Hard Time

(DC, 2004-2005)
™ and © DC Comics, Inc.

Hard Time will be a hard pill to swallow for certain readers, since the protagonist—the “hero”—takes part in a Columbine-type shooting spree. What makes this concept palpable, though, is the relative innocence of the protagonist in question: he thought the guns were loaded with blanks; he never fired a shot; and he was under the impression that the whole thing was an elaborate prank to simply antagonize and humiliate the school’s bullying jocks. Unlike Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, who appeared to be equally responsible for the Columbine tragedy, Ethan Harrow is clearly less culpable than his partner, Brandon Snodd.

Relatively innocent or not, Harrow, who discovers that he has mysterious super-powers, is served with hard time (hence the title), and this is a sobering message for teen-agers who think a fake bomb threat, a hold-up with toy guns, or any other type of life-threatening prank is a laughing matter. Not that this comic book should be mistaken for a morality play—it’s basically a satire (no surprise, considering that writer Steve Gerber created Howard the Duck) that is counterbalanced by an overriding seriousness concerning bullying and its correlation to teen angst, the celebrity of criminality, and an unfair justice system. (Harrow’s sentence is a bit harsh.)
Fittingly, the name of the school is Caulfied, an obvious reference to the protagonist in J.D. Salinger’s teen-age angst-heavy Catcher in the Rye.

— Brett Weiss

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