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The Red Hook Volume 1: New Brooklyn
Winner of the Ringo Award for Best Webcomic 2017, this book collects the first volume of The Red Hook, the tale of a super-thief who is bequeathed the Omni-fist of Altruism and transformed into a hero against his will a year after a sentient Brooklyn's heart is broken and physically secedes from America.
168 pages, Paperback
First published June 6, 2018
About the author
Dean Haspiel
192 books21 followersEmmy award winning artist, Dean Haspiel is a native New Yorker who created the Eisner Award nominated BILLY DOGMA, the semi-autobiographical STREET CODE, and helped pioneer personal webcomics with the invention of ACT-I-VATE.com. Dino has collaborated on many great superhero and semi-autobiographical comic books published by Marvel, DC, Vertigo, Dark Horse, Image, Scholastic, Toon Books, and The New York Times, including collaborations with Harvey Pekar, Jonathan Ames, and Inverna Lockpez, and draws for HBO's "Bored To Death," for which he won an Emmy for his contributions to the opening title sequence. Dean is a founding member of DEEP6 Studios in Gowanus, Brooklyn and steeps in psychotronic movies, cosmic electronica, and Jack Kirby pulp.
Photo by Luigi Novi
Photo by Luigi Novi
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
June 13, 2020
When New Brooklyn's most notorious super thief gets saddled with the Omni-Fist of Altruism, The Red Hook finds himself a super hero against his will. Will he defeat Benson Hurst for the good of New Brooklyn?
Yeah, it's more complex that that. I loved Dean Haspiel on The Fox so I had to pick this up. Apparently, The Red Hook is an award winning web comic and this is the first physical collection of that web comic.
The Red Hook inhabits New Brooklyn, a Brooklyn that split off from the United States into its own nation, a place where art can be used for currently. The Red Hook is a super thief, although he doesn't have powers for the first half of the book, not until The Green Point bestows the Omni-Fist of altruism upon him, making him the city's champion.
The Red Hook and The Possum are partners and lovers, kind of like if Catman and Catwoman got together, both street level characters walking the line between burglary and heroism. While The Red Hook has a lot of The Fox in his parentage, there's also some Wildcat and possibly Daredevil in there.
The book reads like an update of cheesy Silver Age comics, complete with puns. Haspiel's art is a little more cartoony than it was on The Fox but what do you expect with villains like The Boob or Iron Knee? The tone is light but there are some surprisingly dark moments. Due to its origins as a web comic, the writing feels choppy at times but I don't think that could be helped.
The Red Hook's journey from super thief to reluctant super hero was a fun ride. Four out of five swords of sacrifice.
Yeah, it's more complex that that. I loved Dean Haspiel on The Fox so I had to pick this up. Apparently, The Red Hook is an award winning web comic and this is the first physical collection of that web comic.
The Red Hook inhabits New Brooklyn, a Brooklyn that split off from the United States into its own nation, a place where art can be used for currently. The Red Hook is a super thief, although he doesn't have powers for the first half of the book, not until The Green Point bestows the Omni-Fist of altruism upon him, making him the city's champion.
The Red Hook and The Possum are partners and lovers, kind of like if Catman and Catwoman got together, both street level characters walking the line between burglary and heroism. While The Red Hook has a lot of The Fox in his parentage, there's also some Wildcat and possibly Daredevil in there.
The book reads like an update of cheesy Silver Age comics, complete with puns. Haspiel's art is a little more cartoony than it was on The Fox but what do you expect with villains like The Boob or Iron Knee? The tone is light but there are some surprisingly dark moments. Due to its origins as a web comic, the writing feels choppy at times but I don't think that could be helped.
The Red Hook's journey from super thief to reluctant super hero was a fun ride. Four out of five swords of sacrifice.
June 3, 2018
Ahh, modern art. Snarky, clever, twisted, intellectualized. Superman meets Warhol meets PT Barnum.
June 10, 2018
Boring, cheeseball, it tries to satirize superhero tropes while failing to supersede them.
June 12, 2018
An absolutely fun work! With a wild premise, fine writing, and hilarious characters, this is a great introduction to the indefatigable creative energies of Dean Haspiel.
Read
June 9, 2018One part superhero pastiche, in thrall to Kirby and Toth; one part a fantasy of gentrification's overthrow, with Brooklyn escaping the pull of Manhattan's money, become more a haven for the artists and freaks than ever. Sadly, I don't particularly enjoy either part, and ultimately aren't they both just harking back to some mythical good old days? Not to mention, I've seen where secessionist fantasies can get you, even if they have the best of intentions - LOL Lexit.
(Edelweiss ARC)
(Edelweiss ARC)
July 18, 2018
Meh it wasn’t bad. Totally unoriginal though. And I’ve seen art on napkins that took longer to draw. It won web comic of the year. Now I don’t usually read web comics but the bar is pretty low so I won’t rush into the next one that makes it to regular print. 3 stars.
May 9, 2019
I think the concept is very good, even if it is a slight riff on the movie Escape from New York. Bridges have collapsed and Brooklyn is cut off from the rest of the world. The Possum and Red Hook are low level criminals in a world where lifting a piece of art is worth more than robbing a bank.
This is a world where villains id themselves as Benson Hurst, and your loyalty might be more to your borough than anything (or your lover/best friend, etc. The government appears to be gone).
This is also a world with super powered beings, and Red Hook's encounter with one of them is literally life changing.
Different the usual American comic book super hero tale. Not, great, as the art did not quite work for me.
This is a world where villains id themselves as Benson Hurst, and your loyalty might be more to your borough than anything (or your lover/best friend, etc. The government appears to be gone).
This is also a world with super powered beings, and Red Hook's encounter with one of them is literally life changing.
Different the usual American comic book super hero tale. Not, great, as the art did not quite work for me.
July 18, 2023
This is a comic where if you don't know anything about Brooklyn or New York in general you might not get it. Most of the characters are named after places in Brooklyn, including the Red Hook himself, Benson Hurst, the Green Point, etc. Brooklyn secedes from the Union and all of its bridges roll up and tunnels flood as if Brooklyn is alive anthropomorphically. It's all very Silver Age and Jack Kirbyian in its execution. The Red Hook is a thief until one day a literal hand is inserted around his heart and squeezes anytime he decides he isn't helping those in need.
March 27, 2019
Superhero / supervillain comic collection - good in places
The Red Hook starts off as a thief and finishes as a hero through a sequence of circumstances. He teams up with his girlfriend, the Possum, against a variety of villains / fellow thieves. There's tragedy, bloodshed, humour and it's all quite wordy. The artwork is simple, colourful and clear. The whole thing is a bit silly which is why it's not enthralling as far as I'm concerned. Maybe you'll enjoy it more than I did.
The Red Hook starts off as a thief and finishes as a hero through a sequence of circumstances. He teams up with his girlfriend, the Possum, against a variety of villains / fellow thieves. There's tragedy, bloodshed, humour and it's all quite wordy. The artwork is simple, colourful and clear. The whole thing is a bit silly which is why it's not enthralling as far as I'm concerned. Maybe you'll enjoy it more than I did.
July 4, 2021
Fun, quirky, snarky and hilarious, The Red Hook Volume 1 is just a delight to read. Our notorious thief, Red Hook, gets stuck with the Omni-Fist of Altruism! What does that mean? Well, it means...no spoilers, so let's just say he must help those in need, or else. Of course, this is not quite what the Red Hook likes to do with his time, but needs must. The humor is snarky and silly, the action dynamic and fun, the dialog clever. The names from the borough of Brooklyn are just perfect.
December 10, 2018
neat quirky story. kind of silly. about as serious as The Tick without being as slapstick.
there was a quality to the dialog that at times made it feel as though the characters were all just monologuing near each other instead of talking to each other.
there was a quality to the dialog that at times made it feel as though the characters were all just monologuing near each other instead of talking to each other.
April 28, 2020
Good stuff! A new take on an old style hero. Dino gives this one a ride!
Want to read
June 22, 2018Note: I accessed a digital review copy of this book through Edelweiss.
February 20, 2019
Picked it up and 1.5 hours later... Really very nearly done. Quite a page turner, hipster-noir (in the best way) with a splash of golden age capes. All (words and pictures) from one talented human being.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews