Concrete, Volume 2: Heights

Concrete #2

by Paul Chadwick

Big as a boulder and strong as an ox, he's Concrete, seven-feet plus of stony celebrity. That he's a government-created cyborg is the cover story, but in truth he's the mind of one Ronald Lithgow trapped inside a rocky shell of alien origin. Possessing of powers allowing him to scale the highest mountain unaided or peel back the roof of a car like a pull tab, he is yet denied the simple human pleasures of fragile flesh. The return of Paul Chadwick's award-winning Concrete has ushered in a resurgence of interest in the acclaimed series that Harlan Ellison called ." . . P]robably the best comic being published today by anyone, anywhere."

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

208 pages, Paperback

First published November 9, 2005

About the author

Paul Chadwick (b.1957) has worked widely as an artist and writer for comic books, with collaborators like Ron Randall, Doug Wheatley, Alan Moore, John Bolton, Harlan Ellison, Jan Strnad, Randy Stradley, Archie Goodwin, Brian K. Vaughan, and others.

He's most noted for his award-winning series Concrete, about a thoughtful man stuck in a brutish, rock-coated body. Born in Seattle, he grew up in its lakeside suburb Medina, then a haven for Boeing engineers and their families, now the site of palaces for Bill Gates and his ilk. His father Stephen F. Chadwick was City Attorney for the small hamlet.

As a teen, he joined Apa-5, the amateur press alliance of comics fans which also provided a creative outlet for future comics luminaries like Frank Miller, Mike Richardson, Randy Stradley, Chris Warner, Randy Emberlin, and others.

He attended Art Center College of Design, majoring in illustration. Around this time Chadwick lived in a courtyard apartment building, The Golden Palm, which teemed with talent. Bryn Barnard, Ron Harris, David Mattingly, James Gurney, Thomas Kinkade, Kurt Cyrus, Mark Verheiden, Andy Su, Terry Robinson all lived there, five of them as Chadwick's roommate (at different times).

Chadwick graduated in 1979, and began storyboarding movies for Disney, Warner Brothers, Lucasfilm and others. Credits include Pee Wee's Big Adventure, Strange Brew, The Big Easy and Ewoks: The Battle for Endor. Chadwick says the auteurs behind two small films he worked on, Lies (Jim & Ken Wheat) and Miracle Mile (Steve DeJarnatt) were the greatest personal influences on his writing.

Chadwick also freelanced illustration, mainly for movie advertising (Streamers and Galaxy of Terror were the only finished posters among the dozens of preliminary paintings he did) and for SF and Fantasy paperbacks.

Chadwick decided to devote himself to comics, but Concrete didn't sell at first. Chadwick's first comic in print was The Life of St. Norbert, published by an order of Norbertine monks. Going from the sacred to the (mildly) profane, he next drew Steve Perry's strange and silly Salimba, about a jungle girl fighting "wormboys" and a giant three-headed were-dog.

A year on Marvel's Dazzler completed Chadwick's apprentice years, and he sold Concrete in 1985 to Dark Horse comics. It has appeared intermittently ever since.

A Concrete movie has been in development for years. Chadwick has written several screenplays for it, first in collaboration with Larry Wilson, then solo. Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh wrote one, as well, which briefly won a green light for the film.

The decision was reversed upon the release of the surprise hit The Blair Witch Project, which caused the sudden mass delusion that Hollywood could dispense with costly visual effects and stars. The fever passed, but Concrete's window had closed, at least until somebody with the clout or energy decides to brave the thousand demons that lay waiting to kill every movie.

Chadwick wrote and drew (inks by Ron Randall) eight issues of The World Below, about a network of vast, mysteriously lit caverns beneath northern Washington State, and the strange beings and technology to be found there. Dark Horse plans to reissue the series as a collection.

The Human Dilemma, the newest Concrete series, won an Eisner Award (best cartoonist) and a Reuben Award (best in comic books division) from the National Cartoonist Society.

Chadwick is currently drawing a miniseries for DC, Seven Against Chaos, written by Harlan Ellison.

He's also working on a (non-Concrete, TBA) graphic novel for Dark Horse, as well as a new Concrete miniseries.

Biography updated 2010

Reviews

[Tim · Rating 3 out of 5]

These books are classics, and their greatness is especially sharp when the books are put into the proper historical context. In the late 1980s these books were truly revolutionary; they were a subversion of the super-hero genre on par with, if not surpassing in terms of ingenuity and depth, the Watchmen series.

Aside from the occasional origin-story track-back Chadwick does an excellent job of advancing and elaborating upon all the existential struggles Concrete faces as an altruistic asexual pile of regenerating rocks -- the ultimate everyman transformed into something more than human. In this collection, Chadwick also manages to start building in his subtle political perspectives in re: to the environment and puts his hero into many moral pickles that cleverly undercut the rigid moral structures that governed so many hero-books of the era.

My only knock is for Chadwick's overly prosaic dialogue. Basically, Chadwick's characters don't speak like normal people would speak, which, given the "real-world" setting, is sort of annoying.

[Jonathan · Rating 4 out of 5]

CONCRETE: DEPTHS and CONCRETE: HEIGHTS by Paul Chadwick - this is my third time reading this material (though not in this format). I tend to think of Concrete in relation to his contemporaries Hellboy and Savage Dragon: all three seem inspired by Jack Kirby/Stan Lee’s Ben Grimm, though each take the Kirby/Lee influence in a very different direction. Mignola makes the Kirby/Lee idiom a vehicle for Weird Fantasy stories in the Robert E. Howard tradition, and Hellboy is best seen as a Conan-like hero (meaning the Conan of the Howard stories and Roy Thomas comics). Larsen, on the other hand, doesn’t add to or replace the super-heroics with anything else: he keeps them going full-bore and, importantly, keeps them going without any concern for being part of a franchise. I.e., Savage Dragon is Larsen’s idea of a Lee/Kirby comic freed of any constraints of needing to help sell a line of comics or sell a character as a property apart from the comics. Chadwick, on the other hand, takes the human interest element and places it front and center and gives us low key science fiction stories. The superheroics are important as a negative space: the stories here gain thematic resonance from their absence. It also reads as powerfully, almost embarrassingly, autobiographical: Concrete’s condition playing out as an odd kind of power fantasy that plays up the limitations of those powers and the underlying psychological symbolism rather than any wish fulfillment aspects. My sense is that the reputation of the stories has waned over the years and they are seen more as artifacts of that awkward time when people who wanted to do “serious” comics still needed to have one foot in the world of superhero comics. (See, for example, the way Eddie Campbell talks about his own Bacchus comics). However, I think, as individual stories, they range from very good to great, and they almost never feel like a compromise, thanks to Chadwick’s commitment to the concept.

[Daniel · Rating 2 out of 5]

Chadwick is one of my favorite artists and certainly is an accomplished writer. However, this volume continues where volume 1 ended and nothing really happens differently. I made a huge effort to like this as much as I liked volume 1 but all I got here was an intense desire to sleep profoundly.

[Koen Claeys · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is not for me : although labeled as a modern classic by some, this bores me to death.

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lots of comics have claimed to undertake the scenario of super-heroes/super-powered beings in the "real world," and lots of those series have plenty of virtues. However, the only comic book that has ever really made me feel that it encompasses the complexities and emotional layers of "real" super-beings is Paul Chadwick's Concrete.

Quick origin summary: Ron Lithgow, former congressional speechwriter, was abducted by aliens while camping and had his mind transfered into a very large, hawk-eyed, relatively hard to damage, rock-encrusted body. That's just the quick set-up, because Concrete's origin is just an excuse to tell stories about this remarkable character.

Ron, assisted by biologist Maureen Vonnegut and his personal aide Larry Munro, sets out to live his life to the fullest, enabled by his new body's ability to survive in almost any environment. He attempts to swim the Atlantic Ocean, climbs Mount Everest, digs in cave-ins, saves small farms and more during the course of these two volumes. Each story is well researched, as Chadwick gives plenty of insights into farming, ocean life and the culture of Nepal, among many more fascinating factoids.

Chadwick also seems to relish the opportunities that each of Concrete's strange new adventures afford him as an artist. The variety of ocean life and the grand tapestry of New England's Appalachian mountains are rendered with a stunning eye to detail and imagination.

Best of all, each new Concrete story drives into the depth of Ron Lithgow's soul. What must it be like for a man to be completely cut off from humanity, trapped in a granite shell that, in many ways, does not behave as our human bodies? How does a man react to life in a sexless body like Concrete's? What sort of political ramifications must be dealt with to find any form of freedom when you are one of the world's most fascinating beings? And how much does Ron love the advantages of being Concrete, as compared to the problems of being alone?

Like true humanity and reality, the answers are always unfolding and sometimes contradictory, but they are continuously compelling and engaging.

And if those reasons aren't sufficient to have you try Concrete, you have to read it if you've ever want to see an 8-foot-tall rock-man confront the unbelievable fury of a Himalayan avalanche!

[Michael J · Rating 5 out of 5]

Concrete was a series of adult comics released in the 1980s that centered on the experiences of the eponymous Concrete a former political speech writer who, while on a camping trip, ends up having his brain implanted in a large "concrete" body by aliens. The setup sounds a little "out there," but Chadwick uses the concept to explore adult themes from familial bonds to the cold war which was still occurring at the time. I enjoy the series a great deal as it gives you the opportunity to learn a great deal regarding history, geography, etc. as Concrete uses his fame and indestructible body to go on adventures in other countries as he tries to emulate his hero, the explorer Richard Burton (not the actor). For example, I picked up a lot of information regarding various historical attempts to scale Mt. Everest including George Mallory's endeavor. There's also a very moving story in this collection regarding Concrete's final contact with his dying mother. Really good stuff.

[Mark Robison · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not quite as engaging as Vol. 1, perhaps because the novelty has worn off. But it's still pretty amazing and must've been mind-blowing in the 1980s.

Our large, rock-encrusted hero — a former speechwriter for a senator who was abducted by aliens and who tries to maintain his personality of being a nice guy in his crazy body — has two main adventures that anchor this book: He visits his dying mother despite being under strict orders by the US government not to reveal his real identity to anyone. And he climbs Mt. Everest while making sure to be respectful of the Nepalese people, especially going out of his way not to scare the children there with his 8-foot-tall, 1,200-pound body.

The author/artist creates some beautiful moments. He pushes the plots a little too hard, like early "X-Files" episodes, but you can feel the humanity and curiosity coursing through every page.

[Lora · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this with my YA son. We went straight from volume 1 to this one. I personally didn't find this one quite as engaging as the first volume, when we were getting to know the character and his origins. On the down side, I felt that the Everest stories dragged on a bit, but the artwork is always an up side.

In this one, we got to explore the consequences of being Concrete. What pitfalls does he face when he trying to use his powers for good, trying to have contact with his mother, trying to push his physical limits? What can he expect from his body - puberty? immortality?

We don't plan on buying Volume 3, at least not right away.

[The_ Movie_was_better · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wonderful collection of Concrete stories. The commitment to show the beauty in mundane life and human connections shines in all Concrete stories.

It’s hard to think of another comic with writing as tight as this, and with characters and themes as nuanced and varied as these.

Top story for me is “Always Fences” where Concrete visits his dying mother.

Lowest story is the last of this collection. A nice little plot, but without the usual depth and beauty as the others.

[Chad Jordahl · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't find myself very engaged during most of the book. I'm sure the settings were more meaningful when this was written in the late 80s. The characters don't talk like people naturally talk -- lots of complex sentences (in the grammatical sense) and parantheticals, for example. Decent art, some interesting ideas.

[Adam Osth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not as strong as the first volume. Aside from a cool story about hiking Mt. Everest, a lot of the stories get into territory that just wasn't interesting and didn't play to the strengths of the storytelling, including one where Concrete was a bodyguard to a singer reminiscent of Prince.

[Peter · Rating 5 out of 5]

So much better than Volume 1: Depths. Paul Chadwick has grown as a writer, crafting interesting stories around the concept of a man made of concrete, rather than relying on the concept almost entirely in the first volume.

[Sean · Rating 4 out of 5]

Maybe 4.5

[Patrick Book · Rating 5 out of 5]

The description makes this sound ridiculous, but it’s grounded and powerful in a very specific way.

[Alberto · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5⭐

[Elias · Rating 5 out of 5]

What will Concrete get up to next?

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

Heights collects Concrete issues #6-10 and numerous shorter stories from various anthology comics.

The concept of the comic is summarized often to introduce each story and the adventures are mostly episodic in nature. Volume 1 isn't really a prerequisite.

Former Senatorial speech writer Ron Lithgow is trapped inside a 7+ ft. and 1,000+ lb. body of stone and known to the world as Concrete, the result of a government cyborg project. The story is a compromise with the government to allow him some freedom without alarming the public with the true alien origins of Concrete's situation. With unique abilities and requirements that are both blessing and curse, Ron travels with the only friends who know his secret trying to find meaning in it all and do some good along the way.

Heights is a diverse collection that sees Concrete continue his attempts to help those who reach out to him, travel near Mt. Everest, and face personal dilemmas both unique to his situation and familiar to all of humanity. At it's core Concrete is a comic about the human condition, and as such it's extremely text heavy and the pace deliberate. The research and detail presented is amazing, from the working of farms to the cultures of places they travel to, and everything in between. It mostly works, but the narrative does occasionally become slow and overwhelming under the weight of it all.

There's a harsh realism here too, with things happening that are never explained and cruel twists of fate involving the darkness in people's hearts. This makes it feel genuine and adds significant insight, but can also make for a difficult read and drastically reduce the entertainment value when particular tales don't resonate. There's wonder here to help break up the darkness, but not a lot of light. My favorite stories in this collection are a short side story to Concrete's travel to Everest called Goodwill Ambassador and a touching story about his past and present called Always Fences.

Concrete contains fantastic concepts and an original approach that flails a bit in the execution. Still, this volume is quite solid overall and the good stuff is great.

[Andre · Rating 3 out of 5]

When Stan Lee wrote The Fantastic Four in 1961 he called it an "anti-comic" because the crux of the stories generally involved the Four squabbling with each other over petty arguments as well as the fact that they didn't wear colourful costumes but instead wore uniforms. However, I'd say Concrete has him beat for the title of anti-comic.

Concrete revolves around a man turned into a stone creature by aliens. Despite that, there's actually very little sci-fi or supernatural elements in the series. Instead, it focuses on more true-to-life scenarios of heroic deeds. Generally, Concrete is trying to figure out how help people economically or scientifically. The story as well as the art tend to play up realism over anything else and it's something to really respect in Chadwick's series.

That said, the dialogue can be dull and sometimes it feels like the series lacks an oomph in it's depth. It isn't an exciting series by an stretch but it's enjoyable to see it unfurl those grounded anti-superhero stories in the context of what was happening in late '80s superhero comics.

[Britt · Rating 5 out of 5]

OOOOOOoooo I just LOVE him! The character AND the writer. This volume gets way interesting. Way deep. Sad. Good. INTENSE. Can't say any more, I don't want to ruin it for the rest. PLEASE go read it! See my review of volume #1 for more.

[Ugh · Rating 3 out of 5]

More of Chadwick's warm, witty, inspiring stories. This second volume was just a little less varied than the first, and a couple of the stories didn't really go anywhere, but the collection as a whole was still enjoyable. I'll probably read the third too.

[Martin · Rating 4 out of 5]

A beautiful comic, in terms of story, design, art, and theme. It's just top-notch. My only complaint is the smaller-than-standard-comic page size is not good for some of Chadwick's rich and dense page lay-outs.

[Matthew · Rating 3 out of 5]

It gets better toward the end.

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

This volume is when Chadwick starts to fully define the character of Concrete. This is great stuff, and I'm glad I "found" this series.

[Gwyneth · Rating 1 out of 5]

the book just dragged. cool concept but poorly executed.

[matt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing stories -- so full of wonder and humanity -- please read this fantastic work!!!

[Matt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Transcendent comics.

[Eli Poteet · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am absolutely in love with this series. I was totally caught off guard to realize this series was written in the mid 80s, a few of my favorite stories are older than I am! I adore the depths of Larry and rons friendship although I am not intrigued by Maureen, concretes female scientist. I am enthralled with the details attainable via the black and white ink style. Larry looks and reminds me of a good friend thus further pulling me into the short stories and adventures.