The Squidder

by Ben Templesmith

This all-new story finds an old soldier from a forgotten war in a post-apocalyptic world that has left him behind. He was one of the last of the legendary Squidder Legions. Can a discarded relic with a death wish and a rebellious Squid priestess overthrow humanity’s tentacled alien overlords? Ben Templesmith returns to his roots to finally do the tentacle/Cthulhu-orientated book he's always promised! The Squidder mixes action, horror, science fiction, and fantasy elements with a touch of Squidly destruction.

Genres: Graphic Novels, Comics, Horror, Science Fiction, Fantasy, Fiction, Graphic Novels Comics

128 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2014

About the author

Illustrator and writer of graphic novels / comics.
------------
Photograph of author by Peow Yeong: October 16 2011 at the 2011 New York Comic Convention in Manhattan.

Reviews

[Char · Rating 4 out of 5]

I requested this graphic novel from Net Galley because a few of my friends checked it out and thought it was pretty good. They were right.

I found this to be action packed fun! I liked the characters and I enjoyed the artwork quite a bit. I found that I enjoyed looking at the panels more from a distance rather than up close. Once I got a feel for the artist, I knew in which few parts I wanted to zoom in to see the details. The artwork reminded me a little bit of Impressionist paintings. It all came together best when viewed from a little ways back.

The story was a little confused. I'm not sure that's the word I'm looking for. These are some of the familiar themes that came to mind while I was reading: The Cthulhu Mythos (sort of obvious), Mad Max, Dune, (riding a behemoth squid instead of a worm),  Rambo (made into a killing machine, but now idle), The Terminator (sort of), and the Borg from Star Trek (hive minds and whatnot). Despite all that, I did like the idea of The Squidder, a genetically modified soldier designed to fight against the  invading legions of squid. I am interested to see where it will go from here.

Overall, I enjoyed this graphic novel and I found it to be entertaining. While not wholly original, I think it still has the potential to visit some entirely new places in the future and for this reason, I will be looking for the second in the series.

Recommended for sci-fi graphic novel fans, fans of Lovecraft and of horror in general.

I was provided a copy of this graphic novel by Net Galley in exchange for an honest review. This is it.

[Paul Nelson · Rating 4 out of 5]

First off I love Ben Templesmiths artwork, it’s not clean cut panels and pristine colours, it’s dark and raw, visceral, its blood and fire. Something to behold, something to look at, take it in and appreciate, leave your microscope behind because you don’t see stuff like this every day.
 
I got the opportunity to review this and my thanks to Netgalley & IDW publishing but instead of the electronic version I’ve got the behemoth Kickstarter Hardcover which is a substantial and wickedly impressive piece.
 
The artwork was everything I expected and a hell of a lot more, there was extra artwork in the rear that was just phenomenal and yes I guess I am breaking down into fanboy mode. Doesn't happen very often, in fact fuck the story I'm just going to show some of the artwork and let it speak for itself.
 
There are many stories about the end of the world. It's a popular subject. These dystopian tales show a bruised and battered humanity, struggling to get by in a world where everything has changed. In Ben Templesmith's The Squidder, the cause of mankind's decline is a race of ancient alien squids that invaded the planet and wiped out most of humanity. But there are those that fight, those that were bred to fight and its all about the fight.
 
That's me done.
 

 
Blood and fire is a familiar backdrop to Ben Templesmith's stuff.
 

 

 

 

 
There's even a bit of sex but not your usual pregnancy I assure you.
 

 
And yep the backdrop is fire.
 

 
Quality, go get it.
 

My apologies the pics aren't there go to http://paulnelson.booklikes.com/post/...

[Sam Quixote · Rating 1 out of 5]

Reading Ben Templesmith’s The Squidder is a game of “spot the reference”. I don’t think there’s a single original element to it that hasn’t already been used two or three times already in much more famous books or movies.

In some post-apocalyptic world (like Mad Max, The Road, The Walking Dead, I Am Legend), humans have become like crops to be harvested by flying squid monsters - THE MATRIX anyone? Our hero is Jack aka a Squidder, a genetically enhanced soldier (like 2000AD’s Rogue Trooper) whose nanites cause any harm to him becomes magically healed (like Valiant’s Bloodshot) who lost his wife and kids to the squids because losing your family counts as instant audience empathy, right?

Together with a female human sidekick, who’s a squid mage whatever that means, the two must travel the post-apocalyptic world (like The Book of Eli) to battle a female baddie who controls the hive mind of the squids. Anyone play Starcraft? This character screams KERRIGAN so much I bet Blizzard could sue and win if they wanted. I swear she’s even drawn like her in some panels.

This book elicited two emotions from me: hatred and boredom. When I wasn’t feeling one, I was feeling the other. By the end, I was feeling both! Every page is dull action (it’s always tense when your main character is invincible) or cliched dialogue with plot and visuals borrowed from multiple sources. This was one long slog through utterly crap writing following two non-characters on an incoherent quest to do something that I can’t even muster up the energy to not care about. I kind of wanted the squids to win, that’s how much I loathed our “heroes”, but really I just wanted it to end.

There was one scene here that seemed original, where the female squid mage becomes instantly pregnant and births a sword - yup, that squeezes it way out of there! - but what a monumentally stupid scene. I mean really, birthing a sword?

The Squidder is a horrendously written and conceived comic. Templesmith’s a decent artist but he’s not a good writer. Those other things I mentioned earlier? Go check those out instead, they are infinitely better than this load of rotten squid.

[ᴥ Irena ᴥ · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5

A hundred-year-old genetically engineered soldier is the humanity's last chance of survival. The Earth is conquered by the great Squid and it's up to one man to deal with it.
The story is interesting, but the font and colours made it almost unreadable. I've read it as a story divided into four parts and had to stop every now and then to rest my eyes.

[Steve · Rating 2 out of 5]

I received this from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This was potentially an interesting concept, but the font and font color used made it impossible to continue past page 44. If the publisher would fix this, it will be a solid four stars.

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5*

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Jack is a squidder, a genetically modified soldier used to battle the invading alien squid, but now a relic of the past. The new world is ruled by a Cthulhu like god and an army of squid men. Jack is asked to acquire a priestess of the god, but instead he decides to save her and they journey to what may be the final battle to save the earth.

Jack was quite an engaging character, a wise cracking hard ass but with a gentler side that is shown through his helping the priestess, Seph, and his devotion to his dead family. The other characters didn't stand out quite as much, Seph has some great scenes as well and shows herself to just as prone to violence as Jack and a total bad ass.

The story itself was dark, disturbing and incredibly violent and it packs a lot into the 111 pages. The back story to Seph and Jack is done really well and adds more depth to the read. Art wise, this looks amazing. The drawings are sketchy, often lacking in detail but lose no impact for it, perfectly suiting the mood of the storyline.

Highly enjoyable post apocalyptic read.

[Ming Wei · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent science fiction comic/grahic novel, really like this artist style of drawing, much different from other artists, really good. good story line.

[Wayne McCoy · Rating 4 out of 5]

'The Squidder' is a strange work by Ben Templesmith, but when it was all finished I liked it quite a bit. I had a hard time reading some of the panels, but that might have been because I had a review copy.

The Squidder is genetically modified human designed to fight off an invasion of squid-like aliens from outer space. He's the last of his kind, and humans have won the war, sort of, so he spends his time hiring out for mercenary type jobs. He doesn't like a lot of the people he works for, but he's good at taking a tough job. He rescues a weird priestess that serves the squids and this is more than he can take since the squids killed his wife, but he sees a chance to rid the world of the squids once and for all. He finds strange allies and enemies in this fight before it's over.

The story was interesting. A strange futuristic story that felt like a throwback to a Western. I liked Ben Templesmith's art in '30 Days of Night' and the art is really interesting, but may not be to everyone's taste. It's kind of all over the place and less defined, but I think it's pretty cool. The cover will give you an idea of what the art inside looks like. It was different and I liked it.

I received a review copy of this graphic novel from Diamond Book Distributors, IDW Publishing, and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this bold graphic novel.

[Christina · Rating 2 out of 5]

I tried to like it but I just couldn't. This is my first time trying out Ben Templesmith and I appreciate his art but just not as much when coupled with his writing. It has to be one or the other, I think, because together they just didn't work out. If I have to work hard to get into the artwork and understand the story through the graphic panels, I also don't want to be working equally as hard trying to piece the story together via a confusing and stalling narrative. The two stars here are all for the art because Templesmith really knows how to put forth the picture of post-apocalyptic anguish and I just plain loved the way he paints the night sky. But he can keep his squid aliens. They were kind of lame anyway.

[rick. · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was a backer for The Squidder on Kickstarter, so the version I read is the complete hardcover graphic novel published by 44Flood rather than the IDW hardcover collected trade. Ben Templesmith (writer and illustrator) described it as a "director's cut" which indicates that it may have some additional content. The physical book itself is beautiful with wrap-around cover, high quality heavy satin finish stock, UV ink highlights on the cover, and just overall quality product. Many of the pages seemed just a touch out of focus, like the plates weren't perfectly calibrated which was especially distracting when the dialogue was either red on black or green on black. The art (and the story) are like a fever dream. Moments of clarity in a disorienting haze of stimulus. Templesmith works with ink on paper and all the coloring is watercolor. It cannot be overstated how mesmerizing the effect can be. The combination creates nuance and subtlety; and infinite variation of tones within a single frame. The colors are natural earthy shades, rust and patina. The mood they set are the backbone of the storytelling. Most of the ink illustration is loose and energetic. There can be a very kinetic feel to it, but as often as not the action is lost in an explosion of ink and paint. The anatomy of the characters are fluid and inconsistent, but as many are squid-like I guess that is to be expected. I haven't really discussed the story yet, and mentioning it this late makes it seem like and after-thought, but that is probably appropriate. The Squidder is a murky, post-apocalyptic, ronin folktale. His wife and child are dead. He is the last warrior standing, facing an impossibly strong enemy. There is a magical MacGuffin which makes our hero the one man in all of creation uniquely suited to save his world. It is as paint-by-numbers as the actual painting is not. I think Templesmith just wanted to have a Lovecraftian story where he could paint really cool epic scenes with a lot of tentacles.

[Craig · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting, though not terribly original comic. In a weird, postapocalyptic future, after the human race has been largely wiped out and the remnants subjugated to flying squid monsters in the service of the "Dark Father," the last of the Squidders, human soldiers who've been bio-engineered to fight back, is tasked with one final mission. Just typing that sentence has me a bit bored already. Jack, the Squidder, is hired to find a former squid mother, a human woman who has been altered to interface with the squids, and return her to her master, the crime boss of a small human settlement. He takes the job and finds the woman, but then decides not to turn her over. Apparently, he's got some sort of immunity to the squids, due to being bathed in some sort of light during a battle (shades of Tom Cruise in Edge of Tomorrow?) and this makes him the champion of humanity or some such. Templesmith is a good artist and the squids and the mangled remnants of humanity are well-rendered in all their horribleness. But this story is about as hackneyed as they come, throwing together bits of this movie and that post-apocalyptic scenario. You can see nods to Mad Max, the Matrix, etc., etc., and unfortunately, it doesn't all gel together as its own entity. Not a complete waste, but not particularly memorable, either.

[Nick Nafpliotis · Rating 5 out of 5]

You don’t find many people at this level in the profession who can simultaneously draw and write so well. The Squidder reveals that Templesmith has so much talent in both those areas that it’s almost unfair. Not only is he an amazing artist, but he can craft one hell of a good tale. This isn’t ‘good writing for an artist’ good, but just flat out, really damn good.

My full review of The Squidder at AiPT:

http://www.adventuresinpoortaste.com/...

[Sonic · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fun Squiddamn book!

Of course Ben Templesmith's dark, visceral, and obfuscated art takes center stage,
but the writing was decent enough to make it work.

Hail Squid






!!!

[Amber · Rating 2 out of 5]

After falling in love with Fell: Feral City, I've made it my mission to seek out more Ben Templesmith (and Warren Ellis, obviously). Unfortunately, this just didn't do it for me. I mean, the art is just as phantasmagorical as I remember loving in Fell, and that style lends itself very well to the Lovecraftian squids in this one. All the tentacles in Templesmith style look terrifying and perfect.

Unfortunately, the story and characters just don't live up to the art. Both felt so completely generic that this was a slog to read. I mean, the whole thing is a bunch of cliches stitched together with pretty good art. The main character is your textbook badass ex-soldier. (A list of his very cliche lines/actions: "Interrupting my sleep kinda pisses me off." "I'm not even breaking a sweat." Lighting up a cigarette while surrounded. Not meeting anyone good enough to kill him. He is preachy. Has a dead wife. Hatred keeps him warm at night. A prophecy. "I've had worse odds.") There is nothing likable or remotely interesting about him. You have seen his EXACT CHARACTER a million times before. The others aren't much better. They serve the roles you would expect them to and never deviate from their tropes enough to be worth reading about.

Likewise, the world is just as formulaic and uninteresting. Besides the fact that giant inter-dimensional squids took over, this could be any generic apocalypse. Raider kings, roving assholes, rapists, etc. I even feel like the squid overlords follow too familiar tropes: aliens harvesting resources, second in command trying to seize power just because, hive mind, cults worshiping them. There just isn't anything new or worth your time here. The art alone can't save this graphic novel.

[Cale · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wherein Ben Templesmith gets to draw as many tentacles as he could ever want...

This is an apocalypse story with evil squid. If that sounds appealing, and you like Templesmith's distinctive style of grungy, super-saturated art, this is everything you could want. The Squidder is the last super-soldier still fighting a war against cephalopod overlords who gets roped into an internal battle for power. The story does a good job of continuously raising the stakes, until it becomes a battle for the very universe, while still keeping our protagonist's place in the conflict believable. There's lots of excessive violence and gruesomeness, and some of the final conflict seems to overwhelm Templesmith's ability to portray it visually, but it still provides an epic adventure. Recommended for fans of Templesmith - I think others may have trouble getting over the art and getting into the story (the world building is pretty creative though, so it may be worth it for that alone).

[Nathan · Rating 1 out of 5]

I’m very much not the target audience for this book, though I can’t imagine that it has a massive target audience. If you’re a fan of gore and violence in a straightforward but forgettable story (as in, the story goes largely the way you think it’s going to go once it gets rolling), this might be for you. The art is interesting, but also not really in a style that I’m a fan of. Look at a sample of the book and if what you see isn’t your cup of tea, keep moving. Finally, this includes a “sleep with me to save the world” element that’s just icky. The fact that the main character calls it out doesn’t justify it - it points out that the author knows how ridiculous it is. This was a huge miss for me.

[Albert Yates · Rating 4 out of 5]

I could spend all day looking at the pretty things that Ben Templesmith creates. I first found him in 30 Days Of Night and it's been wonderful ever since.

Squidder is the story of a forgotten soldier whose been technologically modified to combat a great alien invasion. It didn't go so well and humanity has been enslaved ever since. He's finally found the courage and the partner to complete his mission.

[Carlyle Laurent · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an excellent story that could really do with a prequel book or some form of live action interpretation. Unfortunately the artwork was masterfully drawn but badly coloured. Entire pages can feel like they are the same colour which can make it very difficult to pick out individual characters or understand exactly what is happening.

[Kaitlyn · Rating 2 out of 5]

It feels a bit like Metabarons mixed with Lovecraft. There's a lot, I mean, a lot, of established sci-fi, new weird, and post-apocalyptic tropes in here. Enough that you won't be surprised by anything besides, perhaps, sword pregnancy.

That being said, the art is gorgeous. A sketchy style with watercolor. Its gorgeously grotesque.

[Daniel Goulas · Rating 3 out of 5]

If the art accompanying this comic was supposed to make me feel dirty, it did a very good job ad doing that.

The sole reason I've not given this a bigger score is that the characters and the narrative were rushed, incomplete. A nexus queen with just one tentacle horn. The ideas behind it, the gist of it were awesome though.

Long live Cthulhu.

[Vinoth Madivanan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Average book with interesting concept. The plot had it's 'aaah' moments but nothing too intriguing. You can fill up one lazy Saturday afternoon with this. Not a disappointment. Was just right. Goes in my good books list still.

[Komuniststar · Rating 4 out of 5]

Crtež koji na prvu zove 30 dana noći, a kako se sve više uživih priziva duh Mignole. Dobra doza akcije, prstohvat mistike, šaka SFa i glazura krvi i pipaka, postapokalipsa retko dojde bolje upakirana!

[Shawn Ingle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty standard post-apocalyptic hive-mind alien takeover. Typical Templesmith artwork where some is evocative and some is difficult to tell what's going on. Pretty good character development, though. Otherwise, this would have been 2 stars.

[Simon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Terrific art. Pretty decent story.

[Josh Storey · Rating 3 out of 5]

An awesome idea for a post-apocalypse that delves deeper into the corners Templesmith's universe. A few problems here and there but overall I liked it.

[Beattie · Rating 2 out of 5]

The story is predictable and not terribly interesting. The best part of it is the art for sure.

[Scott · Rating 5 out of 5]

Some really weird, nasty, out-there stuff, with some great artwork, all of which should be expected from Mr. Templesmith.

[Ben Brackett · Rating 2 out of 5]

i had trouble following what was going on

[Elizabeth Wilson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great story, amazing art - wish there was more.

[Seth · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ever wonder what Lovecraft would be like if his prose were generically bad and he stuck to describable horrors, which he illustrated in dull style with lots of gore?

... Yeah, me either.