Racks and Stacks - Hench from AiT/Planet Lar

In the Racks and Stacks series, Cody discusses the comic books he has been reading.

A story told from the perspective of a henchman.

Back in May of 2009, it was announced that Warner Bros. had acquired the film adaptation rights to the graphic novel Hench with the intention of developing it into a starring vehicle for Danny McBride – and since I had just watched and enjoyed the first season of McBride’s comedy series Eastbound & Down on HBO, this sounded like a great project to me. McBride starring in a comedy about “a football player who suffers a career-ending injury and needs a job, so he signs on to become the henchman of a super-villain”? This was sure to be something fun, so I immediately bought a copy of the graphic novel.

I don’t think I actually ever read the graphic novel in 2009 (that was a complicated time for me), but I bought it and still have that copy. And now, I have finally read the book!

From the team of writer Adam Beechen and artist Manny Bello, Hench is told from the perspective of Mike, who narrates in a conversational, “guy telling a story in a bar” sort of tone. As mentioned, he was a football player who suffered a career-ending injury. Struggling to make ends meet for his wife and child, who is diagnosed with cystic fibrosis as an infant, Mike decides to turn to a life of crime – and since he lives in a world where superheroes exist, that involves working as a henchman for super-villains. As Mike puts it, he has a linebacker mentality: tell him what to do and turn him loose, he’ll get it done. So being one of the anonymous lackeys helping bad guys pull off robberies and such is a job that fits him just fine.

Problem is, superheroes are always around to thwart their plans, busting up henchmen and sending them off to prison. And Mike’s choice of vocation doesn’t sit well with his wife at all.

Since Hench came from AiT/Planet Lar instead of Marvel or DC, don’t expect to see any familiar superheroes or super-villains in this story. Beechen and Bello created their heroes and villains from the ground up, crafting some interesting characters in the process – and yes, some of them are thinly veiled takes on the likes of Superman, Batman, or The Punisher. But this being a story told from the perspective of a henchman, there’s a subversiveness to all of it and there’s even a scene that shows an out-of-control hero can be more dangerous than any of the villains.

Hench is an interesting mixture of humorous lines and scenarios with dramatic scenes. With a page count of just over 60, it’s a quick and entertaining read that will make you laugh and occasionally tug on your heart strings.

This could have made for a really good movie. Unfortunately, that McBride adaptation never made it into production.

Note: Marvel Comics will not be covered in Racks and Stacks articles, as they have their own article series.