“Henchmen: I, Henchbot #1” (Rating: 3.5 out of 4); Written by Jamison Raymond; Art by Ryan Howe; Published by Robot Paper; Available Now.
Review by Trent Hunsaker
Meet Gary. He’s your run-of-the-mill middle-age guy. In one week Gary lost his sales job and wife, then after a failed suicide attempt, finds himself answering an ambiguous help-wanted ad. Fully suited – as a human-size paper mache bowling pin – he embarks, newly employed as one of the Headpin of Crime’s (an Iron Man-type bowling pin) henchmen. Luckily/unluckily for Gary, the Headpin of Crime is captured and sent to prison, and Gary is back where he started. Broken.
That was “Henchman #1,” a Kickstarter-funded comic book by writer Jamison Raymond and artist Ryan Howe. A year after its successful crowd sourcing – overseen by editor Byran Wyrick – the comic mag was available to retailers through Diamond Comic Distributors. That was March, 2014.
January 2015 saw the release of the next installment of the Henchmen franchise: “Henchmen: I, Henchbot #1,” the first issue of a 6-part mini-series picking up where “Henchmen #1” left off.
“I, Henchbot #1” starts on the inside cover with a quick, albeit thorough, three paragraph synopsis of what took place in “Henchmen #1.” So any reader can pick up the new issue and dive right in.
One of the first things readers will notice is the paper used: uncoated white paper printed with black ink. The book is published by Robot Paper, and as far as I could research, Henchmen is the only franchise under the Robot Paper roof (see http://robotpaper.com/). This is an indie comic book. And I don’t mean as “indie” music and “indie” comics, which has more to do with genre these days than with the grassroots form of publishing. So it’s no surprise that the comic doesn’t sheen with rainbow inks and gloss coating.
That is not to say the comic feels cheap. Quite the contrary. The issue has a beautifully-designed contemporary cover which allows it to hold its pages high against the shadows of bigger publishers. Additionally, Howe’s art is very clean with a heavy focus on geometric accuracy. The tight lines and pristine buildings make the comic feel as polished as one that had the benefit of a full artistic team.
However Gary’s life isn’t nearly as tidy as are the panels in which he is portrayed. “I, Henchbot #1” shows Gary’s problems as he’s pushed back to a life of henching (a term I swipe from “The Venture Bros.”). While the henchmen part of the story brings the funny, the problems he faces are quite real for many out-of-work middle-class Americans: too old for a company to invest in, too young to retire, over educated, and out of shape. In fact, the comic works into the plot a rebuttal to the claim that “There is no such thing as over qualified.”
As alluded to earlier, fans of “The Venture Bros.” will feel a familiar tone. With conference rooms of ridiculous villains and even hints of unionized henchmen effort, the parallels are easily drawn. But this isn’t a reimagining of the Doc Hammer Jackson Publick series whose season six premiere aired earlier this week.
The series has just as much in common with the newly launched Ant-Man comic book as it does “The Venture Bros.” Gary and Scott Lang (Ant-Man) share similar problems with limited custody to their children and ex-wives fed up with no monetary support, as well as their former lives of crime (though Gary’s ex doesn’t know about his). Not fully developed in this first issue, the foreshadowing is set that even henchmen are replaceable (see title of the comic being reviewed), only adding to the weight heaped upon Gary’s slumped shoulders.
Diamond Comic Distributors has “I, Henchbot” listed in the Super Hero genre. And while that’s right – it is a super hero comic – it would fit more nicely along “The Tick” in the humor section. And this first issue does what good humor is supposed to do, make us laugh and then think about what we are really laughing about.