Rain

Joe Hill's Rain #1-5

by Joe Hill, Zoe Thorogood, David M. Booher

À Boulder dans le Colorado, le ciel est dégagé et Honeysuckle Speck ne pourrait pas être plus heureuse. En cette journée d'aout ensoleillée, elle emménage enfin avec sa petite amie Yolanda. Mais quand le rêve tourne au cauchemar et que des nuages sombres s'accumulent libérant une pluie de clous qui déchiquettent la peau de ceux qui ne sont pas protégés, leur monde vole littéralement en éclat. RAIN donne de la vie à la progression de cet événement apocalyptique, alors que le déluge de clous se répand à travers le pays et le monde, menaçant tout ce que les jeunes amoureuses Honeysuckle et Yolanda chérissent. L'adaptation captivante de la novella de Joe Hill , acclamée par la critique et best-seller du New York Times , par le scénariste David M. Booher ( Canto ), la dessinatrice Zoe Thorogood ( The Impending Blindness of Billie Scott ), et le coloriste Chris O'Halloran ( Ha-Ha ).

Genres: Graphic Novels, Comics, Horror, Queer, LGBT, Graphic Novels Comics, Fiction

152 pages, Hardcover

First published October 5, 2022

About the author

Joe Hill's debut, Heart-Shaped Box, won the Bram Stoker Award for Best First Novel. His second, Horns, was made into a film freakfest starring Daniel Radcliffe. His other novels include NOS4A2, and his #1 New York Times Best-Seller, The Fireman... which was also the winner of a 2016 Goodreads Choice Award for Best Horror Novel.

He writes short stories too. Some of them were gathered together in his prize-winning collection, 20th Century Ghosts.

He won the Eisner Award for Best Writer for his long running comic book series, Locke & Key, co-created with illustrator and art wizard Gabriel Rodriguez.

He lives in New Hampshire with a corgi named McMurtry after a certain beloved writer of cowboy tales. His next book, Strange Weather, a collection of novellas, storms into bookstores in October of 2017.

Reviews

[Eloy Cryptkeeper · Rating 3 out of 5]

"La tristeza es dura. Te agota como si te hubieras pasado el día cavando zanjas. O tumbas, supongo".

"Da igual quién seas: buscar a tu madre cuando te has desollado las rodillas,cuando a tu perro lo ha atropellado un coche o cuando llueven clavos del cielo es un instinto humano básico".


En esta novela corta​ plantea una historia apocalíptica muy peculiar, intrigante, con chispas de humor e ironía principalmente abocada a la critica social/gubernamental.
Como siempre Joe Hill es sinónimo de originalidad, pero Quizá le falte algún componente con el que conectar, y no quedarse en el mero surrealismo. Puede ser que varios aspectos de la historia estén justificados por la cuota de parodia y sátira que tiene (dicho por el propio autor)

Curiosidad: La historia transcurre en Boulder, Colorado. Ciudad donde también se desarrollan eventos de otra novela apocalíptica" The Stand/Apocalipsis" de King, Padre

[Rod Brown · Rating 2 out of 5]

An extended study in bury your gays/dead lesbian syndrome. Better we sup on their grief than revel in their happiness, says Joe.

The dreary woe-is-me narration drags down a fairly generic horror road trip, and I could not care less about the twist ending.

Such a shame to waste Zoe Thorogood's art on such a wholly unnecessary story.

[Jenny Lawson · Rating 3 out of 5]

A graphic novel of the first five issues of Rain. I love Joe Hill but this one was just okay for me. Great start but a bit depressing for me. Less horror and more an examination of grief.

[Louel · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book came recommended in my local library's newsletter last month and I was very interested by the premise of it. The back of the book and the library's blurb for it seemed to promise a story about a couple dealing and struggling with an apocalyptic event. It quickly becomes evident this is not the case and the rest of my review will be spoilers about this whole infuriating mess.

I cannot believe how this book starts out. The back of this book made it seem like the story would mostly be about the couple surviving and dealing with this event. I know how books like this go and I was fully expecting the (what I thought was the main) black character to die at some point. Turns out she dies immediately, graphically, within the first chapter during said apocalyptic event. As does this character's mother. The next black character that comes to our attention is the neighbor's dead father, who was apparently a drunk who killed himself.

The story then follows the surviving partner trekking to another city to see if her dead partner's father is still alive. The main tension and antagonists come from conservative and religious bigots along the way. When she does find him? You can guarantee its another graphic depiction of a dead black person!

The story on this is weak at best and a lot of references to modern politics dates this and makes this feel lazy at best. The art style is fine for what it is, its the standard stuff you usually see churned out by DC's Vertigo label. If I wanted to experience the slog of a navel gazing apocalypse story about grief told through the death of PoC and queer folks, I would just resubscribe to Netflix.

[Thea Jacobsen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would have given it a 3.5 if that was possible. The prose is very nice and the calm pacing works for me as it is more an exploration of grief rather than a dramatic apocalypse story.

However, the twist villain ending ruins the impact of the story for me. It reeks of «woman scorned» energy and feels very tacked on and in many ways counterproductive to the emotional journey of the book. You can’t sell me on a person willing to kill the entire world just because her husband didn’t get royalties for his destructive research. At least not without that being more at the core of the story.

Still, nice art and a nice read. 3.5/5 ⭐️

[allie · Rating 1 out of 5]

ah yes, a story about a lesbian relationship but somehow 90% of the characters given any time on these pages are men.
men have got to stop writing lesbian characters holy shit (not that a single character in this was well written)

[Tanya · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a 5-issue comic adaptation of Joe Hill's novella Rain, included in 2017's collection Strange Weather, set in Boulder, CO, sometime during the Trump administration. Storm clouds suddenly begin dropping nails instead of raindrops, killing anyone unfortunate enough to be caught outside, and the apocalypse starts spreading...

At the time of Strange Weather's release, this was by far my least favorite of the four stories included, so I was curious to find out if I would feel any different about it five years later. After reading Joe's new introduction, I thought that I might with some added context... but I didn't.

The ending is pretty weak, but what mostly bothers me about the story, other than the half-assed scientific explanation, is how thickly the virtue signaling is applied. I fully agree with Joe's political views, but five years ago I said that the inclusion of Trump and his swamp administration would date the story fast, which is exactly what happened, and it does not do it any favors whatsoever. This story always felt more like a mouth-piece for his views on LGBTQ rights and Trump than a speculative fiction narrative he wanted to explore, despite what he says in the introduction—the fact that this was apparently conceived and meant as a satirical wake-up call regarding climate change does not come through, there were just too many other political messages worked in, causing the supposed actual point of the story to be lost.

The art was just ok, there were no panels I found particularly memorable, and the gore could've been upped. Also, Honeysuckle is still a stupid nickname, but now that I've read the story in comics format I can't help but think that it's supposed to be a tribute to Foxglove, a lesbian character in Neil Gaiman's Sandman.

—————

Note: I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

[charlotte, · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rep: lesbian mc, Black lesbian li, Black side characters

CWs: gore, violence, homophobia, mentions of suicide

[Frédéric · Rating 3 out of 5]

A political stand on LGBTQ and the Trump era, coupled with reflections on grief. The overall tone hesitates between gloomy and depressing.

It’s actually well done with a decent twist at the end but somehow I was never really enthralled by the book.

Zoe Thorogood is on art. I personally think she’s quite good but her very indie style might not be to everyone’s taste.

[Kim Lockhart · Rating 4 out of 5]

The horrors of climate change, bigotry, and greed, all wrapped up into one story.

[Fraser Simons · Rating 1 out of 5]

Couldn’t make it through half of this. The visual craft is fantastic, but it feels very much like any other dystopia, though with a really incredulous method of people being wiped out. On top of that, stories where queer people immediately die—which is not a spoiler, it’s in the opening lines—just feel very suspect to me, in this day and age. And from that point on it was emotionally manipulative and gruesome to try to make up for really tropey narrative beats I couldn’t connect with. For the life of me I don’t know why these dystopias interest people so much. Read a few, you’ve read them all.

[Tyna the Reader · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lovable characters, gruesome (awesome) body horror, heartbreak and even a little bit of hope. This was brilliant!

[rada ☆ · Rating 3 out of 5]

I mean, yeah. I guess this is what would happen if needles started falling from the sky.

Not much going on here. Zoe Thorogood absolutely killed the art (although sometimes it felt a little stiff for the story), and the damage was sufficiently gory enough to encapsulate the horror of actual spikes raining down like Sodom and Gomorrah 2.0, but I still had my gripes. Rain played host to some of my least favorite tropes in media (dead black girlfriend who is oh-so-important but barely makes it past the 10-page mark + a rapid bury-your-gays), and the story kind of starts to meander after a while. I appreciate the approach to grief at the breakdown of society, uncertainty towards the future, and overall end of the world, but it just felt like there could have been more done with it.

The whole plot of Rain is to go from point A to point B, occasionally meeting some unsavory characters and pondering humanity before moving on to the next scene. Very classic apocalypse narrative with pretty striking undertones of grief, but not striking enough to save the story.

One of the biggest issues is that we don't get to know Yolanda, the driving force behind Honeysuckle's (and personal gripe here, but I just think the name Honeysuckle is stupid) journey, because she dies about .5 seconds into the book. It goes, "oh, she's cool - wait, nevermind, she's being impaled - yep, that's pretty gory. Fuck." She's a one-dimensional "ray of sunshine" whose only purpose is to forward Honeysuckle's plot, so we don't really feel the love that Honeysuckle had for her. I don't know, apocalypse narratives hurt best when the loss actually hits deep (think of the difference between TLOU game!Sarah vs. show!Sarah), so this book was really lacking in that regard.

So the grief narrative was a little bit weak, but the actual plot wasn't enough to save it either. As I said, it's a standard apocalypse story: we walk, we talk, we meet unsavory characters, we walk and talk again. There wasn't any real oomph.

I liked the climate change allegory, I'm not gonna lie, but that just wasn't enough to save this story.

[Bee · Rating 5 out of 5]

i don’t think i’ll ever be the same after reading this. yolanda deserved better :(

[Aubrey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another reason why I should lurk by my sister's shelf more often.
I'm not a fan of the post-apo genre per se, but as I started reading it, I had no idea it was going to be one.
A good evening read, although lesbians should stop dying in media.

[Noah_Wasa Mata · Rating 2 out of 5]

That was rather disappointing. I did like the concept of the story : rain turning into nails and killing people bc of climate change etc. I also like how this is criticizing politicians attitude towards climate change and doing nothing about it.

But I thought the story would be more about the lesbian couple surviving in this dystopian world rather than seeing the Mc deal with grief throughout the novel. It’s honestly not a spoiler, you start the novel and you already know that the girlfriend is dead.

Plus I might be reading too much into it but it’s kind of weird how 4 poc get killed on screen. Like I know this rain is affecting the whole world etc but also why is everyone of colour around the mc is getting killed? Lowkey surprised that one kid didn’t get killed as well.

Loved the art tho.

[Emre Yavuz · Rating 2 out of 5]

Platformlardan birine satabilme motivasyonuyla yazıldığı o kadar belli ki...

[Dakota Morgan · Rating 3 out of 5]

"What if it rained nails?" is a fun question if you're high, but it's definitely a hard thesis to wrap a story around, even a short, self-contained one. Rain gives it the Walking Dead treatment, with a battered young woman trekking by foot through a post-apocalyptic landscape. Day two of death and destruction and, wouldn't ya know it, murderers are everywhere. Typical!

Rain also makes the cardinal sin of a twist ending that's just a Huge Coincidence. I mean, it's fine, but you'll roll your eyes. Zoe Thorogood's artwork is unique, though not necessarily suited to action scenes. Rain is better than you'd expect it to be, but still not amazing.

[Remxo · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wrongly expected this to be a creepy Joe Hill story, but Rain falls in the post-apocalyptic survival genre. It's an adaptation of a short story by Hill. It's depressing as hell, but I guess all post-apocalyptic stories are, which is why I generally try to avoid them. This was good though. Honeysuckle, the main character, faces violence, bigotry and homophobia but she's a tough girl who can take care of herself even in hopeless times. Excellent art by Zoe Thorogood and great coloring by Chris O'Halloran.

[Ashlee Null · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 rounded up. The only word I have is, Gnarly.

[Monica · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was very entertaining and it made me laugh. The story was original and moved along at a nice pace. There were so many colorful characters, everyone needs a friend like honeysuckle.

[Ben A · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I'm naming off some of my favorite modern comic books scripters, Joe Hill would certainly make my list based solely on his amazing Locke & Key series. I will admit that I haven't read nearly as much of his prose as I would have liked to. That's why I was a little surprised to see that this was an adaptation by another writer David M. Booher. I shouldn't have worried as Booher did an excellent job and the story gripped me from start to finish. I usually reserve the full devouring of a complete graphic novel in one sitting to a select few, but this one had me. And based on her amazing art in this series, Zoe Thorogood is a creator I will have to keep an eye on. Also, I think I'll have to take the plunge and dip into the prose version of Rain too.

Special thanks to Image Comics, Diamond Books and Edelweiss Plus for the Digital ARC.

[Bill · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an okay read but on the bleak and depressing side. Talking about grief and judgement and hope lent it some weight but it was more a horror story (with some gruesome scenes) set in an apocalypse. The first person narrator (Honeysuckle Speck) gave it a character to root for and a throughline to follow, but I sometimes got lost between her spoken lines and the narrated bits.

I suppose an apocalyptic event would leave people unsure of what to do next, but the motivations that drive each of the characters in this seem weak, especially in the twist ending which is both contrived and convenient.

[Nganka · Rating 3 out of 5]

(this review is for novella and not the graphic novel adaptation)

rating- 3.5

well-written fun story with engaging characters and a dash of humour - though it wasn't very interesting in some places in the first half due to some over-detailing which could've been edited.
But the second half picked up steam which made up or it and it ended in an entertaining fashion.

enjoyable novella even if it feels a bit stretched/slow-moving in places.

[Christina · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 stars. Random find and not a romance in any way, but an interesting read indirectly discussing climate change.

[Jesse A · Rating 2 out of 5]

Wasnt bad until the end just fizzled. Some of it was a bit on the nose too.

[Lola Cstd · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,5

alors je suis absolument fan des dessins qui sont hyper gore mais ça n’empêche que les perso sont hyper jolis

mais on m’explique cette résolution d’enquête beaucoup trop rapide???? alors que le concept était dingue

[Mariano · Rating 3 out of 5]

Zoe Thorogood. All 3 stars for her.

The story itself falls short. I love a good post apocalyptic story and the idea of the rain is really cool, but that's it. The characters journeys felt pointless, like you could switch 'em up for any other and it's the same. And the ending didn't feel earned at all.

BUT... Zoe Thorogood 👌

[Rowen H. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Absolutely gruesome in an appealing way, but the end felt kinda cheap

[Max · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book is fine. It is an interesting story, but as with all Joe Hill things I've read, it shouldn't have been a graphic novel. The pacing is all off and it is a book with a narrator telling you everything, barely even using the pictures.

While I enjoy Zoe Thorogood's artwork, it also doesn't really work in this book. Her style is very particular. Her style works for books she writes, but does not work for a book written by someone else and filled with action.

The story itself is interesting. It is about a day when all the sudden glass spears rain from the sky instead if water, killing thousands if not millions. It is interesting where the story takes it and there is a satisfying ending, even though i wasn't a huge fan.