The cover of Alt-Hero: Q is gorgeous – glossy, shiny and in vivid colour.
A few days ago I finally received a beautiful, glossy, trade paperback book – a graphic novel. It was an unexpected but welcome surprise. The hard copy of Vox Day’s Alt-Hero: Q had arrived. It is a beautiful and entertaining product well worth buying, satirising the well-known false conspiracy theory – Q-Anon.
For those who are unfamiliar, one of the most obviously fake news items in recent years was Q-Anon (archive). The theory came to prominence during the first Trump administration and the premise was that a secret government whistle-blower known only as ‘Q’ was revealing details of a secret war by Donald Trump against a vast paedophile conspiracy that had taken over the world. As history showed, Q was fake and their predictions simply did not happen (archive). Of course the theory only worked because like all the best lies it had a grain of truth. The West – USA and Europe, were for decades ruled by a left-leaning establishment that slowly parted company with the population it held in increasing contempt, as well as reality. The pendulum which was starting to swing during Trump’s first term is now moving with crushing force during his second one. ‘Q’ may have been a false prophet but their themes were not.
Alt-Hero: Q is essentially a sort of spy thriller. Set in Vox Day’s, ‘Alt-Hero’ universe it postulates that ‘Q’ is real and benevolent, a sort of near-omnipresent wing-man who guides a wide variety of ordinary people via untraceable smartphone messages. The hero of the series is Roland Dane, a federal agent tasked with guarding a US Secretary of State who survives the assassination of his charge but is wrongly declared dead and hunted by a murderous, corrupt cabal which secretly rules the world. The nefarious cabal is ruthless and evil, deliberately promoting politicians and celebrities with vices such as paedophilia who therefore have no choice but obey the cabal or be exposed.
Left with little choice, and Q as his only ally, Dane goes on various missions backed by a sort of crowd-sourced army of Q followers based on the real world followers of the Q-Anon conspiracy theory. One mission is to protect an honest politician called Hammond Wyler, a congressman. With eerie prescience, Wyler looks like an older, craggier, JD Vance – including the beard – yet this comic was conceived in 2018 and the story largely came out in 2019.
Fictional, honest politician Congressman Hammond Wyler bears an uncannily prescient resemblance to JD Vance, Trump’s Vice President.
Alt-Hero was offered to fans on various Kickstarter style platforms, marketed to comic fans disillusioned with woke mainstream publishers such as DC and Marvel as well as, “[…] those who could not care less about comics, but enjoy tormenting SJWs and would enjoy the privilege of triggering them […]“ How could anyone resist? Vox Day has a history of delivering quality product, albeit sometimes with delays. For reasons that are unclear, the campaign was removed by a number of platforms. I say, “unclear” because there is nothing unlawful or even extremist about the product. The ‘evil conspiracy’ is very similar to Hydra from Captain America: The Winter Soldier. ‘Q’ is not portrayed as real or true. I infer the problem was personal hostility to Day and his political views from left-wingers in finance and the publishing industry.
Now the product has only arrived I can safely say the only thing that I can criticise is the length of time it has taken. Alt-Hero: Q was crowdfunded in late 2018. Digital editions went out in 2019. It is now early 2025. So, a little over six years. I am not especially annoyed because I received the content back in 2019 – the physical copy was just a bonus for me. However, some people might be upset.
Vox Day’s comic series is fun and a very high quality product. The script by Chuck Dixon is good and the art by Helix Haze is great – at times beautiful with a grittier style than the first volume of the Alt-Hero main series.
Honest Politician Congressman Hammond Wyler resists temptation and threats from a sexy blonde representative of the cabal.
The art varies from good to great and so does the script. The quality is fully expressed in the print version, which has high quality colouring inside as well as on the cover. It is just a really nice product – to look at closed, to look at open, to read, to hold in your hand. Vox Day has delivered to a high standard on every product campaign of his I have backed.
Print quality and colouring is good in my copy of Alt-Hero: Q.
In accordance with the MHN Comic Review Guidelines, I rank the story for this comic as worth 42/50 points and the art at 42/50, with an adjustment of +10 because I like it but -6 points for the delay (one for each year) – more than the main Alt-Hero storyline itself, in fact. Overall, Vox Day has produced a very high quality product. If you did not back it, you can read the story for free at Arkhaven Comics and you can buy the book on Amazon.
Final score – (88/100)
