[SPOILERS for Concrete: The Human Dilemma and Concrete: Stars over Sand #1…and Insane #2, I suppose.]
So over the last few weeks, inspired by the recent release of Concrete: Stars over Sand #1, Paul Chadwick’s newest Concrete thing is many a year, I’ve been rereadeding old Concrete comics. Read all the Dark Horse Presents shorts, several of the mini-series, stuff like that. I mentioned my doing this on Bluesky, getting a reply from a pal there of “okay, smart guy, what about this?” And that “this” being…
…Insane #2, a late-1988 parody comic released by Concrete‘s publisher, Dark Horse Comics. As you can see on that cover there, a Jim Bradrick drawing of Cement, the comic’s take-off on you-know-who.
I did not own this. Therefore, via means both fair but mostly foul, and perhaps even fowl, I obtained my own copy of said classic comic, just to ensure my Concrete collection remained complete.
Now, the parody inside was…okay, I suppose. Bradrick did a reasonable job emulating the art style of the original comics, and the script by then-publisher, now former publisher Mike Richardson was…well, it got a bemused smile from me once in a while, but Not Brand Echh it ain’t. It was pleasant enough, I guess.
But there is something quite notable about it, at least in my mind.
Concrete first appeared in Dark Horse Presents #1 in the middle of 1986. Thus the character had only been around for a couple of years…well, let’s be fair, it had made a pretty good splash and gathered quite the following in short order. And on the last page of the “Cement” story were these concluding panels:
Yes, a good 18 years, more or less, before Chadwick introduced the idea of Concrete’s ability to reproduce, there were Richardson and Bradrick giving it their own spin, presenting a humorous twist on what would eventually be played straight in the original work:
Yes, I know it was perhaps just an obvious punchline to a gag strip, but it’s still amusing how one presaged the other.
So, is Concrete (and the parody/homage character Cement) the only rock-textured comic book character to have a rock-textured offspring with a non-rock textured woman in comics history? What about The Thing, Blok from LOSH, Rob Liefeld’s Badrock, Rock from John Byrne’s Trio, Glomb from Wally Wood’s Misfits, assorted Golem characters, etc.?
Also, for Concrete and Maureen, was it a rocky delivery…?
Cement’s collection of female comic characters is a nice touch. Good to see Fat Broad in the mix!
“Darkorse Presents” – is that the UK printing?
Will – whoops, how’d I do that? Anyway, fixed now.
Cement looks like he might have inspired Adam Warren’s Syndablokk, one of the many supercharacters in his excellent ‘Empowered’ series.