Animosity, Vol. 1: The Wake

Animosity

by Marguerite Bennett

One day, for no reason, the Animals woke up. They started thinking. They started talking. They started taking REVENGE. Collecting the first four issues of the best-selling series, plus the special one-shot issue ANIMOSITY: THE RISE.

The world is plunged into chaos as the newly-intelligent Animals fight humanity, and simply fight each other, for their own life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness. In the midst of the turmoil is Jesse, an 11-year-old girl, and her dog, Sandor, who is devoted to her and her protection. One year after the incident, Jesse and Sandor begin a cross-country journey to find Jesse’s half-brother, Adam, who is living in San Francisco.

Don’t miss out on this fantastic first collection of the series EVERYONE is talking about!

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

120 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 2017

Reviews

[karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

In the days to come, everyone will have their turn in a cage.



i loved this book.

earlier this year i read volume 1 in the legend series: Defend the Grounds, which is similar to this in its broadest theme of "badass animal adventures," and now i am very impatiently awaiting new volumes in both of these series, so gimmie gimmie gimmie!

here, we are presented with the phenomenon of new-onset sentience experienced by animals across the globe as they suddenly acquire the ability to communicate verbally with humans and other species, as well as the manifestation in these creatures of a developed conscience.

some take it better than others, with reactions spanning self-recrimination:



guilt:



protectiveness:



and, in a too-soon-for-me moment that nearly had me bawling:



the action revolves around an eleven-year-old girl named jesse and her hound sandor trying to navigate a dangerous world gone mad, where the newly-‘awakened’ creatures demand equal rights through political negotiations or revolution, eating meat gets complicated, and some humans resent the sudden clamor of what is essentially billions of immigrants at once, causing all kinds of friction and violence.

and that’s all great and clever food for thought, but i’m a principled girl, and while i absolutely appreciated the “what-if” scenario, i thrilled even more to see my particular prejudices represented in full color-glory: those irredeemable monstrosities; birds and dolphins.

this story understands that birds are wicked, wicked fiends, indeed:











while dolphins are both spree killers and sex offenders:





and in this world, sometimes evildoers get what they deserve:





so, thank you for that!

volume 1 is a good beginning. it's a little confusing - there’s a time jump during which something crucial to the story occurs and is left unexplained to the reader, but it's alluded to later, so i’m confident all will be revealed in a later issue. i also enjoyed the frequent extra-textual allusions seeded throughout; overt or unattributed references to game of thrones, planet of the apes, animal farm, and even charlotte’s web, in this amazing alt-cover from the volume’s backmatter:



i know i haven’t said much about jesse and sandor- i.e.: the main focus of the book - because of my distracted preoccupation with biiiiirds, but their story is definitely enough to keep my interest.

sandor is full of sage truths:

-Meat is meat. Everyone betrays.

-Ain’t anybody here fluffy enough to die for.

and jesse is a sweet kid who loves and respects animals and is pretty excited to be able to hold conversations with ‘em now. i have a much stronger sense of where this story arc is heading than i do with legend. legend has much better artwork, to my taste, but its story hasn’t really even begun yet, and there don’t seem to be any further volumes on the horizon, while this animosity series is plugging along in single-issues as we speak, so there should be a collected volume 2 fairly soon. which is good, because i need more bird-comeuppance.

it's a very promising start, and much wider in scope than i've advertised here.

come for the dog:



but also learn the truth about birds:




******************************************



review to come.

come to my blog!

[Heidi Wiechert · Rating 4 out of 5]

One day, animals obtained self awareness and the ability to speak. The world will never be the same.

They started thinking. They started talking. They started taking revenge.

There's something profoundly disturbing when reading about animals embodying the worst of the human emotions. They're angry, afraid, vengeful. Part of what draws humanity to the animals is that they're not like that. They live in the moment. They operate from instinct. And the love they give is uncomplicated... the hate too.

In Animosity, this paradigm is flipped on its head. Now animals can plan. They're organized. They can make assumptions and mistakes.

When the animals changed, some pressing issues arose beyond the obvious problem of everybody hurting each other in the first panic and fear-filled moments following the change. How will the world feed itself? How will reproduction be controlled? Humanity had trouble providing for all even when not dealing with the quintillions of other lives on the planet.

And the love one dog has for his human can perhaps have some darkness in it that she doesn't expect. There's still loyalty. He'll fight to protect her. But there's some question to how much he'll protect the rest of her family...

Animosity is a surprisingly deep graphic novel that makes the reader question the role of animals in our lives and how the world could be a very different place if everyone, literally all life, acted like humanity. And how that might be an awful development.

[Chad · Rating 4 out of 5]

One day animals become sentient and no one knows why. A lot of them turned on mankind while others like domesticated dogs stayed and protected their human families. Midway through the book, the story jumps a year and heads in a different direction. Little is said about it and it's a frustrating break. I'm sure the creators have every intention of revisiting the gap though. I love the little Easter Eggs referencing other animal-oriented pop culture, like Cujo, Pokemon, and Game of Thrones. The art is pretty great and the story while having some problems has a lot of potential for growth. Besides how can you see the cover art where we are introduced to the Animilitary and not be intrigued?



Received an advanced copy from Aftershock and Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review.

[Sassy Sarah Reads · Rating 4 out of 5]

Animosity Volume 1: The Wake by Marguerite Bennett, Rafael de Latorre, Juan Doe, and Rob Schwager

4 stars

One day the animals around the earth began to think. They woke up and then they started murdering. Suddenly, the animals that have cohabited the earth as pets began killing their owners, animals began attacking each other, but animals also began killing humans in the streets. The world erupted in chaos. An eleven-year-old girl, Jessie, and her dog, Sandor, are trying to leave New York City. This is the saga of their adventures in a world in which animals think like humans and humans begin to think more like animals. I really enjoyed this graphic novel. The premise is interesting and it’s different. I recently took a class on post-apocalyptic literature and looking at the story through that particular contextual lens makes this graphic novel ten times more enjoyable. I’ve recently learned that I really love post-apocalyptic worlds and this is an interesting premise. It’s not the end of the world through cataclysmic events. It’s the end of the world through an animal awakening. Through beings becoming sentient and deciding that they’ve had enough of humans running the show. The plot for the first volume is gripping and intense. I wasn’t interested in Jessie’s brother’s storyline, but I can see it being developed into something really cool in the future volumes. The art is also stunning and there were times where I would turn the page and be struck by how well done and intricate the panels and details are.

Whimsical Writing Scale: 4

Art Scale: 4.25

The characters in this graphic novel series are sweet. They are nothing particularly groundbreaking and I don’t have any huge favorites. Naturally, Sandor steals the show. He’s a gruff dog who loves his girl, Jessie, but he can be ruthless and does not mind killing those who get in his way. Jessie is sweet, but she is kind of a stock character. I haven’t been sold on why I should love her, but I do love their dynamic together. I also really loved Animilitary characters and found them all fascinating. The way characters flip from one side to the other is so fascinating.

Character Scale: 3.25

Overall, this graphic novel is awesome. It’s not the best graphic novel in the world, but the premise is so inventive and gripping that it makes this story digestible and entertaining. I highly recommend it!

Plotastic Scale: 4.5

Cover Thoughts: Creepy, but it doesn’t do a great job of really luring me into the story and wanting to pick it up.

Huge thank you to Diamond Books Publishing for gifting me with a Christmas copy of this graphic novel.

[Richard · Rating 3 out of 5]

One day, all of America's animals inexplicably gain human-like consciousness and the ability to speak English and talk a lotta shit. They rise up and this leads to a new way of life where the human-animal relationship is shaky at best. But through all of this, a little girl named Jesse and her beloved dog and protector Sandor (cause he's a Hound...duh!) go on a journey to find Jesse's half-bro. Animosity has an eye-catching premise and some really inspired elements. For example, what would happen to all the meat lovers in this brave new world where a cow might be policing the streets? But this first volume was a bit inconsistent in tone and that was a little distracting. And the writers seemed to struggle with finding each character's voice. But hopefully those are the growing pains of a first volume and it'll all get rectified next time!

[James DeSantis · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was unique.

So what if, one day, we woke up and animals could talk. We've heard that one a million times. However, what if the animals had the brain of humans. As in they feel, want, and need things similar to what we do. What if, after all the years of being used the way we do use animals, they rebel. Fight back. Look for revenge. Pretty scary stuff huh?

The main story focuses on Sander and Jesse. Sander is a dog, and Jesse a 11 year old girl, and together they go into the new world trying to survive. The story likes to show the day of the events, and then back and forth flashbacks before the rise of the animals. It also gives a one shot kind of outlining how it happened with the rise and more.

Good: I enjoyed the artwork. Colorful and disturbing when need be. The relationship between Sander and Jesse feels very genuine and well done. The flashbacks give most characters, even the side ones, a lot more heart. The ending also leaves it open for some big stories to come.

Bad: The blood and violence can be a tad excessive. I also thought some of the dialog (Pokemon talk/Game of thrones joke) can be a little try-hardish. It wasn't funny and didn't flow well. I also thought "The Rise" one shot was kind of pointless and not all that interesting when Sanders and Jesse are the highlight.

I enjoyed this enough to want to check out volume 2. It didn't blow me away but it got me hooked enough to try out more. It's something different and we don't always get that. A 3 out of 5.

[Maia · Rating 4 out of 5]

One day, all of the animals of the world wake up to human level consciousness, and most of them turn to violence against their human oppressors. Humans reel in the aftermath of this complete overturn of the world as we've known it. A few animals stay loyal to their human families, and this story follow one of them- Sandor, an elderly bloodhound, who promises his 11 year old human Jess that he will keep her say and travel with her across the country to find a half brother she has never met. Fast paced and thought provoking, the first of a ongoing series.

[Anete · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kas notiktu, ja vienu dienu visa dzīvā radība pēkšņi pamostos un sāktu runāt un izpauztu savu viedokli? Bardaks un asinspirts. Labs sērijas iesākums, kurā satiekam mazo meitenīti Jesse un viņas suni Sandor.

[Iratxe Santamaría · Rating 5 out of 5]

Este cómic me ha impactado!!
Es increíble. He devorado cada una de sus paginas. Muy recomendado.

[Shadowdenizen]

3.5 stars.
While I love Marguerite Bennet, I feel like this isn't her strongest work.

That said, it's still an intriguing premise, and very readable. I'm onboard for the foreseeable future.

[Lindsey Lynn (thepagemistress) · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best graphic novels I have ever read. I laughed, I cried and cheered. This was incredible and I am hooked on this series forever. Love Sandor <3

[Bonnie McDaniel · Rating 1 out of 5]

I hang out at a SFF fanzine, File 770, that offers plenty of book recommendations, and I've found a lot of interesting new books this way. Of course, each recommendation is something of a crapshoot; sometimes you find something you like and sometimes you don't.

This definitely falls into the latter category.

After reading it, it took a couple of days for me to realize why I so disliked this book. The premise sounds exciting and high-concept: in the wink of an eye, some Unknown Event wakes all the world's animals to sentience, and understandably, a great many of them immediately start killing the humans who have mistreated them for so long. The story focuses on an eleven-year-old girl, Jesse Hernandez, and her bloodhound, Sandor (named after a George R.R. Martin character from The Song of Ice and Fire, "the Hound"). Sandor is loyal to and loves Jesse, and will do anything to protect her and get her out of the abandoned wasteland that is now New York and across the country to San Francisco, where her half-brother Adam lives.

All well and good. But I grew more and more dissatisfied as I read; something about this premise was setting my teeth on edge. After a bit, it finally dawned on me what the problem was: in my opinion, the concept is implausible, and the worldbuilding is crap.

Yes, I know that's quite a thing to say about a comic book, and especially so given that I've read a lot of superhero stories, and one of my favorite series is Ms. Marvel. Green mutating Terragen mist, anyone? However, bear with me here, and remember that what follows is the reason why this story doesn't work for me.

One of my most important criteria for a good SFF book is the worldbuilding. I can suspend my disbelief to a point, and a lot of the books I read would not, shall we say, fit in well with the established, observable universe. This is fine, as long as your invented universe is logically consistent and makes sense within the rules the author has decreed for it.

This is precisely where Animosity falls short, and it's made clear right on the third page.

Yesterday, God was in his heaven, the average American consumed 38 lbs of meat per year, and there were roughly 20,000,121,091,000,000,000 animals on planet Earth.

This number can be expressed as 20 quintillion, or the equivalent of 20 billion billions, and includes 500 trillion krill, 50 billion chickens, 1 billion cattle, 1 billion swine, 1 billion domestic sheep, 850 million goats, 600 million cats, 400 million dogs, 60 million horses, 40 million donkeys, 3 million whales, 500,000 elephants, 200,000 chimpanzees, 30,000 American bison, 20,000 polar bears, 8,000 cheetahs, 4,000 Komodo dragons, 1,500 pandas, 500 Siberian tigers, 100 red wolves, 45 Amur leopards, 5 two-horned rhinos, two billion tons of fish, and 10 quintillion insects.

There are also 7,250,000,000 humans, but who's counting.

As of 2016, there were over 1,203,375 species of animals, and one species of human, but as more than 10,000 new species are identified and categorized each year, these statistics are nebulous.

And since we got the data from the Animals, who knows? Maybe they're fucking liars.

Mostly, what we know is this: One day, for no goddamn reason, the Animals woke up. They started thinking. They started talking. They started taking revenge.

We call it the Wake.

It's less dramatic than the Funeral.

Really? Are you kidding me? So every...single...animal on planet Earth woke up? All the mammals, birds, fish, reptiles, insects, spiders, crustaceans, cephalopods, and amphibians? Hell, why not throw in the amoebas, tardigrades, worms, bacteria, viruses, fungi and plants while we're at it? (Now that's a horrific thought, having one's gut microbes suddenly talking with and fighting one another. Or how about sentient kudzu vine, growing three feet a day with the hive-minded aim of claiming every square inch of land for itself, and mushrooms that crawl down your throat to spread their hallucinogenic goodness!!)

You see where I'm going with this? It's illogical, it's overkill, and for me, it destroys the story. If every single animal on earth is suddenly intelligent, and realizes that they cannot feed on other sentient beings (although goodness knows, that never stopped cannabalistic human societies), THEN WHAT THE HELL IS ALL 20 QUINTILLION OF THEM GOING TO EAT? There's not enough plant matter on the planet, or seaweed in the ocean, to feed every other living thing, especially when you have to let some of it grow, or harvest and replant it, to provide your next meal. And that's not even getting into the problem of obligate carnivores, like lions, tigers and house cats, that have to eat meat or they die. There's some vague handwaving in the direction of tofu and human-produced fake meat, but when the awakened Animals are also killing off the only species with the global reach, civilization and technology, and incidentally the manipulative digits, i.e. thumbs, to maybe solve this problem...you know what all this leads to? Complete and total disruption of global food chains and mass starvation of all life. In other words, an extinction event.

Not the cutesy story of A Girl and Her Dog, Fighting the Good Fight.

I can't imagine someone didn't point this glaring flaw out, somewhere along the way. And it's so easily fixed. You can have almost the same story, and by my lights a far more interesting story, simply by limiting the Wake's effects. Instead of all the animals, only have a few animals awake to sentience: those who are already regarded by many as being on the cusp of true intelligence. To name some off the top of my head: elephants, orcas, dolphins, the great apes (gorillas/bonobos/chimpanzees/orangutans/possibly baboons), octopus and squid, parrots and crows, and perhaps a smattering of domestic animals--the border collie, for instance. And once they're awake, don't have them immediately start acting like human beings, either, including using the F-word. (Which is another thing that bugged me--all these animals suddenly talking? THEY DON'T HAVE THE PHYSICAL APPARATUS TO DO SO!! Namely, the lips, tongues, teeth, and larynxes [not to mention areas of the brain] that can produce language!) They would not be like humans; they would be more like aliens who have abruptly found themselves on Earth. Furthermore, they would have to recover from the sudden transition to self-awareness, which would cause considerable trauma all by itself; learn a language; and finally, begin to cope living side-by-side as intelligent beings with humans and their fellow awakened Animals. (That is, assuming that said humans, being the nasty top predators they sometimes are, don't automatically kill every animal who wakes up. Some would try, of course, and some would fight to protect the newly sentient animals, which would add another layer of conflict.)

Now that might be a story. It's certainly not this story, and the more I thought about Animosity, the more it fell apart. So no, I'm not recommending it, and I'm not keeping it. Surely the library can put it to better use.

[Alison (ageekyreader) · Rating 3 out of 5]

The colors and art worked really well together, and I think the premise is really fascinating. I wish there had been more clarity regarding Jesse and her family tree though because it left me incredibly confused. Adding to that confusion, it seems like her parents aren't really her parents, but I finished reading and felt unsure.

I wish we knew more about Jesse as a character. We only see her as this kind, practically saint like, figure, but we're not given much else. It's not even clear to me how old she is, although it seems like she's 9 or 10. No matter how young she is, we don't see her fear about the world going sideways around her. I'll probably pick up volume two, but I don't think I'd buy a physical copy this time around.

[RG · Rating 4 out of 5]

Re read this recently and liked it alot more. The artwork is gory and great. The story is a little cliched but I'll give the 2nd vol a shot

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

One ordinary day, the Animals wake up. They start thinking, being logical and speaking. They come for revenge, for their mistreatment and the cruelty. Other animals stand by humans to protect them. Some humans decide the best way to fight back to exterminate all animals while others believe its best to listen to the animals and see what they are asking for. In this chaotic world of newly-intelligent Animals fight humanity, and simply fight each other, we follow Jesse an 11-year-old girl, and her dog, Sandor.
We follow Jesse and Sandor in the immediate aftermath of the awakening and then it skips to one year in the future where they begin a cross-country journey to find Jesse’s half-brother, Adam, who is living in San Francisco.

I was recommended this graphic book by Kinokuniya sales assistant and I have to say I really enjoyed it! The illustrations are beautiful and it is so easy to follow and understand what is happening. I cannot wait to get the next volume!

4.25

[Valentin Derevlean · Rating 2 out of 5]

Foarte bun primul număr, apoi din ce în ce mai slab. Pornim de la o apocalipsă în urma căreia toate animalele au conștiință umană și încep să vorbească, să ucidă și să lupte contra oamenilor. O puștoaică însă reușește să scape primelor momente de panică, alături de familia ei și de căinele familiei care îi și apără. Începând cu numărul 2 (paper backul acesta are 4 numere) lucrurile devin absurde și ilogice. Secvențele sar repede în timp, vedem animale folosind arme de foc !? și care își construiesc fie propriile baze umane, fie atacă orice ființă umană. Intriga o ia razna și se pierde în detalii diverse, derulate rapid. Nimic despre această idee genială de la început în care oamenii ar lupta într-un război de gherilă contra animalelor de orice fel. Păcat. 5 stele primul număr, apoi dezastru.

[Jen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not bad, but I don’t think most animals would be deadly violent to humans if they were to gain sentience. I would hope they would only do it to people who deserved it. 3, kinda violent and gory, stars.

[Patrick · Rating 2 out of 5]

I feel like this has a great basic idea and some sense of where it's going, but it's a bit rough.

I'm going to likely give volume 2 a chance, but I'm not itching for it.

[Zedsdead · Rating 4 out of 5]

One day all the animals in the world awaken, becoming spontaneously sentient. They have names and memories and relationships and agendas. As the world goes to hell, a loyal hound named Sandor tries to protect the ten year old human girl who has raised him from puppyhood.

Bad Stuff
--Perspective choices in the art are terrible. Characters are repeatedly drawn such that they look like they're running the wrong way or talking to the wrong people.
--Cuts between scenes are abrupt and confusing. The story jerks forward in time gracelessly. Twice I checked the gutter to see if a page had been torn out.
--Conflicting world-building points. Wild animals already have names when they 'awaken', and wild animals also spend a great deal of energy choosing names for themselves. These can't both be true.
--Violations of the laws of physics. (Witness the physics-defying manner in which a dog takes out a tiger and later a wolf.)
--The animals speak flawless English, even though they lack the vocal apparatus. No one thinks this is weird.
--The book is just not well written.

Good Stuff
--Koalas wielding handguns. Tortoise-mounted rocket launchers. Wolves wearing bear traps.
--Pokemon obsessed humpback whale.
--Great little literary easter eggs. A reference to a St Bernard over in Castle Rock. The name of the main animal character (a hound...) And others.
--The montage pages that depict the worldwide Awakening are terrific. We see a dozen scenes immediately before, during, and after the animals wake up. Pandas suddenly start committing mass suicide, because they're pandas. A hamster eating one of her young freezes as she 'awakens'...then grabs another pup to eat while the rest scream "Run! She's evil!" (Yes, hamsters are exactly that evil.) Dogs remain loyal, as dogs are wont to do. Cats, interestingly, are loyal to their women. Dolphins are disturbingly rapey; it seems the author has seen the same nature shows I have.

Animosity is definitely not four star material, but I got four stars worth of enjoyment out of it. It's really only worthwhile if you're as willing to overvalue animal stories and neat concepts as I am.

[Kelsey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Animals "wake up" and begin talking; and conquering the world.

A humpback whale bursts through the water and screams "HUMPBACK WHALE" because it's trying to be a Pokemon.

A pelican starts grabbing smartphones and screams "JUST YOU FUCKING WAIT 'TIL I HAVE THUMBS!"

Read those two sentences. If you think that sounds stupendous, this book is for you. If you think that sounds horrible, stay away.

[Elsits · Rating 3 out of 5]

Premisa potente: de repente un día todos los animales "despiertan", esto es, adquieren conciencia, empiezan a hablar y tienen las mismas capacidades intelectuales que los humanos. Y claro, se revelan.
A partir de ahí la cosa se lía pero bien, como era de esperar. Las consecuencias de este acontecimiento convierten el mundo en una especie de apocalipsis donde prima el instinto de supervivencia. Y entre todo este barullo se encuentran Jesse, una niña de once años, y su perro Sandor, su acérrimo protector.

El mensaje principal queda claro pero se va diluyendo entre tanta violencia desmedida y la brusquedad con la que sucede todo; la trama se desarrolla tan precipitadamente que impide conectar con los personajes y apenas se centra en mostrar el cambio tan brutal que supone el Despertar. Tal vez en los siguientes volúmenes ahonde más.

Por su parte, la ilustración, aunque algo plana, es vistosa y agradable, lo que ayuda a suavizar la violencia representada. Sobresalen un puñado de viñetas más centradas en el mensaje que en la trama principal, en especial aquellas dedicadas al momento del Despertar, donde se muestran paralelamente diversas situaciones en diferentes partes del mundo e implicando a diferentes tipos de animales.

El regusto que deja el primer volumen es algo desconcertante. Lo necesario para querer continuar con el siguiente.

[Václav · Rating 4 out of 5]

(4 of 5 for a really interesting twist on the global cataclysm theme)
I waited for a long to start reading this. It was promising, so I saved it to read it as a whole thing. I wanted it to be good and the first book disappointed. The first issue was terrific, the rest was a bit chaotic but it can be blamed on mimicking the world in chaos. I really enjoyed those "many places same time sequences" which were better than seemingly unrelated time or space jumps. The art is fine. I'm not excited about it, but it does its job.

[Amy! · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is INTENSE but also has some funny moments. I would definitely read more.

[Ashley (Tiny Navajo Reads) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow...wow wow wow...Animals wake up, start thinking and talking and the world is flipped upside down in such a way as to make you question all that you know.

[HornFan2 · Rating 2 out of 5]

Total waste of time, skimmed this one and thankfully it was free from DBD.

[Patat · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like it quite alot, but it's not for everyone. I study animal wellfare at college and not all the things in the story are accurate or possible, but I know it's a fantasy story, so it didn't bother me that much. I would love to see how the story progresses, but I find it a bit sad that they made this very gorey. I don't mind it, but it also doesn't have a prupose.

[Caitlin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Life as humans know it comes to an end on the day of the Wake, when all of the animals of the world suddenly gain the ability to think and reason as humans do. Some aim to protect their humans, others are thirsty for revenge and both the known power structure and food chain will never be the same again. A young girl named Jesse Hernandez and her loyal bloodhound Sandor aim to make it from New York City to San Francisco so that Jesse can meet up with her remaining family. But there's a lot of disputed territory in between, can the duo make it?



This is easily the most grim and bleak story that I've seen from Marguerite Bennett but it asks some very intriguing questions about human nature and the company we keep. The art by De Latorre is a perfect match for Bennett's dark story and while the writing borders on preachy at times, it never gets too over the top even as the action gets intense.

See full series review here!

[Chris Lemmerman · Rating 5 out of 5]

I cannot begin to describe the emotional rollercoaster that these five issues took me on. My jaw dropped, my eyes welled up, I laughed out loud, I gasped, and I got righteously furious, and that is a LOT for five issues.

The story of Jesse and Sandor, an 11 year old and her bloodhound, trying to survive in a world where animals have suddenly begun to talk and think like humans (the titular Wake) is amazingly compelling. You think you know where it's going, which direction the story's going to take next, but as Sandor says, 'that was never going to be our story'.

Instead, it's intensely personal with some crazy moral quandaries to think about long after you put the book down, with some great characters and some absolutely gorgeous artwork from Rafael De La Torre. Some artists struggle with animals, but he manages to make them look exactly as they should while giving them an uncanny valley with the human characters. It's both a tour de force of artistic talent and super fucking creepy all at once.

Also included is the first issue of The Rise, which is a spin-off/set of one-shots (Maybe? I'm not sure yet) about a different character from the first issue whose relationship to the main story is just as shocking, as they explore the Wake from a very different direction with art by Juan Doe. He doesn't do very much interior art, but when he does, it's gorgeous.

Animosity is the jewel in Aftershock Comics' crown for a reason. This is superb stuff.

[Shannon Appelcline · Rating 5 out of 5]

And then one day, all the animals woke to full sentience.

Animosity is an amazing take on the post-apocalyptic genre, but it's not a measly count of zombies that are ending the world, it's literally billions of billions of animals, all awakened to intelligence. Do they hate humanity for what it's done to them? Or, do they love them? How do they live in a world where everything else is a living sentient being?

Animosity does a great job of teasing out the possibilities, from the catastrophic day of The Wake to the inevitable journey across the United States that follows. The pacing is a little uneven in the first few volumes, but quickly settles down. It's a story about a girl and her dog. It's a story about animals forming civilizations. It's a story about animality (mostly) embracing the new and humanity (mostly) trying to recover what they once had.

There's wonderful imagination here and also wonderful characterization and really heart-felt relations. Then the last issue really opens the story up as we suddenly realize what the introduction meant and how it all ties together.

This is the obvious successor to Y: The Last Man. I'd like the next volume please (and a nice deluxe hardcover too, please).

[Bert · Rating 2 out of 5]

What if all the animals suddenly gain consciousness, like humans, and revolt? taht's an interesting premise, but you soon end up in ridiculous situations which are hard to take seriously.

Part of this was pretty great, but almost as often I felt manipulated by its author who just keeps piling on the sad events. And I couldn't shake the feeling this script seems to be a way to show off some of these images she's envisioned, e.g. a deer with grenades on her antlers.