Heroes In Birmingham Category:  Young Adult/Teen Publisher: Best Friends Productions ISBN-10:  0976514001 Type: Fiction Pages: 32 Copyright: Jan 10, 2005 There are 17 pages from issue 1 on the website link. This comic book had some distribution previously and is now available to stores through the Enemi Entertainment Catalog which has just gone out to an independent newsstand syndicate in New York City that has 500 newsstands, and will be available to order in book stores soon. Please check events for conventions and other events that I will be attending with copies of the book for sale and to sign copies you might already have. Heroes In Birmingham Issue 1 $2.95 32 pages science-fiction/adventure/ages 11 and up Mercutio Bishop’s special abilities get him recruited to be his home town’s protector, working with the Sheriff’s department. Energy, the kind from being punched or the kind from electricity or heat, seems to pass through Mercutio leaving almost no mark or damage. Since he’s 16, the company that is sponsoring his training and equipment insist that he quits going to regular school. He helps a lot of people, but a few years later his choices lead to problems. First appearances of Mercutio as FlapJack, Willow aka Photonia, Giley Minkov aka N-Ergyzer, Tucker Stokes aka The Solution, and Aileen aka Roof Girl.

Comic Review: Heroes in Birmingham
by T.E. Pouncey for Geeks of Doom

The conflict between the paranoid and the privileged is one of the great reoccurring themes of 20th century pop culture. It was used effectively as the climax to the classic H.G. Wells movie THINGS TO COME in 1931 and in Rorschach’s conversations with his therapist in Alan Moore’s WATCHMEN.

The theme has been used in movies as diverse as TANKGIRL, SCARFACE and ROLLERBALL, and is at the very center of just about all the really good Oliver Stone movies.

Rachel Kadushin, Ruben Caldwell and Ed Meares use the paranoia/privilege conflict well in their comic book HEROES IN BIRMINGHAM. In the first issue, we see a group of people in a movie theater watching what appears to be one of those old newsreels. We learn the film is actual footage of local superhero F-27 Pulse fighting marauders, and a hero called N-ergyzer saving a business executive from being kidnapped. The audience debates whether the footage is real and whether the N-ergyzer is “enhanced.”

From there we move on to the life of Mercutio Bishop, his struggles to become a hero and his fellow heroes increasing suspicions about the agenda of his corporate sponsors.

But trying to summarize the plot of the first two HEROES IN BIRMINGHAM in a few sentences is nearly impossible. The story is rich in plot, featuring businesses that use toy prototype technology as possible military weapons; some superheroes who are considered “unregistered public performers”; a state-managed train system that is both necessary and dangerous; and hints of a past catastrophe that has left America (or at least the deep South) as a series of city-states. The story is set in an alternate history future Earth where different world wars were fought during the 20th century and “clean” nuclear power was developed earlier.

There is also plenty of subtle humor in HEROES IN BIRMINGHAM. Mercutio (like his namesake in Shakespeare’s ROMEO AND JULIET) has a talent for spotting impending disaster that is largely ignored. There is a Horseman galloping in like the cavalry in an old Western movie to help in the nick of time; a Latino hero who thinks the “gringo vigilantes” are much better at talking than fighting; and a hero who doesn’t question his fighting skills or moral compass, but worries he might not have the “acting finesse” to look good in the newsreels.

The story is rich in jargon, as the writers create a language of their vision of the future. Small towns are called “flat-tops” because of their low-rise buildings; lightweight paper is “plas-paper,” a working class inner-city neighborhood is a “favero,” and areas outside of Birmingham are “out-burbs.”

Kadushin and Caldwell expect their readers to be fairly smart and to pay attention. HEROES IN BIRMINGHAM isn’t a comic book that you can read lightly or skip through. But for readers who have an eye for detail and nuance, HEROES IN BIRMINGHAM can be a rewarding experience.

Add to all this Ed Meares’ art, which is a cool combination of visual exaggeration and unpretentious sketchiness. Meares can handle both a great sight-gag like Mercuito falling off a roof catching a thrown book and a more dramatic fall like Mercutio being blown out of a skyscraper window by an explosion. Meares’ art complements the unfolding story.

If you like science fiction/action adventure told from a unique perspective, HEROES IN BIRMINGHAM is something you will want to check out.

In a world where paranoia versus privilege is an increasing part of our daily lives, the concepts presented in HEROES IN BIRMINGHAM may not be just fantasy much longer.



Review of Heroes In Birmingham 1
Paul Dale Roberts of Jazmaonline.com

Man, I love this comic book! The artwork is amazing! It's done in black and white, but there are plenty of details to the artwork! So, there is plenty to see on each panel! We have some very, very cool superheroes, not out of New York City, but out of Birmingham. Some of the characters are: Tucker Stokes aka the Solution; Giley Minkov aka N-Ergyzer; Mercutio Bishop aka Flapjack and Cincinnati F-27 Pulse; Willow aka Photonia and Aileen aka Roof Girl!

In this story, regular people are watching these fantastic superheroes on video and believe me they are impressed watching them. Especially seeing N-Ergyzer zipping around in his cool outfit. The year is 2063 and you'll get the day in the life of Mercutio Bishop...you'll get some good action and fighting, expect some pivot throws! Roof Girl is one of my favorites, she is spectacular and looks seductive in her outfit as she goes from roof-to-roof. ... This is not only about chasing the bad guys, these superheroes put more meaning to what a hero is supposed to mean and do.

After reading Heroes in Birmingham, I was left with a sense of joy and wonder, these superheroes are top-notch


HIB 1 in Silver Bullet
Review by Steve Saville

Creators: Rachel Kadushin and Ruben Caldwell [story and script], Ed Meares [pencils and inks]
Publisher: Best Friends Productions (Self Published)
Address: bestfriendsproductions.com/hib
Price: $2.95(US)

Lets make it clear from the outset; I intend to be quite critical in this review. This does not mean that Heroes in Birmingham is in any way shoddy or a poor comic. Quite the opposite in fact. No, I intend to be critical because it is quite obvious that Heroes in Birmingham is a title that the creators intend to be around for some time. This is number 1 in a series that promises a further 11 issues. Such lofty aspirations warrant a vigorous review.

The plot centres around one Mercutio Bishop, a costumed crime fighter who was physically enhanced as a result of being effected by background radiation. When he gets fired he finds that as a high school drop out his job prospects are limited. He therefore accepts a job transporting a dangerous device to the city of Birmingham. Once there it is obvious that future issues will see him from an alliance with other loner crime fighters and adventures will inevitably result.

This places the comic somewhere between comics such as Astro City with its complex heroes struggling to deal with their humanity as well as their responsibilities as larger than life protectors of the city and The Tick with its farcical parody of super heroes. It is obvious that this is a position that Heroes in Birmingham is quite comfortable with.

Heroes in Birmingham is an ambitious project that has a long gestation period. The story line is well thought out and has been well planned; it is disappointing then to see a glaring spelling error early on in the tale. In the same way much of the syntax seems a little clumsy. In places I assume this is deliberate as the writers strive to give the characters their own distinctive voices but it can be confusing. Time will tell on this one.

The page layout is generally good. In places there are too many frames per page and some pages just appear too crowded and even restricted by the number of frames [an inconsistent use of the gutter is sometimes the villain here]. The most noticeable example of this is page 14, which weighs in with a massive fourteen frames. This in itself is not a problem but this page is an action fight scene so the violence seems to be restricted by the large number of frames and strict adherence to frame size and shape. I realise that as this fight scene does take place in a crowded train then this may be a deliberate and intended effect but for me it is too tight. Once Mercutio hits the big city however all this changes and the page layout as well as the use of frame size and shape becomes creative, exciting and highly effective. The introduction of Roof Girl on page 20,21 is stunning, surpassed only by pages 26 and 27 where the arrival of N- Ergyzer is placed over an impressive background of Birmingham City seen from a birds eye view. Wonderful stuff.

The artwork is strong marked by meticulous cross-hatching and effective use of grey tonings. My only criticism is that some of the frames still have a pencilled look about them and this can result in a loss of strength for the image.

For me, the real plus of this comic is the whole concept of the costumed heroes being sponsored parts of large corporations. Employees that serve the interests of the company and when they become unprofitable they are fired. This includes having their costume taken away from them. Such was the fate of Mercutio Bishop who starts the comic as the Cincinatti F27 Pulse until his campaign was scrapped and he is faced with the prospect of never being able to earn enough money to move away from his parent’s home. This, "we are all just parts of a big machine," angle works well and adds a strong element of irony to the storyline.

This is a very busy comic. It attempts to have a large dose of action, introduce at least five major characters, give background to Mercutio and the creation of the city-state of Birmingham as well as make full and comprehensive of use the background of a large number of the frames to add detail to the setting. No wonder it sometimes feels crowded. This is typified by the cover, which is just too busy and contains too many images to be totally effective. It does mean that we certainly get our money’s worth.

Ultimately though this comic works and deserves to be widely read. The humour is appropriate and nicely paced. The pace of the story is great; action is interspersed with flashback and dialogue. It has a great cliffhanger of an ending, which leaves me eager for Issue 2. The creators have promised three issues this year all I can say is they had better not be lying because having been taken into the world of Mercutio Bishop I need to know more.

In a Word: Promising