The visuals in this comic are great; it’s dark and steam punk themed. It’s all rather cool and the action scenes are illustrated brilliantly. It even The visuals in this comic are great; it’s dark and steam punk themed. It’s all rather cool and the action scenes are illustrated brilliantly. It even has a special race of fighting cats that are so ridiculously bad ass; yet, for all that, I found the whole thing quite confusing.
There’s a lot of history with this comic book, which is fine, but I don’t feel like its very well established. There are brief mentions of past events, but not enough details to establish their significance. I feel like the world building is a little too complex for a graphic novel. It’s trying to squeeze so much information in, but it can’t quite cope with the amount it has. And that’s why it all seems brief.
Monstress is trying to be too many things at once far too early on in the series.
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Look at Saga. With each volume more story is added and it becomes increasingly complex. It doesn’t begin so. I was lost for most of this. It’s like I’m starting with the second volume, where everything is already clear and the characters and locations make sense. I had no clue who half of these people were supposed to be. I really think the author needed to take a step (or two) back and slow down. I don’t need everything thrown at me at once.
Other than the confusing world building, I think the story is rather solid. The central plot is very strong, it follows a young girl who is inhabited by an evil tentacle monster that feeds of the living and can take possession of her body whenever it chooses. So she’s quite dangerous and she’s trying to discover/remember how she came to be so powerful. Her family have the answers and she’s attempting to find them in this labyrinth of a world that doesn’t yet make sense to me.
However, I won’t be reading the next volume. I don’t think the author quite knows how to write a balanced story, I can’t see this improving. I’m happy to leave it here.
Merged review:
The visuals in this comic are great; it’s dark and steam punk themed. It’s all rather cool and the action scenes are illustrated brilliantly. It even has a special race of fighting cats that are so ridiculously bad ass; yet, for all that, I found the whole thing quite confusing.
There’s a lot of history with this comic book, which is fine, but I don’t feel like its very well established. There are brief mentions of past events, but not enough details to establish their significance. I feel like the world building is a little too complex for a graphic novel. It’s trying to squeeze so much information in, but it can’t quite cope with the amount it has. And that’s why it all seems brief.
Monstress is trying to be too many things at once far too early on in the series.
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Look at Saga. With each volume more story is added and it becomes increasingly complex. It doesn’t begin so. I was lost for most of this. It’s like I’m starting with the second volume, where everything is already clear and the characters and locations make sense. I had no clue who half of these people were supposed to be. I really think the author needed to take a step (or two) back and slow down. I don’t need everything thrown at me at once.
Other than the confusing world building, I think the story is rather solid. The central plot is very strong, it follows a young girl who is inhabited by an evil tentacle monster that feeds of the living and can take possession of her body whenever it chooses. So she’s quite dangerous and she’s trying to discover/remember how she came to be so powerful. Her family have the answers and she’s attempting to find them in this labyrinth of a world that doesn’t yet make sense to me.
However, I won’t be reading the next volume. I don’t think the author quite knows how to write a balanced story, I can’t see this improving. I’m happy to leave it here....more
This was so much fun! Despite how the title appears, this isn’t some dig at meat eaters. It’s a clever piece of comic-fiction that pokes fun at the reThis was so much fun! Despite how the title appears, this isn’t some dig at meat eaters. It’s a clever piece of comic-fiction that pokes fun at the reactions meat eaters get from vegans, and also how vegans (especially activists) are perceived by the public in general.
It doesn’t take itself too seriously. Primarily, though, it explores how dietary differences and lifestyle differences affect relationships. What happens when one person becomes vegan, and the other person does not understand why? Relationships can break down – I know I’ve seen it in reality. It really can cause breakups and divorce. Crazy really, but when you care about a cause and your partner doesn’t – it really can break things apart.
Here, though, the “dirt-bag” as he comes to style himself pretends to be vegan to make his girlfriend happy. In a subtle form of conversion tactic, he attempts to bring her back to meat-eating by infiltrating the movement from the inside. Naturally, such deceit only leads to more problems for himself and his relationship. And it becomes quite comical as he attempts to hide it and save his relationship at the same time. He is an unlikely vegan, someone who is numb from war trauma and indifferent to most things; yet, slowly he begins to see the logic behind the ideas he’s pretending to hold.
From a personal point of view, from someone who is a vegan and is an activist, I really appreciated the barriers that are broken down with a piece of writing like this. It shows both sides of the debate but, ultimately, it pushes a vegan message without being too preachy and hard-hitting. It’s chatty, relatable and a pleasure to read.
-The author sent me this copy in exchange for an honest review.
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“That which is dreamed can never be lost, can never be undreamed.”
I have been reading this for five years, reading one volume every six months or “That which is dreamed can never be lost, can never be undreamed.”
I have been reading this for five years, reading one volume every six months or so. I have paced my reading out, staggered it, delayed it and put it off completely at times. Why? Because I never wanted the story to finish, so I tried to hold back the inevitable. For me this says a great deal: The Sandman was so good that I did not want to read it because I would never be able to read it for the first time again.
I can think of only a handful of times that a story has affected me so. The first time I watched Lost and when I found out the sequel To Kill a Mocking Bird was to be released are the only comparisons that come to mind. Sometimes when greatness is established very early on, there is a worry that as you continue to read (or watch) it will begin to lose its spark and crumble as it falls short of the potential it originally established. I have seen it happen so many times in books, films and even music.
Gaiman is one of my favourite writers and this is Gaiman at his absolute best; he retains the brilliance here to the very last page, to the final act: to the closing of the curtain. I do not want to talk about the plot here or even the characters. I do however want to remark how powerful the concepts that drive it are, concepts that have captured my imagination for many years.
How everything ends here is pure poetry because it's not really an ending, it is just the finalisation of a point of view. I imagine Gaiman laughed as he wrote, knowing just how clever he had been. I shall say no more other than finishing this was extremely difficult.
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You can connect with me on social media via My Linktree. __________________________________...more
"A culture that doesn’t value its librarians doesn’t value ideas and without ideas, well, where are we?"
The more I read of Gaiman’s work the more"A culture that doesn’t value its librarians doesn’t value ideas and without ideas, well, where are we?"
The more I read of Gaiman’s work the more I realise just how well-read he is. He clearly has read a huge number of books and has strong understanding of them. The number of literary allusions in his work is phenomenal.
This is clearly the key to his brilliance. He knows how stories work. I would go as far as to say, he is a reader before he is a writer. He is always defending books, libraries, and the power of words. And it is quite surprising how few writers go out on a whim to do this in their work. It is important. When Gaiman does it his stories seem self-aware, as they defend their very existence and place within the universe.
The point is libraries are vastly important because they contain a huge variety of writing and ideas. And this is what the Sandman series has always been, a series of interconnected concepts that feel vast. I have always felt that what we read in this series is just the mere essence of the characters and their stories. I am always left with the impression that the story continues beyond what is written, and not many writers actually achieve this level of depth in their world-building. The story usually ends when the writing stops, here is just begins.
It is starting to come full circle, great change is coming, as this brilliant dark fantasy comic reaches its concluding chapter, I know the ending will deliver.
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You can connect with me on social media via My Linktree. __________________________________...more
So I'm here because of the television show - it introduced this great series to me.
And I can honestly say, I've not seen this level of subversion in So I'm here because of the television show - it introduced this great series to me.
And I can honestly say, I've not seen this level of subversion in a comic since Watchman. And, dare I say this also, it has the potential to be greater than that masterpiece if it develops in the right way.
I have a feeling this is going to get real interesting. ...more
Storytelling is such a fundamental aspect of human nature; it is how we connect with each other and how we make sense of the world and the people in iStorytelling is such a fundamental aspect of human nature; it is how we connect with each other and how we make sense of the world and the people in it. Stories can tell us so much and the right one, the right one can totally change your life.
Gaiman touches on that here; he touches on the transformative power of stories: he celebrates them in there many varieties. Some stories are similar, told differently by different people across different times and cultures. And, for me, this is the most important aspect of this volume: the realisation that stories, for all their power, are destined to repeat themselves in some way or some form.
Kurt Vonnegut once said that there are only eight types of stories, and each tale we might try to tell will always fit into one of these story shapes somehow. It is unavoidable. The narrative arc will always adhere to this basic idea. And I saw that here. The same stories told in a different way in alien cultures. Even our dreams follow a pattern. And I love the way Gaiman interacts with classic literature, engaging with old ideas to tell his own stories. I feel like he is one of the few writers to truly acknowledge this sense of literary debt.
So this was another interesting volume, one that showed the scope of Dream's power across many different worlds. The fundamental idea behind the Endless will be the same wherever it is felt or believed in.
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None of us know our path in life. We never know where we may end up despite how much we try to forge a direction for our"Destiny is blind"
None of us know our path in life. We never know where we may end up despite how much we try to forge a direction for ourselves. We try to give ourselves purpose and meaning but, in all honesty, we truly could end up anywhere and doing anything.
Life is an endless possibility. And destiny, destiny is blind.
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Dreams are made real if only we believe in them. Reading this makes me want to stop, to stop under the starry night sky and imagine the possibilities of life and the universe. The concepts this series grapples with are hugely conceptual and imaginative. I am in awe as I read because I’ve never seen anything on such a large scale dealt with in a comic book. The idea that such beings, beings that are themselves concepts formed into caricatures called the Endless, reside behind everything that has ever been is simply phenomenal.
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As I read this volume, I started to see early echoes of Gaiman’s American Gods. There are hints to where his thoughts are going and what he would one day eventually write. I’m not a massive fan of that book because I don’t think the delivery of it matched the scope of the storytelling, though here it works perfectly.
And for me this has been the strongest volume in a while. I feel like the series has finally found some momentum and is finally heading somewhere big and beautiful.
Saga continues to impress me. It has lost none of its awesomely weird energy.
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And this is by far the best volume in the series for a very lSaga continues to impress me. It has lost none of its awesomely weird energy.
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And this is by far the best volume in the series for a very long time. The storytelling here is right on point.
I’m very critical of comic books at times because I often find them very linear and formulaic, often more so that novels. Many of the superhero-based stuff from marvel and dc tend to follow a certain pattern and become predictable and repetitive with their relaunches and different versions of the same character told in different ways. The point is, I feel like Saga is so original. It totally stands out for me. And, in all honesty, the only comic book series that beats it is the glorious Sandman.
One of the things I like most about this series is the colourfulness of it, the colourfulness of the characters and the pages. I’d love to see Saga made into an animation series because it just feels so cinematic. Not many comics quite have this quality. This feels like it jumps out of the pages with its laser beams and dramatic fights. There's a lot of potential here.
I'm finally starting to catch up with this, just two volumes left until I'm up to date with it. I feel like this will only continue to get better.
“Anyone who thinks one book has all the answers hasn’t read enough books.”
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And isn’t that the truth? It's such a great quote and ex“Anyone who thinks one book has all the answers hasn’t read enough books.”
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And isn’t that the truth? It's such a great quote and extends to so many real life things.
I’m impressed with everything in this volume, the story has progressed forward nicely and has developed with the time shift and, surprisingly, none of the tension has been lost.
This is precisely what makes this series so damn good. All the alien sex and weirdness remain, stamped out with unique and slick visuals, but what really makes this so compelling is it’s swiftness. It quickly drops redundant story threads and introduces more strange and exciting characters.
I'm excited to see where this will go next!...more
I love Saga. It never fails to surprise me as it introduces more wacky characters, each a little more bizarre than the last.
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Brian K. Vaughan I love Saga. It never fails to surprise me as it introduces more wacky characters, each a little more bizarre than the last.
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Brian K. Vaughan is master storyteller. He is not afraid of killing characters off. He is not afraid of killing really well written characters off either. And that’s kind of important because it keeps the plot moving. This has a certain energy to it and its quite exhilarating. It never stops to get bogged down with redundancy. I could think of several comic book writers who really could come and learn a thing or two from reading Saga.
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And the illustrations by Fiona Staples are fabulous too, she conjures up on the page all the weirdness the writing deserves. From giant urinating dinosaur things to strange alien races, this really is fantastic stuff.
I shall continue reading, to see where this all goes. It's quite random, I have no idea what will happen next (and I love it because of this.)
"Death was a little older than Dream. Things had the potential to die before they had the potential to dream."
The brilliance of this series resid"Death was a little older than Dream. Things had the potential to die before they had the potential to dream."
The brilliance of this series resides in the fact that it can go anywhere and be almost anything. We all have dreams, and across the ages there has been a huge variety of hopes and wishes and visions of a better world.
And to capture the vastness of dreaming this volume takes on the form of a collection of short stories, each with a different dream and a different idea. Naturally, my favourite was the one that involved Dream’s older sister, Death. There's just something fascinating about the way Gaiman has envisioned her. She is so happy and welcoming which bespeaks the idea that all must meet her in the end. Even dreams die.
"Sometimes you wake up. Sometimes the fall kills you. And sometimes, when you fall, you fly."
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The collection sits somewhat aside from the main Sandman story arc (if you can call it an arc) and it includes a real eclectic bunch of stories and characters. I just love seeing how the Endless interact with the world and the people in it because despite their immortality and their ever-influencing presence on man, they are still surprised by his actions. They don’t ever seem to fully understand that their existence depends on each other. Dream understands and I think Death does too, but the others are yet to get there.
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So this was another strong volume in the series, I’m really looking forward to finally finishing it this year – on to volume 7!
I don't like this one too much. It's not a touch on the previous three.
The main problem is that it's all set up for the next few issues. There's cleaI don't like this one too much. It's not a touch on the previous three.
The main problem is that it's all set up for the next few issues. There's clearly new and exciting things about to come and the groundwork was laid here (and that's it.)
All comic book series reach this stage at some point though I was quite suprised to see it happen here so early. I think the story is becoming bigger with each new volume so more work is needed to carry it forward in a convincing manner.
Far too much time was spent over on planet Robot (or whatever it's called) for my liking. The story was leaning quite heavily in that direction with only two pages or so given over to The Will, one of the more interesting characters. Marko seemed petty and childish where as Alana was just hostile (even more so than usual.)
So I'm hoping things are better balenced in volume five!...more
Death is my favourite character from The Sandman series and quite possibly my favourite comic book characterThis is the ultimate death collection!
Death is my favourite character from The Sandman series and quite possibly my favourite comic book character of all time. I just think she’s brilliant and this book here is a celebration of her. It collects all the issues she’s present in The Sandman along with her own individual stories. There’s so much fantastic artwork in here too. It’s just a great collection.
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Death The High Cost of Living
Gaiman’s Sandman is such a brilliant and creative series; yet, for all that Dream does not have much personality. Death is a far better character.
“It's no harder to be nice than it is to be creepy. And it's much more fun.”
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I love what Gaiman has done with her. Death is the end, but she is also something we will all have to accept with open arms. There’s no escaping her and perhaps that’s why she is so welcoming here. It is fate that we will one day meet her. And she’s so likable; she has a big smile and an even bigger heart. The people she meets cannot resist her charm and easy going manner. They like her.
They want to be around her and one day they will be forevermore.
In these issues a young boy wishes for her. He is a typical teenager, broody, moody and full of self-loathing. He hates his life and he wants it all to end. Death appears. Instead of taking him she makes him realise that life is, in fact, worth living. His attitude was wrong. He failed to see beyond his own situation and understand that others were far more unfortunate than him. Death taught him a lesson: she taught him that life must come first.
"It always ends. That’s what gives it value."
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Death The Time of Your Life
I have a bit of a thing for Death. I really like the concept behind the character so much, and, well, I think she’s rather lovely.
Rather than death becoming an idea associated with negativity; it is something to be embraced and accepted. It is a natural part of life; thus, she is relaxed and very mellow. She does not need to give those at their end much coercion to go with her. Her calming presence is all they need. She’s also rather wise:
“People don’t bore me, I like people.”
“Really? All of them”
“All of them.”
“Even the creepy ones?”
“Nobody’s creepy from the inside, Hazel. Some of them are sad, and some of them hurt, and some of them think they’re the only real thing in the whole world. But they’re not creepy.”
And then there's this:
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As great as she is, she took a back-seat in this story and did not feel very present like she did in the previous volume. It felt like she was appearing in someone else’s story rather than her own. This needed far more of her for it to truly belong to her.
Final Thoughts
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So you’ve probably gathered that I like these comics, a lot. There’ve been a good break from The Sandman series which I will be picking up again soon to finally finish it off. That being said though, I’d love to see Gaiman write more Death comics in the future. One can live (and die) in hope....more
The weirdness continues in the third volume of this excellent series.
I must admit, I expected it to lose its dazzling nature after the first volume bThe weirdness continues in the third volume of this excellent series.
I must admit, I expected it to lose its dazzling nature after the first volume but none of its awesomeness has diminished. I have high hopes that it will remain persistently good unlike so many other comics that fluctuate in quality.
The best thing about this volume is a cyclops author who knows how to make a fucking great entrance and a lasting impression:
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And from here the first few issues fall into discussions about the importance of literature (even in a war torn world full of aliens, monsters and sexual deviants like this one.)Books can change the world and one particular book by this crazy cyclops man has brought the two central characters together, which led them to his door to seek answers about what do next.
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And of course even weirder shit follows them and it all ends rather quickly. As well written as the majority of the characters are in here, it’s great to see them get killed off in random ways. It bodes very well at this stage that the author is willing to kill when he needs to.
I really hope this series never loses its momentum. Bring on volume four!...more
Comic books often deal with extremes; they deal with the extremely good and the extremely bad, highlighting the struggle between two opposites on the Comic books often deal with extremes; they deal with the extremely good and the extremely bad, highlighting the struggle between two opposites on the morality scale.
One wishes to wreak havoc, hurt people and gain some form of gratification. The other wishes to save and restore order. The two are diametrically opposed, though sometimes in order to achieve the most ultimate form of good (or evil) one needs step into the opposite camp to reach their goals. The two are not so far apart as they may appear.
Enter (and exit) Harvey Dent
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Once a stalwart protector of justice, Dent is now the merciless Two Face who executes without remorse trusting in the luck of a coin to decide the fate of his victims. He has become the exact opposite of who he once was, though in reality he is a bitter reflection of the world at large.
Like Batman The Killing Joke this story shows us how easy it is to fall into chaos, madness and despair when you live in a city like Gotham. Batman’s detective work can only do so much in the face of such havoc.
Heroes and Villains are separated by a very thin line. This is a non-stop detective drama that is pulp noir, dark and gritty: it is an excellent Batman comic....more
I hate Deadpool. There I said it. Everyone seems to love him but I find him unbearable.
His mouth is just so annoying. He never, ever, stops talking. I hate Deadpool. There I said it. Everyone seems to love him but I find him unbearable.
His mouth is just so annoying. He never, ever, stops talking. Granted, his attitude is the very crux of his character but I find it so agonising. I hate the films he’s in. I hate his voice. I hate the way he talks. I hate him.
So I thought I’d read one of his comics to see if my hatred was more for Ryan Reynolds or the character itself. Turns out it’s a little bit of both.
All I could hear when reading this was Ryan Reynolds’ voice. I suppose that means he portrays the character perfectly: I just don’t like the character. I do appreciate what Marvel was doing here though in creating an anti-hero who is a comic-book superhero. He’s a bit of fun, though after a few pages the fun makes me grit my teeth as he becomes more and more annoying with every page.
Deadpool is okay in small doses, but this isn’t a small dose. This is him celebrating his ego and providing his backstory which may or may not be true. We cannot trust a word he says as he teases the reader even more so than his opponents. That’s just what he does; he plays with people and leads them along until he has them right where he wants them. And here he gives you a glimpse of his real nature, though like everything about the man it is false and used to gain some form of advantage.
Not a comic to be missed if you loved Avengers Infinity War!
The recent Avengers film is excellent. It’s one of my favourite films in the marvel ciNot a comic to be missed if you loved Avengers Infinity War!
The recent Avengers film is excellent. It’s one of my favourite films in the marvel cinematic universe (despite the tears I may have shed) so I wanted to read its source material, and it really didn’t disappoint.
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Sure the artwork’s a little dated, and the film capitalises on the action and makes it more dramatic and flashy, though the story is so strong here. The success of it resides in its ability to blend so many elements into one. There are so many crossovers, so many characters all transported into one story to resist the will of a Titan whose motives are benevolent though his actions are terrible.
As such, he is a brilliantly compelling villain because he thinks he is a hero. He does bad to serve good. He kills to save. He murders to restore life and energy. He knows that he sacrifices his own morals, his soul, in order to serve a greater purpose. I love him and I hate him. He is a fantastic character.
Unlike the recent movie, this begins with Thanos at full power: he has all the stones and is about to decimate half of all life. The heroes then deal with the aftermath. It will be interesting to see how the end of Avengers Infinity War II compares with this.
Finally a volume that REALLY has the power to kick-start this series!
I’m glad Kirkman recognised that the story was growing stale and that he needed tFinally a volume that REALLY has the power to kick-start this series!
I’m glad Kirkman recognised that the story was growing stale and that he needed to murder a few characters in order to get it moving again. I wasn’t particularly sad to see either of them go. They had both become a little dull and really didn’t have any room for development within the story at large.
I’m up to date on the television show, so I know much of what will happen next though I’m still excited to see the big war play out. Hopefully this will stay interesting for a while and I can carry on reading it. Time will tell....more
Sean Barrs
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