Today I’m going to talk about The Nightly News graphic novel (issues #1-6) created by Jonathan Hickman, published by Image Comics in 2010. I’m going to break this up in 2 parts because this deserves it. It’s that meaty and I need more time to let this marinate in my noggin. I don’t even know where to start, it’s that intense. It’s erudite, it’s very well researched and it is amazing to look at.
I remember when this book first came out in 2010, everyone, I mean everyone was talking about it. It not only put Jonathan on the map (this was his first major book) but it set him up to work in mainstream comics for years and years. Coming out of the gate, introducing your skills as a writer and artist this strong is a strong pro move.
First the visuals. There are so many choices here from a visual standpoint that I think really makes this look amazing. First is the color palette. Pages are never full color, they are either black and white gold and oranges or with blues. The minimal palette really gives is graphic design quality. On top of that choice is the geometric motifs and stylized backgrounds that are used. Again, almost every page is designed like a poster. This is clearly a product of Photoshop/Illustrator, with perfect circles, lines, color holds and layers. I will be honest I fell in love with it, but there are a couple of times that it feels a little busy with all the circles, but it’s a minor issue for me. His figure work reminds me of Tim Bradstreet, with high contrast, lots of blacks and no feathering or values on the figure. The figures might be the weakest element to the visuals, but he’s relying on a lot of reference photos, so it’s not a problem at all. Another element is the tiny details, page numbers, little jokes, insider info and text that is part of the art.
Let’s get into the story. In the back-matter of the trade paperback (which I highly recommend) Hickman says that the Hollywood-style pitch of the book would be “Reservoir Dogs meets the Network” and while hat distills the book down to something very basic, it feels right. There is a terrorist-cult group, led by faceless The Voice, whose mission is to strike out at Reporters and the News media for all the inaccuracies, deceitfulness and evil that they are committing in the world. There is a Fight-Club element to this, that large corporations rule the world and media and that we are sheep. The concept is not that new in 2019 and even in 2010 was not that new, but Hickman really brings his “A game” to this story. As a writer one thing that really turns me on is research. Be a subject-matter expert in what you are working on. Hickman does his research and he shares it. Not only in his large bibliography and notes section in the back, but he is constantly dropping knowledge in the middle of the story, in these innovative Powerpoint-styled images of graphs, charts, and drawings that break down drug prescriptions given to children, the six largest corporations, or the top reporters who were caught lying. When Hickman is not dropping knowledge, the dialog feels naturalistic characters feel real, which is important because of the real-world aspect to this.
We start with a series of assassinations of news reporters. The main shooter is invited to move up the ranks to the position of The Hand which is the high priest to The Voice, a mysterious leader that none are allowed to meet face to face. The newly minted Hand recruits some new followers and continues the carnage by bombing a favorite newsies bar. Meanwhile, the previous hand is taken in custody and getting a psych-eval. These first three issues aren’t mind-blowing plot, but I gotta say the execution is so well done. It’s chock-full of information, almost to the point of reading academia. It’s so unique and different visually than anything back then or since that, you must read this story.
Stay tuned for part 2 when we complete the story.
Andres Salazar is the writer of the occult-western, Pariah, Missouri graphic novel series and the Hidden Frequencies Podcast.