The Nightly News [Paperback]

Jonathan Hickman (Author, Artist)

Book Description

Series: Nightly News | Publication Date: September 19, 2007

As an act of violence spirals out of control to encompass the entirety of the news media, a cult has emerged from the errors and retractions that have ruined careers, marriages and even lives. Under direction from his cult master, The Hand leads an army of followers committed to revolution, willing to die for their cause.

Product Details

• Paperback: 184 pages
• Publisher: Image Comics (September 19, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1582407665
• ISBN-13: 978-1582407661
• Product Dimensions: 10.2 x 7.2 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #103,461 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #69 in Books > Comics & Graphic Novels > Publishers > Image Comics

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best book I've read this year!, September 20, 2007

By 

Nicholas Zinn "Chaotic Reader" (Madison, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Nightly News (Paperback)

I am still in shock about what this story did for me. I heard some good things about Nightly News, but nothing prepared me for the unsettling hold it had for the duration of the experience.

To boil it down, it's about a group/cult of people dedicated to change the news by destroying their reporters by any means necessary. If this was all it entailed then I would've just thought it was ok and moved on. He goes for the jugular and exposes why journalism is tainted and shouldn't be trusted anymore. The visual style Mr. Hickman brings to each page makes my graphic designer/creative mind drool with envy. Comics are not done this way for more than a few pages, but he throws the traditional out the door and moves with a palate that is overwhelming and mezmerizing on every page.

I had to slow down and read each chapter to take in all the details wrapped in it. He throws statistics that are great ammunition toward convincing me that tv is no good (not that I didn't know that already, but it reenforces it). I don't want to give too much away, but just flipping through the book demand that I read it. This is a rare breed of work that moves me like Fight Club, Donnie Dark and anything by Daniel Quinn. It makes us look at the world around us and want to change it, while providing an entertaining story. This is a book that I want to buy copies for friends and give out. I want to hand it over and say, "See someone else is thinking like we do."

I cannot give it anymore higher praise and hope others will latch on and love this series like I do.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Terroristic Cults, September 27, 2008

By 

Uthor - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Nightly News (Paperback)

The Nightly News is a condemnation of the corporate news media in the US which favors profits and ratings over facts, thus leaving lives ruined in the pursuit of stories.

The story follows a terroristic cult as it kills and executes dozens of news people in an effort to force the rest to stick to factual news reporting and not sensationalistic story reporting.

The main drive of the story, however, is a mystery as to who The Voice really is and what his goals are.

Obviously, the author doesn't believe in going out and killing dozens of people is a solution to the problem (and makes it very clear throughout the story), but the story is peppered with facts and figures that make the reader question everything from control of the media, to globalization, to public schools. It is a dense story with a lot of information to take in on every page.

Not enough can be said about the artwork. It is very far from traditional comic art, ignoring traditional panel layouts for a style best described as "graphic design." The pages are laid out as infographics, with even charts and graphs popping up from time to time. There are lots of straight lines (including rectangular word balloons) and solid shapes. Everything is neat and orderly, which makes a huge impression when chaotic violence breaks out. Within these stylized graphics and layouts are realistic figures. This is all topped off with a monochromatic color scheme. It is like nothing else seen in comic books.

The only complaint is that the figures of the very large cast tend to blend together. It is hard to tell the dozen or so characters apart with the heavy inking and limited color pallet. You are reduced to trying to figure out which spiky-haired or glasses-wearing person you are looking at. Part of this is intentional, especially among the interchangeable TV news personalities, but it makes reading difficult.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "How Did You Think This Was Going To End For Me?", August 1, 2010

By 

darklordzden "darklordzden" (Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Nightly News (Paperback)

America, The Present: The first ominous shots ring out and the pedestrians fall to their knees; the news crews arrive with their usual ghoulish precision...and then find themselves targeted. The opening battle in a war prosecuted against a corrupt self-serving media has just been declared by the ominous "Brotherhood Of The Voice": a cult made up of a psychopathically dedicated group of people who have all, in some way or another, had their lives destroyed by a media more concerned with sensationalism and the pursuit of ratings than truth. But who commands the brotherhood? What are their aims? And just far are they prepared to go in their quest?

"The Nightly News" was the world's introduction to the breath-taking talents of Jonathan Hickman, a writer and artist who, with this debut, almost single-handedly redefined the term "graphic novel" itself with his ingenious use of classical graphic design techniques. When I first read this book at the time of its original publication, I felt a frisson of amazement run up my spine as I realized that I was witnessing the arrival of a talent to rival the likes of Will Eisner and Alan Moore.

In terms of the story itself, Hickman's tale manages to combine a relentlessly compulsive thriller (peopled with frighteningly believable, flawed characters) with an astonishingly prescient expose of the corruption and hypocrisy endemic to modern media and governance. As other reviewers have observed, "Network" and "Fight Club" are thematic touchstones - as is Alan J. Pakula's massively underrated seventies conspiracy thriller, "The Parallax View".

"The Nightly News" heralded the arrival of a major talent whose commitment to redefining a medium that had been trapped in evolutionary entropy since the mid-nineties was apparent for all to see; this book, along with Hickman's other creator produced works, Transhuman (a terrifying satire of corporate venture capitalism) and Pax Romana (a time travel tale with a decidedly theological bent) represents some of the finest work ever to grace the comic book medium.

Beg, borrow or buy a copy today if you have any interest in comics.