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Primordial
Em 1957, a URSS fez história ao lançar cadela Laika na órbita da Terra. Dois anos depois, os EUA responderam com dois macacos: Able e Baker. Esses animais, agora, estão retornando... ou será que estaremos indo ao seu encontro. Os vencedores do Eisner, Jeff Lemire e Andrea Sorrentino retomam sua parceria nesse tocante misto de ficção científica com thriller de espionagem! Publicada originalmente pela Image Comics entre setembro de 2021 e fevereiro de 2022, a edição da Trem Fantasma traz a série completa em edição única repleta de extras, incluindo galeria de capas alternativas dos single issues norte-americanos, com artes assinadas por artistas como Gabriel Walta, Jeff Lemire, Yuko Shimizu. Mike Allred, Francesco Francavilla e vários outros.
Collects PRIMORDIAL #1-6
Collects PRIMORDIAL #1-6
176 pages, Hardcover
First published May 18, 2022
4 people are currently reading
400 people want to read
About the author
Jeff Lemire
1,393 books3,874 followersLibrarian note:
There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name
Jeff Lemire is a New York Times bestselling and award winning author, and creator of the acclaimed graphic novels Sweet Tooth, Essex County, The Underwater Welder, Trillium, Plutona, Black Hammer, Descender, Royal City, and Gideon Falls. His upcoming projects include a host of series and original graphic novels, including the fantasy series Ascender with Dustin Nguyen.
There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name
Jeff Lemire is a New York Times bestselling and award winning author, and creator of the acclaimed graphic novels Sweet Tooth, Essex County, The Underwater Welder, Trillium, Plutona, Black Hammer, Descender, Royal City, and Gideon Falls. His upcoming projects include a host of series and original graphic novels, including the fantasy series Ascender with Dustin Nguyen.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 177 reviews
February 22, 2022
As part of the Space Race, Soviet scientists sent into space Laika the dog in 1957 and American scientists did the same to a pair of monkeys, Able and Miss Baker, in 1959. But they didn’t die! Something saved them. And made them smarter. And now they’re coming back to Earth…
Jeff Lemire and Andrea Sorrentino, the creative team behind Gideon Falls, are back with a new book, Primordial, and, like Gideon Falls unfortunately, it’s not very good.
The premise has a lot of potential but Lemire disappointingly doesn’t do anything with it. The entire mystery behind the aliens and explaining why these animals were saved is never explained. Laika, Able and Miss Baker were all real animals used in the Space Race, and those dates above are factual - everything after that though is Lemire taking readers on an alternate history timeline with Nixon beating JFK, the Cold War going nuclear, etc. - but why? It’s just alternate history for no real reason that has any impact on the story, plot or meaning-wise.
The story is so basic: it’s the animals wanting to return home, or at least the monkeys go along with it because Laika wants to and, conveniently, Laika’s owner is just about still alive. Six issues for that? Yeesh.
Still, the alien angle allows Sorrentino to give the reader some really trippy visuals that are genuinely amazing to look at, complemented well by Dave Stewart’s colours. The alien ship design though is a mess and for no reason the Donald Pembrook character looks exactly like Will Smith.
I suppose the friendship between Laika and Able is sweet but that ending - really the entire book - is so underwhelming and forgettable. If Lemire wasn’t cranking out an entire book every other week he might write something that’s worth reading but, given the speed that he’s throwing these scripts out, it’s no wonder they’re so half-baked - Primordial is another unimpressive Lemire dud.
Jeff Lemire and Andrea Sorrentino, the creative team behind Gideon Falls, are back with a new book, Primordial, and, like Gideon Falls unfortunately, it’s not very good.
The premise has a lot of potential but Lemire disappointingly doesn’t do anything with it. The entire mystery behind the aliens and explaining why these animals were saved is never explained. Laika, Able and Miss Baker were all real animals used in the Space Race, and those dates above are factual - everything after that though is Lemire taking readers on an alternate history timeline with Nixon beating JFK, the Cold War going nuclear, etc. - but why? It’s just alternate history for no real reason that has any impact on the story, plot or meaning-wise.
The story is so basic: it’s the animals wanting to return home, or at least the monkeys go along with it because Laika wants to and, conveniently, Laika’s owner is just about still alive. Six issues for that? Yeesh.
Still, the alien angle allows Sorrentino to give the reader some really trippy visuals that are genuinely amazing to look at, complemented well by Dave Stewart’s colours. The alien ship design though is a mess and for no reason the Donald Pembrook character looks exactly like Will Smith.
I suppose the friendship between Laika and Able is sweet but that ending - really the entire book - is so underwhelming and forgettable. If Lemire wasn’t cranking out an entire book every other week he might write something that’s worth reading but, given the speed that he’s throwing these scripts out, it’s no wonder they’re so half-baked - Primordial is another unimpressive Lemire dud.
May 22, 2022
A book that, on first reading, feels like it's more than it actually is. A book that feels like it's moving, but there is no destination.
Lemire throws a couple of genres in a blender and none of them totally work. There's a conspiracy thriller, that skips the drip drip of information and dread that is an essential part of the genre, and just ends up feeling rushed. The main character (or what seems like the main character) makes choices that feel unrealistic and jumps through several locations as if it's nothing. This story falls away quickly.
There's alternate history, that feels tacked on, and isn't explored very well either. I don't know what it's doing here, really, it's not very interesting worldbuilding, and it doesn't seem necessary to tell the story.
Then there's a first contact sci fi story, that doesn't really go anywhere. To my mind, this part is most interesting, and I would rather have had Lemire centered his story on the characters here.
The ending did move me, but it feels like it's there to hide that Lemire has little to actually say with his story. It even makes the emotional ending feel unearned, and even a bit cheap. It basically makes this yet another Lemire book about a parent who has lost their child.
The whole book feels empty, it feels like under all the genre stuff there's no interesting idea or point to be made.
It reminds me of that other Sorrentino/Lemire collab Gideon Falls - a lot of stuff happens, but there seems to be little point to it narratively.
Sorrentino's art builds better in Gideon Falls, here the quirky and fracturing art enters the story too quickly, it again feels rushed.
I did enjoy seeing Sorrentino use several art styles, that was a very nice touch.
(Picked up an ARC through Edelweiss)
Lemire throws a couple of genres in a blender and none of them totally work. There's a conspiracy thriller, that skips the drip drip of information and dread that is an essential part of the genre, and just ends up feeling rushed. The main character (or what seems like the main character) makes choices that feel unrealistic and jumps through several locations as if it's nothing. This story falls away quickly.
There's alternate history, that feels tacked on, and isn't explored very well either. I don't know what it's doing here, really, it's not very interesting worldbuilding, and it doesn't seem necessary to tell the story.
Then there's a first contact sci fi story, that doesn't really go anywhere. To my mind, this part is most interesting, and I would rather have had Lemire centered his story on the characters here.
The ending did move me, but it feels like it's there to hide that Lemire has little to actually say with his story. It even makes the emotional ending feel unearned, and even a bit cheap. It basically makes this yet another Lemire book about a parent who has lost their child.
The whole book feels empty, it feels like under all the genre stuff there's no interesting idea or point to be made.
It reminds me of that other Sorrentino/Lemire collab Gideon Falls - a lot of stuff happens, but there seems to be little point to it narratively.
Sorrentino's art builds better in Gideon Falls, here the quirky and fracturing art enters the story too quickly, it again feels rushed.
I did enjoy seeing Sorrentino use several art styles, that was a very nice touch.
(Picked up an ARC through Edelweiss)
July 3, 2022
The rock star creative team of Jeff Lemire, Andrea Sorrentino and Dave Stewart return to bring us a six-issue comics story to pull our heart strings, presuming that the animals the Russians and the US sent up in space (separately, it was the Cold War), Laika, Able and Baker may indeed return. So this is a sci-fi comic meets alt-history, where Nixon defeats JFK, though to what purpose, I am not always clear), and in the near future, we discover the dog and monkeys have not been killed but kidnapped by aliens. And 60 years later, coming home?! Why? because all animal lovers have always wanted these animals (and especially Laika, because: dog!) to come home.
This is the set-up for the heart-string-pulling at the end, but really, why does this story exist? For animal lovers, I'd guess. Because the sci-fi story is not interesting or particularly purposeful, though with all the talk of aliens and ufos late.y, I guess the abducted by aliens angle has some comic interest. But the alt-history angle has less interest. Maybe there's a couple potentially decent ideas mashed up in there, but it's just not great storytelling.
This is a great-looking comic thanks to Sorrentino and Stewart, building on the work of Gideon Falls, but I kept getting hooked in by the art in that one and it finally came to very little in the end. This one has a similar vibe, and tries out different styles for the lives of the animals, okay, but it is beginning to seem like Sorrentino is wasting his talent with weak Lemire stories. I gave this three stars initially, but the more I write about it, my feelings for the story (and Rod Brown's encouragement to be as curmudgeonly--okay, I mean honest--as he is) drops it down to two stars.
This is the set-up for the heart-string-pulling at the end, but really, why does this story exist? For animal lovers, I'd guess. Because the sci-fi story is not interesting or particularly purposeful, though with all the talk of aliens and ufos late.y, I guess the abducted by aliens angle has some comic interest. But the alt-history angle has less interest. Maybe there's a couple potentially decent ideas mashed up in there, but it's just not great storytelling.
This is a great-looking comic thanks to Sorrentino and Stewart, building on the work of Gideon Falls, but I kept getting hooked in by the art in that one and it finally came to very little in the end. This one has a similar vibe, and tries out different styles for the lives of the animals, okay, but it is beginning to seem like Sorrentino is wasting his talent with weak Lemire stories. I gave this three stars initially, but the more I write about it, my feelings for the story (and Rod Brown's encouragement to be as curmudgeonly--okay, I mean honest--as he is) drops it down to two stars.
February 19, 2022
“I don’t know how long it will take to reach her. But I’ll be waiting. I will be here.”
The stellar creative team of Jeff Lemire and Andrea Sorrentino team up once again for a simple, yet effective story about 3 animals being sent into space during the space race. This leads to an interesting alternate history of world history, with an emotional core to the story holding it all together.
I wouldn’t say this is Lemire’s best writing, but the art by Sorrentino is perfect for the script, bringing it to life in STUNNING fashion, and I am man enough to admit the final issue may have made me cry a bit. This is one of the quicker reads I have had, as I read this as the singles came out, but was able to reread all 6 issues in less than an hour. Check it out if you can though, it really is a fantastic, albeit short, read and you’d seriously have to have one cold ass heart to not feel at least something while reading this.
The stellar creative team of Jeff Lemire and Andrea Sorrentino team up once again for a simple, yet effective story about 3 animals being sent into space during the space race. This leads to an interesting alternate history of world history, with an emotional core to the story holding it all together.
I wouldn’t say this is Lemire’s best writing, but the art by Sorrentino is perfect for the script, bringing it to life in STUNNING fashion, and I am man enough to admit the final issue may have made me cry a bit. This is one of the quicker reads I have had, as I read this as the singles came out, but was able to reread all 6 issues in less than an hour. Check it out if you can though, it really is a fantastic, albeit short, read and you’d seriously have to have one cold ass heart to not feel at least something while reading this.
July 3, 2022
Lemire and Sorrentino mash up 2001 and The Planet of the Apes in the silliest and dumbest ways to tell a good dog story. It's an alternate history of the Cold War where the space race was aborted after missions by early (and real) space explorers Laika the dog, Miss Baker the squirrel monkey, and Able the rhesus monkey end mysteriously and ominously.
There are the trappings of a spy thriller with scientists, stern military men, enigmatic secret agents, and a trip behind the Iron Curtain, but the sci-fi scenes set in space and the entire ending are just laughably bad despite the intent for them to be heartwarming.
There are the trappings of a spy thriller with scientists, stern military men, enigmatic secret agents, and a trip behind the Iron Curtain, but the sci-fi scenes set in space and the entire ending are just laughably bad despite the intent for them to be heartwarming.
May 13, 2022
Oh, fuck you, Jeff Lemire.
I should have known going into this that it'd crush me. It's a story about the animals sent into space during the initial rocketship tests. Everyone remembers Laika as the first dog in space, but they always conveniently forget to mention that they, and every other animal sent up there, died. Shit, I'm getting sad just thinking about it again.
But. What if...they didn't? What if something else happened, something miraculous, and they didn't have to die after all? And what about the people back on the ground who trained those animals, who strapped them into their rockets knowing that they'd never see them again? And what if it all looked wonderful because it was all drawn by Andrea Sorrentino? That's Primordial.
This is going on the pile of 'stories I can't bring myself to read them again because they make me cry too much', right next to We3. Thankfully, this one doesn't have quite as sad an ending, but it still made me blubber like a baby. And I'd recommend it to absolutely everyone who cares even a little bit about animals. Just bring a whole box of tissues.
I should have known going into this that it'd crush me. It's a story about the animals sent into space during the initial rocketship tests. Everyone remembers Laika as the first dog in space, but they always conveniently forget to mention that they, and every other animal sent up there, died. Shit, I'm getting sad just thinking about it again.
But. What if...they didn't? What if something else happened, something miraculous, and they didn't have to die after all? And what about the people back on the ground who trained those animals, who strapped them into their rockets knowing that they'd never see them again? And what if it all looked wonderful because it was all drawn by Andrea Sorrentino? That's Primordial.
This is going on the pile of 'stories I can't bring myself to read them again because they make me cry too much', right next to We3. Thankfully, this one doesn't have quite as sad an ending, but it still made me blubber like a baby. And I'd recommend it to absolutely everyone who cares even a little bit about animals. Just bring a whole box of tissues.
May 19, 2024
Read May 18, 2024
Ok so I have to say, this was right up my alley. The dog, the colorful spacey artwork, cold war/Russian goings on. I love all of these things, so this worked for me.
It’s funny tho, I only recently learned about Laika the dog and bought the graphic novel about her, which I have not read yet but I did read up on Laika a little bit and I am a huge dog lover, so just reading about Laika made me upset. I had no idea going into this that it would be about Laika, so I was pleased to have recently learned about her so I could understand the full context.
I have to admit, I was a little bit confused. The premise was that the animals were “taken” but I’m not sure if we’re ever clued in on who/what they were taken by. They seem to just be floating around in some space nebula time space continuum. That’s the only reason I didn’t give this 5 stars, bc otherwise this alternative history comic that ends with Laika coming back home to her dog owner that loved her so and had spent a lifetime waiting for her really got me.
Also, I don’t know if it was done on purpose or not but the black doctor looked exactly like Will Smith.
Ok so I have to say, this was right up my alley. The dog, the colorful spacey artwork, cold war/Russian goings on. I love all of these things, so this worked for me.
It’s funny tho, I only recently learned about Laika the dog and bought the graphic novel about her, which I have not read yet but I did read up on Laika a little bit and I am a huge dog lover, so just reading about Laika made me upset. I had no idea going into this that it would be about Laika, so I was pleased to have recently learned about her so I could understand the full context.
I have to admit, I was a little bit confused. The premise was that the animals were “taken” but I’m not sure if we’re ever clued in on who/what they were taken by. They seem to just be floating around in some space nebula time space continuum. That’s the only reason I didn’t give this 5 stars, bc otherwise this alternative history comic that ends with Laika coming back home to her dog owner that loved her so and had spent a lifetime waiting for her really got me.
Also, I don’t know if it was done on purpose or not but the black doctor looked exactly like Will Smith.
May 28, 2022
Meh. Nice art, weak plot, a book about nothing but it does hit emotions right in the end.
June 7, 2024
ENGLISH (Primordial) / ITALIANO
Able, Baker and Laika, animals that participated to the space programmes of USA and URSS during the Cold War. In this graphic novel freely inspired by events that really happened, animals, presumed dead a few minutes later after their launch into space, are actually disappeared into thin air without a trace. Or better, a small trace appears. Two scientists, one Russian and one American, ride out to investigate looking for answers.
After the horror Gideon Falls, the duo Lemire-Sorrentino comes up this time with an intriguing sci-fi, with two parallel planes (animals into space and humans on earth struggling with the mystery to solve).
Spectacular splash pages. Delicate and at times moving.
Vote: 7,5
Able, Baker e Laika, animali che parteciparono ai programmi spaziali che USA e URSS misero in atto durante la Guerra Fredda. In questa graphic novel che trae spunto da fatti di cronaca per poi prendere una deriva completamente romanzata, gli animali, dati per morti pochi minuti dopo il loro lancio nello spazio, in realtà sono di fatto scomparsi nel nulla, senza lasciare traccia. Due scienziati, uno russo ed uno americano, iniziano ad investigare alla ricerca di risposte.
Dopo l'horror Gideon Falls, il duo Lemire-Sorrentino si ripresenta stavolta con un'intrigante sci-fi, con due piani di azione paralleli (animali nello spazio e uomini sulla Terra alle prese con il mistero da risolvere).
Splash page spettacolari. Delicato, a tratti commovente.
Voto: 7,5
April 2, 2022
Maybe it just wasn't for me. Exceedingly slow, murky, unexplained, and pointless.
February 15, 2025
:’)
It’s a sci-fi story that’s kinda more story about love. And I enjoyed that. The artwork is absolutely awesome in this. I love more when Sorrentino works on these crazy messy pages filled with colours and shapes and something hard to comprehend, than when he works on people.
It’s a sci-fi story that’s kinda more story about love. And I enjoyed that. The artwork is absolutely awesome in this. I love more when Sorrentino works on these crazy messy pages filled with colours and shapes and something hard to comprehend, than when he works on people.
November 11, 2022
Maybe I’m just a sucker for stories about dogs and monkeys, and an even bigger sucker for stories about talking dogs and monkeys, but I absolutely adored “Primordial”.
When I heard that the team who created one of my favorite sci-fi/horror graphic novel series in recent years, “Gideon Falls”, was coming out with a new series, I was excited. Writer Jeff Lemire and artist Andrea Sorrentino are a tremendously talented duo, and “Primordial” just confirms for me that anything that has their names on it is worth reading.
It helps to know a little history about the space program for this one, although the events in “Primordial” deviate from actuality into an alternate history.
In 1957, the Soviet Union sent the first living organism into space. Her name was Laika, a Siberian husky-terrier mutt. She was sent up in Sputnik 2, which later reentered the Earth’ atmosphere and exploded. Laika, it is believed, only survived the first two days of the mission, as the cabin overheated to a point that no creature could survive.
In 1959, NASA sent two female monkeys, Able and Baker, into space in their Jupiter program. They both successfully returned alive.
That’s what really happened.
In the history of “Primordial”, both missions officially ended in failure, and the consequence was the immediate scrapping of the space program.
But, as Doctor Donald Pembrook discovers, in 1961, the public was lied to. Laika, Able, and Baker didn’t perish in outer space. They’re still alive, out there, somewhere. And the extraterrestrials that rescued them are learning a lot about humanity.
I’m not gonna lie: this had me choking up in the end. It’s a short series, but it’s an emotionally powerful one.
God, I hope that our first contact happens with a dog rather than a human. Our chances of survival might be a helluva lot better…
When I heard that the team who created one of my favorite sci-fi/horror graphic novel series in recent years, “Gideon Falls”, was coming out with a new series, I was excited. Writer Jeff Lemire and artist Andrea Sorrentino are a tremendously talented duo, and “Primordial” just confirms for me that anything that has their names on it is worth reading.
It helps to know a little history about the space program for this one, although the events in “Primordial” deviate from actuality into an alternate history.
In 1957, the Soviet Union sent the first living organism into space. Her name was Laika, a Siberian husky-terrier mutt. She was sent up in Sputnik 2, which later reentered the Earth’ atmosphere and exploded. Laika, it is believed, only survived the first two days of the mission, as the cabin overheated to a point that no creature could survive.
In 1959, NASA sent two female monkeys, Able and Baker, into space in their Jupiter program. They both successfully returned alive.
That’s what really happened.
In the history of “Primordial”, both missions officially ended in failure, and the consequence was the immediate scrapping of the space program.
But, as Doctor Donald Pembrook discovers, in 1961, the public was lied to. Laika, Able, and Baker didn’t perish in outer space. They’re still alive, out there, somewhere. And the extraterrestrials that rescued them are learning a lot about humanity.
I’m not gonna lie: this had me choking up in the end. It’s a short series, but it’s an emotionally powerful one.
God, I hope that our first contact happens with a dog rather than a human. Our chances of survival might be a helluva lot better…
July 11, 2022
3.5🌟
One of my favourite Creator Duo's in the Biz deliver an experimental/unconventional story arc. The plot of the story could have realistically been delivered in a jumbo sized one shot. But Sorrentino does plenty of telling with his panels. While I've seen some of his tricks recently in Gideon Falls and Wolverine I'm still in awe of his layouts. The man definitely has a unique style of his own.
While this one wasn't a banger I still have plenty of Lemire created titles lined up for this year.
One of my favourite Creator Duo's in the Biz deliver an experimental/unconventional story arc. The plot of the story could have realistically been delivered in a jumbo sized one shot. But Sorrentino does plenty of telling with his panels. While I've seen some of his tricks recently in Gideon Falls and Wolverine I'm still in awe of his layouts. The man definitely has a unique style of his own.
While this one wasn't a banger I still have plenty of Lemire created titles lined up for this year.
September 27, 2022
This is a book that I read and greatly enjoyed.
September 10, 2022
Schon wieder eine Geschichte mit verschenktem Potenzial, was sollte dieses Wischi-Waschi-Gedöns? Jeff Lemire hätte mit seinen Charakteren mal brav im guten alten Amerika bleiben sollen. Immerhin landeten dort nach dem Zweiten Weltkrieg jene deutsche NS-Physiker, die sich die NASA im Wettlauf um den ersten Platz im All einverleibt hatte. Das nenne ich mal eine interessante Variante der Entnazifizierung!
Stattdessen lässt der Autor zwei ausrangierte Wissenschaftler durch die Brandenburgische Ödniss stolpern. Ach ja, er ist so weltfremd, dass er nicht einmal weiß, dass nicht nur in Berlin sondern in ganz Deutschland diese Art amerikanische Feuerleitern an Häusern nicht üblich sind.
Alles andere ist ähnlich schlecht durchdacht oder recherchiert.
Aber für Klischees ist er sich anscheinend nicht zu schade.
Und die Geschichte an sich.
Was sollte das sein?
Kommt der Inhalt später?
Ist das so was wie der Fettstuhl von Joseph Beuys?
"Macht selbst was draus! Mir fällt nichts mehr zu ein?"
Den Sinn dieser Geschichte kann man ja faktisch mit der Lupe suchen.
Sinnsuche mit homöopathischem "Mehrwert"
Stattdessen lässt der Autor zwei ausrangierte Wissenschaftler durch die Brandenburgische Ödniss stolpern. Ach ja, er ist so weltfremd, dass er nicht einmal weiß, dass nicht nur in Berlin sondern in ganz Deutschland diese Art amerikanische Feuerleitern an Häusern nicht üblich sind.
Alles andere ist ähnlich schlecht durchdacht oder recherchiert.
Aber für Klischees ist er sich anscheinend nicht zu schade.
Und die Geschichte an sich.
Was sollte das sein?
Kommt der Inhalt später?
Ist das so was wie der Fettstuhl von Joseph Beuys?
"Macht selbst was draus! Mir fällt nichts mehr zu ein?"
Den Sinn dieser Geschichte kann man ja faktisch mit der Lupe suchen.
Sinnsuche mit homöopathischem "Mehrwert"
June 18, 2023
Is this a joke? Lemire acquired a habit now of insulting the reader. He will draw you in with a promise of mystery, adventure, even spiritual journey. Yet he will spent no time giving you descriptions, dialogue, characterization - well, anything that the story should contain in order to work. Instead, he'll invite Sorrentino to woo you with his talent and your wallet will empty itself unforcefully. When we get to the part, when dog converses with monkeys, at least for the first time, I can witness Lemire's thinking process. He really hates sentences. He really hates writing. Why don't we all figure it out for ourselves? Better yet, why don't we all just imagine it was great?
Read
May 27, 2025Not one of my favorite Lemire joints. As a matter of fact, this book seems very phoned in. I understand that it sometimes happens when you're as prolific as Lemire is, but it's no less disappointing to see. It sucks too, as it has some elements that I generally like such as Cold War paranoia, ominous sci-fi strangeness, and even a reference to my favorite album of all time, Dark Side of The Moon. What happened here?
Primordial is one of those books, like God Country, where I think this could have been fleshed out with a few more issues so that it could really shine. The character development feels rushed, there are some cool ideas that are brought up but don't get explored to their fullest potential. I have had some pacing issues with Lemire in the past, particularly in Descender, but he always made up for it with his attention to his characters. But with Primordial, it seems like we're seeing a skeleton of a story. Some cool ideas that Jeff came up with but he wasn't fully sure what to do with them. Even with God Country, despite my issues, there was an emotional core to that book which outweighed the pacing issues. Unfortunately, Lemire couldn't tap into his own emotional core when creating this story.
While I haven't read it, this book does feel like Lemire's riff on We3, with a similar focus on enhanced animals trying to find their way through an indifferent and sometimes cruel world. The art is even reminiscent of Frank Quitely's when the animals arrive on the ominous sci-fi weirdness. But again, Primordial is hobbled by rushed pacing, which makes emotional connection with these characters and their plights difficult. That's not to say this book is all bad though, the first part of this book with the mystery was fairly strong, with a great sense of mood and atmosphere that can only be provided by the great Andrea Sorrentino.
On that note, Sorrentino churns out some of the trippiest, mindbending work of his career. It's one of the rare Lemire joints where the art outpaces the story that's being told. But with this book, I am thinking that Sorrentino is Lemire's Quitely. Lemire has had many great artistic collaborators throughout his career, from Dustin Nguyen to Emi Lenox and Dean Ormston, but I think Sorrentino is the one who is made specifically for him, without being himself that is. Jeff can throw 10 of his craziest ideas at Sorrentino and he's always there, ready to meet him. His gothic, eerie, surreal tone perfectly compliments Lemire's artistic sensibilities and with Primordial, he might have just outdone himself.
While I won't have the temerity to tell Jeff how to do his job, I do think he could have done some good by giving this book some more thought and kicking it around some more. As I said before, this book feels somewhat unpolished, as if Lemire didn't really take the time to think things through and give this story the treatment it deserves. There are moments in here that should have emotional impact, but they don't and it's frustrating because I know that Lemire can do better than this and he has done better than this. I have heard some criticisms from fellow Lemire fans that there have been a few Lemire books in the past few years that have felt like this, and it worries me. I hope that this book isn't the beginning of a trend. I'd like to think that Lemire's best days are still ahead of him, rather than behind.
We all have our off days, I suppose, and Primordial is a demonstration of one of Lemire's. It's definitely one of his weaker works alongside something like The Quantum Age. Don't worry though Lemire...I still love you.
March 24, 2024
Devo confessar que, com as primeiras páginas, esta história começou por me surpreender mais do que estava à espera. Talvez a "estranheza" inicial tenha conseguido captar a minha atenção, e penso que isso joga a favor do livro...
O maior problema do argumento acaba por ser o facto de, quando chegamos ao fim, ficamos com a sensação de que é tudo abordado pela rama, sem ser verdadeiramente aprofundado... A personagem principal feminina aparece de forma algo abrupta ... Também não fica explicado a razão de estarmos numa realidade histórica "alternativa" à nossa, na qual a URSS sai "vencedora" da guerra fria e estende a sua influência a toda a Europa (qual a relevância disso? nenhuma, que se veja...). E a que dimensão foram parar os animais? Por que razão foram levados para aquele local tão rapidamente e, para regressarem a casa, não puderam usar o mesmo "atalho"?
Enfim, resumindo, é pena que algumas coisas sejam inseridas no argumento sem que tenham grande relevância ou explicação para o objectivo a que se quer chegar (o que deixa o leitor um bocadinho frustrado quando chega ao fim)...
A arte conceptual dos desenhos de Sorrentino é bastante boa.
O maior problema do argumento acaba por ser o facto de, quando chegamos ao fim, ficamos com a sensação de que é tudo abordado pela rama, sem ser verdadeiramente aprofundado... A personagem principal feminina aparece de forma algo abrupta ... Também não fica explicado a razão de estarmos numa realidade histórica "alternativa" à nossa, na qual a URSS sai "vencedora" da guerra fria e estende a sua influência a toda a Europa (qual a relevância disso? nenhuma, que se veja...). E a que dimensão foram parar os animais? Por que razão foram levados para aquele local tão rapidamente e, para regressarem a casa, não puderam usar o mesmo "atalho"?
Enfim, resumindo, é pena que algumas coisas sejam inseridas no argumento sem que tenham grande relevância ou explicação para o objectivo a que se quer chegar (o que deixa o leitor um bocadinho frustrado quando chega ao fim)...
A arte conceptual dos desenhos de Sorrentino é bastante boa.
July 27, 2022
Lemire spends the first three issues setting up a very interesting story, only to let it spin completely out of control in the final three issues. There is no point to this book whatsoever. Where do I start? Some of the characters had no purpose, the ending is abrupt, the pacing is off. In terms of storytelling an awful lot did not make sense. This needed at least ten more issues to flesh out the themes, the world, its characters and their motivations. I assume this title was dropped early because of sales. That has to be the reason, right? But why bother with this hc?
Kudos to Sorrentino for trying.
Story: 1/5
Art: 4/5
Kudos to Sorrentino for trying.
Story: 1/5
Art: 4/5
February 16, 2022
Simple but effective. Primordial is another product of the Lemire Sorrentino super duo, and really I have to give bonus points out on this one. Listen we all know Sorrentino is a man who likes his squares, and Lemire his touching moments. But so much is told with such very little dialogue and details that it really impressed me when the emotional beats of this book seemed so powerful. The concept of this book is so fun and reminiscent of We3, or Pride of Baghdad. Plus, squares. You can expect lots of squares.
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June 10, 2022Well, it's definitely a change of tone from Gideon Falls and Bone Orchard. In another 1960s, Nixon beat JFK by a landslide; the space race has been abandoned and is now being picked over for parts. As far as the public is concerned, Laika was lost even sooner than she was here, and America's monkey astronauts Able and Baker likewise. Now, having seen how readily our own benighted timeline gave up on getting offworld, I find that perfectly plausible, but apparently it's not: really, the USA and USSR both got scared because something out there took the animals. Is a secret history of a history that never was a step too far to fully engage with? I think for me it might be, a little. But as ever Sorrentino makes it all look brilliant, whether that be 2001-style antiseptic space facilities or a sinister Cold War rendezvous. And there's one particularly fine full page of an off-coloured screaming monkey, the whole background taken up with EEEEEEEEE, which feels like a diagram of the inside of my head whenever I look at the news. As with any long-standing partnership, to some extent you should know by now whether you like Lemire and Sorrentino comics – though it's worth noting that here all those mind-bending layouts and moody colours are put to a use that's much less outright horror, more Morrison and Quitely strange, than usual. But within that field...well, in some senses the cracks are showing sooner than usual, but I have always been a sucker for any story in which Laika gets to come home.
(Edelweiss ARC)
(Edelweiss ARC)
May 23, 2022
This graphic novel blends alt history and sci-fi. It takes place in a world that differs from ours in a number of [mostly superficial] ways that might all be ripples from one major change, that change being that when the US and the USSR sent their test animals into space something very different happened, something that put an end to the space programs of both nations. The story features characters based on the real-world personages of Laika (the dog the Soviet Union shot into space) and Able and Baker (the monkeys that America sent.)
There are two storylines occurring simultaneously, first in the 1960’s and then in the near future. One of these is the tale of the aforementioned “test pilots,” and the other is that of two scientists who are trying to get the animals back, or at least to communicate with them. One of the scientists is an American professor from MIT doing contract work for NASA and the other is a Soviet biologist.
It’s a simple story, but I found it engaging and to be built on an intriguing premise. I’d recommend it for readers of graphic fiction, particularly those who enjoy counterfactuals.
There are two storylines occurring simultaneously, first in the 1960’s and then in the near future. One of these is the tale of the aforementioned “test pilots,” and the other is that of two scientists who are trying to get the animals back, or at least to communicate with them. One of the scientists is an American professor from MIT doing contract work for NASA and the other is a Soviet biologist.
It’s a simple story, but I found it engaging and to be built on an intriguing premise. I’d recommend it for readers of graphic fiction, particularly those who enjoy counterfactuals.
June 16, 2022
I understand people displeased because the story is unexplained, but it is not that unexplained.
The plot sells a mind-bending Cold War sci-fi... and deliver a not so nuanced cute-dog-try-to-find-its-way-home story. But the deep plot is there.
Some spoilers ahead.
Humanity gave up the stars. They buried their space programs by frustration (or fear?). The aliens want to connect. They want humanity to fly. They teach the pets how to change, how to erase time... The time was the gift. They gave Earth another shot. But they also gave a big change to Baker, courage to Able, and a happy ending to Laika.
The plot sells a mind-bending Cold War sci-fi... and deliver a not so nuanced cute-dog-try-to-find-its-way-home story. But the deep plot is there.
Some spoilers ahead.
Humanity gave up the stars. They buried their space programs by frustration (or fear?). The aliens want to connect. They want humanity to fly. They teach the pets how to change, how to erase time... The time was the gift. They gave Earth another shot. But they also gave a big change to Baker, courage to Able, and a happy ending to Laika.
September 22, 2022
Jeff Lemire and Andrea Sorrentino team up only to make weird, gorgeous books. Like Gideon Falls before it, Primordial doesn't make a lick of sense, but it looks good doing it.
In an alternate timeline, a programmer in the 60s discovers that some animal space missions in the 50s weren't actually failures. Meanwhile, we see these animals (Laika and a pair of monkeys) having some out-there space-time experiences. It's...cute? I certainly cared about the animals more than I did the humans.
The ending is bizarro nonsense, but the early stages of Primordial certainly caught my attention. Could have been great with just a little more effort!
In an alternate timeline, a programmer in the 60s discovers that some animal space missions in the 50s weren't actually failures. Meanwhile, we see these animals (Laika and a pair of monkeys) having some out-there space-time experiences. It's...cute? I certainly cared about the animals more than I did the humans.
The ending is bizarro nonsense, but the early stages of Primordial certainly caught my attention. Could have been great with just a little more effort!
March 4, 2022
The art by Sorrentino is absolutely incredible throughout the series, it shows us a lot of different styles not previously seen in his work. He also does the heavy lifting in storytelling, his art tells you what is going on, your emotional connection to the art is how you intuit what’s happening as you work your way through the book. If you try too hard to understand it based on the script, you instantly take yourself out of the experience. It’s worth nothing that as monthly chapters, this story could get frustratingly slow but read in one sitting it is an incredible emotional rollercoaster.
June 20, 2022
I had read the first issue when it was released and thought it was great. Setup was intriguing and art was amazing. Now have just gotten to the rest of the issues and it's a shocking disappointment. Story just goes off into space magic land and that's all you know and the end happens with no other explanation. The dog stuff was cute, granted but really a big waste of time.
April 17, 2023
Woman waits over 60 years for her dog to come home from space. That's what I got from this story. Was hoping for dog and monkey gets shot into space, comes back for vengeance. Nope, just kind of boring.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 3, 2022
Primordial collects issues 1-6 of the Image Comics series written by Jeff Lemire, illustrated by Andrea Sorrentino, and colored by David Stewart.
During the Space Race in the 1950s, American and Soviet space agencies launched satellites in to orbit containing test animals. Both agencies quickly shut down their space programs after the animals mysteriously disappeared. A few years later, a scientist sets out to discover what happened.
The book starts off amazing. The first issue is one my favorite first issues ever. But this is just kinda fizzles. While the animals’ story is good, the rest of the book feels incomplete. There is so much missing or unprovided story. I felt like there was a good sci-fi mystery in here just waiting to be unleashed. We did get a heartwarming tale of a woman and her dog, but that didn’t seem to be where the book was going in that first issue. I felt this would have better off as a 12 issue series that explored a lot of what exactly was going on. Sorrentino’s art is moody and beautiful as always and he really gets a chance to excitement here. This is still a good book, but not one of Lemire’s better stories.
During the Space Race in the 1950s, American and Soviet space agencies launched satellites in to orbit containing test animals. Both agencies quickly shut down their space programs after the animals mysteriously disappeared. A few years later, a scientist sets out to discover what happened.
The book starts off amazing. The first issue is one my favorite first issues ever. But this is just kinda fizzles. While the animals’ story is good, the rest of the book feels incomplete. There is so much missing or unprovided story. I felt like there was a good sci-fi mystery in here just waiting to be unleashed. We did get a heartwarming tale of a woman and her dog, but that didn’t seem to be where the book was going in that first issue. I felt this would have better off as a 12 issue series that explored a lot of what exactly was going on. Sorrentino’s art is moody and beautiful as always and he really gets a chance to excitement here. This is still a good book, but not one of Lemire’s better stories.
March 4, 2023
Primordial di Lemire e Sorrentino, impressioni a caldo avendo appena finito di leggerlo. Per conto mio si dovrebbe dire solo "di Andrea Sorrentino", volume che si porta a termine in 45 minuti nemmeno, poca scrittura, quasi nulla, la storia è normale, lineare: periodo di guerra fredda, USA e URSS hanno i loro segreti, qualcuno inizia a scoprire cose e parte alla ricerca di risposte con persone che aiutano e si unisce ad un più grande contesto di associazioni segrete che cercano risposte. Nulla di nuovo, nulla di rivoluzionario. Lemire fa poco, mette sulle pagine una storia normale, non brutta per carità, ma semplicemente normale, senza grossi guizzi creativi e spunti interessanti. Però come anticipato prima, questo è un esercizio di stile di Andrea Sorrentino enorme. Svariate tavole mute, svariate spread page con ambientazioni strane, surreali e completamente liminali. Stile di disegno che varia a seconda della storia che stiamo seguendo. Nel complesso lettura non insufficiente, semplicemente normale, niente di fondamentale o trascendentale. Scrittura 2, disegni 5, complessivo di 3,5 ma diciamo forse anche un po' meno, 3,35.
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