Concrete: Killer Smile

Concrete: Killer Smile (1986-2004; collected 2006): written and illustrated by Paul Chadwick with Jed Hotchkiss: Writer-artist Paul Chadwick's Concrete was something of a critic's favourite during the late 1980's. It's the charming adventures and misadventures of former political speechwriter Ron Lithgow, a somewhat shlubby fellow who got his brain transplanted by aliens into the immensely strong, immensely durable 'Concrete' body of the title while on a camping trip.

That alien origin is generally avoided in the Concrete stories not dealing directly with Concrete's origins. The US government, surprisingly benign, gives Ron the cover story that he's actually a cyborg from a failed government program, has him keep his real identity and origins secret, and sets him up in L.A. with supervising scientist Maureen Vonnegut and assistant (and aspiring writer) Larry Munro.

Stories short, long, and multi-issue over about 30 years now follow Ron's attempts to live the adventurous life he always dreamed of as a booky kid. He climbs Mount Everest, swims across the Atlantic, works as a bodyguard for a Prince-like rock singer, and saves miners from a collapsed mine. And that's just over the first five years of his adventures. He works in movies, helps the environmental movement, and occasionally checks out stories that may indicate that the aliens who 'created' Concrete have returned.

Chadwick's stories and art remain fairly modulated and low-key throughout Concrete's run. The stories generally concern themselves with psychology and funny character bits as much as action and adventure. Chadwick also occasionally delves into his love of renditions of the natural world and its creatures, helped story-wise by Concrete's far-better-than-human day and night vision. How this never got at least a TV pilot is beyond me. 

The major story here, originally a four-part miniseries, focuses on Larry Munro, with Concrete playing second fiddle. Larry gets carjacked by a homicidal couple at an L.A. gas station -- think Natural Born Killers Meet The Hulk. The four issues follow Larry's inner and outer turmoil, along with Concrete's attempts to find Larry and NOT to shoot him when they corner the couple turned trio. The story explores the gap between a person's beliefs in his (or her) own heroic self and the realities of being a hostage who doesn't want to die in sensitive and believable fashion. It's also a story of how great it is to have a friend like Concrete, even if the typically self-doubting Ron doesn't realize it.

Short pieces round out the volume, culled from 20 years of short Concrete tales. They are for the most part involving even as they show how Chadwick's renditions of Concrete evolved over the years and decades. A Christmas story involving Concrete and Larry's family is especially enjoyable. Recommended.