Revisiting The Nightly News

By: Jonathan Hickman (writer/artist/letters)

Originally published November 2006 – June 2007; 6 issues; Image Comics

Jonathan Hickman is on a tear.  Just recently he has written (a) the best Fantastic Four story of the last few decades, (b) the best Avengers story of the 2000s, (c) the best Marvel event ever AND (d) wonderful creator-owned series like The Manhattan Projects and East of West.  Wow!  He’s on a roll like Warren Ellis was back in the late 1990s.

However, back in 2006, nobody had ever heard of Hickman.  He was just an unknown creator who was launching this new series at Image Comics called The Nightly News.  If you’re like me, you’ll sample new offerings from Image.  The hope is that you’ll catch lightning in a bottle: something new, edgy and BOLD by someone NEW who is still beginning their journey as a storyteller and where the reader can’t anticipate the dramatic beats of every story just because we haven’t danced with that creator before.  Of course, new series from unknown creators usually aren’t lightning in a bottle, but comics like The Nightly News keep that hope alive.

The premise for the story is fairly simple.  It revolves around a group called the Cult of the Voice who is murdering members of the news media in public fashion.  For example, the opening scene shows a Cult member sniping a protestor at a globalization rally.  The Cult member doesn’t really have a problem with the protestors, but the victim is necessary to make the news media show up and start reporting “front the scene…” And then the true attack takes place as Cult members start selectively shooting the media talking heads.  It isn’t an indiscriminate shooting either: no camera men, no lighting people, no sound guys, no innocent bystanders, just headshots of anyone talking in front of a camera with a microphone.

Just this opening scene sells how committed the members of the Cult are by contrasting them with the globalization protestors.  The message is clear: Carry all the sign placards you want, if you want to effect REAL change, you will have to be more committed and more willing to die for your cause (as several Cult members do in the opening scene) because the people in power don’t care about non-violent protests.

As the series progresses, we learn that the members of the Cult are all people who have had their lives destroyed by the news media.  Most of them are people who were wrongly accused of something and fell victim to the 24-hour news media’s hunger for constant storytelling.  They’ve lost their jobs and families and have nothing left to lose.  I won’t spoil any more, just trust that there are plenty of twists and turns.  It’s also probably the best “inside a cult” story that I’ve ever read.

In hindsight – and with the benefit of multiple readings – what makes The Nightly News so special is how raw and powerful it is.  I’m not sure if Jonathan Hickman hates the news media, but when you read The Nightly News, you think that he MUST hate them, otherwise how else could he produce a work as visceral.  The work feels almost cathartic, like Hickman was raging at the news media pre-2006 and felt that he had to create a work of fiction to get it all off his chest!  It feels more like a manifesto more than a work of fiction.  There’s something very special when you’re reading a work of fiction and you start to think that the author/creator really feels this way.  I mean, I loved Hickman’s Fantastic Four, but I’m not sure there is anything personal about it beyond the fact that Hickman has cool ideas.  Ditto for Hickman’s Avengers run; what insight did you feel you gained into the creator from Avengers?  Those works are fun, but they are utterly sterile when compared to a work like The Nightly News.

The art is interesting…  Hickman comes from a background in graphic design and The Nightly News really shows how not being able to “draw” is no excuse for not producing a comic if you are committed to doing so.  Most of the art looks like it was shot from still photographs that were fed through some heavy photoshopping.  Even if this art isn’t glorious and beautiful, I can’t tell you how much I admire Hickman for doing it this way.  He couldn’t draw, so he took photographs (probably of friends and family) and then photoshopped the hell out of it.  The point is, he got it done and produced his story and look where he is today.  Do you know how many “writers” let their lack of drawing stop them?  Just do it guys!  This art isn’t going to win any Eisner awards, but it totally gets the job done.

When you first open The Nightly News, you WILL find the art and lettering a little odd.  At first, it is a little hard to know what word balloons to read first and how to flow through the page.  It’s also hard to know when to absorb all the text bubbles and fact boxes that Hickman smears liberally.  If you’re anything like me, you’ll find that you understand the flow of the comic by the end of the first issue and from there, it really isn’t a problem.

Of all of Hickman’s creator-owned works, The Nightly News remains the best.  Yes, it is better than The Manhattan Projects and better than East of West.  Those works are fun, but it is rare than a comic is as challenging and thoughtful as The Nightly News.

Grade: A (Hall of Fame-level)

-Dean Stell