Astonisher Vol. 2: All The Nightmares

Astonisher #2

by Alex de Campi, Al Barrionuevo, Pop Mhan

Magnus Attarian, heir to the AtiSat Corp., once tried to save the world but ended up with a bad case of post-traumatic stress disorder instead. Then, after using his ability to travel inside the minds of meteor-affected individuals, Magnus tried to become a superhero, which hasn't worked out for him either. Luckily for Magnus, he has the help of Sasha, his longtime girlfriend, and Charles Cleaver, head of Branch Seven, to help him out when Magnus goes up against his newest enemy: his brother.

Genres: Graphic Novels, Comics

144 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 25, 2018

About the author

Alex de Campi is a New York-based writer with an extensive backlist of critically-acclaimed graphic novels including Eisner-nominated heist noir Bad Girls (Simon & Schuster) and Twisted Romance (Image Comics). Her most recent book was her debut prose novel The Scottish Boy (Unbound). She lives with her daughter, their cat, and a Deafblind pit bull named Tango.

Reviews

[Chad · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was actually one of the better Catalyst Prime books I've read. Good art, decent characters and story, even if the villain is a direct ripoff of Stephen King's Crimson King from the Dark Tower. The plotting is off though. You'll have issues where very little happens and then they head off into space and save the world all in one issue after wasting the past three issues.

Received a review copy from Lion Forge and NetGalley. All thoughts are my own and in no way influenced by the aforementioned.

[Theediscerning · Rating 3 out of 5]

The frustrating lack of quality consistency at Catalyst Prime is further proof that a dodgy meteorite landed on the publishers' offices in real life, if you ask me. This one wasn't too bad, yes – read it and try and believe it – it's a Volume Two, and it wasn't too bad. Of course, seeing as Volume One never came my way I don't really know all that is going on, but this is actually readable. I would certainly wish to change a few things – the Token Ethnic Character is really not needed, for one. More annoyingly, and more confusingly, as said elsewhere the titles in this franchise's universe really don't tie in with each other, in fact they actually disagree with each other. What reality of the fallout from the disaster are we supposed to pick and choose? Well, seeing as Incidentals now sucks and Noble Volume Two was as much fun as reading a used diaper, I guess this one – even if a heck of a lot of it is stolen from the first Kingsman film. Don't hold me on Volume Three being any good, but for now this is actually one of the better books 2018 has given us in the CP world.

Three and a half stars.

[Alex Sarll]

Still a series with some great elements (most of the dialogue and action scenes, the mental health angle, and especially the older female characters) stranded in a slightly too trope-y D-list superhero universe. The human villains in particular feel overfamiliar, and it's tricky taking their parasitic overlord seriously when he's referred to as Big Red, which to me will always primarily be an insalubrious North London rock pub.

(Netgalley ARC)

[Christian Zamora-Dahmen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow! This book simply exploded!
I was worried this book would fall into a repetitive loop but it did completely reinvent itself. Kudos to Alex de Campi for really twisting things around and make it look so organic to the story.
The art was also perfect for the book. both Pop Mhan and Al Barrionuevo delivered their A game. And it was done so flawlessly that it’s hard to tell when they switched places.
The book also risked stepping a bit away from super-heroics and explored all of the characters into new depths. To me, it was flawless.

[Wayne McCoy · Rating 2 out of 5]

'Astonisher Vol. 2: All The Nightmares' by Alex De Campi with art by Pop Mhan and Al Barrionuevo is a graphic novel in the Catalyst Prime universe about a hero with a rather weird power.

Magnus Attarian is a wealthy heir who went in to space and came back with a decidedly weird superpower: he can traverse the minds of others. He did this in the first volume and discovered a threat coming to Earth and ended up with PTSD. This volume picks up from there as Magnus finds himself surrounded by a team that want to help him as he gears up to fight his own brother.

Like most stuff I've read in the Catalyst Prime universe, I found this alternately boring and confusing. There needed to be more action earlier on and Magnus really comes across as a terrible person. Perhaps that is what is meant, but it was hard to feel for him or his weird powers. The art is decent enough.

I received a review copy of this graphic novel from Diamond Book Distributors, Oni Press, and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this graphic novel.

[Jason · Rating 3 out of 5]

Again with this Catalyst Prime series, I didn't read the first volume, so I felt a little left out. Also, there are some gaps between issues/plot points that needed some clarification or ironing out. (e-galley from NetGalley)