Bonehead #1 - Review

Some Might Say

Written by: Bryan Hill
Art by: Rhoald Marcellius
Publisher: Image
Release Date: 27 December 2017
Reviewer: Andrew McAvoy

As a teenager my musical awakening came courtesy of a band from Manchester called Oasis. At that age they seemed to arrive and stick two fingers up at the confectionery pop and fagged out rock gods that dominated the charts. The band themselves (at that stage) consisted of a crowd of working class likely lads. They were the sort of guys you would bump into down the pub. No-one encompassed this attitude more than their rhythm guitar player Paul Arthurs who was known as Bonehead. Probably the most famous Bonehead ever to have lived...until now!

Sadly though my excitement at a comic book arriving with the title Bonehead soon was forced to slide away. The book itself is set in a near future, a sprawling megalopolis which sees the rise of “Boneheads” parkour-gangs that use neuro-linked helmets to augment their abilities and live for the thrill of physical risk.

These groups exist amidst a background of violent gang warfare and equally brutal policing of the sectors. I can't add much more than this to the background as aside from this description I couldn't really tell what the hell was going on. The concept of the majority of characters in a book wearing a mask sounds okay in theory but not not if you are forced to dive into issue 1 without a proper introduction to the characters.

This book hits you with a barrage of masked characters chasing one another, and at one point about three-quarters of the way through so many of them looked alike that I couldn't tell which character was which. I worked it out, but the point was that I shouldn't have had to; comic books gradually earn work like this from their readers - if they expect it from the very off it will simply result in people dropping the book. Which is exactly what I would do with this one.

Bits and Pieces

A confusing premise, a complex opening issue, a blur of characters in masks, and artwork that was just okay do not auger well for this title. Definitely Maybe? Definitely not. I'll pass on this one.

 5.1 /10