of a second "season" (which aren't even collected on their own) are all we got, and talented though he was Gerber wasn't able to flesh out a story this sprawling in that many issues. The ten issues of Omega the Unknown are still engaging because it was easier for Gerber to flesh out a couple characters in that time frame, and the carefully constructed psychology allowed for some great moments. This is, sadly, just an interesting look at what could have been. I wouldn't call it bad, but I also can't say it's worthwhile unless you're curious about Gerber himself.
Sadly, these two volumes plus seven issues of a second "season" (which aren't even collected on their own) are all we got, and talented though he was Gerber wasn't able to flesh out a story this sprawling in that many issues. The ten issues of Omega the Unknown are still engaging because it was easier for Gerber to flesh out a couple characters in that time frame, and the carefully constructed psychology allowed for some great moments. This is, sadly, just an interesting look at what could have been. I wouldn't call it bad, but I also can't say it's worthwhile unless you're curious about Gerber himself.
June 20, 2021
The awesome story continues but ended suddenly. Where is the rest?
February 9, 2013
I'll never understand the mad method behind DC Comics' publishing habits: this is the second volume in a series (issues #7-12) published in (collected form) late 2012 while the first volume was published way back in 2004 (issues #1-6.) The entire series was published in single issue comic book magazine form in 2004, but it took DC Comics 8 years to finally print a second book. Thankfully it seems the series wraps up with this volume and hopefully sales royalties will go toward Steve Gerber's estate. If you aren't aware the brilliant writer passed away in 2008. I had to pull the first volume out of my library to reacquaint myself with the story again.
The reproduction standards appear to be vastly superior to the prior book color-wise as many characters have normal colored flesh tones. The story continues from the previous volume, but the ending was abrupt and unsatisfying, I don't know if the series was outright cancelled by editorial due to low sales or if the author's poor health leading up to his untimely death was the cause for the poor ending, but this series was an enjoyable read until the end. I still marvel how the writer challenged himself and struck out most of the bad language because a writer like Garth Ennis could easily have added a hundred-million expletives and had a field day. I also think the series had some political undertones and social commentary about mental health, capital punishment, and the judicial system while exploring incarcerated characters.
The reproduction standards appear to be vastly superior to the prior book color-wise as many characters have normal colored flesh tones. The story continues from the previous volume, but the ending was abrupt and unsatisfying, I don't know if the series was outright cancelled by editorial due to low sales or if the author's poor health leading up to his untimely death was the cause for the poor ending, but this series was an enjoyable read until the end. I still marvel how the writer challenged himself and struck out most of the bad language because a writer like Garth Ennis could easily have added a hundred-million expletives and had a field day. I also think the series had some political undertones and social commentary about mental health, capital punishment, and the judicial system while exploring incarcerated characters.
February 15, 2013
At times, this is a bit too derivative of Oz, but it’s nonetheless a well-characterized, well-plotted, and interesting story that’s quite unique in the comic book world. I enjoyed the continuing story and also Gerber’s work in explaining the mythology behind his series.
I really hope that DC releases the third and final volume for this story.
I really hope that DC releases the third and final volume for this story.
March 19, 2013
Not sure why DC decided to publish this collection 8 years after the first "Hard Time" collection, but I'm glad they did. I hope it doesn't take them another 8 years to collect the remaining issues of the comic.
April 16, 2013
Was pretty cool. Waiting for the first Vol. and the last volume is not even published. Good stuff though.
March 6, 2016
As compelling as ever. Unfortunately, this is the last collected edition. If I want to continue reading, I'll have to hunt down individual issues...
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews