The Hood: Blood From Stones TPB Review
This Review was Submitted by The Dude:
Writer: Brian K Vaughan
Illustrated by Kyle Hotz
With Great Power Comes Great Opportunity..? You read this on the back of this trade paperback and you know your in for something different. This is no kids book by any means, published under Marvel's "MAX" line this trade doesn't hold back. The story focuses on a low-life of sorts by the name of Parker Robbins, a hood who well... becomes "The Hood" when he ends up shooting the crap out of a monster about to attack him & his cousin. Parker not wanting to leave the whole situation empty-handed swipes the dead monster's cloak and boots only to find out later they are....you guessed it, supernatural. Parkers' life in general is crappy from the start and basically just keeps getting worse after he becomes The Hood, in the end the trade ends on a cliffhanger of sorts, making you hungry for more.
Brian K Vaughan, what can I say about this guy, everything I have read by him, has been great, this being no exception. Vaughans' greatest ability in his writing is continually turning traditional comic formula on its head; Y, The Last Man, Runaways, The Escapists are all prime examples of this writing style. The Hood - Blood From Stones, though not seeming to have the normal polish of Vaughans' writing, still nevertheless turns out an original concept. A common thug with everyday problems becomes a man with supernatural abilities, does he save the world....NO.....does he use his cloak of invisibility to sneak into a women's shower room...YES.
Kyle Hotz illustrations throughout this book are good. Really when I look at Hotz's stuff it reminds me of a lot of different styles. In some panels the facial expressions remind me of Pepoy & his crew's work on Freshmen at other times I catch a glimpse of some Ramos' from Revelations. The overall bodies and the way they are drawn even remind me of Guy Davis's stuff in BPRD. Again though I could be seeing things. I will say the illustrations of the Hood character are bad ass, and for some reason Hotz's drawing of Shocker I really liked.
Ok ok so my rating, A+. Seriously go out and read this book.
Yeah the unfortunate thing was, I got to the end and was like, Wow this was great I am gonna get the next one but what? Oh there ISN'T another one. Apparently the Hood is gonna show up in Marvel's "Beyond" but, it still won't be the same, also you still have like two or three plot lines that were left out in the open with this trade. My thought process is with the ending of Y, The Last Man maybe Vaughan will try starting up The Hood again.