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Anomaly
Anomaly 1
AUGMENTED REALITY GRAPHIC NOVEL!
368 pages, Hardcover
First published October 15, 2012
8 people are currently reading
125 people want to read
About the author
Skip Brittenham
7 books19 followersSkip Brittenham is an entertainment lawyer who lives in Southern California with his wife and daughter, and has two older daughters as well. He's an avid fly-fisherman and outdoorsman who has traveled to some of the remotest parts of the globe. He has written two graphic novels, Anomaly and Shifter. Between Worlds was Skip's first YA novel and Anomaly: The Rubicon will be available in November of this year.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 56 reviews
July 23, 2014
Anomaly is a full color graphic novel using augmented reality (AR) to bring to life a story of discovery and war.
It is not a good book.
The story is very generic and never really popped for me. I keep thinking of other stories that were similar and much better. John Carter of Mars definitely came to mind but the most blatant reference came from a bit of conversation that is from Raiders of the Lost Ark word for word.
Instead of an homage it just came across as cheap.
Anomaly follows the very used formula of explorers landing on a planet to eventually get caught up within the politics/war/struggle of the place and eventually solve the problem or problems of said planet and saving the day.
While the art is very good at times it often becomes stiff and inorganic.
I am a fan of digital art but the painting style the artist took I think diminished the quality of such a highly produced book. It really reminded me of reading a story in Heavy Metal magazine but again I was brought back to stories that were better written and drawn.
With a generic story came the generic characters. I never felt interested in any of them since they were not well developed. There is very minimal back story to the mains. Perhaps a stronger point of view of one of them could have made it better than having a large amount of characters with no dimension.
A poor story was not helped at all by bad formatting. Instead of word balloons, lines were used to direct speech and it came off confusing in a lot of areas. Direction was not clear of who was speaking at times which was also compounded by panel flow. Some of the pages are confusing as to the direction of the panels throwing off the rhythm and pacing of some scenes.
The exotic races of Anomaly were no better than the main characters. Again a generic rogues gallery of seen it before.
I had a problem with The Moncs who really seemed to resemble The Moks from Thundaar The Barbarian cartoons a little to close to be a coincidence.
The AR comes in by loading a viewer to your tablet or smartphone. By viewing certain pages through it things will pop up in 3D. Some of the images are interactive giving you a bit of sound or some kind of movement. It's a nice bonus but barely scratches the surface of what it can do especially comparing it to the AR interaction on a Nintendo 3DS.
Lastly a word on the book's quality. While bound good, the pages are stiff and seem that after some use would start to bend or warp and it picks up fingerprint pretty easily.
For it's price of $75 retail I do not see the quality of a book that price should command.
A good check out from the library but not worth the purchase I'm afraid.
Even with the AR mode I recommend you spend your money elsewhere.
It is not a good book.
The story is very generic and never really popped for me. I keep thinking of other stories that were similar and much better. John Carter of Mars definitely came to mind but the most blatant reference came from a bit of conversation that is from Raiders of the Lost Ark word for word.
Instead of an homage it just came across as cheap.
Anomaly follows the very used formula of explorers landing on a planet to eventually get caught up within the politics/war/struggle of the place and eventually solve the problem or problems of said planet and saving the day.
While the art is very good at times it often becomes stiff and inorganic.
I am a fan of digital art but the painting style the artist took I think diminished the quality of such a highly produced book. It really reminded me of reading a story in Heavy Metal magazine but again I was brought back to stories that were better written and drawn.
With a generic story came the generic characters. I never felt interested in any of them since they were not well developed. There is very minimal back story to the mains. Perhaps a stronger point of view of one of them could have made it better than having a large amount of characters with no dimension.
A poor story was not helped at all by bad formatting. Instead of word balloons, lines were used to direct speech and it came off confusing in a lot of areas. Direction was not clear of who was speaking at times which was also compounded by panel flow. Some of the pages are confusing as to the direction of the panels throwing off the rhythm and pacing of some scenes.
The exotic races of Anomaly were no better than the main characters. Again a generic rogues gallery of seen it before.
I had a problem with The Moncs who really seemed to resemble The Moks from Thundaar The Barbarian cartoons a little to close to be a coincidence.
The AR comes in by loading a viewer to your tablet or smartphone. By viewing certain pages through it things will pop up in 3D. Some of the images are interactive giving you a bit of sound or some kind of movement. It's a nice bonus but barely scratches the surface of what it can do especially comparing it to the AR interaction on a Nintendo 3DS.
Lastly a word on the book's quality. While bound good, the pages are stiff and seem that after some use would start to bend or warp and it picks up fingerprint pretty easily.
For it's price of $75 retail I do not see the quality of a book that price should command.
A good check out from the library but not worth the purchase I'm afraid.
Even with the AR mode I recommend you spend your money elsewhere.
July 25, 2013
For all the hype about this book, I was deeply disappointed.
A) it reads more like a second-tier video game concept than the kind of sweeping epic suggested by the painting-driven art and large form factor. It is, quite literally, White Man goes to a Special World and Messiahs the Divided Peoples into a United Front to Win the War. The black dude gets killed as soon as they land of the planet. The female characters are either Warrior Sex Babes or Hot Nerdy Chicks, and all are subject to the defiant male gaze of the third person perspective. It's like the worst parts of Avatar mixed with the overworked parts of the Campbellian hero journey, and nothing can save the narrative by 30 pages in.
B) the pastiche of the "interactivity" wears thin after the first five or six times. Basically, you download a companion app for iPad, and when there certain symbols on a page, you load up the app and a 3D model of a figure on the page will appear. you can interact with it, using the finger swipe to spin the figure or tilt the image. It is very cool, but because the figure is just rendered in 3D from the page, and doesn't actually add anything to the narrative--like making noises, or saying their lines, or prompting you to do something, the end result is a belabored character/object sheet that doesn't do much more than it would in a video game--deliver basic information about the figure to the reader. And because there are so many of them--100+--unless you are a child, you get bored having to load up an app just to see something isolated from the story. It's a cool concept, but overused and underutilized to actually serve the mediocre story they're trying to tell.
C) the actually physical book is too much fucking work to read, and the format means that it's an expensive price point to spend any real time with the features and the art. Seriously, it was like 11 x14 heavyweight gloss in a hard cover. You can't even read it sitting down on the couch without it spilling over your lap; to read it & to get the 3D features of the companion app to stabilize & work, you are best served laying it flat on a table and having the app close at hand. Why create so many barriers to usability, when you're trying to introduce a new feature set to your audience? Why make it a massive 370 pages long? They could have broken it up into smaller softcover issues, kind of like what Dark Horse Presents is doing now, and built a fanbase engaged in the tricks and the story progression, instead of dumping this massive thing onto a less primed, less engaged audience. Particularly when the thing costs fifty fucking dollars.
I rated this two stars instead of one because I do think the app thing was cool, as an example of what graphic novelists could do with their work and new technology; and the art was clearly lovingly produced, if banal in the scheme of contemporary graphic art and way too teenage boy driven with their male and female characters. I wished I could have enjoyed it, because initially it looked awesome, but there were too many flaws from too many angles to like it.
A) it reads more like a second-tier video game concept than the kind of sweeping epic suggested by the painting-driven art and large form factor. It is, quite literally, White Man goes to a Special World and Messiahs the Divided Peoples into a United Front to Win the War. The black dude gets killed as soon as they land of the planet. The female characters are either Warrior Sex Babes or Hot Nerdy Chicks, and all are subject to the defiant male gaze of the third person perspective. It's like the worst parts of Avatar mixed with the overworked parts of the Campbellian hero journey, and nothing can save the narrative by 30 pages in.
B) the pastiche of the "interactivity" wears thin after the first five or six times. Basically, you download a companion app for iPad, and when there certain symbols on a page, you load up the app and a 3D model of a figure on the page will appear. you can interact with it, using the finger swipe to spin the figure or tilt the image. It is very cool, but because the figure is just rendered in 3D from the page, and doesn't actually add anything to the narrative--like making noises, or saying their lines, or prompting you to do something, the end result is a belabored character/object sheet that doesn't do much more than it would in a video game--deliver basic information about the figure to the reader. And because there are so many of them--100+--unless you are a child, you get bored having to load up an app just to see something isolated from the story. It's a cool concept, but overused and underutilized to actually serve the mediocre story they're trying to tell.
C) the actually physical book is too much fucking work to read, and the format means that it's an expensive price point to spend any real time with the features and the art. Seriously, it was like 11 x14 heavyweight gloss in a hard cover. You can't even read it sitting down on the couch without it spilling over your lap; to read it & to get the 3D features of the companion app to stabilize & work, you are best served laying it flat on a table and having the app close at hand. Why create so many barriers to usability, when you're trying to introduce a new feature set to your audience? Why make it a massive 370 pages long? They could have broken it up into smaller softcover issues, kind of like what Dark Horse Presents is doing now, and built a fanbase engaged in the tricks and the story progression, instead of dumping this massive thing onto a less primed, less engaged audience. Particularly when the thing costs fifty fucking dollars.
I rated this two stars instead of one because I do think the app thing was cool, as an example of what graphic novelists could do with their work and new technology; and the art was clearly lovingly produced, if banal in the scheme of contemporary graphic art and way too teenage boy driven with their male and female characters. I wished I could have enjoyed it, because initially it looked awesome, but there were too many flaws from too many angles to like it.
January 23, 2013
As a concept book, this book is very concepty. Yay!
The idea behind this whole rigmarole is really neat - full-length, full-color graphic novel with extra bits if you have the right technology. I imagine a lot of books and other things will start moving in this direction; it's neat, fun, interactive, and has buttloads of potential.
Not so neat is the way this particular instance played out.
It was difficult for me to follow this story. The letterer and artist did not play well together so the dialogue meanders around each panel, sometimes crossing over other bits of dialogue, lending to a sense of "OMG, will SOMEONE just put the words in a damned straight line so I can read them!"
The panels didn't go in order and were often hard to figure out, too. On one page, they ran in a sensible, forward-moving flow. On the facing page, there were panels everywhere and no indication as to which was was to be read next. Makes it hard to follow the story.
Some pages had gaping open spaces behind the panels, which is good if there's a specific point to be made using empty space. But that wasn't the case. It was more like bad collage - too many panels were crammed in earlier so fewer panels had to be used later and there was nothing but black background beyond instead of large paintings that could have shown the environment or enhanced the feeling of the story. Nope. Just glossy black nothing full of fingerprints from other readers. I don't think that was the point.
The story was rudimentary and not well-written and I lost interest very quickly. I'd scan ahead and pick up some more story, then drop it, jump ahead and do the same again. It just never picked up for me. I stopped reading and looked at the pictures.
The pictures are fine. It's fun to have a full-blown, all-color coffee table graphic novel. I loved that. But nothing in the art made me want to stare at the page, looking over and over for more story. I do that with a lot of the manga; they're so detail-oriented, or expression-oriented, and I just want to eat it up with my eyes to see what I'm missing. I wasn't drawn in like that here.
And then in the last third of the book, Elric showed up. I don't know what he was doing there or why he had a green eye and a blue eye, but there he was, nonetheless. Hi, Elric - nice to see you in space land!
Finally, I just gave up. Even the stories I told to myself based solely on the pictures became not-entertaining. I returned the book to the library.
I think I've got to agree with Gabe on this one - not worth the money.
The idea behind this whole rigmarole is really neat - full-length, full-color graphic novel with extra bits if you have the right technology. I imagine a lot of books and other things will start moving in this direction; it's neat, fun, interactive, and has buttloads of potential.
Not so neat is the way this particular instance played out.
It was difficult for me to follow this story. The letterer and artist did not play well together so the dialogue meanders around each panel, sometimes crossing over other bits of dialogue, lending to a sense of "OMG, will SOMEONE just put the words in a damned straight line so I can read them!"
The panels didn't go in order and were often hard to figure out, too. On one page, they ran in a sensible, forward-moving flow. On the facing page, there were panels everywhere and no indication as to which was was to be read next. Makes it hard to follow the story.
Some pages had gaping open spaces behind the panels, which is good if there's a specific point to be made using empty space. But that wasn't the case. It was more like bad collage - too many panels were crammed in earlier so fewer panels had to be used later and there was nothing but black background beyond instead of large paintings that could have shown the environment or enhanced the feeling of the story. Nope. Just glossy black nothing full of fingerprints from other readers. I don't think that was the point.
The story was rudimentary and not well-written and I lost interest very quickly. I'd scan ahead and pick up some more story, then drop it, jump ahead and do the same again. It just never picked up for me. I stopped reading and looked at the pictures.
The pictures are fine. It's fun to have a full-blown, all-color coffee table graphic novel. I loved that. But nothing in the art made me want to stare at the page, looking over and over for more story. I do that with a lot of the manga; they're so detail-oriented, or expression-oriented, and I just want to eat it up with my eyes to see what I'm missing. I wasn't drawn in like that here.
And then in the last third of the book, Elric showed up. I don't know what he was doing there or why he had a green eye and a blue eye, but there he was, nonetheless. Hi, Elric - nice to see you in space land!
Finally, I just gave up. Even the stories I told to myself based solely on the pictures became not-entertaining. I returned the book to the library.
I think I've got to agree with Gabe on this one - not worth the money.
August 3, 2013
They definitely spent a lot of time on the art!
First off, this is a huge book--about 3 pounds worth of slick paper, heavy cover, and red-ribbon placeholder. Comes in a box that looks like a container for a deluxe board game. Definitely not the kind of thing you carry around with you, but the large format does do justice to the detail in the artwork. Every panel looks painted, not just inked & colored, with hundreds of little details to appreciate. And they’re worth appreciating--especially if you’re fascinated with the multitudinous ways it’s possible to alter a basically human skull into a mutant monster. Dozens of them appear in different scenes, and not one looked like the others. Clearly, one of the art team (either Brian Haberlin or Gierrod Van Dyke) has loads of semi-warped creativity and a real talent for creating nasty-looking orc beasties. (I would not want to land in one of his nightmares.) Unfortunately, that creativity didn’t extend to the plot, characters, or dialogue.
Now, I don’t mind a recycled plot--there are lots of great stories out there that are worth telling over & over again. However, it’s nice when the retelling puts a new spin on it, offers an interesting perspective, or even just does the same old thing up with inventive action sequences. This one doesn’t go much beyond marrying two standard setups: 1) Evil corporation takes over everything, reduces everyone to bigger or smaller cogs in the machine, and drains the life & joy out of everything before small band of plucky underdogs discover the conspiracy and fight back against the corporation’s queens and drones. 2) Evil dark lord assembles an army of monsters to destroy all his neighboring primitive societies, before band of plucky underdogs discover his evil plot, gather diverse allies, and fight back against the dark lord’s ugly hordes. See? Nothing whatsoever wrong with either of those--or even with putting them together. Plucky good guys vs. evil bad guys? Bring it on!
But could you make the plucky good guys a bit more interesting? This group feels like it was assembled using the question “What kinds of characters does everybody like, or at least expect, in this genre?” as its guiding principle. Haunted hero with a big heart (taking care of his poor family), instinctive hatred of authority (every confrontation with anyone of higher rank), and never-ending supply of quips and insults? Check. Gorgeous babe from the upper classes with a reformer’s zeal, high ideals, very little common sense, figure-hugging bodysuit, and instant hatred of hero (which means she falls for him by the final act)? Check. Slimy upper-level politician who sets the plot rolling by sending hero & company on a suicide mission? Check. Noble barbarian hero with big muscles and interesting tattoos who initially fights the hero but becomes his comrade in arms shortly thereafter? Check. Hot, kick-butt barbarian chick with the impractically breastbone-baring leather outfit and devastating martial-arts skills to compliment her anger issues? Check. Big, bald, jovial black guy best friend who (SPOILER ALERT!) gets killed to show the situation’s serious? Check. Physically incompetent but brilliant scientist to come up with devastating inventions? Check. Soft, fat, bald, semi-effeminate inner-worlds dweller who constantly complains about enduring all this unexpected hardship? Check. Introduced-but-ignored crewmember who turns out to be a corporation mole? Check. Evil villainous Dark Lord who turns out to be a lot prettier than you’d think, and (in a plot “twist”) has serious mama issues? Check. Priestesses who proclaim the hero The One (apologies to Keanu Reeves) on no other evidence than he’s a stranger here? Double check. Lots and lots of strange-looking but human-under-the-skin alien races who conveniently fall into place along the way? Many more checks (about a dozen, actually).
Even with checklist characters, though, a good storyteller can salvage the project with snappy dialogue or well thought-out motivations or interesting character arcs or intriguing strategies. In this case, Skip and Brian seemed more fascinated with laying out an entire timeline for their evil corporation, re-imagining semi-Buddhist barbarian philosophy, and designing the look of the characters to pay much attention to the voices (as well as the figures) on the page. They show a lot, but only when it comes to physical actions. The dialogue is perfunctory at best, mostly along the lines of: “You have a problem with authority, don’t you?” “Yeah.” They aren’t interested in showing these characters interacting (perhaps because there’s not much motivation behind them). For example, our hero has to convince different species of humanoids, who’ve been feuding with each other for decades (if not centuries) to join a grand alliance against the Dark Lord. Remember, this is the guy who’s mostly managed to irritate people with sarcastic comebacks so far. I was very curious about how he’d manage to suddenly get the insight and persuasive ability to carry off a very tricky diplomatic feat--or, failing that, how he’d come up with the necessary dueling skills to battle the chiefs into submission. Fact is, I still don’t know how he did it. He goes from seeing the new tribes of creatures for the first time, noting which sports their physical attributes would best suit them for (basketball and football, respectively), and on the next page, noting that their chiefs had agreed to join the alliance. And on we go, admiring the artwork and the battle scenes and the interesting details of the different species’ armor.
Perhaps our hero gets to show off his prophesied persuasion and military skills in the Anomaly UAR (the online component that’s supposed to be the ultimate immersive experience), but I don’t know. I wasn’t sufficiently fascinated to bother going online. I guess that pretty much says it all--I just didn’t care enough to spend anymore time in this universe or in the company of the characters in it.
But boy, did they ever spend a lot of time and effort on the art!
First off, this is a huge book--about 3 pounds worth of slick paper, heavy cover, and red-ribbon placeholder. Comes in a box that looks like a container for a deluxe board game. Definitely not the kind of thing you carry around with you, but the large format does do justice to the detail in the artwork. Every panel looks painted, not just inked & colored, with hundreds of little details to appreciate. And they’re worth appreciating--especially if you’re fascinated with the multitudinous ways it’s possible to alter a basically human skull into a mutant monster. Dozens of them appear in different scenes, and not one looked like the others. Clearly, one of the art team (either Brian Haberlin or Gierrod Van Dyke) has loads of semi-warped creativity and a real talent for creating nasty-looking orc beasties. (I would not want to land in one of his nightmares.) Unfortunately, that creativity didn’t extend to the plot, characters, or dialogue.
Now, I don’t mind a recycled plot--there are lots of great stories out there that are worth telling over & over again. However, it’s nice when the retelling puts a new spin on it, offers an interesting perspective, or even just does the same old thing up with inventive action sequences. This one doesn’t go much beyond marrying two standard setups: 1) Evil corporation takes over everything, reduces everyone to bigger or smaller cogs in the machine, and drains the life & joy out of everything before small band of plucky underdogs discover the conspiracy and fight back against the corporation’s queens and drones. 2) Evil dark lord assembles an army of monsters to destroy all his neighboring primitive societies, before band of plucky underdogs discover his evil plot, gather diverse allies, and fight back against the dark lord’s ugly hordes. See? Nothing whatsoever wrong with either of those--or even with putting them together. Plucky good guys vs. evil bad guys? Bring it on!
But could you make the plucky good guys a bit more interesting? This group feels like it was assembled using the question “What kinds of characters does everybody like, or at least expect, in this genre?” as its guiding principle. Haunted hero with a big heart (taking care of his poor family), instinctive hatred of authority (every confrontation with anyone of higher rank), and never-ending supply of quips and insults? Check. Gorgeous babe from the upper classes with a reformer’s zeal, high ideals, very little common sense, figure-hugging bodysuit, and instant hatred of hero (which means she falls for him by the final act)? Check. Slimy upper-level politician who sets the plot rolling by sending hero & company on a suicide mission? Check. Noble barbarian hero with big muscles and interesting tattoos who initially fights the hero but becomes his comrade in arms shortly thereafter? Check. Hot, kick-butt barbarian chick with the impractically breastbone-baring leather outfit and devastating martial-arts skills to compliment her anger issues? Check. Big, bald, jovial black guy best friend who (SPOILER ALERT!) gets killed to show the situation’s serious? Check. Physically incompetent but brilliant scientist to come up with devastating inventions? Check. Soft, fat, bald, semi-effeminate inner-worlds dweller who constantly complains about enduring all this unexpected hardship? Check. Introduced-but-ignored crewmember who turns out to be a corporation mole? Check. Evil villainous Dark Lord who turns out to be a lot prettier than you’d think, and (in a plot “twist”) has serious mama issues? Check. Priestesses who proclaim the hero The One (apologies to Keanu Reeves) on no other evidence than he’s a stranger here? Double check. Lots and lots of strange-looking but human-under-the-skin alien races who conveniently fall into place along the way? Many more checks (about a dozen, actually).
Even with checklist characters, though, a good storyteller can salvage the project with snappy dialogue or well thought-out motivations or interesting character arcs or intriguing strategies. In this case, Skip and Brian seemed more fascinated with laying out an entire timeline for their evil corporation, re-imagining semi-Buddhist barbarian philosophy, and designing the look of the characters to pay much attention to the voices (as well as the figures) on the page. They show a lot, but only when it comes to physical actions. The dialogue is perfunctory at best, mostly along the lines of: “You have a problem with authority, don’t you?” “Yeah.” They aren’t interested in showing these characters interacting (perhaps because there’s not much motivation behind them). For example, our hero has to convince different species of humanoids, who’ve been feuding with each other for decades (if not centuries) to join a grand alliance against the Dark Lord. Remember, this is the guy who’s mostly managed to irritate people with sarcastic comebacks so far. I was very curious about how he’d manage to suddenly get the insight and persuasive ability to carry off a very tricky diplomatic feat--or, failing that, how he’d come up with the necessary dueling skills to battle the chiefs into submission. Fact is, I still don’t know how he did it. He goes from seeing the new tribes of creatures for the first time, noting which sports their physical attributes would best suit them for (basketball and football, respectively), and on the next page, noting that their chiefs had agreed to join the alliance. And on we go, admiring the artwork and the battle scenes and the interesting details of the different species’ armor.
Perhaps our hero gets to show off his prophesied persuasion and military skills in the Anomaly UAR (the online component that’s supposed to be the ultimate immersive experience), but I don’t know. I wasn’t sufficiently fascinated to bother going online. I guess that pretty much says it all--I just didn’t care enough to spend anymore time in this universe or in the company of the characters in it.
But boy, did they ever spend a lot of time and effort on the art!
January 17, 2019
I'm between a 3 and 4 star rating on this. Compared to other favorite books of mine (Watchmen, Robota, Blankets, etc.), yeah there's no way it's higher than 3.
But then just on its own, the artwork is really fantastic. The pacing isn't bad and the action & warfare choreography is pretty good. And then the depth and size: this is several hundred pages in length, the backstory is enormous. At times, it reminds you of Lord of the Rings for the sheer number of characters and races and politics. I'm impressed that all this came basically from one relative outsider artist.
And then to top it all off, you have an app on all platforms for interactive augmented reality with the book... I definitely plan to pick up Volume 2.
But then just on its own, the artwork is really fantastic. The pacing isn't bad and the action & warfare choreography is pretty good. And then the depth and size: this is several hundred pages in length, the backstory is enormous. At times, it reminds you of Lord of the Rings for the sheer number of characters and races and politics. I'm impressed that all this came basically from one relative outsider artist.
And then to top it all off, you have an app on all platforms for interactive augmented reality with the book... I definitely plan to pick up Volume 2.
January 22, 2013
it's....
impressive?
it's big, and pretty.
i get what they're trying to do.
but especially with the itunes version of the book, voice acted and sound produced, this thing lives deep DEEP in the uncanny valley.
i realize it's a product of the way the art was produced, being painted from 3d modeled scenes--but i've always been really really uncomfortable with most 3d puppeteering (if that's not the right word for it, it's the one i'm gonna use)
i skimmed the second half. i just couldn't really get all that invested in the characters. not least of which because it seems like they had a road-map of epic fantasy tropes and were trying really hard to hit every major stop and as many roadside attractions as possible on the way.
but i'ts pretty, and i'ts more than i'd be able to do, so i can't be too harsh.
and i paid $5 instead of the $90 print version. so....
yeah. 3 stars. call it 65%
impressive?
it's big, and pretty.
i get what they're trying to do.
but especially with the itunes version of the book, voice acted and sound produced, this thing lives deep DEEP in the uncanny valley.
i realize it's a product of the way the art was produced, being painted from 3d modeled scenes--but i've always been really really uncomfortable with most 3d puppeteering (if that's not the right word for it, it's the one i'm gonna use)
i skimmed the second half. i just couldn't really get all that invested in the characters. not least of which because it seems like they had a road-map of epic fantasy tropes and were trying really hard to hit every major stop and as many roadside attractions as possible on the way.
but i'ts pretty, and i'ts more than i'd be able to do, so i can't be too harsh.
and i paid $5 instead of the $90 print version. so....
yeah. 3 stars. call it 65%
March 20, 2018
Anomaly is a large scale graphic novel that comes with an app of fully voiced interactive graphic novel, a background to the universe app, and apparently has been options for a film by Relativity Media- who must have been looking for derivative properties.
The book is massive, some might think it unwieldy, 16.5 x 1.5 x 11.5 inches, stretched out into a rectangle to give it a widescreen cinematic feel. And while I may complain it is not a cheap product. Time and care was put into it, and the publisher made sure that enough space was given to make sure that a story of such scope was done right. That’s the real tragedy of this book, it could have been amazing.
The art is the best thing about the book, but even that feels a little lacking in originality. You can tell that a lot of care was taken here. It is painted with computer graphic enhancements. The best scenes being panoramic shots of alien worlds and vistas depicting a massive battle. They are beautifully rendered and detailed, giving a massive scope to the stage. While the illustrators do make errors here and there in terms of pacing and action.
The alien races, animals, and landscapes are good, but the humans are weak. Painted in an uninteresting style and without much distinction. Several of them look so much alike, that I confused a minor character with the hero. And, as often as not, a character will disappear for fifty pages then return, and they were so bland it took me awhile to remember which character they were again.
Anomaly, art aside, doesn’t have a very compelling story. It mashes up old sci-fi and fantasy tropes to attempt a catch-all experience, but ultimately feels like a lackluster hodgepodge of the two genres. The author forgot the basic rules of writing, if you’re offering nothing new in the setting then you’ve got to have engrossing characters, which they author also failed to do.
We have our intrepid protagonists abandoned on a primitive planet, where a fungus eats polymers use in technology, by an evil all-controlling conglomerate corporation. Earth has been evacuated due to environmental poisoning and only the very poor are left to wallow in its filth. The conglomerate expands onto other planets by suppressing the native species, either through relocation or extermination. Anomaly is the planet the protagonists are stranded on, dubbed so because it hosts numerous sentient races co-existing in it. Odd as usually one species usually rises up to club the others out of existence.
Once they reach the planet the story delves then into fantasy, and we are given the standard cast of characters. The chosen-one hero who destined to destroy the evil-one and unite the races of the planet. The privileged woman, who dislikes the hero at first but eventually comes around to admire him. The bald, fat, and cowardly Dr. Smith type. The betrayer character who regrets his decisions in the end. The magic using evil Sauron character who commands armies of hideous monstrous creatures (ugly = evil). The scientist who is considered puny by the locals, but wins them over with technological skill and invention. The warrior woman who becomes attracted to the scientist despite her thinking him “weak” at first. The important alien that the hero meets and frees (like the mouse taking the thorn from the lion’s paw fable) only to have his input be very very important in getting his race to decide to join the hero’s cause.
And so on. None of the character’s personalities go beyond this. I’ve read it all before and so have you.
There are extensive notes after the story, taking up 30 of the 370 pages on the human race and the development of the future society of Earth, much having little to do with the main story on Anomaly. There are several graphs and charters about the races which may be of some interest and character biographies that add detail, but don’t have any impact on what’s happening. And often enough you just don’t give a damn. It’s quite clear that a lot of time was spent developing this background, when they should have directed their efforts to character development.
The book is massive, some might think it unwieldy, 16.5 x 1.5 x 11.5 inches, stretched out into a rectangle to give it a widescreen cinematic feel. And while I may complain it is not a cheap product. Time and care was put into it, and the publisher made sure that enough space was given to make sure that a story of such scope was done right. That’s the real tragedy of this book, it could have been amazing.
The art is the best thing about the book, but even that feels a little lacking in originality. You can tell that a lot of care was taken here. It is painted with computer graphic enhancements. The best scenes being panoramic shots of alien worlds and vistas depicting a massive battle. They are beautifully rendered and detailed, giving a massive scope to the stage. While the illustrators do make errors here and there in terms of pacing and action.
The alien races, animals, and landscapes are good, but the humans are weak. Painted in an uninteresting style and without much distinction. Several of them look so much alike, that I confused a minor character with the hero. And, as often as not, a character will disappear for fifty pages then return, and they were so bland it took me awhile to remember which character they were again.
Anomaly, art aside, doesn’t have a very compelling story. It mashes up old sci-fi and fantasy tropes to attempt a catch-all experience, but ultimately feels like a lackluster hodgepodge of the two genres. The author forgot the basic rules of writing, if you’re offering nothing new in the setting then you’ve got to have engrossing characters, which they author also failed to do.
We have our intrepid protagonists abandoned on a primitive planet, where a fungus eats polymers use in technology, by an evil all-controlling conglomerate corporation. Earth has been evacuated due to environmental poisoning and only the very poor are left to wallow in its filth. The conglomerate expands onto other planets by suppressing the native species, either through relocation or extermination. Anomaly is the planet the protagonists are stranded on, dubbed so because it hosts numerous sentient races co-existing in it. Odd as usually one species usually rises up to club the others out of existence.
Once they reach the planet the story delves then into fantasy, and we are given the standard cast of characters. The chosen-one hero who destined to destroy the evil-one and unite the races of the planet. The privileged woman, who dislikes the hero at first but eventually comes around to admire him. The bald, fat, and cowardly Dr. Smith type. The betrayer character who regrets his decisions in the end. The magic using evil Sauron character who commands armies of hideous monstrous creatures (ugly = evil). The scientist who is considered puny by the locals, but wins them over with technological skill and invention. The warrior woman who becomes attracted to the scientist despite her thinking him “weak” at first. The important alien that the hero meets and frees (like the mouse taking the thorn from the lion’s paw fable) only to have his input be very very important in getting his race to decide to join the hero’s cause.
And so on. None of the character’s personalities go beyond this. I’ve read it all before and so have you.
There are extensive notes after the story, taking up 30 of the 370 pages on the human race and the development of the future society of Earth, much having little to do with the main story on Anomaly. There are several graphs and charters about the races which may be of some interest and character biographies that add detail, but don’t have any impact on what’s happening. And often enough you just don’t give a damn. It’s quite clear that a lot of time was spent developing this background, when they should have directed their efforts to character development.
July 20, 2018
I once took a fiction class where the instructor said, "Don't worry about writing something original. Homer wrote it all; it's already been done. Write something that matters to you. We've never seen it through your eyes before."
If you enjoy science fiction, Anomaly is a story that you've seen before: the high-techies go to a planet of low-techies, then lose their toys but can still use their knowledge to help the low-techies beat their enemy. That said, Anomaly has the added spin of magic and some fantastical creatures, plus the extra added bonus of an app with 3D models, mini-games, and a codex of background information to warm any nerd's heart.
The book gets extra points for the app, plus the quality of the artwork and the book itself is very high. The book feels more like a weighty tome. A lot of people worked very hard to try to make something good. So for that, it gets a solid four stars.
If you enjoy science fiction, Anomaly is a story that you've seen before: the high-techies go to a planet of low-techies, then lose their toys but can still use their knowledge to help the low-techies beat their enemy. That said, Anomaly has the added spin of magic and some fantastical creatures, plus the extra added bonus of an app with 3D models, mini-games, and a codex of background information to warm any nerd's heart.
The book gets extra points for the app, plus the quality of the artwork and the book itself is very high. The book feels more like a weighty tome. A lot of people worked very hard to try to make something good. So for that, it gets a solid four stars.
December 5, 2017
I didn't think there was anything to original or interesting going on with the story. I also found the art pretty boring.
May 3, 2018
The story seemed a little loose in terms of dialog and overall narrative, however the AR experience makes up for it.
October 13, 2020
Interesting idea, but not sure this quite worked for me. The extra content took me out of the story too much and the extra backgound info was just an infodump under another name.
May 3, 2021
Art is pretty good, but the story and characters are pretty damn cringey imo
March 23, 2013
The presentation of this book is impressive- just figuring out how to position yourself to read it is a puzzle. However, the content inside doesn't quite match ambitious nature of its content. The story is epic in scope, sure, but it treads the path many an epic space opera has traveled before- worn-out protagonist is sent on a suicide mission, but ends up being the last hope for a dying race of aliens, teaching them how to rise up even as he himself learns his own worth. It's 'Avatar', or 'Dances with Wolves', or 'Glory' and so on back into the mists of time where the first Hero began his first Journey.
And along with it's well-worn themes comes a somewhat bothersome racial undertone- which is present in pretty much all of the above films I mentioned as well, so I'm fairly sure that this wasn't even the intentions of the creators, but nevertheless, it's still worrisome to find that the one (human) outsider has to be the one to show every race of aliens on this planet that they've been doing it wrong all along, and if they just do it his way, everyone (or everyone except the cartoonishly villainous villains) can get along.
Even these themes didn't bother me too much, because they kind of come with the pulp territory here. The good guys are good, the bad guys are bad, and there's not a whole lot of room for anything in between all the epic battles and hair's-breadth escapes. There's a good variety of character types here, but unfortunately, that's all they remain- types, not people.
The art, too, could have used some fleshing out. Some of the panel layouts are confusing, and the overall style looks a bit too much like still photos of a video game cut scene. The scope of the page is taken advantage of during the battles, but in the more character-driven scenes, the size of the page serves to bring the focus on the flaws in the artwork.
I'm all for a good old rock-'em, sock-'em space adventure, but it's clear a lot of time and energy went into this book, and I wish the contents had lived up a bit more to what the mammoth covers promise.
And along with it's well-worn themes comes a somewhat bothersome racial undertone- which is present in pretty much all of the above films I mentioned as well, so I'm fairly sure that this wasn't even the intentions of the creators, but nevertheless, it's still worrisome to find that the one (human) outsider has to be the one to show every race of aliens on this planet that they've been doing it wrong all along, and if they just do it his way, everyone (or everyone except the cartoonishly villainous villains) can get along.
Even these themes didn't bother me too much, because they kind of come with the pulp territory here. The good guys are good, the bad guys are bad, and there's not a whole lot of room for anything in between all the epic battles and hair's-breadth escapes. There's a good variety of character types here, but unfortunately, that's all they remain- types, not people.
The art, too, could have used some fleshing out. Some of the panel layouts are confusing, and the overall style looks a bit too much like still photos of a video game cut scene. The scope of the page is taken advantage of during the battles, but in the more character-driven scenes, the size of the page serves to bring the focus on the flaws in the artwork.
I'm all for a good old rock-'em, sock-'em space adventure, but it's clear a lot of time and energy went into this book, and I wish the contents had lived up a bit more to what the mammoth covers promise.
June 18, 2013
Years spent in the making, Anomaly is a marvel of the graphic novel genre from Skip Brittenham and Brian Haberlin, using a combination of giant, vibrant pages bursting with detail and color, a riveting storyline, multiple fold out sections showing actions scenes and magnificent tableaux. And there’s even a smartphone or tablet app to heighten the experience.
The year is the distant future, 3717. Our world has taken to the stars and conquered them. All nations, corporations and technologies have coalescent into an entity known as the CONGLOMERATE, which uses Enforcer Battalions to conquer alien races and planets to reap their wealth. Jon has been discharged from the elite Enforcer Corps and jumps at the chance to be part of a first contact mission, along with Samantha, Jasson and others. But on the planet of Anomaly everything can and does go wrong, stranding the group there. They find themselves in the midst of a great war between good and evil.
The artwork is breathtaking, the color and detail engrossing, the design and actions scenes pull you in and never let you go. The slightly weak point is the storyline, which becomes somewhat predictable. But there is still a great big cast of interesting characters, albeit with stereotypical diversity.
Readers also get the opportunity to use the app on their smartphone or tablet that is used to scan certain pages during the reading of Anomaly and pops up a 3D image of the scene of a creature or character, showing them acting and reacting. They can be poked and prodded like the seemingly holo-specimens they are, as well as opening up info files on them. It’s a fun experience that really feels like something out of science fiction. Overall, Anomaly is well worth the read; a most enjoyable experience, and one not soon to be forgotten.
Originally written on February 11, 2013 ©Alex C. Telander.
For more reviews, check out the BookBanter site.
The year is the distant future, 3717. Our world has taken to the stars and conquered them. All nations, corporations and technologies have coalescent into an entity known as the CONGLOMERATE, which uses Enforcer Battalions to conquer alien races and planets to reap their wealth. Jon has been discharged from the elite Enforcer Corps and jumps at the chance to be part of a first contact mission, along with Samantha, Jasson and others. But on the planet of Anomaly everything can and does go wrong, stranding the group there. They find themselves in the midst of a great war between good and evil.
The artwork is breathtaking, the color and detail engrossing, the design and actions scenes pull you in and never let you go. The slightly weak point is the storyline, which becomes somewhat predictable. But there is still a great big cast of interesting characters, albeit with stereotypical diversity.
Readers also get the opportunity to use the app on their smartphone or tablet that is used to scan certain pages during the reading of Anomaly and pops up a 3D image of the scene of a creature or character, showing them acting and reacting. They can be poked and prodded like the seemingly holo-specimens they are, as well as opening up info files on them. It’s a fun experience that really feels like something out of science fiction. Overall, Anomaly is well worth the read; a most enjoyable experience, and one not soon to be forgotten.
Originally written on February 11, 2013 ©Alex C. Telander.
For more reviews, check out the BookBanter site.
November 24, 2012
Wow. That's the only way I can start a review of this incredible graphic novel. It's the longest graphic novel ever published and surely one of the largest too. The book is enormous and weighs 4kg!
When I opened the book I was whisked away into 2717 where the world has been taken over by the Conglomerate, an organisation made up of all corporations and nations. It has now become a ruthless profit machine and a group of people start to try and stand up to it. Jon meanwhile is living a low life after a mission gone terribly wrong many years ago. The Congolmerate decide to get rid of the protesters and Jon by sending them to the planet Anomaly from where no-one has ever returned.
It's at this point things get interesting. Anomaly is full of intelligent races and one terrorises the others. It's up to Jon and his companions to survive what the new planet throws at them and then to unite the species to fight against the evil of the planet.
Jon is a fantastic lead character. His heart is in the right place but he's a bit of a douche who is full of witty comments. He's likeable from the moment he appears. A lot of the other humans don't feel quite as fleshed out but Tonni the scientist is brilliant as are many members of the alien races.
The artwork is as fantastic as the story, really bringing the alien planet to life with very realistic looking artwork. The enormous size of the book allows for some breath-taking whole page scenes which are truly incredible. The speech is also layered over the image rather than put into speech bubbles which means they don't cover the background as much as they do in other graphic novels.
As you've probably gathered by this point, I loved it. It's the best graphic novel I've ever read and every moment was joyous. I cannot put into words how fantastic this book is. If you can afford it, you have to buy it!
When I opened the book I was whisked away into 2717 where the world has been taken over by the Conglomerate, an organisation made up of all corporations and nations. It has now become a ruthless profit machine and a group of people start to try and stand up to it. Jon meanwhile is living a low life after a mission gone terribly wrong many years ago. The Congolmerate decide to get rid of the protesters and Jon by sending them to the planet Anomaly from where no-one has ever returned.
It's at this point things get interesting. Anomaly is full of intelligent races and one terrorises the others. It's up to Jon and his companions to survive what the new planet throws at them and then to unite the species to fight against the evil of the planet.
Jon is a fantastic lead character. His heart is in the right place but he's a bit of a douche who is full of witty comments. He's likeable from the moment he appears. A lot of the other humans don't feel quite as fleshed out but Tonni the scientist is brilliant as are many members of the alien races.
The artwork is as fantastic as the story, really bringing the alien planet to life with very realistic looking artwork. The enormous size of the book allows for some breath-taking whole page scenes which are truly incredible. The speech is also layered over the image rather than put into speech bubbles which means they don't cover the background as much as they do in other graphic novels.
As you've probably gathered by this point, I loved it. It's the best graphic novel I've ever read and every moment was joyous. I cannot put into words how fantastic this book is. If you can afford it, you have to buy it!
June 1, 2016
I've generally had a struggle, for whatever reason, with science fiction graphic novels. Something about the format mixed with the topic rarely seems to click, but I read something from Skip Brittenham not too long ago and saw this graphic novel available, and I had to check it out.
The story is basically about an interplanetary expedition to bring a planet into a confederation, but the system malfunctions and space flight issues keep the team stranded on this planet. The team is quickly attacked and enslaved, and the story is about them dealing with this new situation and how they get out.
There isn't a ton of new ground from a story perspective here. However it is a well-executed attempt with engaging characters and a few cool surprises along the way. The artwork is essentially 3-D renders that are painted, so some might find the visuals a little off-putting, but I thought it worked great for what was being presented. Also, there are apparently some augmented reality options that I didn't explore, but if you read this and are into that sort of thing, it's an added bonus.
Overall, though, on the basic level of a cool science fiction graphic novel (in an impossibly large format, I should add), I certainly enjoyed this. Worth a look if you can get your hands on a copy.
The story is basically about an interplanetary expedition to bring a planet into a confederation, but the system malfunctions and space flight issues keep the team stranded on this planet. The team is quickly attacked and enslaved, and the story is about them dealing with this new situation and how they get out.
There isn't a ton of new ground from a story perspective here. However it is a well-executed attempt with engaging characters and a few cool surprises along the way. The artwork is essentially 3-D renders that are painted, so some might find the visuals a little off-putting, but I thought it worked great for what was being presented. Also, there are apparently some augmented reality options that I didn't explore, but if you read this and are into that sort of thing, it's an added bonus.
Overall, though, on the basic level of a cool science fiction graphic novel (in an impossibly large format, I should add), I certainly enjoyed this. Worth a look if you can get your hands on a copy.
January 17, 2016
Enjoyable, overpriced, overhyped, and oversized.
Sitting on my shelf for ages, I finally dove into the gimmicky graphic novel Anomaly. Gimmicky because it allows you to download an "augmented reality" map that when you point your phone/tablet at certain pages, 3D models of some characters pop up with some additional text.
It's a cute little gimmick, but ultimately the story/world isn't engaging enough to justify the hype. The book is coffee-table book sized so there's a LOT of artwork. Most of it is good. The aliens and some environments are interesting but the lead character (named Jon, but he's definitely NOT Jon Carter from Mars) looks jarringly different in multiple panels (in one he looks like Matt Damon).
Basic plot is evil intergalactic corporationey Conglomerate sends a small diplomatic mission to a previously unexplored planet that ends up having dozens of sentient (but low-tech) species on it. Friendship, battles, and wars ensue.
There are a lot of "jump-cut" type transitions that gloss over seemingly important plot points which seems unnecessary given then size of the book. All in all, enjoyable, but not that memorable (the fact it teases a sequel seems silly given that it could have told its entire story in the 370 pages it currently uses).
Sitting on my shelf for ages, I finally dove into the gimmicky graphic novel Anomaly. Gimmicky because it allows you to download an "augmented reality" map that when you point your phone/tablet at certain pages, 3D models of some characters pop up with some additional text.
It's a cute little gimmick, but ultimately the story/world isn't engaging enough to justify the hype. The book is coffee-table book sized so there's a LOT of artwork. Most of it is good. The aliens and some environments are interesting but the lead character (named Jon, but he's definitely NOT Jon Carter from Mars) looks jarringly different in multiple panels (in one he looks like Matt Damon).
Basic plot is evil intergalactic corporationey Conglomerate sends a small diplomatic mission to a previously unexplored planet that ends up having dozens of sentient (but low-tech) species on it. Friendship, battles, and wars ensue.
There are a lot of "jump-cut" type transitions that gloss over seemingly important plot points which seems unnecessary given then size of the book. All in all, enjoyable, but not that memorable (the fact it teases a sequel seems silly given that it could have told its entire story in the 370 pages it currently uses).
July 2, 2014
Anomaly is a rather large format book, spanning the width of at least 2 1/2 to 3 hardcover books, which makes it a bit unwieldy while reading it. I couldn't exactly carry it on the bus with me. But, what's inside seems to justify the rather oversize nature of this graphic novel.
The story itself is rather straight forward good vs. evil type of thing, and it certainly didn't do anything ground breaking in the way of science fiction. The only thing that truly makes the book worth taking a look at is the incredible art work. I can't say enough just how beautiful it really is. But in the end when you're done drooling over the pictures, the dialog leaves much to be desired and the story doesn't really inspire.
The end of the book has a big index with history and character biographies, which helps build out the world better and furthers the characters, and just might be more interesting than the story itself. I suspect someone's fan fiction could build a better story line with this info than the author did. In addition to the art there is a digital aspect to it in the form of augmented reality, but it didn't really do enough to add to things that the $75 price tag is justified.
For all the years it took to make this I expected more.
March 31, 2013
I enjoyed Anomaly. The premise is not entirely unique but characters are familiar and fun. I don't want to delve too much into the premise because I don't want to give too much away. But the story surrounds a mysterious planet and the small team sent to discover its secrets. There are conspiracies abound in this sci-fi adventure but most of them you'll see coming long before the reveal.
I purchased the Kindle version which included footnotes on various characters, species and tech that inhabit the universe. It's a pretty cool feature though, it ended up being sort of a pain after awhile because some of the side notes are lengthy. I mean REALLY lenghthy. I ended up turning it off because it slowed things down too much. In some cases, the notes revealed things the narrative hadn't got to yet. Sounds nitpicky, but that was one of the biggest drawbacks for me. The story is pretty by-the-numbers but it's fun. I would pick up the next installment if they decided to do another one.
I purchased the Kindle version which included footnotes on various characters, species and tech that inhabit the universe. It's a pretty cool feature though, it ended up being sort of a pain after awhile because some of the side notes are lengthy. I mean REALLY lenghthy. I ended up turning it off because it slowed things down too much. In some cases, the notes revealed things the narrative hadn't got to yet. Sounds nitpicky, but that was one of the biggest drawbacks for me. The story is pretty by-the-numbers but it's fun. I would pick up the next installment if they decided to do another one.
May 23, 2014
Of course you get interested when you see this colorful way oversized book, so huge, and you hear it is one of the longest, largest graphic novels ever… and you can get links or see it in a version that enhances your experience of with AR (Augmented Relaity). So this is a many years in the making (I am told) story that can be read in paper or digital format, I guess, and it would seem to pay homage to Dune and other epic stories like it… But I have to say, it feels like Kevin Costner was part of it, like Water World, and it is so bad your mouth just comes open. The AR aspects that I dabbled with are weak, the characters are weak, there's nothing original in the story, and the digital-to-page art is flat, stiff, boring. Many people will be inclined to read this because of the hype and because of the mixed format, and maybe at some point in the future this kind of thing might work well, but there are many better video games and moves and traditional sic fi novels that do this kind of thing better… and this isn't a good graphic novel, in my opinion. Flat.
January 2, 2016
Picked this up remaindered for £5. At that price it's a reasonable buy, but would be a shocking to pay full price. I read a lot of graphic novels of all types, but this is somewhat unique in that it has incredibly high production values but pretty much no other merits. I believe it was billed as bringing 'blockbuster' standards to graphic novels. I guess that's true if you think 'Waterworld' or 'John Carter'. The story is incredibly derivative, there's no sense of caring about the characters, and the art and layouts are confused (maybe there's a reason not many graphic novels are in landscape). Apparently there are 12 races on this planet, but I struggled to tell the difference between half a dozen of these who were all muddy brown crosses between 'The Thing' and the the Trolls in the Hobbit movies. The virtual reality app is a fun diversion for a little while, but of the ones I've activated, none seemed to add anything.
Don't normally submit Amazon reviews, but this was so unimpressive I just had to...
Don't normally submit Amazon reviews, but this was so unimpressive I just had to...
May 10, 2014
This book is worth paging through merely for the art. There is plenty of if with over 300 pages of full cover heavy gloss paper. The book itself weighs more than a small child. The augmented reality technology is incredible, but would have been better utilized if used to help with the story telling instead of merely behind the scenes and 3D bio's of the characters. I did enjoy the one I had to scream at. The more interactive the better. Although they keep adding more updates so maybe at some point it will get better.
The story isn't too bad. It drags a bit and some if the characters look quite similar to each other so it isn't always easy to define who is doing what and why. You can't think too hard about the book or you will be frustrated over all the gimmes and it leaves on a cliff hanger which is frustrating after investing all the time into reading it. You don't spend this kind of money on something for an incomplete story.
The story isn't too bad. It drags a bit and some if the characters look quite similar to each other so it isn't always easy to define who is doing what and why. You can't think too hard about the book or you will be frustrated over all the gimmes and it leaves on a cliff hanger which is frustrating after investing all the time into reading it. You don't spend this kind of money on something for an incomplete story.
August 1, 2013
It's not just a coffee table book, it's a coffee table.
At a glance, there's so much promise: Big, bold design, unique layout and presentation, but the flash fails to deliver. Everything from the story, to the world building, to even the dialogue, is wholly derived from every major sci-fi/fantasy book/TV/video game/movie franchise you can think of--from Mark Twain's Connecticut Yankee to James Cameron's Avatar. (It even has a longer glossary than Dune) I kept hoping for some originality, or even a derived element that wasn't a cliche, but was thoroughly disappointed. The story was strangely predictable and confusing at the same time, with bizarre twists and too many stock one-note characters.
I didn't bother to try out the AR features--perhaps if they'd spent more time on story and character, the bells and whistles might be worth the time.
At a glance, there's so much promise: Big, bold design, unique layout and presentation, but the flash fails to deliver. Everything from the story, to the world building, to even the dialogue, is wholly derived from every major sci-fi/fantasy book/TV/video game/movie franchise you can think of--from Mark Twain's Connecticut Yankee to James Cameron's Avatar. (It even has a longer glossary than Dune) I kept hoping for some originality, or even a derived element that wasn't a cliche, but was thoroughly disappointed. The story was strangely predictable and confusing at the same time, with bizarre twists and too many stock one-note characters.
I didn't bother to try out the AR features--perhaps if they'd spent more time on story and character, the bells and whistles might be worth the time.
February 4, 2016
I got a promo in the mail about this book and out of idle curiosity, got it at the library. I'm no true aficionado of graphic novels or science fiction but I could appreciate this hefty tome for the tour de force it is. Fans of Star Wars and similar space odysseys will likely jump whole-heartedly into this saga about Samantha, daughter of a Conglomerate leader, who leads an idealistic first-contact mission meant to win hearts and minds on an unconquered planet. Jon is a former disgraced Enforcer recruited to provide security on the mission and who ends up in a key leadership role he never imagined for himself. Races and species, bloody battles and otherworlds are arrayed in detailed, eye-popping cinematic spreads. Downloading software to your tablet enables extra features tucked among the pages. I don't have a tablet so don't know how this works. Experience this book at a large table.
February 24, 2016
I liked this book and LOVED the art, but I feel like they made it too difficult by adding the fancy 3D pages you can only see if you hold up your iPad or other device to each page. They should have put some sort of marking on the pages it worked with, since it didn't happen with all pages, because the way it's done now, you have no idea which page will have a bonus 3D image so you're stopping after each page or two to hold up your iPad for something that may or may not work. All in all, it wasn't worth it to me, and I ended up just reading it straight through. If they do a revision of this, they should 1. make the damn book smaller! and 2. put a simple mark on the pages you can interact with.
January 8, 2013
This was one of those reads where I lost three hours, because I absolutely had to know what was going to happen next. The story is not new by any stretch, in fact, we've read and seen this many times before already. But its presentation and art style are so captivating that you are pulled in, gasping and cheering along with these characters before you even know what's happening. From its harrowing beginning, tension-building middle and epic ending, this is a fun read. The augmented reality aspect is a fun, but unnecessary bonus. This was given to me as a gift, so while I greatly enjoyed the adventure, I can't say I'd pay the seventy five dollars asking price for it.
April 11, 2013
First I want to say I read this on a 9" tablet not the hard cover book. I really liked the idea of voice acting a graphic novel. I also really liked the reference pop ups with small animations. They added extra information about items and places and history about the characters.
On the other hand, the story was weak and the voice acting was terrible. The music in the background at times was not in sync with the mood of the story and was distracting.
Overall great concept, weak execution.
On the other hand, the story was weak and the voice acting was terrible. The music in the background at times was not in sync with the mood of the story and was distracting.
Overall great concept, weak execution.
August 15, 2014
Beautiful artwork, but the plot feels somewhat like a hybridized Firefly/John Carter story with some Avatar embellishments. As a video game, this would be a great success. As a graphic novel series, I'll have to keep expectations reasonable and hope that what comes next expands the story meaningfully.
The biggest drawback was the choppy cut-scenes and poorly defined time scale. For example, when the crew goes "native", it feels like they should have been there weeks, not just days.
People who love epic fantasy art will appreciate this book the most, I think.
The biggest drawback was the choppy cut-scenes and poorly defined time scale. For example, when the crew goes "native", it feels like they should have been there weeks, not just days.
People who love epic fantasy art will appreciate this book the most, I think.
June 2, 2016
The story itself isn't hugely original the art is certainly fun. The characters are sent to try to bring a world into the interplanetary alliance. The team sent in is trying something new, something along Star Trek's Prime Directive about not interfering with the natural culture of the planet. But, more is going on than they realize....
The art was fun on huge pages featuring a variety of aliens, cultures, and climates. The whole book is massive. You can find copies pretty cheaply and it's worth checking out if you spot a copy in a book store.
The art was fun on huge pages featuring a variety of aliens, cultures, and climates. The whole book is massive. You can find copies pretty cheaply and it's worth checking out if you spot a copy in a book store.
January 6, 2013
Overall I enjoyed this comic (doesn't really do it justice), but at times the art was confusing - the action was muddled or not as called out as it could have been. The story is familiar - sort of an Aliens corporation vibe meets a Lord of the Rings fight for middle earth thing. Enjoyable, but not totally original.
All that being said, it was a good read and I look forward to the next installment of it, should something like that exist.
All that being said, it was a good read and I look forward to the next installment of it, should something like that exist.
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