Review -- THE HUNTER

THE HUNTER
Art by David Golding
Written by Adam Hamdy

It's always a good thing when a comic book goes back to the good old basics of what makes the genre click, strong storytelling, and clean, effective art.
That is exactly what the team of Adam Hamdy and David Golding have done on their four-issue series The Hunter.
Hamdy has created a believable superhero storyline simply by playing off many of the political realities of the real world, including former United States – Soviet Union distrust, and the current threat of terrorist attacks. Set against a world very much mimicking our own, the writer has created a realistic vision of why and how those with superpowers came to be.
In an email interview Hamdy explained, “this is my first published book, and I’ve been blown away by the response. Ain’t It Cool News compared it to the best of Stan Lee and Jack Kirby’s work at Marvel, which is unbelievable praise for a first effort – I had to pinch myself.”
In some respects the approach isn't so different from that taken with early Marvel comics where superheroes such as Spiderman faced some of the real world's realities and problems, making the character more believable and accessible.
That is the same feel you get with The Hunter. It's easy to buy into the story here because so much of the world is familiar to us.
“The Hunter was inspired by what’s been happening in the real world; the disintegration of the Soviet Union, the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and the end of the perverse balance provided by the Cold War,” said Hamdy. “I used super villains in place of WMDs and gave the story a lone superhero, because at the moment it seems real heroes are in short supply and the odds are stacked against them.”
It is interesting The Hunter was not initially envisioned as a comic book, although it blossoms with the medium.
“The Hunter started life as an original feature film screenplay, but it was such an obvious candidate for a comic,” said Hamdy. “I started work on the screenplay in the late summer of 2006 and we started production on the comic in Spring 2007.”
That said the writer from Britain said he has always been a fan of comics, and it shows in the detail afforded The Hunter.
“I first started buying the Beano and Dandy when I was six, (and, yes, I was a member of the Dennis the Menace fan club),” he said. “When I was eight my family moved to Egypt and the only comics I could get were MAD Magazine and mainstream DC and Marvel titles; Spiderman, Thor, Fantastic Four, Superman, Batman etc. That was my first exposure to superheroes.
“I started getting serious about comics when I was 12 and would go to Calamity Comics in Harrow, West London to add to my out of control collection – Calamity was a great shop that started life as a small market stall. I was drawn to the medium by the fantastically escapist characters and stories. Extraordinary themes to inspire the imagination."
Artistically, Golding has a perfect hand for this tale. He has a clean approach to putting together a page.There is fine detail in the work, and he moves from full page art splashes, to multi panel montages easily, mixing the two to create a great story.
On flashbacks he uses a style that hearkens back to an earlier time in comics and that is a sweet touch too.
Check it out at http://www.darecomics.com/

-- CALVIN DANIELS

-- Appeared on Yorkton This Week WebXtra