Ivan Brandon

This one is actually 3.5 but for the gorgeous art I am marking it as 4.

Story is a little bit of a letdown. Let me explain - we are introduced into this alien galaxy where war is something that is fully commercialized, war parties fight under camera lenses and ever present commercials, soldiers get improved or lose their enhancements as combat takes place (once sponsors give up, soldier is left to his own devices). All of this happens under the auspices of control asteroid, mysterious star ship controlled by even more mysterious parties that see these direct-to-stream combat as a very useful way of controlling the population of the system and making sure everyone stays in their place.

Story is not bad, and if this went over multiple volumes it would make more sense. As it is, entire story line seems rushed and .... somehow incomplete. For example ending is very open ended - what actually happens is something left to the reader (although taking into account the dystopian atmosphere it is not so hard to imagine the final outcome).

So story is 2.7 points. I have a feeling they wanted to do more and then series was cut down.

What carries the entire book is gorgeous Esad Ribic's art. He manages to bring to life the entire universe, weird aliens, fractions participating in combat and finally the ever present commercials, news and (of course) censoring of the information when things go the other direction for the rulers-to-be.

Esad's work is straight 5 points.

Interesting book, a bit of disjointed story-line but gorgeous art.

Recommended to SF fans but be warned that story (as it is presented) might not be everyone's cup of tea..… (meer)

DNF 50% into the book.

This book had great potential. I found myself liking the book in the beginning with the characters, the world, and the story development. What I found that I didn't like was that after a while the characters because disassociated with themselves (total out of character quirks), cheesy style high schoolish relationships, and huge gaps in character plots/development. I could understand if it would be explained further in the book but honestly from about 1/4 thru the book I wanted to put it down because there were too many unknowns and it was moving way too slowly, but I kept up until halfway thru to ensure that I was in fact disappointed not disillusioned with false expectations on the book.

There is a series of books, just one that I can't get behind really. I gave 2 stars mostly because I feel that the book had a decent story in the beginning. I just wish the beginning storytelling would have kept up thru the book.… (meer)

Where Nothlanders is all abotu characters, plot, and historical themes, this Viking graphic novel relies almost entirely on the quality of the artwork for its success. Each page is lushly saturated with colour (both the reds of battle and the greens of the scenery are good places to draw from), but the artists's style is painterly to the point of becoming difficult to track characters throughout the plot. It doesn't help that the story jumps around so much that you're never quite sure which characters are supposed to be the protagonists, much less the supporting characters. I would like to see more from the artist, but I would be happier to see him doing stand-alone covers or true artwork rather than attempting to confine himsdelf to the linearity of the graphic novel format.… (meer)