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STEAM: Island Under Siege
Set against the conflict of the Second World War, something terrifying has been released on the small island of Malta. Realising they are in over their heads, the local authorities request help in tracking a sadistic killer, whose body count already stands at five. A special team is dispatched to deal with the murderer – and so the hunt begins on the war torn island for a killer that the team soon discover is unlike anything they have encountered before…. If this was not bad enough, the team also have to face off against a mysterious Nazi team, who are also hunting the killer, but for darker reasons. It all boils down to a 166 page adventure full of action and comedy
165 pages, Kindle Edition
Published December 15, 2015
1 person is currently reading
6 people want to read
About the author
Ashley Eric Peschel
1 book5 followersAshley Eric Peschel has been writing since he was a young child and S.T.E.A.M. Island under Siege is his first graphic novel, it is the result of three years work with artist Peter Magro.
Ashley is also a self-confessed geek who loves everything from Deadpool to Doctor Who.
Ashley is also a self-confessed geek who loves everything from Deadpool to Doctor Who.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
December 30, 2015
I received a free copy in exchange for an honest review.
I actually enjoyed this one quite a bit. I found that the story came together at a good pace and the characters were likable. I was impressed by most of the art, but there were a few panels I had to study quite a bit to figure out what was going on. The book could have used a but more editing/proofreading, as I found a handful of errors in the text itself. All in all, I think this was a successful debut for the author.
I actually enjoyed this one quite a bit. I found that the story came together at a good pace and the characters were likable. I was impressed by most of the art, but there were a few panels I had to study quite a bit to figure out what was going on. The book could have used a but more editing/proofreading, as I found a handful of errors in the text itself. All in all, I think this was a successful debut for the author.
January 13, 2016
I received an electronic copy of this graphic novel in return for an honest review.
This review can also be found on my blog culturetastic.wordpress.com and on amazon.
Title: S.T.E.A.M. Island Under Siege
Written and Lettered by: Ashley Eric Peschel
Art by: Peter Magro
Publisher: Self-Published via Amazon
This graphic novel is set in the time of the Second World War and deals with a group of unlikely companions fighting against supernatural creatures. And Nazis, of course.
It is the first published work of the creators Ashley Eric Peschel and Peter Magro, and the result of a project which lasted over three years (according to Peschel’s bio).
It is obvious that both author and artist put a lot of work in this graphic novel. It being the first published book by the creator team, though, it is not surprising that there are some difficulties that need to be mentioned. As I read a lot of comic books and graphic novels each week, I am used to a certain level of quality in a book’s layout, overall character development and story structure. I follow a lot of artists’ and writers’ work and feel like I have reached a level of understanding comics to be able to formulate what works and what doesn’t. Still, keep in mind that everyone has their own taste – and comics are no exception. So what doesn’t work for me might very well work for you.
While reading S.T.E.A.M., I found it very hard to follow the story as the panel and text flow order was sometimes unclear to me. Also, I have major problems with spelling errors and non-existent or sparce punctuation, which made reading the first third of this book nearly unbearable to me. I suggest spell-check and a proof-reader to go over your work before publishing it.
I also felt like there was too much text cramped into one panel. This book would have profited from a few more pages and a clearer structure to assure the reader is not overwhelmed by the information in a panel/on a page. This is a personal preference, of course. A more professional letterer could have assured a better reading quality and smarter speech bubble positioning as well as more distinguished and better integrated sound effects.
Stay with me, I’ll quit nagging now.
That being said, once I got over my problems with the layout and errors in the book, and focused more on the story, I did enjoy myself. The premise of this graphic novel is very interesting and opens opportunities for more books set in this world. There was good humour in it – some of which made me laugh out loud.
While it is clear that. both, the author and artist are still learning their craft, you could clearly see the potential throughout the book. I especially loved the monster design and some of the close-up images of buildings, landscapes, airplanes etc. You can see the amount of work that was put into all the details. That is amazing. I feel like Magro is very good at design but still needs to do some work on figure drawing and perspective.
The main characters are a German priest, an American cowboy, and an English knight. Sounds like the beginning of a bad joke? Maybe, but give it a go. All of them have their own set of gifts which allow them to hunt the dark creatures that threaten their lives. They are well known for their fighting skills and thus often sought after. In the course of the book, they get a mission to find a ruthless serial killer – before the Nazis find him. This ultimately leads them to a fellow gifted person, called Maria, who has to decide if she wants to join in their mission, or continue on with her normal life.
If you enjoy murder-mysteries with fantasy elements, this book may be something for you. Sadly, I couldn’t really get into it.
This review can also be found on my blog culturetastic.wordpress.com and on amazon.
Title: S.T.E.A.M. Island Under Siege
Written and Lettered by: Ashley Eric Peschel
Art by: Peter Magro
Publisher: Self-Published via Amazon
This graphic novel is set in the time of the Second World War and deals with a group of unlikely companions fighting against supernatural creatures. And Nazis, of course.
It is the first published work of the creators Ashley Eric Peschel and Peter Magro, and the result of a project which lasted over three years (according to Peschel’s bio).
It is obvious that both author and artist put a lot of work in this graphic novel. It being the first published book by the creator team, though, it is not surprising that there are some difficulties that need to be mentioned. As I read a lot of comic books and graphic novels each week, I am used to a certain level of quality in a book’s layout, overall character development and story structure. I follow a lot of artists’ and writers’ work and feel like I have reached a level of understanding comics to be able to formulate what works and what doesn’t. Still, keep in mind that everyone has their own taste – and comics are no exception. So what doesn’t work for me might very well work for you.
While reading S.T.E.A.M., I found it very hard to follow the story as the panel and text flow order was sometimes unclear to me. Also, I have major problems with spelling errors and non-existent or sparce punctuation, which made reading the first third of this book nearly unbearable to me. I suggest spell-check and a proof-reader to go over your work before publishing it.
I also felt like there was too much text cramped into one panel. This book would have profited from a few more pages and a clearer structure to assure the reader is not overwhelmed by the information in a panel/on a page. This is a personal preference, of course. A more professional letterer could have assured a better reading quality and smarter speech bubble positioning as well as more distinguished and better integrated sound effects.
Stay with me, I’ll quit nagging now.
That being said, once I got over my problems with the layout and errors in the book, and focused more on the story, I did enjoy myself. The premise of this graphic novel is very interesting and opens opportunities for more books set in this world. There was good humour in it – some of which made me laugh out loud.
While it is clear that. both, the author and artist are still learning their craft, you could clearly see the potential throughout the book. I especially loved the monster design and some of the close-up images of buildings, landscapes, airplanes etc. You can see the amount of work that was put into all the details. That is amazing. I feel like Magro is very good at design but still needs to do some work on figure drawing and perspective.
The main characters are a German priest, an American cowboy, and an English knight. Sounds like the beginning of a bad joke? Maybe, but give it a go. All of them have their own set of gifts which allow them to hunt the dark creatures that threaten their lives. They are well known for their fighting skills and thus often sought after. In the course of the book, they get a mission to find a ruthless serial killer – before the Nazis find him. This ultimately leads them to a fellow gifted person, called Maria, who has to decide if she wants to join in their mission, or continue on with her normal life.
If you enjoy murder-mysteries with fantasy elements, this book may be something for you. Sadly, I couldn’t really get into it.
February 29, 2016
I want to say this book had potential, but it needed a lot of improvements to get there. This is a first book by the author, and I believe the artist, and honestly, it shows. I'll try to be constructive here. I got it free for review.
Starting with the art. In the back of the book the artist said he wants it to show as hand drawn, and it clearly is that. I understand his motive, but this looked more like the sketches, or a storyboard, of the comic than the final work. The black and white drawn look is fine if that's the direction they want to go, but there were times I couldn't tell what I was even looking at. There just wasn't a good enough definition of line. Sometimes the artist went overboard with shading and attempt at detail and it just ended up muddy. The work is amateurish in the figure drawing and often they look quite stiff. I'm guessing he was drawing from ideas rather than from reference.
Some of the paneling was good and unique and there were occasional panels with good shifts in perspective. I'm not sure if the artist did the lettering, but placement of speech bubbles was occasionally difficult to follow.
Actually, the art somewhat reminded me of the book From Hell by Moore. I don't recall the artist on that one, but I hated it. This art might actually be somewhat of an improvement over that.
The writing - while the idea and overall plot of the book was ok, and the pacing was decent, the dialogue was just not very natural. The characters were pretty stereotypical and thin. The author mentioned his favorite character was Buck. I think he was actually my least favorite character as he was just so overly cheezy.
One suggestion to the author would be to use the method of show, not tell. Direct the artist in a way to show how something works, or progress plot through images only, or similar things where there are less words on the page. Use the comic medium for what it is.
I liked how, especially toward the end, the story changes from characters to characters when they are separated. Actually, overall, I'd say the last 1/3rd of the book was the best part.
This review was more directed toward the creators and, if they read this, hopefully they can take the criticism as constructive and improve their work. I think they have potential and with improvements, and an editor perhaps (there were also quite a few typos and errors), they could eventually get a good book. I know it takes a ton of work and I don't want to discourage.
Starting with the art. In the back of the book the artist said he wants it to show as hand drawn, and it clearly is that. I understand his motive, but this looked more like the sketches, or a storyboard, of the comic than the final work. The black and white drawn look is fine if that's the direction they want to go, but there were times I couldn't tell what I was even looking at. There just wasn't a good enough definition of line. Sometimes the artist went overboard with shading and attempt at detail and it just ended up muddy. The work is amateurish in the figure drawing and often they look quite stiff. I'm guessing he was drawing from ideas rather than from reference.
Some of the paneling was good and unique and there were occasional panels with good shifts in perspective. I'm not sure if the artist did the lettering, but placement of speech bubbles was occasionally difficult to follow.
Actually, the art somewhat reminded me of the book From Hell by Moore. I don't recall the artist on that one, but I hated it. This art might actually be somewhat of an improvement over that.
The writing - while the idea and overall plot of the book was ok, and the pacing was decent, the dialogue was just not very natural. The characters were pretty stereotypical and thin. The author mentioned his favorite character was Buck. I think he was actually my least favorite character as he was just so overly cheezy.
One suggestion to the author would be to use the method of show, not tell. Direct the artist in a way to show how something works, or progress plot through images only, or similar things where there are less words on the page. Use the comic medium for what it is.
I liked how, especially toward the end, the story changes from characters to characters when they are separated. Actually, overall, I'd say the last 1/3rd of the book was the best part.
This review was more directed toward the creators and, if they read this, hopefully they can take the criticism as constructive and improve their work. I think they have potential and with improvements, and an editor perhaps (there were also quite a few typos and errors), they could eventually get a good book. I know it takes a ton of work and I don't want to discourage.
January 1, 2016
S.T.E.A.M. Island Under Siege is a new graphic novel, written by Ashley Eric Peschel and illustrated by Peter Magro, that takes place on the island of Malta near the end of the second World War. A gang of renegade soldiers and freedom fighters battles a slew of supernatural villains ranging from ghoulish Nazi officers to fiendish vampires and bloodthirsty werewolves, however now they must face a new and far worse threat—an evil unkillable beast the likes of which they’ve never seen. Expertly illustrated and skillfully written, S.T.E.A.M. Island Under Siege is an entertaining and exciting read for fans of the graphic novel medium. * some mild bad language and comic book violence *
October 31, 2023
I bought this from the Malta comic con 2023 and had the pleasure of meeting and speaking with both Peter and Ashley, illustrator and author respectively. I've now been reading graphic novels and manga for a long time and hence have a certain standard but am taking into consideration that this is their debut volume. I believe the story has a lot of potential and concludes on a note not unlike that of the avengers initiative. I found the spelling errors in the text to reduce the flow of action in the story and would definitely recommend another read prior to publication in the sequel. The art style is rather unique I must say and certainly helps to tell the story despite there already being too much of an explanation at points.
Some elements need further explanation in future as there was so much going on, at points it became confusing. Take for instance why the hearts are necessary to the monster. It can't possibly solely be sadism, right? I enjoyed how the Nazis too played a role in this and were fiercely fought against by a water bender and an immortal guy. Buck is rather cool ngl I feel as though there needs to be more of a clear goal when writing a graphic novel and the reason of conflict itself needs much more work. As a reader, it's hard to simply assume what's going on when it's a world I'm hardly familiar with and of course, very imaginative. I suppose it does help that I'm Maltese and know the relevance of certain locations and temples mentioned. Speaking of which, the cultural aspect is fantastic and I look forward to seeing more of it.
Some elements need further explanation in future as there was so much going on, at points it became confusing. Take for instance why the hearts are necessary to the monster. It can't possibly solely be sadism, right? I enjoyed how the Nazis too played a role in this and were fiercely fought against by a water bender and an immortal guy. Buck is rather cool ngl I feel as though there needs to be more of a clear goal when writing a graphic novel and the reason of conflict itself needs much more work. As a reader, it's hard to simply assume what's going on when it's a world I'm hardly familiar with and of course, very imaginative. I suppose it does help that I'm Maltese and know the relevance of certain locations and temples mentioned. Speaking of which, the cultural aspect is fantastic and I look forward to seeing more of it.
April 5, 2016
When I picked up this book, I was enticed to read more by the description on the back. S.T.E.A.M.: Island Under Siege is set during World War II. Hitler is still alive and he has sent his troops to take over the island of Malta. But he is not the only one. On the island, the people being terrorized by a serial killer and even the local police have no idea who it is. To help catch the criminal, they request help from a special ops group, one that specializes in the unknown. In come Father Hans, Captain Buck Davis, and Sir Richard Strong, with the help of their pilot Captain Ivan Vetroy. They set out to find the killer and, in the process, end up discovering ancient secrets that have been hidden for years. Now it is a race against the clock to stop the killer and the Nazis from taking over the island.
The characters created by Ashley Eric Peschel are captivating in their humorous dialogue and need for adventure. We see them develop. Each character has their secrets and their bonds are close, but it is clear that their pasts have shaped them into who they are today. Hopefully, there will be a sequel so that readers can find out more about their personalities and histories. At times, the art seems to contradict in the way the people are portrayed in the different angles, but otherwise the artist has the basics down well. The plot is interesting and it drags you into the story so that you're kept wondering what's going to happen next, or who the killer is, and how they are going to stop him. This book is a good read and at 166 pages it does not take long to finish.
The characters created by Ashley Eric Peschel are captivating in their humorous dialogue and need for adventure. We see them develop. Each character has their secrets and their bonds are close, but it is clear that their pasts have shaped them into who they are today. Hopefully, there will be a sequel so that readers can find out more about their personalities and histories. At times, the art seems to contradict in the way the people are portrayed in the different angles, but otherwise the artist has the basics down well. The plot is interesting and it drags you into the story so that you're kept wondering what's going to happen next, or who the killer is, and how they are going to stop him. This book is a good read and at 166 pages it does not take long to finish.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews