Old Head

by Kyle Starks

The madcap action-horror story of the world's toughest former pro-basketball player returning home with his daughter to learn about his destiny and his mother's mysterious past, while—right next door— Dracula and his goons are on the eve of their bloodiest holiday.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Horror, Humor, Graphic Novels Comics, Sports, Adult

124 pages, Paperback

First published August 31, 2021

Reviews

[Chad · Rating 1 out of 5]

Everything about this was terrible. Poor story, poor art, even poor math. (Given Stark's math the main character would have been around 28 when he played college basketball. He starts playing basketball as a kid in 1951 and plays in college in 1968.) This is a dumb story about an old basketball player who loved to get into fights. He fights Dracula's head and some kind of henchmen who change into dickhead dinosaur monsters. It's awful.

Received a review copy from Image and Edelweiss.

[Artemy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kyle Starks, delightful as always.

[Alexander Peterhans · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nash Gliven, aka Old Head, is a retired basketballer, in his early fifties. His mother has died, and he and his daughter, Willie, are going to her house.

There's a strange castle close to grandma's home, and it turns out there are scary people inside of it.



It also turns grandma and grandpa used to hunt scary people, aka vampires.

Now it's Nash and Willie's turn, and luckily Nash has been teaching Willie a thing or two.



I just had a lot of fun reading this. It's like a children's comic for adults. I'm a fan of Starks' art.

(Picked up an ARC through Edelweiss)

[Samantha · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had no idea that I needed a graphic novel that is basically Space Jam crossed with Dracula, but now I can’t imagine wanting to live in a world without it.

The mix of subjects here is well and truly bizarre, but in Starks hands it works magnificently. It’s completely weird in the best possible way.

Old Head is clever, hilarious, and hits all the right notes. Sports and vampires are two of my favorite things to read about, but it never occurred to me that they would ever end up in one volume together.

What a wonderfully creative and fun graphic novel. Just when you think nothing is new anymore, along comes this gem.

*I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.*

[Rod Brown · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's the 1990s and fifty-two-year-old retired NBA player Nash Gliven, Jr., finds that selling his recently-deceased mother's house won't be the slam dunk deal he thought it would be because . . . y'know . . . that big vampire on the cover.

It's a little cheesy and dumb, but it's also quite fun, and I especially liked following Gliven's basketball career from the 1950s through the 1980s and seeing what his mother was up to before he was born.

[Jonathan Hill · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a perfect comic for a Saturday afternoon read. It had so many things I love: great cartooning, basketball, the supernatural, violence, and a great sense of humor.

I felt like the setup was so great but the last third of the book felt rushed to a conclusion. It was so good I could have easily read more.

[Alex Sarll]

Kyle Starks is a writer-artist who's very good at one thing – cartoonish ultraviolence, complete with one-liners that are right on the edge of being absolute nonsense. But a) if you're going to have one trick, that's a good one and b) he keeps it fresh by coming up with new contexts, and never quite the ones you expect. OK, Sexcastle's eighties action heroes weren't a million miles from Expendables territory, but the hobo epic of Rock Candy Mountain was hardly exhausted ground, and this time the set-up is a veteran basketball player, notoriously rough Nash Gliven Jr, AKA 'The Knife', dealing with the estate of his late mother. Because this is Kyle Starks, she was of course the sort of grandma who'd teach a 12-year-old girl the song "If someone tries to show you their dick, don't even think, just kick that shit". Despite her having lived in Tennessee, there's a castle on the hill, whose inhabitants are buying her old place, and when Nash goes up the hill to finalise the deal, he meets them – a hilariously ghastly bunch of Dracula-idolising pick-up artists called Maverick, T-Dawg, Sex Chomp, Playboy and Lil' Menopause - "because once I'm with a woman, she's never the same again". Their ghastly synonyms for sex – "gland to gland combat" – would already be enough to make this worth reading (albeit not any time when you were imminently planning activities of that sort yourself), but inevitably things get considerably more out of hand, Soon Glivens has just cause to say "This is the most messed up shit I've ever seen, and I was a professional athlete in the seventies and eighties", and it's time for the Glivens clan to kick some eminently deserving ass. It's all good brutal fun, but I think my favourite bits were the ingeniously nasty Home Alone trap, and the sound effect "SPLORT".

(Edelweiss ARC)

[Valéria. · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was delightful! Only Starks can come up with a story where basketball and dracula are mixed and it comes out really great. Loved it. Funny, bloody and heartful.

You might like if:
- you’re not looking for anything serious
- you’re okay with swearing
- you want to get some brilliant advices on how to get laid
- you love monsters and blood and fights (and basketball)

You might dislike if:
- you have bad taste in good comic books
- you don’t like assholes
- you think pregnant ladies shouldn’t fight monsters

For me, 5/5!

[Joseph Pinchback · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kyle Starks is one of my favorite comic creators. He's managed to make the transition from someone whose works are genuinely funny to someone whose works are genuinely funny AND have tremendous heart underneath. That's not an easy task. I'm a big softie now that I'm old and have a kid, but I really appreciate someone who can bring the feels while making me laugh. God bless you, Kyle Starks.

[Jake · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am a sucker for camp. Despite some problematic depictions of African Americans that're played for jokes and people expositing too much, it was fun to see the action going. Seeing a basketball player make the most out of his time with his daughter is certainly a good enough time.

[David Wolkin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kyle Starks is a gift to comicskind and humankind, and Old Head is simply the latest proof of this incontrovertible fact.

[Dakota · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kyle Starks is possibly the funniest guy writing comics right now. This was very fun to read.

[Amy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Rather interesting story and nice artwork. Just couldn’t get over the highly unnecessary rape vibes, especially when it involves a minor.

[Theediscerning · Rating 4 out of 5]

A rough and ready feel to the visuals only helps this book swing from being about a violent ex-basketball player who's washed up and taking his daughter to his dead mother's house for the last time before it's sold, to, er, something else completely different. Although the violence is definitely carried forward. Some will say this has everything – gender politics, humongous flashbacks, chase sequences, married couples whose names are anagrams – but throwing everything on to the page doesn't always make them that attractive, and sometimes a touch more coherence was called for. Still, in a "From Dusk Till Dawn" kind of way, this lowbrow rug-from-under-the-audience-pulling exercise isn't too bad at all, and by the end there should be a big smile on every reader's face. For that, this just about deserves four stars.

[Daniel Vlasaty · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am all the way in for literally anything Kyle Starks does.

He is by far my favorite comic book writer/artist. His books are always great and funny and I love his art and the way he can perfectly blend horror and comedy (old head) or action and comedy (sexcastle/kill them all/assassination nation/etc) or straight-up murder and comedy (sexcastle/kill them all/assassination nation/etc).

I've probably read Sexcastle (which I first read while at the hospital for the like 20-something hours my wife was in labor with our kiddo) like a dozen times and it's always the best thing ever.

I wish I still reviewed comics for Comic Bastards (RIP) so I'd have a bigger/better platform to scream in all of your faces about how great and perfect and hilarious Kyle Stark and his books are.

If you like comics and don't hate yourself you should definitely read everything Kyle Starks puts out.

[Peter Derk · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not one that’s gonna blow your balls off, but it’s probably hard to do that with a vampire story at this point, right? Still, pretty fun, and it follows the basic rule of setting up a character and then the character does in-character things that contribute to the ending. I know that sounds like a low bar, but I’ve been watching some terrible movies lately, so even basic storytelling is pretty life-affirming at this point.

How COULD you blow someone’s balls off with a vampire story? I’m not totally sure. Maybe the vampire would have to…basically be in a Franzen novel but also be a vampire? Show up in the middle of a Nicolas Sparks book unexpectedly? I don’t know if there’s much unexplored territory outside of the idea of doing something mundane but with vampires instead. Vampire Golden Girls?

[Leah Horton · Rating 2 out of 5]

2 stars for the story… it was not consistently good at all. It felt like MAYBE we were getting some quality and then it just sped up and get lot uncomfortable and bad.

The art was good. I enjoyed that. And the mom was bad ass.

Just fell flat and way too much rapey vibes for the daughter and the dick head monster.

[Sardonyx · Rating 5 out of 5]

I got such a kick out of this! I loved the artwork and colours and the writing was fun!

[tony dillard jr · Rating 3 out of 5]

After the death of his mother, a retired basketball player and his daughter return home to settle her estate. The owner of the creepy old castle up the road has wanted desperately for years to purchase the home. When the athlete goes to sell his childhood home, he learns that the residents of the citadel are a coven of vampires, led by the Lord of the bloodsuckers himself, Count Dracula!

Kyle Starks wrote and illustrated this madcap tale that may look suitable for children. But it's anything but! Lots of swears. Tons of gratuitous talk about sexual depravity. Lots of blood and death. Some nudity; including an anus! What do you expect? It's rated mature!

My wife actually picked this book up for me. It states on the back cover that Dracula and his brood are preparing for their favorite holiday. Me being a fan of holiday comics and graphic novels, she thought that this was a Halloween set book. I must admit, from reading the description, I did too. But there's a saying, 'don't judge a book by its cover ' and that also applies to the back of the book as well as the front.

I also thought that the retired basketball star, nicknamed 'Old Head' by rookies, was going to battle the vampires in a game of basketball. It would have fit with the oddball nature of the book. Plus there's an image on the back cover of the protagonist dunking over someone outdoors, at night with a full moon out. Assumptions got me again.

Not a bad read for only $3. I won't keep it. But maybe I can get a keeper when I trade this in at a used book store somewhere. Expect the unexpected. Only not in terms of scares but Monty Python level comedic twists that definitely push the envelope over the edge and into the rubbish bin.

[Josh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Full review on No Flying No Tights: https://www.noflyingnotights.com/blog...

[Josh Wright · Rating 4 out of 5]

Weird. Fun. Kyle Starks doing his thing.

[Garrett Zecker · Rating 3 out of 5]

A graphic novel with a black protagonist navigating his past mistakes while trying his best to be a father and moving into a definitely haunted new house, Old Head is a fun romp that combines self-reflection on life, career, pro basketball, city violence, and parenthood while embracing the tropes of... well, a Dracula story. It was a lot of fun to read. I got it randomly in the mail from Third Eye Comics and had no idea what to expect, but I loved it. It was a quick read with some serious themes contrasted with some goofy horror action in bright, inky illustrations. Not entirely sure why Image rated it M for Mature on the back, save for maybe some bad language that I honestly don’t even remember... But it was fun and nothing in here is anything worse than my thirteen-year-old can handle. Looking forward to sharing it with some friends of mine!

[Zedsdead · Rating 3 out of 5]

Old Head is a retired, Rick Mahorn-style NBA enforcer, tough as nails but he never could shoot worth a damn. On the day of his mother's funeral he and his 12yo daughter are drawn into a plot to revive Dracula himself and plunge the world into an endless night of bloody horror.

Goofy and snark-focused, although the lengthy action in the flashback chapter is well done. Starks is clearly an old school NBA fan, setting up a climactic replay of the biggest game (and failure) of Old Head's life, in the context of a big monster fight. It's ridiculous but also kind of clever--there were a lot of clues but I didn't see it coming until the pieces came together.

Starks needs an editor, someone to curb his impulse for gross jokes that run on for eight panels. I'm looking at you, endless off-putting sex euphemisms.

[Brandon · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a ton of fun. A nice mix of monster-hunting, basketball, and good old fashioned beat-downs. It's more of a comedy than a horror book, despite all the supernatural monsters and Dracula stuff. It's full of jokes, it's quick-paced, and you can tell parts of where the story is going but because it uses the set-up to throw some random jokes and off-the-wall story beats it's still full of surprises. I love Kyle Starks' artwork, it also doesn't take itself too seriously with lots of goofy faces, but the amount of jokes - specifically the physical jokes with the characters' facial expressions and how they move - crammed into this OGN makes it a blast to read.

[Tyson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love pretty much all of Starksy's works. Enough to give him that familiar nickname as if we were friends. I read this one digital, but I'm going to have to pick up the paper copy. I feel like I sped through some of the intricacies.

Anyway this is a book about a basketball player who fights Dracula's minions.

RIYL comedy-horror, basketball, cussin'

[Scott Kelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the idea behind this story, but I feel like it was confused what it wanted to be. Is it a cute monster story for kids or is it their own take of Saun of the Dead? It is definitely NOT appropriate for my students. I felt like they forced it a bit too much to get a " Mature" rating.

[Nicholas Doyle · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a perfect book to read on your birthday!

[Andréa · Rating 2 out of 5]

Note: I accessed a digital review copy of this book through Edelweiss.

[Sandy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a fan of rape as a plot device.

[Ya Boi Be Reading · Rating 4 out of 5]

I could give a regular review going over the characters, art, pacing, etc. but there are many other reviewers that can do that for this book and better. Instead, this review is to get my opinions out and the thoughts on elements of the book I feel like reviewer's do not mention or are seen less in the review section.
An incredible 4.5/5! The story is incredibly endearing. Reading from other reviews it is clear you come to Kyle Starks for his comedy and ultraviolence. But I think one should also recognize the great storytelling in here. The opening use of jumping between time and the callbacks to it in the finale was phenomenal. While the story's themes aren't its selling point it is still great. It's a story about a man who has changed from his violent past (and later revealed violent damily bloodline with vampire hunter ancestry ) but now must find that there are times when violence is needed to protect oneself and those that matters to them. It is a story of redemption and honoring your past and yourself without letting those negative traits consume you.
I do understand where some people say the one guy is too rape-y with the MC's daughter. On one hand, I appreciate the Kyle Starks uses Dracula and his vampiric/nonvampiric henchman as sexual threats. The original Dracula was supposed to be a sexual threat after all. Kyle Starks takes that and uses it in Dracula's followers who embody a modern sexual threat with the fuckboy frat boy angle. This was a really nice modern take on that aspect of the Dracula myth. But I do agree that while it works excellently when this is done with the MC it does come off a bit too creepy with the daughter.
The art is impeccable as well! It's cartoon-y and fun which fits the constantly humorous ride the greatest. While Kyle Starks did the art, Chris Schweizer did the coloring which is amazing! The palette changes to create moods and tones but its saturation fits the cartoony art and the comedic story well.
Lastly, the comedy and ultraviolence (apparently the main selling point of Kyle Starks) is amazing. The comedy was amazing using a lot of "awkward moment" and "guy says/does something stupid" type of comedy done incredibly well. Some of the comedy also comes from the over-the-topness of some scenes like the finale. The use of panels to convey comedic timing is what really sells the comedy. The ultraviolence was also great. Kyle Starks is clearly an indulgent author and loves to play with what he does best. And the ultraviolence is wonderfully over-the-top in a way fitting of the story's tone.