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Steam Punk
Steampunk, Volume One: Manimatron
What would you do... to save the love of your life? England, 1738: Cole Blaquesmith, a simple fisherman, falls in love with Fiona, a beautiful, gentle teacher. However, their blossoming romance is cut short when Fiona falls ill with a terminal disease.
Would you sell your soul to a madman? Dr Absinthe, town pariah, a sinister ghoul in his castle on the hill holds the secret to saving Fiona's life... but this 'cure' comes with a terrible, terrible price.
Would you trade humanity for strength? The 'experiment' requires a test subject... a Pilot. A young, strong body to endure the arcane rigors of science.
Would you undo the course of human history? As Cole loses himself behind a whirling tangle of steel and light and science, he closes his eyes and prays that he has not made a grave mistake. When his eyes open again...
He knows with all his heart that his world will NEVER be the same again...
Steampunk: Manimatron. Love is eternal. History is not.
Enter a world of madness, action, dark science, fiction, and shattered history where one man battles to set right a world torn apart for love. Collecting the first arc of the groundbreaking Cliffhanger series by Chris Bachalo (Death, Generation X) and Joe Kelly (Superman, X-Men) featuring Steampunk: Idiosyncratica, Steampunk: Cathecism and issues 1-5 in one haunting and beautiful volume.
Would you sell your soul to a madman? Dr Absinthe, town pariah, a sinister ghoul in his castle on the hill holds the secret to saving Fiona's life... but this 'cure' comes with a terrible, terrible price.
Would you trade humanity for strength? The 'experiment' requires a test subject... a Pilot. A young, strong body to endure the arcane rigors of science.
Would you undo the course of human history? As Cole loses himself behind a whirling tangle of steel and light and science, he closes his eyes and prays that he has not made a grave mistake. When his eyes open again...
He knows with all his heart that his world will NEVER be the same again...
Steampunk: Manimatron. Love is eternal. History is not.
Enter a world of madness, action, dark science, fiction, and shattered history where one man battles to set right a world torn apart for love. Collecting the first arc of the groundbreaking Cliffhanger series by Chris Bachalo (Death, Generation X) and Joe Kelly (Superman, X-Men) featuring Steampunk: Idiosyncratica, Steampunk: Cathecism and issues 1-5 in one haunting and beautiful volume.
166 pages, Paperback
First published March 1, 2001
2 people are currently reading
216 people want to read
About the author
Joe Kelly
1,001 books205 followersLibrarian note:
There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name
There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
January 6, 2019
Rarely “All over the place” had been so well deserved to describe this book.
I mean everything is all over the place: the plot, the design, the art, the colors... even the godamn typo!
There’s a plot somewhere- I suppose so at least- but every single participant of the book apparently decided to go on a so-called show of skills with the result of burying any semblance of a story under exhuberant embellishment, adornment, frills and whatnots. When the pissing contest ended it resulted in one of the less legible story I’ve ever had the –dubious- chance to read.
Kelly fills up all available space with pompous and boring text, trying so hard to sound english it looks like a parody, makes some dull attempts at being funny and simply loses the reader after page 2. I reckon he was really trying to build something but wasn’t seasoned enough to try and show off the way he did there.
Chris Bachalo- and I like the guy, really- gives a new meaning to the definition of crammed up. Despite some cool narrative devices here and there the pages are so full of everything and then some that you can’t barely understand what’s happening most of the time.
Some Bad@ss colored the book. No kiddin’, that’s the name of the studio. I don’t know if they’re color blind but after redaing this book I wish I were. A brilliant example of some of the most garish coloring I’ve ever seen. Technically well done, no doubt, but coloring is adding to the tone of a book, not using every available color on Photoshop to make one’s eyes bleed.
Richard Starkings apparently went on a sales rep campaign with Steampunk because he uses all the tools Comicraft offers, over and over and all over. When the fonts are on the same level of visibility than the art I tend to think there’s a problem somewhere.
I guess you got it by now, I don’t recommend this book to anyone, not even a hardcore steampunker.
I mean everything is all over the place: the plot, the design, the art, the colors... even the godamn typo!
There’s a plot somewhere- I suppose so at least- but every single participant of the book apparently decided to go on a so-called show of skills with the result of burying any semblance of a story under exhuberant embellishment, adornment, frills and whatnots. When the pissing contest ended it resulted in one of the less legible story I’ve ever had the –dubious- chance to read.
Kelly fills up all available space with pompous and boring text, trying so hard to sound english it looks like a parody, makes some dull attempts at being funny and simply loses the reader after page 2. I reckon he was really trying to build something but wasn’t seasoned enough to try and show off the way he did there.
Chris Bachalo- and I like the guy, really- gives a new meaning to the definition of crammed up. Despite some cool narrative devices here and there the pages are so full of everything and then some that you can’t barely understand what’s happening most of the time.
Some Bad@ss colored the book. No kiddin’, that’s the name of the studio. I don’t know if they’re color blind but after redaing this book I wish I were. A brilliant example of some of the most garish coloring I’ve ever seen. Technically well done, no doubt, but coloring is adding to the tone of a book, not using every available color on Photoshop to make one’s eyes bleed.
Richard Starkings apparently went on a sales rep campaign with Steampunk because he uses all the tools Comicraft offers, over and over and all over. When the fonts are on the same level of visibility than the art I tend to think there’s a problem somewhere.
I guess you got it by now, I don’t recommend this book to anyone, not even a hardcore steampunker.
June 11, 2012
A história de Steampunk: Manimatron é passada numa Inglaterra alternativa do séc. XIX, na qual um déspota com tendências melodramáticas usurpou o trono e lançou o pais numa época forçada de industrialismo frenético. O smog cobre o céu sobre Londres, e os habitantes parecem-se pouco com os humanos que costumavam ser, uma vez que toda a gente tem algum tipo de modificação corporal – asas, braços e pernas mecânicos, corpos de aranha - a imaginação (e o acesso a matérias primas) é o limite. Lord Absinthe, o usurpador, é o típico soberano sedento de poder, com um caso sério de complexo de Deus. Os aristocratas deixam-se levar pelos privilégios da nova sociedade, enquanto que as classes mais baixas, horrivelmente desfiguradas e exploradas, ocupam o seu tempo a tentar sobreviver e a sonhar com uma revolução.
Chris Bachalo tem vindo a habituar os fãs a uma arte visionária, detalhada e energética. Nisso, o livro não falha. Todavia, é triste quando as boas ideias são traídas por uma execução pouco brilhante. No caso específico de Manimatron, temos a construção de um mundo original, visualmente interessante e com potencial, que é minado por personagens cliché, uma história relativamente banal, diálogos densos e sem sentido, design de páginas confuso e lettering quase indecifrável.
As personagens apresentam um design visual excelente, perfeitamente integrado no mundo em que se inserem. Os trajes e modificações miscelâneas reflectem o lado mais prático, tecnológico e cru da sociedade, embora a tecnologia avançada de vapor em si seja considerado um luxo apenas acessível aos membros da alta sociedade. No entanto, todas as personagens são típicas: o vilão típico que só quer ter poder e dominar o mundo, o herói masculino, forte e silencioso, a bela e gentil rapariga que é alvo das afeições do herói, a personagem feminina badass moralmente ambígua (completa com o já esperado impressionante par de atributos femininos), e as personagens secundárias de comic relief.
O design do mundo é igualmente detalhado e planeado até ao pormenor, e teria funcionado melhor se os painéis não estivessem tão completamente preenchidos por informação. Assim, tornam-se difíceis de decifrar, dificultando a imersão na história. Certamente, esta dificuldade é tão óbvia que só pode ter sido deliberada, talvez para tornar a banda desenhada mais complexa e intricada; no entanto, depois de decifrada, a história é demasiado simples para suportar tudo o resto. Muito estilo e pouca substância, poderia dizer-se.
Este é um livro que divide opiniões: de um lado, os fãs, que acusam os restantes leitores de serem preguiçosos e de criticarem tudo aquilo que não seja simples de apreender; do outro, aqueles que acham que a densidade e complexidade são utilizados para “mascarar” uma história banal e cliché. Pessoalmente, acredito que a marca de um bom storyteller em banda desenhada não é a dificuldade de leitura, mas sim a dança delicada entre a parte visual e a parte escrita, o equilíbrio entre a complexidade e subtileza. Apesar de tudo, o mundo é suficientemente bom para manter o interesse, e a história poderá surpreender no segundo volume.
Comentário publicado originalmente no Clockwork Portugal.
Chris Bachalo tem vindo a habituar os fãs a uma arte visionária, detalhada e energética. Nisso, o livro não falha. Todavia, é triste quando as boas ideias são traídas por uma execução pouco brilhante. No caso específico de Manimatron, temos a construção de um mundo original, visualmente interessante e com potencial, que é minado por personagens cliché, uma história relativamente banal, diálogos densos e sem sentido, design de páginas confuso e lettering quase indecifrável.
As personagens apresentam um design visual excelente, perfeitamente integrado no mundo em que se inserem. Os trajes e modificações miscelâneas reflectem o lado mais prático, tecnológico e cru da sociedade, embora a tecnologia avançada de vapor em si seja considerado um luxo apenas acessível aos membros da alta sociedade. No entanto, todas as personagens são típicas: o vilão típico que só quer ter poder e dominar o mundo, o herói masculino, forte e silencioso, a bela e gentil rapariga que é alvo das afeições do herói, a personagem feminina badass moralmente ambígua (completa com o já esperado impressionante par de atributos femininos), e as personagens secundárias de comic relief.
O design do mundo é igualmente detalhado e planeado até ao pormenor, e teria funcionado melhor se os painéis não estivessem tão completamente preenchidos por informação. Assim, tornam-se difíceis de decifrar, dificultando a imersão na história. Certamente, esta dificuldade é tão óbvia que só pode ter sido deliberada, talvez para tornar a banda desenhada mais complexa e intricada; no entanto, depois de decifrada, a história é demasiado simples para suportar tudo o resto. Muito estilo e pouca substância, poderia dizer-se.
Este é um livro que divide opiniões: de um lado, os fãs, que acusam os restantes leitores de serem preguiçosos e de criticarem tudo aquilo que não seja simples de apreender; do outro, aqueles que acham que a densidade e complexidade são utilizados para “mascarar” uma história banal e cliché. Pessoalmente, acredito que a marca de um bom storyteller em banda desenhada não é a dificuldade de leitura, mas sim a dança delicada entre a parte visual e a parte escrita, o equilíbrio entre a complexidade e subtileza. Apesar de tudo, o mundo é suficientemente bom para manter o interesse, e a história poderá surpreender no segundo volume.
Comentário publicado originalmente no Clockwork Portugal.
June 4, 2008
enjoyed it , loved the artwork i really wish they would finnish this book instead of stoping it half way threw the story .
this collects 1-6
theres also drama obscura 7-12
they never made 13-24 grrr!
this collects 1-6
theres also drama obscura 7-12
they never made 13-24 grrr!
July 22, 2023
It's fun. The writing is a bit confusing, I feel that the world building is hard to follow and that the characters don't feel like fully fleshed-out people. My main problem is with the art. Bachalo is killing it here, keeping things intensely exciting and full of forward momentum. It would be a joy to read... except for the coloring. The color pallets are very well done, with intense reds and blues heightening some of the action, but the actual rendering leaves Bachalo's work a confusing mess to decipher. An abundance of textures, color holds, and gradients insure that you will have to stare at each panel for a minute before being able to tell what's happening in them. It's disappointing.
Read
July 24, 2021Hell if I know...
February 19, 2023
Gorgeous art by Chris Bachalo but a rather convoluted and confusing story.
March 29, 2025
Fun but muddled in both storytelling and art. Kinda of get lost in the noise of it all.
March 11, 2013
It’s 1838, and after a technical revolution, England is now ruled by the madman Mortimer Absinthe. Since his rule, the English society has been turned into a caste-system, in which the different castes literally live at different levels. While the aristocracy roams the steam- and clockwork powered streets of London, the poor, outcast, scavengers and medical experiments all commonly known as the “Underdwellers” populate the sewers beneath this great town.
It’s among these underdwellers that a young man called Cole Blaquesmith wakes up. Utterly confused, he discovers that he’s been in a coma for a hundred years while the world around him transformed into the dystopia it is today. Of the years before his century-long sleep, he can only remember flashes, in which miss Fiona, a loving teacher, was the only person who ever cared for him. But what has happened since then? And why does most of Blaquesmith’s chest now consist of a furnace, powering an enormous metal contraption where his right arm once used to be..?
From the get-go, “Steam Punk” draws the reader into an incredibly dense, well thought out world where numerous characters, groups and religions clash and mingle. Despite the bewildering introduction, writer Joe Kelly deserves credit for unfolding the story in such a way that keeps the reader hooked and excited. Big risks are taken with the telling of this story, yet everything remains comprehensible.
That same cannot necessarily be said about “Steam Punk”’s artwork. Right from the start at its earliest publication, this book has been known for its insanely complex visuals and nearly unreadable page lay-outs. Indeed, artist Chris Bachalo has gone all out with the look of this book and there’s not a single page that looks like a conventional comic-book. Panels, borders, fonts, coloring… All of it is thrown into a blender and pasted across the pages in an tangled-up mash of gears, humanoids, screws, dead fish, rockets, dogs and cables. While the story itself attracts from page one, the artwork seems to do the exact opposite, in driving the reader so utterly insane that most would wants to give up reading because of visual nausea.
Yet it’s a matter of simply getting used to this look that needs to be overcome. Any reader willing to stick with the book, soon discovers the beauty in the artwork too. No matter how full each page might seem, order and direction are established not through panels, as a Tintin or Spider-man might do, but through speech bubbles and visuals clues, leading the reader’s eye across the page and through the story. Even if that means reading a page from the bottom to the top rather than the other way around, it’s all within the visuals of the page to tell one how to read. A bewildering experience at first, but a lot of fun too – richly rewarded by the gorgeous designs of Bachalo, who can have any character, vehicle or setting look amazing and unique.
Like Cole Blaquesmith, any reader might feel lost and confused during the earliest pages of “Steam Punk”. But perseverance is richly rewarded by a grandiose, epic story and truly unique, gorgeous artwork.
It’s among these underdwellers that a young man called Cole Blaquesmith wakes up. Utterly confused, he discovers that he’s been in a coma for a hundred years while the world around him transformed into the dystopia it is today. Of the years before his century-long sleep, he can only remember flashes, in which miss Fiona, a loving teacher, was the only person who ever cared for him. But what has happened since then? And why does most of Blaquesmith’s chest now consist of a furnace, powering an enormous metal contraption where his right arm once used to be..?
From the get-go, “Steam Punk” draws the reader into an incredibly dense, well thought out world where numerous characters, groups and religions clash and mingle. Despite the bewildering introduction, writer Joe Kelly deserves credit for unfolding the story in such a way that keeps the reader hooked and excited. Big risks are taken with the telling of this story, yet everything remains comprehensible.
That same cannot necessarily be said about “Steam Punk”’s artwork. Right from the start at its earliest publication, this book has been known for its insanely complex visuals and nearly unreadable page lay-outs. Indeed, artist Chris Bachalo has gone all out with the look of this book and there’s not a single page that looks like a conventional comic-book. Panels, borders, fonts, coloring… All of it is thrown into a blender and pasted across the pages in an tangled-up mash of gears, humanoids, screws, dead fish, rockets, dogs and cables. While the story itself attracts from page one, the artwork seems to do the exact opposite, in driving the reader so utterly insane that most would wants to give up reading because of visual nausea.
Yet it’s a matter of simply getting used to this look that needs to be overcome. Any reader willing to stick with the book, soon discovers the beauty in the artwork too. No matter how full each page might seem, order and direction are established not through panels, as a Tintin or Spider-man might do, but through speech bubbles and visuals clues, leading the reader’s eye across the page and through the story. Even if that means reading a page from the bottom to the top rather than the other way around, it’s all within the visuals of the page to tell one how to read. A bewildering experience at first, but a lot of fun too – richly rewarded by the gorgeous designs of Bachalo, who can have any character, vehicle or setting look amazing and unique.
Like Cole Blaquesmith, any reader might feel lost and confused during the earliest pages of “Steam Punk”. But perseverance is richly rewarded by a grandiose, epic story and truly unique, gorgeous artwork.
May 13, 2008
On one uneventful Sunday my friend gave me this comics, told me I might enjoy reading it. And he was right. This book was pretty damn good.
The artwork is fantastic. And I also love it in the prologues, they gave you these fictional quotes (my favorite is by Immanuel Kant who once spoke "I didn't have nightmares until I met Doctor Mortimer Absinthe.")
But the story is a bit weak. Things happened a little too easy for the characters. Plus everyone always speaks in these stream-of-consciousness type with colorful highlighted texts thingy in their word balloons.
And Absinthe is a bit of joke. He's more of a melodeamatic jester taking the throne room hostage and not a Macchiavelian despot.
The artwork is fantastic. And I also love it in the prologues, they gave you these fictional quotes (my favorite is by Immanuel Kant who once spoke "I didn't have nightmares until I met Doctor Mortimer Absinthe.")
But the story is a bit weak. Things happened a little too easy for the characters. Plus everyone always speaks in these stream-of-consciousness type with colorful highlighted texts thingy in their word balloons.
And Absinthe is a bit of joke. He's more of a melodeamatic jester taking the throne room hostage and not a Macchiavelian despot.
March 26, 2011
The concept was very cool, but the execution . . . not so much. Some of the frames felt so cluttered that I couldn't actually tell what was happening in them. Not good. Some of the dialogue felt like it hadn't been edited. Not good. Beyond the concept itself, I'd have to say the best thing about this graphic novel is the lettering. But that is a problem too. The lettering shouldn't steal the show. It shouldn't distract from the content of the words or the images in the frames, but this lettering did. I guess that's both a praise and a critique.
September 15, 2007
The comic had a really intricate layout and background. The steampunk environment was quite well drawn and thought out. The days of Zeppelins, perpetual motion machines and phantasmagoric machinery are beautifully rendered. The flaws of this work of this graphic novel are basically the density of the graphics and dialog. I found myself wondering who was speaking, what was going on in a specific pane and in general trying to piece together what was going on.
May 31, 2015
I really liked this here, steampunk the genre it self is cool, then give it a superhero comic style with art by one of my all time favs, Chris Bachalo's run on Generation X then Uncanny X-Men were some of the awesome things i loved, and his art here was out of this world crazy. Then you throw in Joe Kelly who did my super favorite Deadpool run, as well as other cool things, like Steampunk. It has been a while but finding this here i want to get them all over again and read read read.
August 15, 2007
One of my favorite comic book miniseries ever. About as unique and dense and intriguing as a piece like this can get. Pick out something new in the art and story with every read.
I can just not say enough about this series of comics. This collection is just the first half of the story. And man, will it pull you in.
Pick this up. you won't regret it.
I can just not say enough about this series of comics. This collection is just the first half of the story. And man, will it pull you in.
Pick this up. you won't regret it.
August 12, 2011
At times this one is a hard read, and sometimes the art is so fusterclucked that it is impossible to tell what is going on. I liked what I could make out, but it was so tough that it took me right out of the story.
In the end, I gave up before I got to the end—which is the only time I rate something one star.
In the end, I gave up before I got to the end—which is the only time I rate something one star.
October 19, 2014
The store is quite good, as is the art work. However I was often searching the pictures and flipping back pages to figure out what the hell was going on. This made it a very exhausting read, hence the three stars.
December 5, 2008
Unreadable. When you use weird lettering throughout to make your comic book look "cool", you'd better also make sure that it's "legible". A waste of time.
August 21, 2013
Loved this graphic novels to pieces for being inventive and over the top. For a detailed review, please visit my blog: http://tesatorul.blogspot.ro/2009/01/....
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews