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Liege-Killer GN
Binary
Binary the graphic novel is based on Christopher Hinz's novel, Liege-Killer, which won the Compton Crook Award in 1988, and has garnered a cult following.
Liege-Killer is part of a trilogy, which includes Ash Ock and The Paratwa. In Liege-Killer, human experimentation on human embryos in the near future produced a new species: the Paratwa, a single consciousness occupying telepathically linked bodies. The Paratwa are highly skilled warriors but look like normal people and are not necessarily identical twins, and can even be a pair of male and female. The books follow the activities of humans and Paratwa as these old enemies are reunited more than a century after the earth's apocalypse during which humans had thought the Paratwa race had become extinct.
Liege-Killer is part of a trilogy, which includes Ash Ock and The Paratwa. In Liege-Killer, human experimentation on human embryos in the near future produced a new species: the Paratwa, a single consciousness occupying telepathically linked bodies. The Paratwa are highly skilled warriors but look like normal people and are not necessarily identical twins, and can even be a pair of male and female. The books follow the activities of humans and Paratwa as these old enemies are reunited more than a century after the earth's apocalypse during which humans had thought the Paratwa race had become extinct.
133 pages, Graphic Novel
First published May 1, 2013
47 people want to read
About the author
Christopher Hinz
53 books76 followersChristopher Hinz is an author of science fiction thrillers – novels, comic books, screenplays and more.
Born in 1951 in Reading, PA, USA, his early passion for all things SF led to the writing of his first “book” in elementary school. A four-page epic, it featured a giant monster brought back from Mars who escapes and climbs the tallest building in Chicago, only to be blasted from that perch with a nuclear cannon. The inevitable fallout, along with other youthful digressions, steered Hinz away from science fiction writing – and Chicago – for many years.
His first mature work,LIEGE-KILLER, was originally published in 1987 by St. Martin’s Press. ANACHRONISMS, ASH OCK and THE PARATWA soon followed. The latter two novels, together with LIEGE-KILLER, form “The Paratwa Saga.”
A subsequent foray into comic books led to a number of publications, including creator-owned GEMINI BLOOD (with artist Tommy Lee Edwards) and DEAD CORPS (with artist Steve Pugh) for DC Comics, and BLADE for Marvel Comics, also with Pugh. An evolution into screenwriting resulted in the sale of BINARY, a script based on LIEGE-KILLER.
In addition to other SF projects, he has worked a variety of Earth-based jobs, including picture framer, turret-lathe operator, TV technical director and newspaper staff writer. He has played in rock bands, modeled dioramas and designed and marketed an auto racing board game. He currently creates new stories from the semi-seclusion of a wooded realm in Berks County, Pennsylvania.
Born in 1951 in Reading, PA, USA, his early passion for all things SF led to the writing of his first “book” in elementary school. A four-page epic, it featured a giant monster brought back from Mars who escapes and climbs the tallest building in Chicago, only to be blasted from that perch with a nuclear cannon. The inevitable fallout, along with other youthful digressions, steered Hinz away from science fiction writing – and Chicago – for many years.
His first mature work,LIEGE-KILLER, was originally published in 1987 by St. Martin’s Press. ANACHRONISMS, ASH OCK and THE PARATWA soon followed. The latter two novels, together with LIEGE-KILLER, form “The Paratwa Saga.”
A subsequent foray into comic books led to a number of publications, including creator-owned GEMINI BLOOD (with artist Tommy Lee Edwards) and DEAD CORPS (with artist Steve Pugh) for DC Comics, and BLADE for Marvel Comics, also with Pugh. An evolution into screenwriting resulted in the sale of BINARY, a script based on LIEGE-KILLER.
In addition to other SF projects, he has worked a variety of Earth-based jobs, including picture framer, turret-lathe operator, TV technical director and newspaper staff writer. He has played in rock bands, modeled dioramas and designed and marketed an auto racing board game. He currently creates new stories from the semi-seclusion of a wooded realm in Berks County, Pennsylvania.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
September 29, 2014
Written by Christopher Hinz, this is a graphic novel based on Leige Killer, a book (part one of the Paratwa saga) that I read as a high schooler. It is a slight retelling with notable differences (Catherine's killers, no Aristotle mention, no Codrus), but it is well illustrated and still a good read. I recommend it, and enjoyed the inclusion of an additional short story at the end. Anyone who likes this and hasn't read the source material needs to. I am a huge fan of the Paratwa trilogy (Hinz was kind enough to autograph a copy of Ash Ock for me while I was serving in the Marines in the 90s) and always thought-if treated properly-would be great movies.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 23, 2022
I might still give the novel a go because the story and world was interesting and i would like to learn more. But this graphic novel was ugly, full of copy and paste faces every other page. It's pretty bad when you can not only find the exact reference picture the artist traced, but when it's also on the first page of search results?? Yikes yikes yikes
October 22, 2023
Good concept (maybe) but hard to get through. I need a character to follow, someone I care about. This book reminds me of school history lessons. A lot of dry information with no apparent reason. Dnf.
February 13, 2023
What happens when the worst (or best, depending if you're a victim or a client) assassins end up in cryogenic suspension, the apocalypse happens, humanity moves to the colonies, and then the assassins wake up?
I was looking forward to this, as a newbie to the world of Liege Killer - but it felt a bit dark in colouring, and didn't explain the background as well as might have been needed. You can see how it would have worked well in the written word, where you can add so much more detail and background.
Blurb:
Awakened from a 200-year sleep - who can stop the deadliest killer ever to walk the Earth from terrorising the human race?
It's been 200 years since a nuclear apocalypse forced humanity to flee Earth, but humans still fear the planet's most deadly warriors - the Paratwa, genetically modified killers who occupy two bodies controlled by one cold-blooded mind. Known as the Liege-Killer, the legendary Paratwa Reemul was the deadliest of them all. Now someone has awakened Reemul from his centuries-long stasis and sent him to terrorise the peaceful orbital colonies of Earth. Is this an isolated incident or is someone unleashing this terrible power in a gambit for control over the entire human race? And how will this now non-violent world be able to defeat one of history's most vicious killers?
I got this as part of my #ABoS A Box of Stories subscription, and I love them for including a graphic novel. Unfortunately, I feel that it's not a stand alone novel - it needs more depth and background to it to get the most out of the story. And because I wasn't in love with the graphic novel, I have no desire to go out and find the other novels in this series. Sorry about that... one for the charity pile, and I hope that someone else will end up loving it more than I did.
I was looking forward to this, as a newbie to the world of Liege Killer - but it felt a bit dark in colouring, and didn't explain the background as well as might have been needed. You can see how it would have worked well in the written word, where you can add so much more detail and background.
Blurb:
Awakened from a 200-year sleep - who can stop the deadliest killer ever to walk the Earth from terrorising the human race?
It's been 200 years since a nuclear apocalypse forced humanity to flee Earth, but humans still fear the planet's most deadly warriors - the Paratwa, genetically modified killers who occupy two bodies controlled by one cold-blooded mind. Known as the Liege-Killer, the legendary Paratwa Reemul was the deadliest of them all. Now someone has awakened Reemul from his centuries-long stasis and sent him to terrorise the peaceful orbital colonies of Earth. Is this an isolated incident or is someone unleashing this terrible power in a gambit for control over the entire human race? And how will this now non-violent world be able to defeat one of history's most vicious killers?
I got this as part of my #ABoS A Box of Stories subscription, and I love them for including a graphic novel. Unfortunately, I feel that it's not a stand alone novel - it needs more depth and background to it to get the most out of the story. And because I wasn't in love with the graphic novel, I have no desire to go out and find the other novels in this series. Sorry about that... one for the charity pile, and I hope that someone else will end up loving it more than I did.
February 20, 2018
I'd heard of the source material before, so I am familiar with the concept behind the story. And I had read another comic miniseries from the nineties Gemini Blood based on the same story. Great ideas, not great execution. I don't think the flow of the narrative was smooth enough; I felt like I was missing something. That might be due to condensing the novel into a graphic novel. The art is adequate. Sometimes detailed, sometimes imaginative.
October 27, 2014
It's like Demolition Man meets Tripler.
November 10, 2014
Filled with interesting ideas and featuring vivid art, but perhaps less streamlined than it needs to be. Fans of Philip K. Dick would find this material familiar.
May 18, 2020
This is one wild ride. The plot never stopped rolling, and the illustrations were stunning.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews