Fresh off the heels of the concluding 30 Days of Night/Criminal Macabre crossover epic, Steve Niles mystifies once again in the first issue of “Breath of Bones: Tale of the Golem.”
A World War II noir adventure, the first issue sets the scene for the future of the three-part series by making its characters compelling and the upcoming battle an imminent one. But the best thing may be that the drama and story are engaging in spite of a complete absence of action.
The emotional growth of the protagonist Noah is the key to issue one’s success. A young boy left with no father during the war, he becomes the man his country and his family needs him to be. Niles’ warm, yet gritty and compelling narrative makes the tale intriguing, while the promise of what appears to be excellent fighting and action later is enough to keep you reading.
The art by Dave Wachter also has a multifaceted approach. Gritty in the few war scenes and beautiful cover, you’re still able to see anguish and hope. Noah’s eyes, even in black and white tell a story. The look of despair on his grandfather’s face as well manages to instill a level of foreshadowing fear. What’s next for this small town? How can they possible defeat a Nazi army that has destroyed everything else in its path? That type of suspense ultimately is what makes this comic so sweet.
World War II comics have been done before, but never quite like this. The eyes and hearts of children and the elderly provide a storytelling device not often reserved for comic books. “Breath of Bones: Tale of the Golem” allows us to see how heavy their hearts are.
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports.
Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders.
His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023.
Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief.
Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale.
Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.
Fresh off the heels of the concluding 30 Days of Night/Criminal Macabre crossover epic, Steve Niles mystifies once again in the first issue of “Breath of Bones: Tale of the Golem.”
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