In nature, there’s one rule when it comes to bees: the queen is in charge, and workers are to remember that. Your Major Spoilers review of Hive #1 from Image Comics awaits!
THE HIVE #1
Writer: AJ Lieberman
Artist: Mike Henderson
Colorist: Inaki Azpiazu
Letterer: Inaki Azpiazu
Publisher: Image Comics
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: February 12th, 2025
Previously in The Hive, a crime boss named Shay has created her own organization of criminals known as The Hive. After an apparent betrayal has gone wrong, the perpetrators face Shae’s judgment.
SEX, VIOLENCE, AND BEES
The Hive #1 starts off with a group of “workers” being given a talking to by Shae, she then begins killing them one by one. Things then jump back three months. Shae meets up with a group of people who have gathered to buy into whatever it is Shae is up to. The meeting is tense and cold, but a few fall in line. Elsewhere, an armored truck is attacked by a group of thieves dressed as bees who utilize a strange mind control power. The driver is forced to drive off his course and over a bridge. The thieves open up the truck only to find that there isn’t nearly as much in there as they thought, their suspicions lead them to believe Shay may have something to do with it. Elsewhere, a man named Mason goes to a bar for a drink and is confronted by a group of thugs, upset about his apparently ex-cop status.
ALL STYLE, NO SUBSTANCE
The Hive #1 is a sleek and stylish crime comic that is completely frustrating to read. This frustration comes from a very obvious attempt to purposely obscure and hide details in this odd attempt to generate intrigue. What this results in is an incoherent mess. The best way that I can describe this is that it feels like the early scenes of Pulp Fiction or Snatch, except there isn’t a throughline to anchor the individual scenes. On top of this, the whole thing is filled with dialogue that is supposed to come off as tough and gritty, but what this boils down to is shoving swears into every sentence they can and cliche-riddled monologues masquerading as negotiations. Not to mention the way that everyone tries to strangle every ounce of life from the Hive and Bee metaphor, which gets a bit old by page 4. It’s not all bad though. There are some elements that elevates this above a simple crime caper, in particular the presence and utilization of the mind control powers is legitimately interesting and well executed.
SECOND VERSE, SAME AS THE FIRST
Stop me if you have heard this before: The Hive #1 is sleek and stylish looking but also frustrating to look at. There are some moments of brilliance where the panel layouts and composition remind me of Tony Scott’s version of Man on Fire. The problems come from how homogenous the art is. Between the lighting and color usage, everything just looks the same, and as a result, even the characters become hard to distinguish from one another, which, considering the disjointed nature of the narrative, only adds to the incoherence.
BOTTOM LINE: AN AMBITIOUS START, RIDDLED WITH FLAWS
If I was grading solely on intent, The Hive #1 would rate pretty high. Unfortunately, this issue struggles quite a bit on the execution side. While it has aspirations of being super stylish and visually compelling, a lack of coherence and lackluster dialogue leaves this coming off as shallow and sophomoric. 2 out of 5 stars.
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The Hive #1
The Hive #1 tries really hard to be a slick crime thriller with a hint of supernatural or science fiction. But, its clunky dialogue and disjointed narrative style makes it a chore to read, which makes everything else not matter.
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Writing4
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Art4
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Coloring4
