The Black Hood, Vol. 1: The Bullet's Kiss

The Black Hood #1

by Duane Swierczynski, Michael Gaydos (Illustrator)

A man driven to the brink, blacklisted and left brutally changed must crawl through the wreckage of his life to defeat a gang of deadly criminals hell-bent on setting the streets of Philadelphia aflame. Fueled by rage and empowered by years of experience upholding the law, the new Black Hood is a visceral, conflicted and flawed urban vigilante--but he's also the city's last hope.

A gritty, modern crime noir tale that introduces readers to the newest--and deadliest--hero in the Dark Circle Comics lineup.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Noir, Crime, Graphic Novels Comics, Fiction, Comic Book

144 pages, Paperback

First published November 17, 2015

About the author

Duane Swierczynski is an American crime writer who has written a number of non-fiction books, novels and also writes for comic books.

Reviews

[Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars

"My first 20 seconds as the new Black Hood were a rousing success. Then again, I had the element of 'WTF?!' on my side . . . which enabled me to disarm the would-be muggers in short order. Plus, I was high as f***ing s***. It was like punching in a dream - every blow hit home." -- at the start of chapter 2

This is NOT your father's Black Hood . . .

Not that anyone remembers him these days, but the character was a crimefighter who was initially published in different incarnations during both the 1940's and 70's. However, this version is purely 21st century in tone, courtesy of the skillful writer and Philly native Duane Swierczynski - and I have to give a brief shout out here and mention his great crime novels The Wheelman and Revolver, which are (no surprise) set in that Pennsylvania metropolis nicknamed 'The City of Brotherly Love' - as it is a darkly violent and cynical graphic novel miniseries . . . and I damned near loved every minute of it!

In the opening scenes a motorcycle officer - a member of the both famed and feared Philadelphia Highway Patrol, an actual division of that city's police force which is dually responsible as a traffic enforcement and anti-crime squad - bravely interrupts an armed confrontation near an elementary school, which results in him being shot in the face. He recovers but is brutally scarred, and is soon attempting to stave off a growing addiction to his pain medication amidst needing speech therapy. Shortly thereafter he turns to attempting to rob street corner dealers for their stash - admittedly, not his finest moment - while wearing a mask, but eventually he switches into a full-on vigilante (but not quite heroic) mode to put a severe hurtin' on criminal thugs and vile corrupt officials as 'The Black Hood.' As usual, author Swierczynski's easy familiarity of Philly is a big plus, and here he has crafted an unapologetically savage crime noir tale of a good man who has fallen onto hard times, but who just may find some redemption . . . by fighting crime with even less scruples than the bad guys!

[Chad · Rating 3 out of 5]

A police officer is shot in the face while trying to stop a shooting involving the vigilante, the Black Hood. Physically scarred and hopped up on percocets for the pain, our "hero" starts shaking down drug dealers for pills. Philly's drug lord has had enough and goes after the Black Hood. Now it's a race to discover each other's real identity and take the other one out.

The Good: Swierczynski is a pulp writer and this is his pulpiest comic yet.

The Bad: There's is absolutely nothing likable about our hero. He's a brute and a drug addict. The book is just too dark and brutal and wallowing in self-misery.

The Ugly: It's hard to believe this is from the same publisher as Archie. This is definitely an R rated book.

[Richard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Over the years, there have been a number of iterations of the superhero vigilante The Black Hood, who was introduced during the Golden Age of comics as a corny-costumed crime fighter. But writer Duane Swierczynski and artist Michael Gaydos takes the Hood and grounds him in tough ultra-realism, using the story to touch on violence and crime in his native Philadelphia.

Greg Hettinger is a Philly cop who gets involved in an altercation that not only leaves the original Black Hood vigilante dead but also leaves Greg's face hideously scarred by a shotgun blast. While recuperating and struggling with speech therapy and a painkiller addiction, he finds a purpose when he dons a black hood and stalks the streets at night.



I'm a fan of Swierczynski's novel writing and I think it's pretty cool that he can jump back and forth so successfully between prose fiction and graphic fiction with his popularity on Marvel's Immortal Iron Fist and Cable, and DC's Birds of Prey. His sensibilities and talent is on display here to good effect, producing a graphic novel that turns the story of the Black Hood into something absolutely unrecognizable as a superhero story and much more of an urban crime noir about a man with serious issues and weaknesses finding the one way he feels he can redeem himself.

Gaydos's artwork really adds to the tone as well, feeling both painterly and rough around the edges, very similar to Alex Maleev's work, with the simple, unobtrusive panel layout work you can also find in Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips's work.

I wish that the book ended with the great finale of the fifth issue because the last issue was awkward and felt totally out of place. It felt that it should have just been included in Volume 2. But it's still pretty good work overall!

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Officer Greg Hettinger is shot in the face with a shotgun but manages to kill The Black Hood in the process. As his personal demons gnaw at him, Hettinger takes up the mask himself...

I've got a couple of the Red Circle issues of The Black Hood and dug them but the real reasons I bought this are two-fold. Duane Swierczynski wrote it and it was $4.99 at the Archie store.

Archie seems like their comics are all malt shoppes and candy canes but this is some dark shit. Greg Hettinger spirals into a world of pain killers after getting shot in the face until it's time to step up and ferret out The Connection. The Black Hood's world is dark and brutal, Hettinger's speech therapist one of the few bright spots.

The Swierczynski books I've read so far have been pulpy crime tales and this is more of the same. Aided and abetted by artist Michael Gaydos, Duane Swierczynski crafted a hard hitting tale featuring a forgotten character. I'm excited to read the next two volumes.

[Becky · Rating 2 out of 5]

This story starts with a cop who wants to make a difference in the world by protecting others. He ends up in a situation by a school involving a gun and takes a bullet to avoid anyone being hurt. He’s deemed a hero, but his life has now changed forever from the bullet wound he receives. He ends up in a low place and to try get on the up, takes many pills to stay high. He eventually decides to fight the drug influence in his town and tries to take down the man at the top known as ‘the connection’.
Generally the story was good, I enjoyed it, I’m not sure about continuing the series though as I just found it OK, and enjoyed he other Archie comics much more.

[James DeSantis · Rating 2 out of 5]

Cool idea, but not the best execution. Funny enough I'm reading another title from Duane but this one? Eh didn't work for me.

So who is The Black Hood? Well he actually killed the original, the main character, who is just a regular cop. Once he kills him by accident he gets shot in the face and loses his looks. So he decides to take the mask of the vigilante he killed and become the NEW Black Hood. So he starts going around taking down criminals in his own way. But of course, it's never as simple as that.

Good: Liked the start of it, and the art, it flowed really well together.

Bad: Everything after the first issue got worse and worse. The idea of him becoming the Black Hood after killing the person didn't make much sense. The twist and turns, how they knew it was him didn't make sense. The switch and bait scene was dumb. Don't get me started on the last issue's ugly as fuck art that clashes with the themes/tone of this story.

Overall this is pretty meh. It's not the worst thing I ever read, and some cool ideas, but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone. A 1.5 out of 5.

[Robert · Rating 5 out of 5]

Moody, atmospheric, compelling, and relate-able.

[Sonic · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dark acidic stuff that delighted most near the beginning.
To the extent that I was surprised that there is a Volume 2 planned, ...
well, Hell, I'll read it!

[Scoats · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book starts off with an "introduction by legendary crime writer Lawrence Block", 98% which is Block writing about himself and being annoyingly meta about it. It's a strange throw back to the pre-Web days, when writers could get away what sort of narcissism. Once you get past that though, you're in for a treat.

WRITING
With his novels, Duane is a master of being economical with words and sentences. So it is not surprising he is able to do so much with the very few words this medium allows.

With this medium, at 144 pages, you are not going to get an involved plot. The plot feels like the much explored Spiderman origin story, but with a unique twist. The Black Hood's superpower is his addiction to pain killers.

ART
Parts 1 through 5 are set in Philadelphia. Michael Gaydos does a great job of recreating the city. You can tell part 6 was drawn by another artist.

COLORING
Parts 1 through 5 are mostly dark and atmospheric. Part 6, which is set in California and colored by another artist, explodes with brightness. I don't know if it had the same effect for people reading each of the individual issues, but in this compilation it is wonderfully jarring. It is as though the story had not just moved to another part of the country but to another planet.

Before reading, I had wondered why the illustrator didn't just color their own work. Why the need for another person? The Black Hood shows that coloring is its own form of art.

I look forward to #2.

[Scoats · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book starts off with an "introduction by legendary crime writer Lawrence Block", 98% which is Block writing about himself and being annoyingly meta about it. It's a strange throw back to the pre-Web days, when writers could get away what sort of narcissism. Once you get past that though, you're in for a treat.

WRITING
With his novels, Duane is a master of being economical with words and sentences. So it is not surprising he is able to do so much with the very few words this medium allows.

With this medium, at 144 pages, you are not going to get an involved plot. The plot feels like the much explored Spiderman origin story, but with a unique twist. The Black Hood's superpower is his addiction to pain killers.

ART
Parts 1 through 5 are set in Philadelphia. Michael Gaydos does a great job of recreating the city. You can tell part 6 was drawn by another artist.

COLORING
Parts 1 through 5 are mostly dark and atmospheric. Part 6, which is set in California and colored by another artist, explodes with brightness. I don't know if it had the same effect for people reading each of the individual issues, but in this compilation it is wonderfully jarring. It is as though the story had not just moved to another part of the country but to another planet.

Before reading, I had wondered why the illustrator didn't just color their own work. Why the need for another person? The Black Hood shows that coloring is its own form of art.

I look forward to #2.

[Ronnie · Rating 3 out of 5]

"My peripheral vision is for shit.

The first five issues in this volume, with art by Michael Gaydos, are a whole separate animal than the execrable issue 6, which for no good reason switches to so-called art by Howard Chaykin, which alone immediately starts subtracting rating stars with all character portrayals suddenly looking like ventriloquist dummies on meth. Even protagonist Greg Hettinger looks nothing like he's rendered in issues 1-5, so the artist switch not only doesn't make sense but seems an actual disservice. In any case, it's unfortunate. The noirish atmosphere of the first five issues is impressively just right, pairing perfectly with Swierczynski's unusually good story. Issue 5's definitely rushed climax is the main misstep until you get to the lamely presented issue 6, which is unfortunate because the decision to include that episode (with that almost comically cruddy art) almost makes you forget the achievement of the previous pages and leaves you with a lasting sourness for the whole production.

First lines:
"Philadelphia. My name is Officer Gregory Hettinger. This is what happened."

[Dakota Morgan · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you're looking for a noir graphic novel that is like, the true black heart of noir, The Black Hood is right up your alley. Greg is a cop who ends up on the wrong end of a shotgun. Scarred and in pain, he puts on a black hood to track criminals through the dark streets of Philly when he's not too busy being addicted to heroin. I mean, vigilante cop - that's nothing new. So far, so noir. But giving the cop a serious drug addiction? That's extra dark. Almost uncomfortably dark. I struggled through some of the issues, watching Greg's life go extraordinarily far off the rails. I understand making the man an anti-hero, but this series pushes beyond anti-hero to a sad soul suffering through the opioid crisis like so many other Americans. It's uncomfortable.

Of course, Greg leaps from tall buildings and tackles villains and cracks the case. So, to that degree, it all works out. But despite those traditional comic book qualities, The Black Hood is not a fun read. That makes it tough to recommend, even though it's well-written and well-illustrated.

[Tom Maseth · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are a group of superhero characters owned by Archie Comics. In the past few years, they have re-launched some of them under the Dark Circle Comics line. Most of the characters have been updated and re-imagined as well. The Black Hood is really a comic crime noir book. It collects the first six issues of The Black Hood. Although the language was a bit rough at times, I really enjoyed Duane's writing and the artwork of Michael Gaydos. Worth checking out.

[Patrick Curley · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a really nice reboot - if you can even call it that given the original source material. Swierczynski writes crime noir so well and Gaydos' art is the perfect compliment.

But issue 6 - good lord. Why this was included in this run is beyond me. The art switches abruptly to Chaykin, and is honestly some of the worst stuff I've ever seen.

Issues 1-5 collected within the TPB are great and well worth your time but the decision to even create that 6th issue is criminal.

[Edward · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a cool book but it didn’t do anything out of the ordinary to really make it stand out. It actually reminded me of Ed Brubakers Kill Or Be Killed except without the supernatural aspect. Like I said cool book and I’ll definitely read the rest. I just hope something makes it stand out a little more.

[Randy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Outstanding!

Simply amazing! This is Graphic Novel perfection. Great writing, excellent art work, fast pace, interesting characters, action, suspense, what more do you want? Love this!

[Mike · Rating 2 out of 5]

Has an extremely “been there, done that” feel. I don’t think it strays into totally derivative territory but it comes close more than a few times. I’ve got two more volumes so we’ll give it a go regardless.

[ISMOTU · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good example of gritty crime comics. The art is moody and grim fitting the story perfectly. Not my favourite genre but well done.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Solid noir with the vibe aided by the art, but it didn't blow my mind or make me really really really want to pick up the next volume.

[Jason Presley · Rating 3 out of 5]

While I like the idea of bringing the Archie heroes back for another try, this one was just a little too dark and bleak for me to really enjoy.

[Z · Rating 3 out of 5]

Different

[Nomad nimrod · Rating 1 out of 5]

Phew,this was boring.

[Cyndi · Rating 5 out of 5]

There is nothing like a visceral, excellent piece of noir magic.

[JabberJawed · Rating 3 out of 5]

a gritty downer- fun if that's what you are looking for.

[Sadiel Giron · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good story, a cop turned vigilante.

[Will · Rating 4 out of 5]

I can see why others aren’t too crazy about this. Drugged up cop begins fighting crime as a vigilante. Artwork isn’t the greatest.

I enjoyed it.

[Travis · Rating 1 out of 5]

Unbelievably darkest reimagining of a character ever.
So grim and unrelentingly brutal. Not a crumb of fun to be found.

Not a deal breaker if this was a new character, but being a fan of the old one, this was a shock and it also torpedoes any hope I had of Red Circle leading to a shared universe for the Archie heroes and a new Crusaders series.

[Glenn Proven · Rating 4 out of 5]

This will be a non-spoiler review: The writing was brilliant. The artwork captured a gritty city in need of a hero. This is a terrific reboot of what was once a weak franchise. The most disappointing part was the last chapter which should have been in volume 2. That had different art style which I found cheesy.

[Erik Koehn · Rating 4 out of 5]

A gritty street level "superhero" done the right way. A 70s Scorsese take on the urban vigilante.