click here if you are having troubles navigating on our site |
order individual issues of REH for $1.50 ($2.50 intn'l) (includes shipping) | ||
order REH #1-#7 for $7 ($10 international) (includes shipping) |
read a PDF of REH #1 | read a CBZ of REH #1 |
REH sponsored in part by: | Students use Picolisp.org to write better
essays. Sanaaguniversity.com - become a better academic writer with our free tips. |
Reviews
(may contain spoilers):
* REH #1 *
More
than perhaps any other mini-comic series I have seen from Silber Media,
the new and so far three part series R.E.H. is the most straightforward
and emotionally invested. It is clear that writer Mitchell is
interested in the work of Robert E. Howard, as well as in his life.
This is not a comic in search of itself, it is a story which has found
its voice.
If Speculative Biography is a genre, then the R.E.H. mini
is in it. As a prolific author of both prose and poetry, Howard is
perhaps best known for his creation Conan the Barbarian. When I say
"best known" I am stretching his fame a bit — although Conan became
very famous, I am not sure that Robert Howard really did. I suspect he
was what's known as a "seminal" artistic influence, meaning he had a
great impact on other creators, but maybe did not strike ore with the
wider audience.
See what happened there? I started speculating, too,
it's probably contagious. You should wash when you are done reading
this review.
To return to the point, this first in the series, R.E.H.
#1, introduces readers to a grown man who lives with and cares for his
bedridden mother. Life as a care-giver is not easy, no matter how much
love one has for the invalid in question, and R.E.H. #1 does a super
job of presenting that particular form of loving distress.
Although
I was not, prior to reading this book, looking for information about
Howard, it did pique my curiosity. It is well that there are already
two more issues in this series available. I am glad that Brian John
Mitchell is in a groove with this one.
~ Holly von Winckel, Sequential Tart
* REH #2 *
This
second issue of the Robert E. Howard bio-fic comic is very tightly
focused on a single incident. It starts as a narrative of the the
author's daily quality of life and transforms into a prayer for his
mother. This is an evocative little comic, thirty-two pages of
emotional tension, and it does a fantastic job of conveying Howard's
fragile mental state. I have no idea the extent of Brian John
Mitchell's research and sources on this project, but I am finding it to
be compelling material. If nothing else, Mitchell has a tremendous
empathetic sense of his subject.
The art here is a mix of
naturalistic sketches of the characters and locations of the story, and
minimalistic panels consisting of only words and a bit of rhythmic mark
making — a scattering of scratches at the page. I can tell I am doing a
poor job of describing it, but the effect it had on me was to give me
the sense of the desperation Howard may have felt in his efforts to
keep his mother alive and as well as she ever could be.
I think one
of the functions of biographical work is to establish a sense of scale
between the reader and the subject of the biography. Silber Media's
R.E.H. series seems to be placing Robert E. Howard in very ordinary
human light, in that we are getting to know a man who dealt with a
bouquet of family issues, as so many of us do. He is a very relatable
character in this sense, a person who has experiences that many of us
can fathom. Meanwhile, the magnitude of those struggles, and the depth
of impact this has on Howard's life, is also showcased. For example,
most of us have or will lose one or both of our parents. Not all of us
will feel that as keenly as losing everything, which is the role of
Robert Howard's mother in this series. She is his life.
Are you
amazed to see that so much as been conveyed in a couple of tiny little
mini-comics? You should be. Hustle on over to Silber Media and check
out the offerings.
~ Holly von Winckel, Sequential Tart
*
REH #5 *
Anybody
out there know much about Robert E. Howard, the writer who was most
famous for creating “Conan the Barbarian”? Besides that fact, I mean?
Well, Brian has put out a series of minis featuring quotes from the
man, so it’s easy enough to get to know him a little better. Or at
least this one has a long quote from R.E.H., so I’m assuming that the
issues I missed also have those quotes. Anyway, this time around the
quote revolves around Robert talking about getting fan mail, and how
he’d prefer to be a manual laborer who does back-breaking work all day
to writing. Writing never came easy to him, and that combined with a
complete unawareness of how writing worked to the people Robert
interacted with had a tendency to make him a little crazy. I
particularly enjoyed his comparing writing to boxing, but I won’t spoil
why that was such an apt comparison. It’s a fascinating little peek
into the mind of somebody who, I confess, I’ve never thought all that
much about.
~ Kevin Bramer, Optical Sloth
*
REH #7 *
Out
of all the various series that Brian writes, this is the one that makes
the least sense to me. Granted, that is mostly my fault, as I have #5
and #7 of the series and that’s just guaranteeing that I won’t know
what’s going on, but I feel compelled to point that out before I get
started. As a stand-alone issue this is fascinating, and it has a good
message for people in general. It’s all about the meaning of names,
where names come from and how you should try to live up to your name if
you know what it means. There’s also a bit about how he’s not sure if
he could ever picture himself getting married, but he could see himself
with a son. See, here’s where I get confused: I’m not sure if this is
Brian narrating a tale, or Brian speaking in the hypothetical voice or
Robert E. Howard. Oh yeah, I should have also pointed that out up
front: “R.E.H.” stands for Robert E. Howard, creator of Conan and a
long time pulp writer. Anyway, the content of the comic is still well
worth checking out (Andrew White does his part to make things feel a
bit hazy and indistinct, which makes me think that this is all meant to
be a fictional memoir by Howard), and it did compel me to check and see
what my name means. Apparently mine means gentle, handsome and
beautiful. That is absurdly complimentary, but I’ll take it.
~ Kevin Bramer, Optical Sloth
*
REH #8 *
R.E.H
Stands for Robert E. Howard, a pulp writer in the 1930s. This series of
matchbook comics is a kind of an autobiography. In this particular
issue, R.E.H is wondering about his fellow writers living in big
cities, while he is in a more rural, isolated area, and he wonders why
he is in touch with them.
Writing should be more about conveying
life and the hard truths about life. While I disagree with the implied
idea that living in a big city makes you less authentic of a writer
than someone in the sticks, I do get the attitude. Nevertheless, Robert
is making a stronger point about being more into life, than being
focused on grammar and he includes himself in that critique.
For a
matchbox sized comic that seems simple both in writing and in the
penciling, it felt bigger and richer and that was pretty satisfying.
~ Patti Martinson, Sequential Tart