This third collection of the bestselling series by JEFF LEMIRE and 2016 Eisner Award winning artist DUSTIN NGUYEN dives deep into the secret histories of each cast member with revelations that will propel young robot Tim-21's sci-fi adventure into dangerous and exciting new territory. Collects DESCENDER #12-16
Librarian 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.
This entire Descender series is great. The watercolor art works perfectly (and is so much less confusing that that of Low for example.) The story is complex but great - Harvesters, giants, gnish, the Tim series and Andy and Effi! With Saga, my favorite current graphic novel series!
In Descender, Vol. 3: Singularities, the cover kind of gives away the sinister side of Tim-22 and Effy and Andy lose lots of friends. We also meet Telsa's father, General Nagoki in the past before things on the Machine Moon go pear-shaped due to Quon's past. Driller also revisits some ghosts of his past. So, this episode is sort of a pause as we gear up for the home stretch starting in Descender, Vol. 4: Orbital Mechanics.
Volume 3: 5 issues, each devoted to the backstories of principal characters dating back to ten years up to the present action, to help us better understand what is going. Which is a lot. Tim 22, Telsa, Effie (and Andy), Bandit the Robot dog, Driller (the Killer). This is not Vaughn’s Saga with clever dialogue, but it nevertheless has heartfelt characterization and warm and wonderful watercolor art from Nguyen.
And you really care about some of the characters such as little bot Tim 22. And Bandit. And Driller. The point would be that robots can be real characters with depth of feeling and relatability. So this is AI emotional capacity exploration, nothing all that new here, but Lemire and Nguyen do a great job.
The story does not advance here at all, but it does go deeper, and this is, after all, what they are principally going for, depth. Could they have done the backstories piecemeal, as in occasionally doing a backstory issue here and there? Maybe. But this was a well done and well though-out issue to show you this series is more about thought than just action.
These 5 issues dive into the history of Tim-22, Telsa, Bandit, Andy and Effie, and Driller respectively. They all go back 10 years or so before the Harvesters came and then check back in with the characters periodically up until the current story. Jeff Lemire and Dustin Nguyen do a fantastic job of weaving the stories together and showing us how they all affect each other. Just a brilliant series.
Total review score: 3.6 - one issue was a dud and brought down the average : (
Each issue seems to be giving us one piece of the puzzle and I enjoy that. I don't need info dumps but I also don't want to be confused about what is going on.
Two things that I appreciate for being constant: the beautiful watercolor art and the fact each issue has a summary of what happened in previous issues at the start.
I am bit disappointed by this volume. This volume consists of backstories and main storyline doesn't move an inch.Yes they are well written but some of them are useless (Bandit's) and some of them could be shorter so there was definitively space for story to move forward.
Well, not much happens here in terms of the story moving forward.
The characters that had been left on Gnish and were "rescued" by Andy and his "partner" are still with the Betweeners and this volume was mostly about flashbacks. Namely about Telsa's relationship with her father, as well as that between Andy and Effie, and what happened to the mining colony where Andy and Tim-21 used to live.
The latter hit the hardest though I was expecting something along those lines. I mean, was quite the shock. Though also understandable. Again, when you keep kicking a dog, the dog will eventually bite you.
However, considering that the only other story elements were as well as in which even more lies were revealed, this was quite a thin story.
BUT: I like that EVERY character here has a background story instead of just being background decoration. Moreover, seeing not one but two tragic / negative life stories of robots (in addition to all the stuff Andy has done as a Scrapper) was important, I think. Important to understand why Tim-21 is different. Important in order to understand the conflict with Tim-22. Important to understand the motivation of Driller and people like Effie. Important to get myriad relationships between humans and robots. It's all fucked up and has been since way before the Harvesters came (as can be seen from )- which only makes sense but we still needed to be shown.
Thus, maybe not exactly as good as the previous two but still powerful in its messages about realtionships, crises, domestic violence in various forms and, once again, with more than one heartbreak in this. Not to mention that even after three volumes, I'm still marvelling at the gorgeous watercolour art.
This volume takes us back in time as each issue bar one is dedicated to a particular character and tells us their respective backstories. Usually starting at the time of the attacks through the Harvesters.
Unfortunately I thought only the first issue (TIM-22’s story) to be a great one. It actually made me pity the mean little guy.
Bandit’s story was really sweet. No question about that.
But the remaining three were only decent.
My problem with this volume, apart from the obvious one of it not moving the main storyline forward, was that I knew some of the scenes already. And what might have worked as a nice recap of previous events at the time of its release felt more like recycled material to me personally, because I read the first two volumes only days ago.
Well, they can’t all be five stars, indeed. This one is more like a low four.
I’m still looking forward to the next one and plan to read it on the weekend. I know somebody who’s already waiting for me to return it to the library.
The first four issues were boring, superfluous, meandering - but the final one with Driller was FANTASTIC. WOWEE.
If the whole volume were like that finally issue, this would have been easily 5-stars; however the four dull, pointless issues of boring backstory to just pad out and delay the plot bring it down.
Love me some good backstories. I always end up enjoying volumes with a lot of backstory exploration for the characters. I know it won't be everyone's cup of tea, but I really enjoyed this one.
Yeah, well, not every volume is up to the standards of the first. This one was fine if all you are looking for is *mostly* backstory on some of the individuals and robots, but there's only a smidge of real action in real-time.
I'd classify these five issues as filler if I was reading manga.
Definitely average stuff. I hope some of the minor character reveals lead up to something awesome later because it's kinda lame here.
Oh, god. I fucking loved this volume so much more than I did the first time I read it. Maybe it was cause I already knew what to expect. Not any progress in the main story, but a focus on the past of many characters. I was emotional, engaged and I enjoyed every page. It was SO good. The little pockets of information hit me right in the feels and of course the artwork is beautiful! I love this title. I'm changing my rating now to 4.5 stars, 5 stars on goodreads. Now to volume 4!
First impression: 4 Stars. Driller a real Thriller I was not expecting this. Volume 3 is a 5 issue trade that works as a mini anthology. Every issue focuses in a different character and they all start, except for Driller, 10 years ago just before the Harvesters attacked and then skips in time till present time. My favorite was the first issue. The one about Tim-22 and Oh, man. I feel like an idiot I just wrote in another review that Tim-22 was the worst. NO LITTLE BOT, I'M THE WORST.Humans are the worst. Ugh. There were many compelling moments and I loved the ending. Good volume, but I wish we could have made some more progress in the actual story. It was great having more background from these characters, but I needed more of the present time storyline.
This series gets better and better with each volume. I LOVED all the backstories we were shown in this volume and the way that all the threads are crossed makes me super excited to keep reading. The fact that this series always gets an emotional response from me too is a massive credit to the art and story because they work so well together. Fantastic. Definitely still a favourite and I can't wait for the next volume too. 4.5*
4.5 Stars This third volume is filled with fantastic character development through backstory flashbacks. I also love the science fiction elements of this story which give me serious star wars vibes. I personally adore the watercolour artwork style.
It's the flashback book! We really need the origin stories of these fascinating characters.
The Driller issue is the one we've all been waiting for, of course. It made me ask a lot of questions.
Others have mentioned this, but why do the mining robots have A.I.? Why would you give a large, dangerous tool the capacity to think and make its own decisions? And why did the HRRMANS design the A.I. so that they can speak, but they can't speak properly? Why can't they say 'humans'?
Mrs Tavers says the miner needs to mine 25 meters instead of his usual 15 meters day, right after she said "hey, your mining bots look really old". Are miners supposed to purchase and supply their own tools? That seems a backward way to approach industrial work.
When the deadly gas escapes in the mining colony, why does it instantly knock out (and presumably kill) people wearing space suits?
This is Ripley, last survivor of the Nostromo, signing off.
This is continues one of my favourite series atm. Again great artwork, the plot is more of a backstory/history retelling of where the main characters came from or got to the current situation. Some of the story has already been told in previous volumes but others give some good info. Already started Vol 4
I keep waiting for an interesting story to happen. I like the robot that acts like a dog, and Driller. The other characters don't engage me. I like the artwork a lot, but the overall story is pretty pedestrian for scifi.
The third volume in this excellent epic space drama continues. The epic conflict between Tim-21 and Tim-22 goes into high gear. A great deal of this issue focused on backstory and that was fine. There is a great deal of history that needs to have light shed on it. Tim-21 is a great character and reminds me of the small android child from A.I. (the movie).
We find out a great deal about Tim-21, Adam, Capt Telsa and Adam's ex-wife Effe. There is also an interesting historical look at Driller and the part he played in the gas-related mining disaster. In fact this issue looks backwards more than forwards. Though there are many important events that take place-including Dr. Quon's bombshell. But no more details on this excellent story.
Once again a stellar story is hampered by mediocre art. Shame a story of this scale deserves some good, detailed art. Nonetheless this is a must read for any sci-fi fan. A great series.
Descender goes into a dark place as we get the past revealed of all our major characters.
The story starts with Tim 22 hunting down Tim 21, and we see his past. Then we flip to see everyone's past from Driller to Bandit, to Effie, and more. The world building is great and shows how each of these characters were effected by the event. Devastating would be a underestimation of all the terrible events that had happen.
Loved alot of the background. Least interesting is Tim 22. But omg the best is Driller the Killer, made me nearly cry.
Jeff may stall the story here but the backgrounds are amazing. A 4 out of 5.
What’s it about? This volume focuses on the origin stories of the characters.
Pros: I found this interesting. The main story continued a teensy bit (though not very much) and the origin story stuff is very good, it makes the characters more interesting IMO (even though they were already pretty interesting, especially Driller). The art is still good. This volume is very intense, possibly the most action packed one so far. This volume is so emotional but not in a way to make the reader sad. See, I like when a book is emotional but still not too sad because I read for fun, I don’t want to be sad. This book does that very well. The Bandit chapter was great! I love dogs and little robot ones are no exception! That chapter was really nice to read with my dog (as in dog-dog, not robo-dog) snuggled up beside me. The ending is perfect.
Why not 5 stars? Andy’s story makes no sense to me. So how did he go from having a great friendship with a robot to
Overall: This series continues to be great. This volume is not quite as great as volumes 1 and 2 but it’s still one of sci-fi’s best comics right now!
This was probably my favorite volume so far! I know that the main-plot did not went forward very much in it but I personally really love flashbacks when they are handled very well and these definitely were. We got to know a few side-characters of the first two volumes much better in this one. The flashback with Bandit was my personal favorite. I adore his character, he is very cute and cares so much for TIM-21. His parts also reminded me to the fact how emotional pages without words can be in graphic novels. Nevertheless, the other flashback were great as well and I am kind of sad that I have to wait so long for Volume 4 to be released. 5 of 5 stars!
Trade de exploração e adensamento de personagens in media res que a alguns impacientará em inversa proporção do regozijo garantido aos fãs de origin stories. A arte perde a exuberância do sublime minimalista que os volumes anteriores ostentam, mas é hiper funcional na materialização pictórica das analepses.
The greatest thing about the robots Lemire created for the Descender series is how humane they are. Just as flawed, just as complex, just as affected by nurture and nature. Just look at how different the two Tims turned out. This is more or a “pause the action and let’s get to know our characters more” kind of a book. Since I really like the characters here, I enjoyed it. Lemire is a very good writer. Plus, the art…that art…what a thing of beauty. Recommended. On to the next one.
Anotación de relectura.... hay más flashback que continuidad.. podría ser relleno, podría ser ambientación, podría ser complemento de la historia...
Este tercer tomo baja una estrella a mi humilde parecer por el poco avance de la historia. Funciona mas bien en retrospectiva para entender mejor los porqués y comos. Hay poca presencia de los protagonistas. Igual sigue siendo una gran historia en general. El arte y el ritmo no decaen.
Another amazing volume! Great space opera story so far, in which various races are battling the robots and with a big mystery behind and, also, super, super, artwork. Love every moment of it!
I'd rank this one higher, because it's very good, but the fact of the matter is that the momentum of the first two arcs has basically died at this point as Jeff Lemire decides to spend each issue of this third arc focusing on an individual character for spotlight issues rather than moving anything forward.
It's a good idea to flesh out the vast cast of characters, but there's always a nagging feeling that there's something else that needs our attention; I'd have thought these spotlight issues would have fit a bit better interspersed between arcs, rather than all in one go.
Tim-22, Telsa, Bandit, Andy & Effie, and Driller all take an issue each to explore their backstory and how they've gotten into the situations that they find themselves in. The issues focusing on the robots are especially interesting, giving us some unique perspectives and how they fit into the ongoing narrative. Driller and Bandit especially have been pivotal in getting the story moving, and we've never even realised it.
Dustin Nguyen's watercolours are astounding. I'm always surprised that he manages to turn out a monthly book when other watercolour artists take much longer, and yet here we are. There's liberal use of white space, which probably explains it, but even so, he does a lot with a little.
Taken as individual issues, this is probably a 4 or 5 star volume, but collecting them all in one go and stalling the main plot is detrimental to the series' overall direction, even if the character work is very good.
To put it simply this series is amazing. The story delves deeper and deeper with each volume. The creative team of Lemire and Nguyen are serving up a smorgasbord of emotions. Now with all the main characters back story in check I feel even more connected. I definitely side with the Robbies here, Can't help but feel for all the abuse they went through at the hands of their human d-bag masters. Driller, Tim21, and Tim 22 are emerging as my favourite characters here. Ya the robots are stealing the show.
I Can't recommend this series highly enough. Lemire is solidifying himself in my eyes as the biggest talent working in the comics industry atm all his non-super hero titles are emotionally charged, and I was ecstatic to see this series is continuing with a re-launch called Ascenders. So I'm overjoyed there will be more forthcoming from these 2 master story tellers