If Superman was a smidgen less Super and more Man, but still had powers and Captain America had no Captain in his name, but still had a really big heart, pumped gas for a living and was not the smartest cookie in the container, you would have Huck Volume 1: All-American by Mark Millar and illustrator Rafael Albuquerque.
The character of Huck is a bit of a clique. He is nice, sweet, good looking, not too bright but has a giving heart. He’ll find things, because he wants to do one good deed a day (he’ll do other things too, like pull a stump out of the field that even the tractor can’t get out). He has this “sixth sense” about the things you’ve lost. You lose your necklace, dog, or husband? He’ll be able to locate it. But of course, a town’s love of an orphan who only has a “Love Him” note attached when he’s dropped off at the orphanage, can only keep a secret this big hidden for so long. The media gets wind of the big scoop and a decades old secret is found out by the big bads who started it all.
So, sweet ol’ Huck will be exposed, manipulated into helping a crooked politician’s campaign, find long lost relatives and fight the scientists and soldiers (think KGB / Hydra). He’ll travel to the former Soviet Union, Vermont and back home. It’s no surprise that he saves the day, gets the bad guys, might get the girl and it’s all good. This collection is due in October. 2026 but I’m assuming this is a reissue of the included editions as volume two is currently available.
I read via an online reader copy. Though I might not get a finished copy, I do want to see the finished product as I want to see how the images look in book format. They are typical comic book colors, details, imagery. They are not WOW but they are fun and mostly get the job done. This is, oddly enough, a cozy read. It is a heartwarming story (with action, deadbeat husbands,a drug den, gun use, but all done in the PG or PG 13 range). There is some nice science fiction (think super humans able to do super unhuman things) with a bit of Cold War attitude, Southern charm, and a dash of someone who really liked Mark Twain (Huck’s “brother” is Tom).
