Namesake

Namesake #1-4

by Steve Orlando, Jakub Rebelka (Illustrator), Thomas Mauer (Letterer)

Jordan Molossus lived to avoid his fathers. Now he’ll traverse two worlds to put them in the ground.

Every seven years, a supernatural parallel world called Ektae aligns itself with Earth, bringing magic and mayhem . . . it’s a celebration that Jordan Molossus wants nothing to do with. Until now, Jordan was an orphan, born on Ektae and abandoned on Earth, but that all changes when a package arrives on his doorstep containing two magical cast-iron urns. Jordan now has one week to travel into Ektae and spread the ashes of his parents while uncovering the mystery as to why he was orphaned, all the while being chased by the demons of their past.

Namesake is an urban fantasy revenge epic written by Steve Orlando ( Midnighter, Supergirl ) and illustrated by Jakub Rebelka that runs completely on fists and hearts, full of high-octane action and affecting pathos.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Fantasy, LGBT, Science Fiction, Queer, Graphic Novels Comics

112 pages, Paperback

First published August 17, 2017

Reviews

[Teal · Rating 3 out of 5]

Art: 4.5 stars
Story: 1.5 stars
Characterization: 1 star
World-building: 1 star
Credibility, continuity, coherence: 0 stars
Other possibly redeeming factors: 4 stars for Q2 (Queerness Quotient)

I fell hard for the artwork.

Even so, as much as I grew to love it, there was an adjustment period required. It didn't look like anything I'd seen before. Which doesn't mean much -- I'm just a clueless reader who'll grab whatever catches my eye, not an expert on graphic novels. To my untrained eye, it looked as if Art Deco collided with cyberpunk, sending blood and body parts flying everywhere in the ensuing mashup. And while that sometimes made for a diverting dissonance, I'm not big on blood and guts, so it was the (relatively) calmer scenes that appealed to me the most.

Like this page -- and check out that funky li'l critter in the top right panel:


Although this scene is considerably more on-brand:


Specifically it was the coloring that wowed me. How much time did I spend gazing at the shoe in the top panel here? I don't know, and wouldn't admit it if I did:


As far as the actual storyline goes... well, let's just say it's not going to be winning any prizes. Check out the blurb, because it's not worth my time to elaborate on it. Character motivation? Who needs that? Intelligent worldbuilding? Nah, just draw more blood splatter. It would be charitable to call the sequence of preposterous action scenes a "plot." It would be charitable to call it ridiculous -- instead, I'm going to go with "stupid." But I swooned over the art so hard that I'm giving 3 stars to something that has almost no other redeeming qualities.

[Starlight Kid · Rating 1 out of 5]

What?

This is weird and not in a good way story is nonsensical.

Art work is also very poor although I have to admit the colouring was fantastic.

[Alex Sarll]

I was beginning to worry Steve Orlando might wear out the queer revenge rampage as a genre, given it's all he seems to do outside of core DC books I wouldn't touch with Aquaman's trident. But no, this is another good one. Our hero (and he is definitely a hero, none of this 'aaaah, but doesn't it make you just as bad as them?' bullshit – they started it, case closed) is a firefighter charged with burying his fathers' ashes on the beach where they met, and the slight problem of an angry fairyland mob standing between him and there. They don't call it fairyland, granted; it's Ektae, a magical realm which comes into conjunction with our own every seven years, but everything else makes it perfectly clear, not least the terminology (I especially enjoyed the use of 'shoat' as an insult). On one level it falls into a lot of urban fantasy tropes which I find offputting; a lot of the curses and hexes and such feel like exactly the same mechanics you'd get in a straight human-on-human action thriller, just with different names, and no real sense of strangeness. But Jakub Rebelka's art makes up for that, recalling the times 2000AD got weird and lurid – a little Simon Davis, a lot Brendan McCarthy. It helps, too, that the story is so short and full on, all the sex and violence and rage which might pall even over six issues feeling perfectly punchy at four.

[John Shaw · Rating 5 out of 5]

Every seven years the dimensions align
and the two worlds meet.
Earth and Ektae
That's all the explanation we have
and all we need.
The story isn't about that.
It's about Jordan Molussus.
A man born to fathers of both worlds.
Yes two dads.
That's not explained either
and it's doesn't matter either.
This book is incredibly intricately detailed.
But we are only given a taste of the depth
because Orlando just drops huge story
points in our laps and leaves them,
tantalizing hints to this beautiful world.
This book was clever and wonderful
and exciting fun.

[Brandon · Rating 2 out of 5]

There are two worlds, and every few years they cross over and you can move between them. Jordan crosses into the next world to lay his two fathers to rest, getting caught up in some mob violence along the way. The worlds look interesting but are never fleshed out enough to feel real, and while there are some humourous moments there's never enough character developed for me to get engaged with it. I can take specific moments from this book and appreciate them but its narrative couldn't keep me entertained for the four short issues the book is comprised of.

[Amy! · Rating 4 out of 5]

REALLY good. This was reminiscent of Orlando's writing on Midnighter, Vol. 1: Out, so if you liked that, you'll probably like this one. He created a really interesting world and characters, and I would probably read more volumes of this, if he wrote them.

[Tiferet · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the most interesting comic books I've read recently. I picked it up because I pick up most new titles with queer content, especially if made by queer creators (if you don't know Steve Orlando I recommend this short interview about his work on Midnighter and Apollo for DC and why the world needs gay superheroes). Plus, BOOM! is a publisher who can definitely be trusted with LGBT themes.
Then I noticed that the artist responsible was Jakub Rebelka and I was sold on it instantly. Rebelka's style is really awesome, vibrant, Francophone comics-inspired (there's some Jodorovsky there, some Bilal, a lot of Moebius).

In terms of the queer content in Namesake we have a bisexual character trying to solve a mystery of his two dead fathers, but the queer aspect is very casual, treated as obvious and natural. The plot is a little uneven, there are a couple of deus ex machina moments, but I loved the worldbuilding, the once-every-seven-years portals between Earth and the "fae" dimension, and the ill-fated love between Molossus' fathers.

[Patrick · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this twice consecutively because I felt I didn’t full grasp the story the first time around. The second way through I tried to pay more attention to the art and backgrounds, as well as the narrative.

(Minor spoilers ahead)

It took me until the second read through to really get the story and it’s gravity. That having been said, I’m still not clear why Morgan sent the urns to Jordan — which is a bit of a failing since it’s the story’s inciting incident. If Morgan did it to give Jordan knowledge, then that put Jordan in as much danger as the curse that Morgan tried to save Jordan from in the first place. If Morgan did it to get revenge, that goes against the character that’s been established. Either way, the lack of clarity is kind of frustrating.

Art by Jakub Rebelka is fantastic. I wish I knew what the Russian (?) text on the final page of the series says.

[Brendan · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5

One of my first comic book purchases and I've only got around to reading this. Namesake is a mess of ideas and when I noticed the publisher was Boom I wasn't shocked. Boom made some odd choices around the 2015 and 2016 era and I was a sucker for these books. Boom is now a strong independent label who has managed to recruit some of the leading writers of the medium. Namesake struggles with a short 4 issue run that barely explains its ideas and backstory. This grows into a revenge storyline and that's the best part of this series. It's not a great book but it has its moments.

[Chad · Rating 2 out of 5]

The premise of this book is pretty good, it's the execution and trying to pack in 6 years of worldbuilding into a 4 issue story that's lacking. It's set on a world where a fantasy world crosses with ours for a week ever 7 years. This guy has two fathers, neither of which he grew up with. He receives a magic orb filling in what happened with his fathers when he was a baby. Then it becomes an action revenge story as he has to release their ashes on this fantasy world. This thing is packed with so much fake slang that it's distracting. I was constantly trying to figure out what was being said instead of following the story. I almost needed a translator. It would not surprise me at all to find out this was originally a much longer story that Boom then told Orlando, "Well you've got 4 issues." and that's where he biffed it.

Jakob Rebelka's art is incredibly detailed. It's almost a distracting amount of detail. It's reminiscent of Geof Darrow in that regard.

[Thaddaeus Immink · Rating 1 out of 5]

Before I was using Goodreads, I would just walk into a store and judge a book by its cover or whether I've heard of it and make the decision to buy it. This was one of those titles that I saw the front cover and thought it looked awesome.

Some comments on here say that the coloring is great which is 100% true, but this story was set in a science fiction universe with such little explanation on what's going on. I felt lost throughout this entire story and towards the end, I only skimmed over the speech bubbles. It is pretty garbage. I can only imagine how someone got sold to draw this book after looking at this script.

[Kristy · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 - I wish it was longer and the store more fleshed out.

[Tim · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was good, but really could have benefited from an extra issue or two to pace the story better.

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good art. Created a very cool world, great visuals. Pretty basic storyline, but enjoyable

[Sean · Rating 2 out of 5]

Story was okay, but I disliked the art so much it made is hard to enjoy.

[Grzegorz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rysunki Rebelki są tu zaleta szkoda że scenariusz wygląda jakby wyrzucono stąd co najmniej jeden zeszyt

[Travis · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was just not good. Terrible art, terrible story. The only plus is the queer content but that's not enough to save it.

[Gabriele | QueerBookdom · Rating 2 out of 5]

Representation: bisexual protagonist, queer secondary and tertiary characters.

Content Warning: death, violence, blood.

[Ali Ives · Rating 3 out of 5]

I came across Namesake last year while looking for LGBT+ comics. It was a pretty quick read, but an interesting one, telling the story of a man on a dangerous quest for closure through the magical world of his fathers. While the art didn't stand out to me as much as many other graphic novels I've read, it was still dynamic, and I enjoyed the unashamed queerness of the story. I would say it's certainly worth a read if you come across it in your travels through bookshops and libraries!

[Sofia · Rating 1 out of 5]

Art style: ok (faces a bit meh)
Story: confusing , didn´t understand much, ex. could not understand the motivation of the main character, etc.

Would not recommend :/