By A Thread

By A Thread

by Scott Snyder, Will Dennis (editor), Whitney Cogar (colorist)

In By a Thread, thirteen years ago a deadly and mysterious infection spread across the Earth’s terrain, forcing humankind to live in communities precipitously built above the ground.

Growing up on Needle Three, Jo barely remembers a time before darkness enveloped the world. But when our hero’s community comes under attack by the despotic Charon and his forces, Jo and his friends must decide whether or not to venture across the wasteland in search of a safe haven as the world hangs by a thread.

Genres: Graphic Novels, Comics

122 pages, Kindle Edition

Published May 28, 2024

About the author

Scott Snyder is the Eisner and Harvey Award winning writer on DC Comics Batman, Swamp Thing, and his original series for Vertigo, American Vampire. He is also the author of the short story collection, Voodoo Heart, published by the Dial Press in 2006. The paperback version was published in the summer of 2007.

Reviews

[Estibaliz · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 maybe, but a clear visible 2 star rating, because I don't think I would be interested on continuing the series with arc 2, and that's always the biggest telltale.

Granted, the art is pretty good, colorful and fun, but also somber when it needs too, and the background of the story is quite interesting. But then, the whole plot is very formulaic, and so are the characters; till the point where, as I said, I don't really care what happens to them next.

So chances are this is where it stops for me. And volume 2 would have to be really original and engaging for me to change my mind about 'By a Thread': nice to look at, but a total wasted world.

[Alex Sarll]

The standard Mad Max set-up - dead world, isolated settlements, skull-faced warlord, rumours of somewhere better - except that the apocalypse in question was a mysterious, corrosive darkness spreading over the surface of the Earth. Bearable, but I suspect even the YA crowd have seen it all before.

[Niina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Maailma on verhoutunut varjoon, shroudiin, tappavaan aineeseen, jonka alkuperä ei ole tiedossa. Tämä on maailmanloppu ilman zombeja, mutta on monelta osin samakaltainen. ihmiskunta asuu neuloiksi kutsutuissa korkeissa hökötyksissä, joiden perusta on timanttia - ainoaa ainetta, mitä shroud ei pysty sulattamaan.

13 vuotta katastrofin jälkeen varjomassassa alkaa näkyä elämää, painajaismaisia jättiläisotuksia, joiden olemassaoloon ei neuloissa aluksi uskottu. Ja sitten saapuu muukalainen muuttaen kaikkien elämän suunnan. Päähenkilö on teini-ikäinen Jo, joka on menettänyt paitsi molemmat vanhempansa kahinoissa ollessaan aivan pieni, myös toisen kätensä shroudille.

Pidin maailmasta ja piirrostyylistä muutoin, paitsi Jon kohdalla, sillä hänen kasvonsa muuttuvat jokaisessa kuvassa ja ilman mustia arpia voisi olla vaikeaa tunnistaa hänet samaksi hahmoksi. Tämä toimisi mainiosti elokuvana tai tv-sarjana.

[Craig · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not terrible. This was a lot better than some of these Snyder Comixology originals (Duck and Cover, anyone?), but still a bit underdeveloped, with characters who are little more than their names/roles ("Her name was Charlie. That's really all there is to know about her."). There's a bunch of kids living on a "needle" in the aftermath of a global apocalypse caused by "the shroud," a mass of black goo that came up out of the ground and now covers (and kills) everything, except for towers built atop diamond foundations. Jo and his friends do little more than try to survive from one day to the next, so when a boy with diamond boots shows up with a story about a black diamond island somewhere to the east, it leads them to set off on a possibly ill-considered adventure in search of it. The art is interesting, a bit chaotic at times, but expressive and colorful. I'd read another volume if one came along...

[Chris · Rating 1 out of 5]

Did not finish

None of the characters are fleshed out or appear to have a real motivation. The world building is very slight and has very little in the way of sensible rules. And for a book that is highly concept based the concept is made even weaker by the manga inspired art that barely illustrates the world that the story takes place in.

[Wolky · Rating 4 out of 5]

Classic YA stuff bro.
An inclusive morality in a dystopia where the special kids find out a deep secret and dare to hope.
It's not really my cup of tea anymore but as a teenager I would have loved this.
It's also got that weird "Some villains have a sense of justice or a noble character thing" that's classic.

[Jess Klug · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great artwork and the beginnings of a cool world but not much of a plot.

[The_J · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quite an apocalypse - a reasonable adventure start.

[Andy Narwhal · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fun YA dystopia with memorable characters drawn by Valerie Favoccia and a nice twist I didn’t see coming.

[Kanti · Rating 3 out of 5]

Simple, Jo-Jo, you just follow the threads.

Lovely artwork. Interesting plot.