Hard Time: 50 to Life [Paperback]

Steve Gerber (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Ethan Harrow and Brandon Snodd, two picked-on high school kids, decide to scare their tormentors with a fake Columbine-like incident. When Brandon begins executing people for real, a kind of energy (invisible to the characters but visible to readers) shoots out of Ethan, killing Brandon. Though only 15, Ethan is tried for the murders as an adult and found guilty. He's taken to the state penitentiary, where he's friendless and out of his depth. In prison, Ethan meets Cole, a tough African-American con who explains the Hobbesian rules of prison life; Swift, an Aryan Brotherhood bruiser; and most important, Gantry, a religious fanatic who killed three people in an abortion clinic. As Ethan faces the vicissitudes of prison life, his power manifests itself frequently, gradually becoming visible and convincing Gantry that there is something unholy about Ethan. Gerber has constructed an intriguing setup that mixes prison drama with the supernatural. Unfortunately, the strong story line and setting are undercut by one-dimensional characters, including Ethan. Hurtt's art doesn't help; his stiff style lacks the nuance needed to invest the characters with personality. Haberlin's coloring stands out, however. His nearly monochrome settings help to establish moods that are otherwise lacking.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

For his unwitting involvement in a Columbine-like school massacre, 15-year-old Ethan Harrow is tried as an adult and sentenced to 50 years in the state penitentiary. What confronts him there makes bullying at school seem like, well, child's play, as the young inmate makes potentially deadly enemies and forms uneasy alliances. But behind bars, Ethan unwittingly unleashes a mysterious force that surfaces to protect him at times of danger. Condemned for a prank gone wrong, Ethan is a sympathetic protagonist whose wits and smart-ass humor serve him well--and keep the reader entertained. In the best jailhouse-drama tradition, his fellow inmates are colorful but scary, and impending violence or sexual attack is seldom far from the surface. The fantasy element of Ethan's protective spirit keeps the story from being merely Oz lite. Hurtt's effective, unshowy artwork employs a well-designed, muted color palate; Gerber's smart dialogue, and the kind of social relevance that made his Howard the Duck a 1970s cult phenomenon, should grab today's readers, even if this series lacks Howard's zeitgeist-grabbing verve. Gordon Flagg
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Product Details

• Paperback: 144 pages
• Publisher: DC Comics (December 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1401204716
• ISBN-13: 978-1401204716
• Product Dimensions: 10.1 x 6.5 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,303,339 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best book that you aren't reading, November 1, 2004

By 

Graham Scherl "Comic Guru" (St. Louis, MO) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Hard Time: 50 to Life (Paperback)

Hard Time was launched as part of a new comic line under DC comics, the Focus imprint. It was one of three books when it was released, now it's the only one left. There's a reason for that, this book is incredible.

It's Oz meets Superman, Oz meets My So Called Life, well, actually, any comparisson is going to go to Oz because this is the only prison drama currently in comics.

The main character is Ethan Harrow, a 15 year old kid who is serving 50 to life after taking part in a school shooting. The story follows him in a maximum security prison, from his time in his cell with his cell-mate Curly, to dealing with Swift and the Aryan's, and even the crazed preacher Gantry.

Steve Gerber is a master at developing his characters, as he juggles an ensemble cast evenly, no character is forgotten, and you learn to care about each and every person introduced.

Brian Hurtt's art is perfect for this book as well, creating an appropriate feel for the enviroment, the fact that he inks his own pencils makes it that much better.

Not sure what else I can say, it's not an easy book to explain, but it's an easy book to love. Give it a chance, I guaruntee that you'll fall in love with it before you even finish the first issue.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars bad paper quality, August 26, 2010

By 

Evzenie Reitmayerova - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Hard Time: 50 to Life (Paperback)

the book is printed on recycled toilet paper, the colors are dull. is it really necessary to rip people off this way? is DC comics so poor?

3 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Filled with Real Horror -- and Real Insight, June 26, 2005

By 

RJ Buck "Lover of the Sacred Heart" (Liverpool, England) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Hard Time: 50 to Life (Paperback)

Brutal, bleak, despairing, filled with real horror ... these words come to mind as I survey this `comic' book about an innocent 15 year old boy's life sentence in the grimmest of penal institutions. Other images also come to mind. For here is a searing indictment of contemporary `justice' and the prison system. Here is acute commentary on themes such as religious fundamentalism, ethnic hatred, social stratification, among other elements of contemporary society. Here too, is compassion for the oppressed. And here also, for a comic book, is an amazing amount of vivid characterisation and acute understanding of human psychology. In the world of the American comic book, this is another masterpiece by Steve Gerber, author of Howard the Duck and Nevada (which I've also reviewed). Brian Hurtt's artistry also effectively and beautifully illustrates Gerber's vision.

Still, be warned - the vision here is very, very dark. In the prison milieu Gerber creates is a portrait - stunningly realised - of one particular kind of microcosmic human `community' among the millions of different kinds of human communities that constitute our world in toto. There are indeed many, many worlds within the World. There are worlds like that of Hard Time, especially deprived of the ozone of love and hope. Such worlds of human activity exist in abundance, in the prisons, in the mafia, in cults of evil... It is salutary never to forget this. And Gerber's penetrating writing can serve to awaken our hearts to the fact of this matter.

On the other hand, it is also salutary to have hope. Though human beings are deeply dysfunctional and broken everywhere -in more traditional language `fallen' - there are also countless communities in the world, in which there is far, far more aspiration to the firmament. That is to say, as Oscar Wilde said, `We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars'. Some communities, be they loving families, religious houses, idealistic societies and so on, are still in the gutter, but possess amazing depths of commitment towards reaching for the stars of hope and charity, and integrating them in daily life.

I am sorry to say, I am sorry to say indeed that Steve Gerber, who emerges as a very human, very flesh and blood figure with real tenderness of feeling beneath layers of cynicism, this same Steve Gerber seems to have lost sight of human communities oriented to the stars, seems to be caught by worlds of loveless despair ... and writes - brilliantly - according to what he sees.

But there are other worlds out there. There are other worlds out there. Still for those of us fortunate enough to encounter worlds committed to the stars, while ever in the gutter, Hard Time can have a most salutary effect. It can serve to remind us never to be complacent, but to remember the horror that prevails - to greater and lesser degrees - everywhere. Hard Time enjoins us to remember the horror ... and thus the need for Ora et Labora.