OINK: Heaven's Butcher

I must admit, I knew nothing about this comic until stumbling onto it on Amazon one day, so I have not read the original version before buying this remake. So, I must base my score entirely on the product before me than any changes made. First off, the artwork is beautiful. It looks like it’s been painted, and it’s just gorgeous (the characters are not so gorgeous to look at since they are rather ugly-looking people, but that’s irony for you). The story takes place in a dystopian future and follows the titular Oink, who is a genetic man/pig hybrid bred by the government to be slave labor in factories. One day he realizes that the dogma being used to keep them in line is a lie, and goes on a murderous rampage to try to change things. This is a pretty common theme in literature, and it’s handled quite well. In fact, I found the book so compelling that I read it a second time right after the first. I had read on the author’s website that the story was apparently inspired by his frustrations with the public education system while growing up. That’s interesting, but I suspect this story would serve as a good metaphor for many different broken social systems as well. Overall, I quite enjoyed this book. My only complaint is that it felt a lot shorter than I would’ve expected – I honestly wish we’d gotten to see more of the world that the author had created. Oh well, I still recommend you go get it if it seems up your alley!

This is not your typical comic/graphic novel. Its an enlightenment of both Science Friction and an Apocalyptic outcome.... or its seems to be. Its got a little of everything. The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. The government of this new era, has a generic project that was created to be the slave labor of this new world order. However when one creature finally sees the light, he revolts and Hell comes to the place they call Heaven. From then on you follow this character on his freedom incursions. Part Mad Max, Part Planet of the apes, and part Rocky. Its a story that is both unique and eye catching. The art is hand painted and each panel is beautifully done.

A brief note about my history with OINK. I first encountered John Mueller’s book during the late 1990s, in its original trade paperback edition. My parents would not have allowed me to purchase it, but I read it numerous times in the bookstore. It was a startling, eye-opening work of graphic literature … disturbing, thought-provoking and impossible to forget. Years later I acquired a signed copy of this edition, which I cherish. (I also sought out and enjoyed the still-uncollected sequel miniseries, OINK: BLOOD AND CIRCUS.) When Mueller announced on his website that he was remaking OINK, his great passion project, I was intrigued. He promised greatly improved artwork and new story elements that, in his view, would create the definitive version of OINK. Having now read the new edition, I think it’s fair to say that the revamped OINK is indeed a very different book! The script has been HEAVILY rewritten and some changes of great significance have been made. Much of the layout has been entirely reconceived, with chapters combined and whole pages added or subtracted. The artwork has been redone from the ground up, with more uniformity of style and a thorough digital paint job. MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD! While I respect what Mueller has done in revisiting and overhauling this deeply personal work, I must confess a preference for the original edition. The reasons are several, but I’ll start with the dialogue. There is now much less of it. I imagine Mueller felt that his original text crowded his art at times—which would be a fair critique. And it’s often very praiseworthy to show and not tell. But some memorable dialogue has been excised in the process. I will give a few examples. Oink no longer refers to himself as “the storm” in the prologue, nor does he bear the brand “Q43.” In the first chapter, his observation “They chain us up” is no longer followed by the key insight “I chain me up.” In the aftermath of Judas being shot, the Warden Superior originally descended into an apocalyptic rant about demons and blood; now he simply prays for mercy. And so on. Some of this rewriting is in service to the changes that have been made to the story, and the tweaks to Oink’s character. Religious imagery has been toned down (instead of a gear-like cross in the chapel, we get a straight-up gear), as has nudity (Oink is no longer naked in his dream; the original's mostly nude birthing slaves are now covered in Matrix-like machinery; and Cardinal Bacaar’s hybrid sex slave is … well, she no longer exists). Oink himself seems more philosophical and less bloodthirsty. The prologue originally alluded to Oink’s long and murderous history—of massacres in places with strange names, like “Mustek” and “Kamonesia.” No longer. The new art is similarly a mixed bag. Mueller has clearly matured as an artist. His layouts are more thoughtful and his color more painterly. For me, however, much of the potency of the original OINK book was the sheer rawness (at times, verging on delirium) of the visuals. The imagery was not always realistic or “correct” in all particulars, but it always packed a wallop. Some of that punch has been dampened in this new edition. Consider the image of Spigot suspended in mid-air against a blood-red background, poised to kill. Was the composition a little wonky? Sure. But it was MEMORABLE. Now, Spigot simply stands and points. Where we had hand-drawn lettering and color, we now have computer-generated letters and digital paint. Elements like fire and sky are executed with more realism, but feel less feverish, and somehow less liberating. Compare the explosion of the slaughterhouse—a hellish fountain of fire in the original, a realistic burning building in the remake. In the earlier edition, the final pullback of Oink atop the wall revealed eerie craters and a brilliant blue sky. We (or at least this reader) really felt Oink’s shock of beauty. Now the tones—and corresponding emotions—seem muted. Many panels in the original book had a rough, unfinished aspect to them, but this often worked to dramatic effect. When Oink beheld the birthing chamber, for example, the sketched-out quality seemed to reinforce the horrible unreality of the scene. When Spigot murdered the guard in the chapel, the right-hand panel was barely drawn ... Mueller reveals on his blog that he ran out of time and had to leave this bit unfinished, but the contrast does have the effect of making the dying guard really pop off the page. In the new edition, the panels blend together, creating momentary visual confusion. Story-wise, there are some major new elements here—but there are also big cuts. For example, a new multi-page sequence from Oink’s youth has been added to the first chapter. It works well enough, though I’m not sure the scene was needed. Conversely, the Warden’s fire-and-brimstone sermon before the crucified Spigot (though he’s not really crucified in the new edition) has been reduced to almost nothing—and the subsequent queasy scene of Oink stumbling into the hallway and vomiting into his hand is entirely gone. A more dramatic revision is made to Oink’s nightmare of “Heaven.” In the original book, he dreams that he is standing naked on a winding bridge that leads into the mouth of a vast behemoth—a monstrous giant with spades for hands and meat hooks through its shoulders. He is then accosted by a contorted pig/angel creature who recites sinister doggerel. In the new edition, Oink’s dream is of a magnificent tree and a divine light that he cannot reach—plunging instead into a chasm of tumbling gears. It’s very pretty and poetic, but I found the freakishly disturbing vision of the original more effective. Finally, the confrontation with Bacaar has been completely reconceived. Bacaar’s pig-human sex slave no longer exists, and so she does not figure into Oink's final, character-defining choice. Instead, Oink finds Bacaar looking out over the burning city, and the cardinal delivers a short speech about Oink’s purpose in the divine plan—to which Oink responds by tossing him out the window. There is much more I could say. Almost every page and every line of dialogue has been altered in some way. Some of the sequences do breath or flow a little better, and some of the new art—like the bottomless prison stair in the prologue—is fairly memorable. But from my perspective, too much has been lost. The original OINK read like a bellow of pain and frustration at a world gone mad. The new OINK feels more deliberate and considered in its storytelling … smoother and more streamlined, for better and for worse. (An example: when Oink beholds the birthing room, his original response is simple: “Dis’ be evil.” He will burn the factory and hope Heaven burns with it, because, “It all bad, everything in dis’ place be bad.” In the new edition, Oink is more self aware. He says, “I was born here,” pauses to speak with one of the women, and the purpose of the burning is to set them free. The rewritten scene adds nuance, but tempers the violent clarity of Oink’s righteous fury.) For all that, I do recommend the new edition to Mueller’s fans. It’s a fascinating insight into the evolution of an artist, and contains some very nice work in its own right. It’s worth pointing out that the supplementary front and back matter in each edition is unique. The original book contained, among other things, a full-page introductory poem, a cover gallery and loads of concept art. The new edition has a sketch gallery and some cool tribute pin-ups from various artists. The front matter of the new edition features a two-page spread of a pig parade, but if you have the original edition you’ll know that this is a riff on one of Mueller’s pre-OINK paintings. In conclusion: the new edition of OINK: HEAVEN’S BUTCHER is less of an update and more of a remake. It will never supplant the original in my heart, but I’m glad to have it as a companion volume. If you are able to obtain a copy of the original, I encourage you to do so! If you can’t, the revised edition is still worth your while. As critical as I may have come across in my review, the heart of the tale is intact. You might even consider hunting down the signed hardcover edition from Big Pig Ink. The bottom line is that Mueller is an artist of powerful vision, and he deserves your support. I look forward to seeing what he does next—and I hope this is not the last we see of Oink.

If you like dystopian comics with amazing art and very good writing - this is a book for you!

I stumbled the first issue of Oink: Heavens butcher at comic con a while ago. It's got solid art. I mean solid. But I will admit the story is lacking a bit in places. But if you're looking for something heavy and dark, evil and sick, this is it. It's not bad.

I also read the original comics back in the 90's and what John has done here is taken an already great story and improved upon it in every way. The artwork is incredible, the storytelling, flawless and the characters, iconic. This is an instant classic. Highly recommended.

My favarite comic, I bought a kindle one first, and when I purchase on US Amazon at my first time, I chose this.

I first read 'Oink : Heaven' Butcher' back in 96 when I was still at school at 'Art Center College of Design'. My roommate, at the time, turned me on to 'graphic novels' and, lucky me, 'Oink : Heavens Butcher' was my very first. Since then, I've read quite a few graphic novels, and to be honest,very few of them ever managed to 'grip' me like 'Oink' did...and still DOES. I've also got the 4 part continuation of 'Oink' in 'Oink : Blood and Circus'...which is also much appreciated. Whenever I mention 'Oink' to people I come across, they always seem never to have heard of it. So it's kind of a hidden gem, alas, in the midst of a great ocean of relatively mundane, mediocre graphic novels. I read my original edition so many times that it finally fell apart, and so I actually just now purchased a NEW copy of the ORIGINAL edition for just over twice what I had paid for it back in 1997. If and when the Hardcover edition is released [sometime in 2014] I'll certainly buy that TOO. But I sure do wish John Mueller would put ALL of the Oink issues in ONE SINGLE volume : A hardcover that contained BOTH 'Heavens Butcher AND Blood and Circus' together in one book. If you come across an affordable copy of 'Heavens Butcher', GRAB it. You won'd regret it. As time passes they are showing up online less and less frequently. I am certain that this issue WILL hold it's value and continue to increase it's worth. The ARTWORK is spectacular, meaty, gritty, and has a real sense of gravity to it.

Really good looking art and an orginal story that has a dark theme and it came in good condition

I bought this completely by accident and did not know it had been recommended by Gaimen on Twitter, I can see why he did. At first I thought it was another dystopia, peddling a lot of tropes from 1984, or similar books, which are often far, far better in the original format. They are there, for sure, such as censorship, supression of public knowledge and especially memory, no one knowing a life any different to the terrible status quo. The book does some things a little differently, religious thinking is powerfully resurrected and quite literally interpreted, heaven is an actual place, there are literal being called angels, however, it is no Eden, life is as terrible for the overlords as it is for the enslaved Dr Moreau subspecies. I liked the artwork better than the story, which I did think was a little derivative if you have read much dystopian and utopian fiction, as I have. The artwork is great, in the horror comic style or tradition, I could say it was like Hellraiser, as the angels remind me a little of the cenobites or hell priests from those stories, but it really is its own style or thing. It is pretty violent and gross, there are only a few comics I can think of which would be roughly on a par with it, though the style is different the graphic novel The City, set in a dystopic future of Herbert's "Rats" novels, resembles it. Especially with the subspecies of Ratmen. It was not lost on me particularly that the being with the most humanity in this comic is not actually human, at best subhuman, although I go back and forth in my thinking as to whether or not this is an accident rather than a choice. I guess comics or media that can provoke that sort of thinking are doing something right.

O universo criado pelo autor, John Mueller, é muito bom. A atmosfera é perfeita. O plot é bom. Mas a coisa toda parece meio subdesenvolvida, como se precisasse de pelo menos o dobro de conteúdo para contar o causo.

Oink es un gran cómic principalmente, porque su autor trabajó en el en su tiempo libre, ajeno a las presiones típicas del sector en donde las fechas de entrega y la urgencia de cumplir ciertos plazos provoca en ocasiones que una obra no salga a la calle con todo su potencial. Mueller reconstruye por completo este cómic en el que ya trabajó en el pasado; pero esta vez tomandose tanto tiempo como ha necesitado para dar vida a esta creación personal. Es de lo mejor que he leido y el hecho de que se trate de una obra salida del corazón del autor, da como resultado un guión redondo que te hará emocionar y unas ilustraciones visualmente fantásticas que te meterán de lleno en la historia. De lo que más me ha gustado en cuanto a cómic

Im very particular about which graphic novels i pick up, this was recommended by the genius Neil Gaiman (via Twitter) after a quick read of the description i was intrigued enough to order. I was not disappointed the artwork is stunning but the story is what really shines through a dystopian/orwellian tale with pigmen ! Well worth the money buy it, you will not be disappointed !