u/The_prawn_king

I saw that this had won some award or was nominated and so I looked it up, upon seeing the cover art I was immediately sold. It arrived yesterday and I read it straight away despite a multi month promise that one day I’d actually start reading Shin Zero.

The art is beautiful, it bounces between vibrant dreamlike sunsets when telling the pre zombie story and the bleak, dirty and violent look of the present. The characters are emotive and all around I just loved the look.

It’s a really sad but beautiful story that asks a number of questions. The main character is so flawed but understandably so, there’s times where the whole thing just feels so needless and upsetting. There’s some villains but for the most part it’s just people trying to get by. I read it cover to cover because it’s just a really engaging read. The overarching themes about acceptance and isolation particularly for a gay man in small town America fits really well.

I’d recommend to anyone really it’s a quick read and well worth it. Nearly got me tearing up a couple times.

Next up for me is shin zero maybe we’ll see. Revival just arrived which I’ve been excited for, as did Tokyo Ghost. Plus I’ve been sitting on Die and nailbiter and about twenty others. I need to stop buying more books till I get through the backlog… or not because otherwise maybe I’d miss something like this.

So I just finished the 3rd trade and easily this is the ongoing I’m most looking forward to its next instalments. Okay I am barely reading any ongoing series but still I absolutely loved it so far.

The premise in the image I’ve chosen for this is essentially one of the coolest ideas ever to me. I love the way it deals with superpowers and their relation to the balance of our real world which is starting to crumble before our own eyes.

The writing is superb. Incredibly tense throughout like a perfectly paced thriller, the philosophical musings are insightful and never outstay their welcome or feel overly repetitive. The characters are all brilliantly written and each have distinct voices. It’s just really well done and I can’t wait to see where it goes from here, I’d been waiting for it to get to 16 as I’d heard that it was finished but apparently that’s not true which is excellent. I am genuinely tempted to read it as it releases which I have never done before but I think I will still try wait for the trades.

The art is beautiful, all the designs are great and the colouring is really different and cool. Not sure what to say really it’s just again perfectly drawn. Also I love that Valentina looks like a real strong woman and not some sort of sexually charged pin up. Those character designs have their places but it’s nice to see something that is drawn first and foremost to be strong, not titillating.

Strong recommend to anyone remotely interested. Immediately jumps into the top tier of things I’ve read and I think it could end up really special depending what they do with it. Next for me is I think shin zero, been not getting around to it for weeks now but someday I will! Also I’m suddenly really excited to read DIE which has been on my shelf for like a year!