Huck, Book 1: All-American

Huck #1-6

by Mark Millar (Writer), Rafael Albuquerque (Illustrator), Dave McCaig (Colorist)

In a quiet seaside town, a gas station clerk named Huck secretly uses his special gifts to do a good deed each day. But when his story leaks, a media firestorm erupts, bringing him uninvited fame. As pieces of Huck's past begin to resurface, it's no longer clear who his friends are - or whose lives may be in danger. This series from writer MARK MILLAR and artist RAFAEL ALBUQUERQUE presents a comic book unlike anything you've read before.

Collects HUCK #1-6

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Superheroes, Graphic Novels Comics, Fantasy, Comic Book, Science Fiction

160 pages, Paperback

First published July 20, 2016

About the author

Mark Millar is the New York Times best-selling writer of Wanted, the Kick-Ass series, The Secret Service, Jupiter’s Legacy, Jupiter’s Circle, Nemesis, Superior, Super Crooks, American Jesus, MPH, Starlight, and Chrononauts. Wanted, Kick-Ass, Kick-Ass 2, and The Secret Service (as Kingsman: The Secret Service) have been adapted into feature films, and Nemesis, Superior, Starlight, War Heroes, Jupiter’s Legacy and Chrononauts are in development at major studios.

His DC Comics work includes the seminal Superman: Red Son, and at Marvel Comics he created The Ultimates – selected by Time magazine as the comic book of the decade, Wolverine: Old Man Logan, and Civil War – the industry’s biggest-selling superhero series in almost two decades.

Mark has been an Executive Producer on all his movie adaptations and is currently creative consultant to Fox Studios on their Marvel slate of movies.

Reviews

[Jayson · Rating 4 out of 5]

(B+) 78% | Good
Notes: A speedy read, the art succeeds (perks up a modest story), good twists therein, bit saccharine, in general hunky-dory.

*Progress updates: Preamble ◦ Issues #1-3 ◦ Issues #4-6

[Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn't know Millar knew how to do sweet.
But that's exactly what happened here, so I guess he does.



I loved the art. Rafael Albuquerque caught my eye when he drew the 1st volume of American Vampire, and I've loved seeing him show up ever since in things like Gaiman's A Study in Emerald. He was the perfect choice to draw Huck, who has this wide-eyed innocence to go along with the broad shoulders & superpowers.



The gist is that there is this Supermanesque young man living in a small town, just doing everyday good deeds for the people in said town. Stuff like taking out the entire town's trash, or finding lost keys, or making a pie for someone. They all "know" about him, but they keep his secret.
And then some new bitch sells him out to the press!



Alright. That's when the story starts for real and Huck goes on a journey to find out who left him on a doorstep with a note that said, please love him attached to his blanket.



It's a good story and I hope there's more to come.
Recommended.

[Jan Philipzig · Rating 2 out of 5]

Huck has super-powers. He ain't the type to show them off in a flamboyant costume, though. Instead, he lives in a small town, pumps gas for a living, and quietly does one good deed per day. You see, "Huck just likes making people happy," and being the center of attention would interfere with his ability to do so... It's a decent enough premise (if a bit close to Superboy territory)--I just don't think it was such a great idea to spice things up with an onslaught of evil/Russian artificial intelligence... 2.5 stars.

[Chad · Rating 4 out of 5]

Written as a response to the dark, cynical Zack Snyder version of Superman, the book feels like a variation of Max Fleisher's Superman. Huck is a small town gas attendant who does at least one good deed a day, just because it makes him happy to help others. With super-strength and speed, he tracks down a town person's necklace, takes out the town's garbage, etc. When someone new to town lets slip to the world who Huck is, every huckster in the world comes out of the shadows to take advantage of Huck. The book takes an odd turn to Cold War era Russia in the third act but I still dug it. Rafael Albuquerque's art works well with the small town setting. I found the book heartwarming and bright in a downtrodden, cynical era of Trump's 'Merica.

[Sam Quixote · Rating 2 out of 5]

Left on the doorstep of a kindly childless couple in a small American town, Huck grew up never knowing his birth parents. But as he got older everyone in the town soon realised Huck was special – special because he had super-speed, super-strength, he could jump super high, and could track anyone. Then one day Superman Huck discovers his mother’s still alive! Up, up, and away he goes to find her!

Mark Millar’s latest storyboard superficially features a less cynical Millar character - Huck doing good deeds for the townsfolk just ‘cos - but it still reads like a standard cynical Millar comic. That’s partly because Millar’s lifting the Golden Age Superman and repurposing him into a “new” character: Huck. Even the whole jumping thing is early Superman as he couldn’t fly immediately.

But, if you’ve read quite a bit of Millar’s output like me, it’s hard to swallow this attempt at guileless storytelling when he’s said in the past that raping a woman is a plot device as well as the kind of stories he’s written in the past – a ‘roided-out Steve Rogers/Captain America screaming “YOU THINK THIS LETTER ON MY HEAD STANDS FOR FRANCE?” springs to mind. There’s a sleazy governor character in the story using Huck for his own selfish purposes that I can’t help but associate Millar with.

The story is like a lot of the early Superman comics: an evil scientist kidnaps our hero to steal his powers. Nowadays that kind of structure is generic and that’s what it reads like. Details like who Huck is, how his mum got her powers, who his dad is, are all omitted, and, in keeping with the generally accepted superhero rule, Huck doesn’t kill – the ones he does turn out to be, conveniently, robots, allowing him to maintain his purity.

I’m not even going to look up whether or not Huck’s film rights have already been sold, I’m just going to assume they have, like all of Millar’s recent projects. The reason why the book is written in this broad, sweeping style is because it gives movie people room to take the story in whatever direction they need it to. Yup, cynical ol’ Mark’s still here!

Rafael Albuquerque’s art is decent if unimpressive. Small town America looking… like small town America. An industrial Russian city looking… like an industrial Russian city. None of the designs are very inspired nor do any pages stand out as anything special. It’s perfectly decent artwork but nothing to get excited about, almost like Millar's lack of effort has rubbed off on his art.

Yawn, so that’s Huck: Mark Millar’s crapped out another forgettable storyboard on its way to a cinema near you soon. It's a mediocre, completely derivative 21st century Superman knockoff for readers who’re looking for a more “realistic” take on superheroes but who don’t really care for superhero comics.

Huck sucks!

[Dave Schaafsma · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ha, I avoided this for awhile because I thought it was a comic about Huck Finn! But no, it is a kind of revision of Superman, a simple do-gooder guy. The early issues focus on just that, his doing nice things for needy people. Kind of a Trump admin antidote. Then the Russians come in, evil scientists, people trying to gain military advantage over this "empathic" guy. So it's all about the appropriation of good skills for evil purposes, as in the Watchmen's Dr. Manhattan (based on the Charlton's Dr. Atom, but okay, close enough to Superman).

There was a lot of hype about this because it is Mark Millar, there will likely be a film, and so on. I think it's good, okay, though this veering into the Russian story is merely okay for me. The art by Albuquerque is splashy and colorful and okay.

[Donovan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Underrated, in my opinion.

Millar is hit or miss for me. But the story kept me turning pages, the characters are well written, and the artwork is very good and bright.

Elephant in the room, I don't see the problem with this being "a Superman story." A friend and I actually discussed that Huck might have been a Superman story rejected by DC, and we weren't far off. Millar himself tells us Huck is an antithetical, uplifting response to the grimdark direction Superman has taken in film and comics. I can imagine DC would have hated this because of its optimism. (The article explaining this is here http://www.gamesradar.com/mark-millar...)

So yeah, it makes sense that there's a likeness to Golden Age Superman. Humble country boy who leaps tall buildings in a single bound. Adopted orphan. Super strength. Girl next door who loves him. Bald super genius evil scientist. And that's where the similarities end.

It's a sweet, enjoyable story where Millar reigns in his cynicism. Huck is a nice country boy who does one good deed every day when not pumping gas in a small Maine town. The plot reveals his beginnings and some admittedly prototypical Soviet Cold War conspiracy, and it's kept pretty light. But stories don't always have to be new as long as they're told well, and that's the case here.

The artwork is pretty great. Rafael Albuquerque's illustrations are stylistic, painterly, and complement the lighter tone in writing. Dave McCaig's soft colors are perfect.

Huck is a solid story with solid to great artwork. If anything Huck achieves what a Superman story can't: tells a standalone story without being confined to character mythology and publisher demands. Like many Millar stories this is probably the only volume, but I hope not. Because it's ripe with heart and potential.

[A.J. · Rating 2 out of 5]

Another book I’ll file under “I enjoyed and was invested in for every issue up until the final one.” The downfall of sadly most indie comics I’ve read that only end up getting a single volume. Had potential but didn’t live up to it. Great art though.

[Rizwan Khalil · Rating 3 out of 5]

Too predictable, too shallow, too under-developed, too rushed, too unbelievable (even as a superhero story, its all in the presentation)... to be anything memorable or very good. Which is too bad, because the illustrations and artworks were absolutely beautiful, storywise and characterwise it had great potential to be something truly noteworthy, if only Mark Millar took his time in properly developing both of those most important aspects in becoming a good book.

Still, I somewhat had an entertaining time-pass because its always enjoyable to read a new superhero origin story in a 21st century real world setting, even if its way too familiar as a Superman-clone. I really liked the over all optimistic positive tone in the world-view, instead of the usual dark-brooding-morose thoroughly negative feeling almost always present in today's "realistic" superhero-fare. The central character Huck was very endearing and likable in a Forrest Gump-ish sort of way, but unfortunately he's also under-developed just as everything else in the book. And finally its kinda pleasing as a pulpy fun to see someone naive, innocent and simpleminded to beat the crap out of the cartoonishly evil mustache-twirling bad guys and come out on the top. If only the characters were more detailed, story was longer and better written; its all simply presented in a too little too rushed forgettable way. Oh well. Hopefully the future sequels will rectify some of these problems to be deserving good.

The first half was like a 4 out of 5, the second half was more predictable and formulaic to be a 2 or 2.5 out of 5. As a whole, 3-3.5 out of 5 or 6-6.5 out of 10.

[CS · Rating 2 out of 5]

Bullet Review:

This is the exact. Same. Comic. you've already read a bajilion times.

Guy has superpowers and does all these good things just because. (As a TWIST on modern cynicism - you see, it's edgy by not being edgy!) Turns out, he's part of some SUPAH DUPAH SECWET lab. Big Fight with Robots (because Supah Dupah Nice Guy doesn't kill people). Back home. End of story.

BO-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-RING. That first issue especially was mind-numbingly dull. Yes, the art is pretty, but it's pretty "not doing anything different".

[ashley · Rating 3 out of 5]

I. Love. It.

[Caitlin · Rating 2 out of 5]

A feel good, boy scout Superman-esque story from Mark Millar? Same dude who takes a remarkably cavalier, over-the-top approach to rape and violence? Yeah, seriously, oddest thing I think I've ever read by Millar. Basically pits a humble country gas station clerk who seems a little simple but turns out to have extraordinary abilities against some evil scientists (apparently that's the only kind that Russia gets to have). It's not bad but it didn't much catch my interest. Certainly readable but not anything I'd continue following. Art by Albuquerque was as great as always though.

Full review here: http://aeither.net/graphic-reviews-huck/

[Rituraj Kashyap · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another story based on Superman by Mark Millar. The first three issues have very few words, but the art says it all. Rafael Albuquerque gives life to even the smallest deeds of Huck. Some moments reminded me of Superman for All Seasons. However, like most of Millar's stories it ended too soon.

[Jonathan · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars

Not the best work by Millar or Albuquerque on this one but still rather enjoyable, if a bit predictable.

[Brent · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fun, larger-than-life variation on a "Superboy and Smallville" theme, with a "Huck and Tom" allusion in the character names. Millar has a great collaborator in artist Rafael Albaquerque.
Recommended.

[Adriana · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved both the art and the story.
They're both deceptively simple with an undercurrent of complexity.
Totally recommend it.

[Nancy · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are a few library’s graphic novel collections that I scope out, to see what titles they have, and compare my work library’s collection against it to help me make purchasing decisions. When I spotted this title at my home library, written by Mark Millar who is famous for Civil War, Red Son and Old Man Logan, I snatched it up to read it. Why hadn’t I heard about it? Well…it turns out it is because it is “the feel-good comic of the year”, aka it is saccharine, light and completely forgettable.

Huck is a behemoth of a guy, but a literal gentle giant. We find out he is an orphan who was left on the doorstep of an orphanage, and now works at a gas station. He has secret powers and uses them to do good deeds around his community, whose residents keep his secret. A woman who has recently moved to town spills the beans to the news, and suddenly the world knows about his abilities. A local politician tries to harness Huck’s powers for his own benefit and to use him as a conduit to the president. However, Huck’s outing has garnered more attention across the world in Russia. Huck, an earnest and trusting man, is contacted by a bearded man who says he is his twin and that they should try to find their mother. Without spoiling anything, it’s pretty obvious this man is not who he says he is, and Huck’s origin story is explained in the last third of the book.

There are obvious parallels to the Superman story, and I did appreciate the uncomplicated nature of Huck, and him being a true superhero without all the brooding and infighting with other heroes, but the story was too predictable. The artwork is attractive with a warm color palette of yellow, red and oranges, but fairly standard in layout. There were a lot of close-ups of Huck’s face, with him looking confused and/or simple minded, and too much mocking dialogue about how he was only a gas station attendant.

At the end of the story we get a two-page “Meet The Creators” spread, which was actually nice, to see the people beside Millar and Albuquerque get shout-outs. But in Millar’s bio, it lists his works that have or are in production to be turned into feature films, and Huck is listed as one of them in development. What?? There is not enough plot, for it is paper-thin, and seemed rather resolved to me at the end. While this wasn’t a bad graphic novel per se, it just didn’t seem like a Mark Millar story, which are typically more epic in scope. This book will not be making the cut for me to purchase for my library’s collection.

This review can be found on my blog: https://graphicnovelty2.com/2017/06/0...

[Stewart Tame · Rating 3 out of 5]

I debated quite a bit on whether to rate this three or four stars. I went with three in the end because, good though this is, it's fairly average by Mark Millar standards.

Huck lives a quiet life as a gas station attendant in a small town. He enjoys helping others by doing one good deed per day, little things like following the sewer system out to sea to retrieve a missing bracelet, or single handedly rescuing a bunch of schoolgirls from the clutches of Boko Haram. Huck has a knack for finding things. And people. He also has many of the powers associated with Superman, flight, strength, etc. The townsfolk conspire to keep his existence a secret. But what happens when an outsider learns it, and announces it to the world?

Everything wraps up pretty neatly in this book, but I notice "Book 1" on its spine, so perhaps further adventures are on the way. The story is nicely paced, and builds well. I saw one of the plot developments involving Huck's family coming from a mile away, but I'm still happy with how it all turned out. Honestly, from most other writers, this would be stellar work. It's just that Millar is capable of so much more. Still worth reading, though.

[Daniel Sevitt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Perfectly entertaining standalone story from the Millar-verse. I knew nothing about this going in and it hit all the right beats in all the right places. I didn’t quite buy the meanness of the artificial intelligence robots, but Huck was such a delightful presence that it didn’t matter too much. Pleased to have picked this up.

[Rod Brown · Rating 2 out of 5]

I like the main character, his daily good deeds and his mother. But the plot is just a far-fetched and sloppy serving of cheese. This book falls well short of its potential.

[Juho Pohjalainen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice to see Mark do some positive and beautiful for a change.

[Zedsdead · Rating 2 out of 5]

Huck is a gas station attendant who secretly has super strength and super canfindthings. He does one good deed every day, until he gets outed and the entire world shows up on his doorstep.

I love the concept of Clark Kent pumping gas and Superman finding lost keys in his free time. The guy spends all his bandwidth coming up with nice things to do for his neighbors, deriving immense life satisfaction from making peoples' lives better in small ways (and of course saving lives when opportunity presents).

But it's just not a good book, reading like the bare outline of a story. When it delves into origin territory, it turns on an embarrassingly transparent twist (gasp, the guy who says he's Huck's brother is really a Russian superagent). To escape captivity, the good guys use a childish can-god-make-a-rock-so-big-that-god-can't-lift-it line of reasoning that Mark Millar should feel bad about (Huck's not strong enough to break out, but his mom's superpower is making people do what she says, so if she orders him to break out...).

No wonder there's no Book 2.

[Blindzider · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 Stars

Not bad, it almost made me think it wasn't a Millar book. Huck's pure "goodness" really wins you over, doing small, simple good deeds to help everyone in his small town. He's very endearing, immediately cementing the reader's position on his side. Things get interesting when you learn about his origin, though and from there, events are resolved in a fairly standard, albeit satisfying way.

This is labeled as "Book 1" so I'm curious just where Millar will take this without going straight superhero. The art is wonderful as well. It has a slightly "scratchy" look to it, but it works. The colors shift from the basic tans and primary colors of mid-west America to the colder black, reds, and orange of Russia.

This gets an extra half stars for being an alternate take on the "Superman saving a cat from a tree" trope, but the rest is still a fill-in the dots. If Millar can push the next book into unexplored territory this series will easily becoming four stars for me.

[Sam Brady · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an absolute joy to read. Millar created Huck as a response to Man of Steel, and the general tendency for people to imagine Superman-type heroes as dark, brooding and morally grey. As a trope, I find it irritating that superheroes have to constantly at moral crossroads. Why can't a hero just be... good? Huck is Millar's version of the 1950's Superman, a guy that does good because he can, and that's irrespective of his powers. Whilst the story does go a bit of tangent (I mean of course there was gonna be a secret Russian science project) at its core, it's just about a guy who's really fucking nice. And it's strange that that feels like a breath of fresh air. Also, Albuquerque's art style is really lovely, dynamic and expressive with lots of details. Huck is a really great miniseries, highly recommended.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed the idea of this, and the optimistic tone that was definitely well-communicated through the art and coloring. I actually enjoyed the first few of the issues more than the latter ones when the concept had promise. Once the super soldier aspect was revealed, I was more ambivalent, because the promise had given way to something we've seen many times before.

[Mel Barnes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love this series about a man who has a goal to do one good deed per day. He has amazing skills to find people and items all over the world. Nice to read such an interesting story that reveals that not everyone wants to be found.

[Peter Derk · Rating 4 out of 5]

A super fun book written by Mark Millar on a day he must've been feeling fairly optimistic about the world. That dude writes some great books, and I think his better stuff comes out when he buys into the whole superhero thing himself.

Huck has to do one good deed every day. It's kind of a code he's decided on.

I was trying to think of the last good deed I did. If you went back and retconned a little, I suppose you could find a good deed. For example, I made sure to turn off the lights before I left today, saving the environment slightly. This is the level of good deed that I qualify for. If I had superpowers, I could probably do something better, like find a lost dog or cat. Cat being a bigger task. They're wily.

[Valéria. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Keď človek každý deň otvorí správy a vidí všetko to zverstvo čo sa vo svete deje a všetkých tých totálne dementných ľudí s IQ flastovej fľaše a názormi na facku, a potom si otvorí a prečíta niečo tak milé, ako je tento komiks, tak sa mu to nemôže nepáčiť. Huck je naozaj veľmi milo napísaný príbeh, o veľmi milom, ochotnom chlapovi so špeciálnymi schopnosťami, ktorý úplne nezištne pomáha všetkým, ktorým to ide. Samozrejme tu dostaneme aj záporáka, samozrejme tu je menší zvrat (ktorý je predvídateľný až to bolí, ale stále dobre podaný) a aj to násilie sa nesie v takom milo nahláškovanom duchu. A hlavne to nemá taký ten nádych prehnaného, oslavovaného superhrdinstva a chvály a namyslenosti. Kresba k tomu neskutočne sedí a je radosť na to pozerať.

[Ευθυμία Δεσποτάκη · Rating 4 out of 5]

Πολύ γλυκό κι feelgood σενάριο, σχέδιο ταιριαστό. Με κρατάει λίγο η κάπως επιφανειακή αντιμετώπιση της "κακής" πλευράς των ανθρώπων, ακόμα και υπό το πρίσμα της ματιάς του Χακ.

[Ellen · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

This was a sweet story and I enjoyed it. It ended really fast, but since it says Book 1, I think there may be additional stories in the future. It's kind of nice to see a "superhero" story be so humble and simple.