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Evolution (Collected Editions)
Evolution, Vol. 1: Origins of a Species
Human evolution has taken millions of years to get to this stage. But next week, we become something new. Around the world, humanity is undergoing rapid and unpredictable changes, and only three individuals seem to notice that their world is being reborn. But what can they do about it?
Skybound unites writers James Asmus, Joseph Keatinge, Chris Sebela & Joshua Williamson and artists Joe Infurnari & Jordan Boyd to create a new global phenomenon in this oversized debut issue.
Collects EVOLUTION #1-6
Skybound unites writers James Asmus, Joseph Keatinge, Chris Sebela & Joshua Williamson and artists Joe Infurnari & Jordan Boyd to create a new global phenomenon in this oversized debut issue.
Collects EVOLUTION #1-6
136 pages, Paperback
First published May 16, 2018
1 person is currently reading
87 people want to read
About the author
James Asmus
316 books67 followersJames began writing for live theater; creating sketch comedy, stand-up, plays and musicals. After a few years writing and performing in New Orleans and Chicago, a run of one his shows in New York garnered an offer to write for Marvel Comics' X-Men. A lifelong comics fan, James pounced on the opportunity and would go on to write Marvel titles like Uncanny X-Men, Captain America & Bucky, Gambit, Runaways, Generation Hope, Deadpool Team-Up and more.
His work for other comics publishers includes Thief of Thieves with Robert Kirkman (creator of the Walking Dead) and The End Times of Bram & Ben (which he co-created with Jim Festante) for Image Comics. In 2014 James signed a year-long exclusive deal with Valiant Entertainment where he wrote The Delinquents and Quantum & Woody - the latter of which received 6 nominations at the 2014 Harvey Awards; including Best Writer, Best New Talent, and Special Award for Humor noms for James.
He currently lives in Los Angeles with his wife Mara and son Devlin. There, James has written for film, television, and video games. But he plans to create comics as long as you'll have him.
His work for other comics publishers includes Thief of Thieves with Robert Kirkman (creator of the Walking Dead) and The End Times of Bram & Ben (which he co-created with Jim Festante) for Image Comics. In 2014 James signed a year-long exclusive deal with Valiant Entertainment where he wrote The Delinquents and Quantum & Woody - the latter of which received 6 nominations at the 2014 Harvey Awards; including Best Writer, Best New Talent, and Special Award for Humor noms for James.
He currently lives in Los Angeles with his wife Mara and son Devlin. There, James has written for film, television, and video games. But he plans to create comics as long as you'll have him.
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Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews
January 23, 2023
This is the first volume in the Evolution graphic novel series.
Human evolution happens slowly and over millions of years. Until now. Our species is beginning to alter at a rapid rate and very few individuals are actually aware of it. And those who do have far more to fear than just the disbelief of those in power.
Whilst the actual bones of the story and the unique art style were individually impressive they did not, at least for me, wholly work together. The dark colour palette sometimes made it difficult to discern individual characters or events and I also sometimes needed a little more action to keep me engaged in the story. As other reviewers have stated, this would work well if adapted for TV or film as its contents are exciting, even if I personally desired some alterations. I do, however, really like the concept and am eager to see what direction the rest of the series will take.
Human evolution happens slowly and over millions of years. Until now. Our species is beginning to alter at a rapid rate and very few individuals are actually aware of it. And those who do have far more to fear than just the disbelief of those in power.
Whilst the actual bones of the story and the unique art style were individually impressive they did not, at least for me, wholly work together. The dark colour palette sometimes made it difficult to discern individual characters or events and I also sometimes needed a little more action to keep me engaged in the story. As other reviewers have stated, this would work well if adapted for TV or film as its contents are exciting, even if I personally desired some alterations. I do, however, really like the concept and am eager to see what direction the rest of the series will take.
March 10, 2020
Great idea but overall a bad execution.
October 22, 2018
Seriously scary.
I picked this book up because the art had this cool 70s horror vibe to it. There are three different stories going on at once, each has a specific color assigned to it. One story is about a scientist, another about a nun and the last is about a couple in a rough patch. Each story gives you small hints about the creature(s) taking over. This book has some seriously cool themes and just a great story all around. Its gory, religious, and seriously scary at times.
I picked this book up because the art had this cool 70s horror vibe to it. There are three different stories going on at once, each has a specific color assigned to it. One story is about a scientist, another about a nun and the last is about a couple in a rough patch. Each story gives you small hints about the creature(s) taking over. This book has some seriously cool themes and just a great story all around. Its gory, religious, and seriously scary at times.
August 25, 2025
Cooooool
February 13, 2020
This was okay at first but I think the art really ruined this in the end....
Read
May 19, 2018Done right, this could work very well as a tense TV drama - though unlike too many Image comics a few years back, it never feels solely like the comic is being treated as an easy way to get a pitch document noticed. The science is iffy in the extreme - the idea of evolution having previously been defensive, but now going on the offensive, doesn't even make sense from a lamentably anthropocentric perspective - but considered solely as comic/horror/SF science, the premise is effective enough. Basically, it's the X-Men if, instead of most mutants handily getting powers and maybe a change of skin colour, everyone got useful but also body horror freaky-looking adaptations to the world's strains. Also, it may be infectious, so there's a zombie movie note in the mix too. Nothing terribly new here (which is ironic given the premise), but the gritty, lived-in, shadowy feel of the art sells it as a nice tense little yarn. Initially, at least; things are dragging noticeably by the end of the volume.
(Edelweiss ARC)
(Edelweiss ARC)
March 1, 2024
Hopeless situation. Catastrophic change on Earth. Diverse characters from all walks of life.
December 17, 2022
Rating 3 out of 5 | Grade: C-; That is not how evolution works
Pity, the Series started off with some reasonable promise. With its grainy, muted pages with its yellowish red tinge and a sense of foreboding. The way in which the story was fed to us in drips and snippets. The overbearing sense of hopelessness which seemed to pervade the atmosphere. The mystery.
But 6 Issues in, I still don't have a damn clue what this is all about. The premise, largely based on the title seems to be how, certain sections of the human population are undergoing drastic changes to their physiology ('evoluuution') which are turning them into grotesque body horror creatures something akin to those in John Carpenter's 'The Thing'
Yet unlike the usual end of the world stories, there is no ensuing panic, governmental crackdown and some sinister plot to take over the world. I least I don't think so from what I've read so far. The creatures are controlled by some manner of overarching consciousness, which makes sure that the people who undergo changes live camouflaged amongst society, until they've reached critical mass. Or so I'm led to believe from one of our POV characters, a fringe researcher who, with each issue is seeing more and more like a homicidal doomsday theorist. I wouldn't be surprised if this whole thing turns out to be his fever dream.
On another side of the world, there is this young woman and her partner who stumble across similar creatures, and are slowly being brought to the fold by an eccentric recluse millionaire, to what end? Unclear. This storyline suffers from lacking any details at all, even though we do get some detailed backstory about the characters themselves.
Finally, there is the third thread of the story, following a former delinquent turned nun, who encounters a creature, that then proceeded to commit suicide in front of her. Feeling this mysterious happening to be connected to her, she retraces the steps to her past and tries to get to the root of all the happenings.
Thoughts
As mentioned, the first chapter shows some promise. The art is pretty good, and there was an air of suspense and mystery which, at the least makes you want to know what all of this leads to.
Unfortunately, the subsequent chapters don't really capitalize on this, and are on the whole, a slog fest. There are hardly any escalating events, and even the points where the story progresses, it's quite unengaging.
Frankly, at this point I'm reading more out of curiosity, as well as that nagging itch to complete things, than any real desire or engagement.
Don't even try and get into the story, if you're someone particular about the sort of science that is used in the sci-fi stories you read. Cause here, the explanation as to why people are turning into body horrors, is vague and the explanations given are surface level, and not at all satisfying.
Even the title of the story, Evolution is such a misplaced one. This is not how evolution works. You could have given any number of explanations from alien body snatchers to some sentient microorganism altering the makeup of the populace. But they went with the lazy explanation of, because EVOLUTION.
Art
In contrast to the unremarkable narrative, the art of Evolution does stand out. All of the pages are tinged in reds and yellows, as if most of the story takes place during golden hour.
The pages have these lines of grainy consistency, like you're watching some 70s era sitcom or pulp movie. Which seems to be a theme they're going for, as one of the POV character, her whole backstory centers around her being a movie buff interested in pulp B grade Horror movies.
There are a lot of allusions to body horror, reminiscent to the thing, but again the story doesn't make use of it. Tentacles, spores, claws, cilia, blood, gore and vomit inducing bodily fluids are on display. Some pages do make you squeamish with how the human flesh is being rend and ripped off.
But one of the major drawbacks is that, despite having a quite inspired monster design, they're not part of any action or plot points. They just randomly show up, and turn into monsters, only to die off, or just congregate and show off.
Even the few actions scenes there are, end far too quickly, and many times happen off screen.
There is also the issue of the color grading; while it's inspired, seeing as there are near 18 chapters of this, I can almost be certain my eyes are going to kill me once I finish the story. I can already feel the migraine that's coming on.
In summary, good art, bad story.
Pity, the Series started off with some reasonable promise. With its grainy, muted pages with its yellowish red tinge and a sense of foreboding. The way in which the story was fed to us in drips and snippets. The overbearing sense of hopelessness which seemed to pervade the atmosphere. The mystery.
But 6 Issues in, I still don't have a damn clue what this is all about. The premise, largely based on the title seems to be how, certain sections of the human population are undergoing drastic changes to their physiology ('evoluuution') which are turning them into grotesque body horror creatures something akin to those in John Carpenter's 'The Thing'
Yet unlike the usual end of the world stories, there is no ensuing panic, governmental crackdown and some sinister plot to take over the world. I least I don't think so from what I've read so far. The creatures are controlled by some manner of overarching consciousness, which makes sure that the people who undergo changes live camouflaged amongst society, until they've reached critical mass. Or so I'm led to believe from one of our POV characters, a fringe researcher who, with each issue is seeing more and more like a homicidal doomsday theorist. I wouldn't be surprised if this whole thing turns out to be his fever dream.
On another side of the world, there is this young woman and her partner who stumble across similar creatures, and are slowly being brought to the fold by an eccentric recluse millionaire, to what end? Unclear. This storyline suffers from lacking any details at all, even though we do get some detailed backstory about the characters themselves.
Finally, there is the third thread of the story, following a former delinquent turned nun, who encounters a creature, that then proceeded to commit suicide in front of her. Feeling this mysterious happening to be connected to her, she retraces the steps to her past and tries to get to the root of all the happenings.
Thoughts
As mentioned, the first chapter shows some promise. The art is pretty good, and there was an air of suspense and mystery which, at the least makes you want to know what all of this leads to.
Unfortunately, the subsequent chapters don't really capitalize on this, and are on the whole, a slog fest. There are hardly any escalating events, and even the points where the story progresses, it's quite unengaging.
Frankly, at this point I'm reading more out of curiosity, as well as that nagging itch to complete things, than any real desire or engagement.
Don't even try and get into the story, if you're someone particular about the sort of science that is used in the sci-fi stories you read. Cause here, the explanation as to why people are turning into body horrors, is vague and the explanations given are surface level, and not at all satisfying.
Even the title of the story, Evolution is such a misplaced one. This is not how evolution works. You could have given any number of explanations from alien body snatchers to some sentient microorganism altering the makeup of the populace. But they went with the lazy explanation of, because EVOLUTION.
Art
In contrast to the unremarkable narrative, the art of Evolution does stand out. All of the pages are tinged in reds and yellows, as if most of the story takes place during golden hour.
The pages have these lines of grainy consistency, like you're watching some 70s era sitcom or pulp movie. Which seems to be a theme they're going for, as one of the POV character, her whole backstory centers around her being a movie buff interested in pulp B grade Horror movies.
There are a lot of allusions to body horror, reminiscent to the thing, but again the story doesn't make use of it. Tentacles, spores, claws, cilia, blood, gore and vomit inducing bodily fluids are on display. Some pages do make you squeamish with how the human flesh is being rend and ripped off.
But one of the major drawbacks is that, despite having a quite inspired monster design, they're not part of any action or plot points. They just randomly show up, and turn into monsters, only to die off, or just congregate and show off.
Even the few actions scenes there are, end far too quickly, and many times happen off screen.
There is also the issue of the color grading; while it's inspired, seeing as there are near 18 chapters of this, I can almost be certain my eyes are going to kill me once I finish the story. I can already feel the migraine that's coming on.
In summary, good art, bad story.
May 23, 2018
*I received this book as an eARC from Image Comics via Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review*
This graphic novel reminds me of Heroes or Sense8. It starts with seemingly disparate stories in different geographical locations, but slowly it is revealed how they are all connected. Because of the global-ness of the story, I enjoyed the internationally diverse cast of characters. The art is cringy, but I think that's exactly what they're going for in their style choice. If you have trypophobia, you will not enjoy this style. I had my reservations how the term evolution is used in this story describing individuals instead of mutations over many generations, but sci-fi does this often. The story combined with the art style didn't keep my interest. I found myself flipping to the next page before I even finished reading the all the speech bubbles. I give this first volume of Evolution a 3/5. I probably won't be picking up the second volume, but if you like gross mutations and biological thrillers, you should check this out.
This graphic novel reminds me of Heroes or Sense8. It starts with seemingly disparate stories in different geographical locations, but slowly it is revealed how they are all connected. Because of the global-ness of the story, I enjoyed the internationally diverse cast of characters. The art is cringy, but I think that's exactly what they're going for in their style choice. If you have trypophobia, you will not enjoy this style. I had my reservations how the term evolution is used in this story describing individuals instead of mutations over many generations, but sci-fi does this often. The story combined with the art style didn't keep my interest. I found myself flipping to the next page before I even finished reading the all the speech bubbles. I give this first volume of Evolution a 3/5. I probably won't be picking up the second volume, but if you like gross mutations and biological thrillers, you should check this out.
June 11, 2022
Evolution vol 1: or a gross global forced evolution plague. When I first looked this up I was curious about all the imaginative forms that the disease would take but in reality it’s basically just the grossest parts of the Thing universe. In this we follow three storylines one involving a conspiracy crazed clinic doctor sees a young Latino boy who has grown gills to combat his asthma. Then there’s a nun in a church who hears a man begging to her in German and he has a weird growth all over his arm. And then there’s some film fan lady with a girlfriend and this particular storyline has the least to do with the global events so far. Everyone has at least seen the weird mutated humans though. So there’s two more volumes of this but the score drops precipitously from around three stars to barely two. It’s not on my priority list in that case and I would have to agree three classic films in storage out of five. And three is being generous. ⭐️⭐️⭐️
July 29, 2018
Horror comic collection – not particularly uplifting but an interesting idea
The premise behind this comic collection is that mankind is subject to further evolution and the way this affects the lives of several lead characters. Each, in their own way, discovers something about the “evolved” man and the story shows their progress and character development. Is it alien-influenced?
The story moves along at a reasonable pace and the artwork is quite clear and detailed. I enjoyed this although I'm no great fan of horror but it's engaging and this is only Volume 1.
The premise behind this comic collection is that mankind is subject to further evolution and the way this affects the lives of several lead characters. Each, in their own way, discovers something about the “evolved” man and the story shows their progress and character development. Is it alien-influenced?
The story moves along at a reasonable pace and the artwork is quite clear and detailed. I enjoyed this although I'm no great fan of horror but it's engaging and this is only Volume 1.
June 21, 2018
There is so much going on in this story meanwhile being grotesque body horror porn.
I enjoy the fact that this story is being told 3 different ways across the globe. The question is when will the character's stories meet up, if they even do?
The body mutations are enough to make me feel itchy all over my body. While there is a little bit of an explanation as to what this virus is, you will be asking for so much more. As for Abe, what the fuck is he all about? The ending is a bit of a twist!
I enjoy the fact that this story is being told 3 different ways across the globe. The question is when will the character's stories meet up, if they even do?
The body mutations are enough to make me feel itchy all over my body. While there is a little bit of an explanation as to what this virus is, you will be asking for so much more. As for Abe, what the fuck is he all about? The ending is a bit of a twist!
May 30, 2020
With all of the talent in this creative team I was expecting much more. The book didn't read like the horror comic it was billed as. The three stories being told weren't interesting except for Hannah's. I think the story would have been better served to go slower. The art was too rough at times. Some panels were hard to discern. Overall, not the book for me.
May 17, 2018
(Read in single issues) A neat concept and interesting characters, but this was just too slow moving for me month-to-month. Dropped it from my pull list but might check out later volumes to see how it develops.
October 23, 2019
I always get a little worried when theres multiple authors attached to a project. Kinda short stories in the beginning and slowly unveils to come together. Has promised even kinda reminded me of a good thriller horror tv show but just too disjointed for me to continue
December 30, 2025
Review is for all three volumes read consecutively.
Never have a read a series that so thoroughly crawled up it's own ass.
Everything is platitudes and vague warnings and promises with no actual answers or endings.
Avoid.
Never have a read a series that so thoroughly crawled up it's own ass.
Everything is platitudes and vague warnings and promises with no actual answers or endings.
Avoid.
April 20, 2019
It's interesting enough. Ended with a somewhat of a cliffhanger so I'll be following the story.
May 8, 2019
How about no religion and actual science in a sci-fi comic? So silly.
July 14, 2019
Review forthcoming on the No Flying No Tights site.
January 25, 2020
Interesting story but wasn't crazy about the visual style - it's an imprecise style of drawing which is stylistic but makes it hard to tell what's happening at times.
June 5, 2020
It’s a really impressive accomplishment to have four writers on a book and have it feel seamless. Also a very unsettling thing to read during the time of COVID-19.
September 11, 2020
Great idea, just didn’t quite work for me
December 5, 2023
Good thriller. The artwork is beautiful and horrifying. The way hatching is done with the inking is remarkable. Excited to read the next two issues. Reminds me of the Prototype game series.
March 5, 2025
Now this art is interesting— I especially liked the nun’s warm colors. I do know what I picked up, but I think it was just too silly in the end.
May 26, 2018
Not a major leap forward.
Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews