What do you think?
Rate this book
Crowded #2
Crowded, Vol. 2: Glitter Dystopia
Eleven minutes into the future, Charlie Ellison is the subject of a million dollar crowdfunded REAPR campaign on her head. Low-rated DFEND bodyguard Vita is keeping her safe for 30 days from a desperate population looking to get rich quick with a gun and a dream.
After escaping a big, televised attempt on their lives and the Reapr campaign blowing past two million bucks, Charlie and Vita abandon Los Angeles for the utopian desert paradise of Las Vegas in search of who started the Reapr campaign and how to shut it down. In the process, the human debris of Charlie's past and the well-kept secrets of Vita's old life will come spilling out too. As tensions rise and the attempted murderers keep coming, the only thing more unlikely than Charlie and Vita surviving their Reapr killers is them surviving each other.
Collecting the second arc of the critically-acclaimed ongoing series by Eisner-nominated writer CHRISTOPHER SEBELA (SHANGHAI RED, HIGH CRIMES, WE(L)COME BACK), RO STEIN & TED BRANDT (CAPTAIN MARVEL: RAVEN THE PIRATE PRINCESS), TRIONA FARRELL (RUNAWAYS, MECH CADET YU) and CARDINAL RAE (BINGO LOVE, ROSE).
Collects CROWDED 7-12
After escaping a big, televised attempt on their lives and the Reapr campaign blowing past two million bucks, Charlie and Vita abandon Los Angeles for the utopian desert paradise of Las Vegas in search of who started the Reapr campaign and how to shut it down. In the process, the human debris of Charlie's past and the well-kept secrets of Vita's old life will come spilling out too. As tensions rise and the attempted murderers keep coming, the only thing more unlikely than Charlie and Vita surviving their Reapr killers is them surviving each other.
Collecting the second arc of the critically-acclaimed ongoing series by Eisner-nominated writer CHRISTOPHER SEBELA (SHANGHAI RED, HIGH CRIMES, WE(L)COME BACK), RO STEIN & TED BRANDT (CAPTAIN MARVEL: RAVEN THE PIRATE PRINCESS), TRIONA FARRELL (RUNAWAYS, MECH CADET YU) and CARDINAL RAE (BINGO LOVE, ROSE).
Collects CROWDED 7-12
168 pages, Paperback
First published June 24, 2020
14 people are currently reading
334 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 115 reviews
March 22, 2023
This series is simply amazing. I live for the banter.
May 31, 2021
rep: poc lesbian mc, bi/pan mc
MESSY SAPPHICS!!!!!!
MESSY SAPPHICS!!!!!!
July 10, 2020
I wasn't a huge fan of the first volume of Crowded. I felt that it started interestingly enough, with its app-driven economy in overdrive, but then ditched the worldbuilding to spend most of it time upping Charlie's annoyingness to near-nuclear levels.
This volume is more of the same. Charlie is still annoying beyond belief, and displays quite a lot of plotdriven dumbness. There's a romantic development that feels like it comes out of nowhere, and I just don't buy it.
One third of the book reads like character infodumps masquerading as dialogue, as if Sebela suddenly realised we really knew nothing about the series' characters (true enough).
I sure hope you enjoy endless romantic bickering, because that's the second third of the book. It could be referred to as "will they, won't they" if one was feeling magnanimous - it's all so compressed it feels airless and forced.
One third left! Resolutely spent on wheelspinning. We end up at pretty much the same place as we ended at in volume 1.
All that said, I do still like Vita as a character, and the art is still fantastic.
(Received an ARC through Edelweiss)
This volume is more of the same. Charlie is still annoying beyond belief, and displays quite a lot of plotdriven dumbness. There's a romantic development that feels like it comes out of nowhere, and I just don't buy it.
One third of the book reads like character infodumps masquerading as dialogue, as if Sebela suddenly realised we really knew nothing about the series' characters (true enough).
I sure hope you enjoy endless romantic bickering, because that's the second third of the book. It could be referred to as "will they, won't they" if one was feeling magnanimous - it's all so compressed it feels airless and forced.
One third left! Resolutely spent on wheelspinning. We end up at pretty much the same place as we ended at in volume 1.
All that said, I do still like Vita as a character, and the art is still fantastic.
(Received an ARC through Edelweiss)
August 3, 2020
Like Saga, Vol. 1, I think this comic is something that started off with a great premise that gets weaker and weaker and more and more off-track the longer it runs.
This series, Crowded, isn't going downhill as fast or as terribly as Saga did, but things are already worse than they were in the first collection. You're left wondering how long Sebela can ride this and not make it a joke.
Case in point, the use of bald eagles in this book. It's too heavy-handed. Having a bald eagle attack someone and having a bald eagle die in an attack is just TOO amateurish and heavily symbolic to be taken seriously. Sebela should know better.
While Vita was obviously masculine-looking in the first six issues, she know looks almost completely male. I'm unclear if this is because Sebela has made Vita and Charlotte start in this issue, or what. Charlotte is feminine so Vita has to look more butch? I mean, she was already butch. Now she's just a stand-in for a man, IMO. I'm not sure why this is necessary or what the artist is trying to say/achieve by doing this.
And let's talk about the . I don't like it. Typically, a badass sexy bodyguard getting with her soft client would be a super-cute story. However, Charlie is a piece of shit. And a fucking moron. I can't understand why Vita would . She's terrible. She's an awful person. And frankly, Vita seems too professional and disciplined to anyway. I wasn't buying the sexual tension in the first collection, and I'm not buying it now. JFC. Does EVERY book have to have an undercurrent of fucking? We don't even go for friendship anymore, it has to be fucking, every time. Even when it makes no gaddang sense. Just shoehorn it in any way you can. This annoys me SO MUCH. Even when two people in a novel - any novel - are obviously SO WRONG for each other or obviously would have no sexual attraction to each other, authors feel the need to have them fuck. I guess they think it's popular? Makes their work more squee-worthy? Makes readers happier? NOT ME. If you are going to have two people have sex or be in love or date or whatever, it better MAKE SOME FUCKING SENSE and not just seem like you are doing it for clicks.
And STOP making decent, good, psychologically-attractive characters end up with pieces of shit. Pieces of shit are not sexy. They are not 'cute.' They are not people to get involved with. They are not attractive. If you are going to go this route you are going to have to work VERY FUCKING HARD to make me believe it, and Sebela is nowhere close to making me believe Vita would be attracted to this piece of shit in this graphic novel.
AND they choose to
Then they are getting into LOVER'S QUARRELS which is SO STUPID and also Charlotte is a fucking idiot along with being a bad person. AND it's hard for me to care about the fighting, since I'm going to be on Vita's side since Charlotte is shit. She's a piece of shit.
So this comic is starting to annoy me.
TL;DR Just like television series, you can only carry a premise so far before it starts to falter. How long can you ride a certain idea out? Usually creators don't know when to stop and beat something into the ground. With a few exceptions: Scott Pilgrim, Volume 1: Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life had a great run, for example. Or you can choose to tie everything up in one volume, like with Blankets. This is also a good decision. But when you do a long-running arc, like SAGA, you are going to run into problems because it's unsustainable. What seems brilliant in the first six issues seems tired and done by issue twelve.
Full props to Sebela for a great concept here, and a great inception. However, I can already see this losing steam. Which is sad. Hopefully it wraps up before throwing itself in the trash, like SAGA did.
NAMES IN THIS BOOK
This series, Crowded, isn't going downhill as fast or as terribly as Saga did, but things are already worse than they were in the first collection. You're left wondering how long Sebela can ride this and not make it a joke.
Case in point, the use of bald eagles in this book. It's too heavy-handed. Having a bald eagle attack someone and having a bald eagle die in an attack is just TOO amateurish and heavily symbolic to be taken seriously. Sebela should know better.
While Vita was obviously masculine-looking in the first six issues, she know looks almost completely male. I'm unclear if this is because Sebela has made Vita and Charlotte start in this issue, or what. Charlotte is feminine so Vita has to look more butch? I mean, she was already butch. Now she's just a stand-in for a man, IMO. I'm not sure why this is necessary or what the artist is trying to say/achieve by doing this.
And let's talk about the . I don't like it. Typically, a badass sexy bodyguard getting with her soft client would be a super-cute story. However, Charlie is a piece of shit. And a fucking moron. I can't understand why Vita would . She's terrible. She's an awful person. And frankly, Vita seems too professional and disciplined to anyway. I wasn't buying the sexual tension in the first collection, and I'm not buying it now. JFC. Does EVERY book have to have an undercurrent of fucking? We don't even go for friendship anymore, it has to be fucking, every time. Even when it makes no gaddang sense. Just shoehorn it in any way you can. This annoys me SO MUCH. Even when two people in a novel - any novel - are obviously SO WRONG for each other or obviously would have no sexual attraction to each other, authors feel the need to have them fuck. I guess they think it's popular? Makes their work more squee-worthy? Makes readers happier? NOT ME. If you are going to have two people have sex or be in love or date or whatever, it better MAKE SOME FUCKING SENSE and not just seem like you are doing it for clicks.
And STOP making decent, good, psychologically-attractive characters end up with pieces of shit. Pieces of shit are not sexy. They are not 'cute.' They are not people to get involved with. They are not attractive. If you are going to go this route you are going to have to work VERY FUCKING HARD to make me believe it, and Sebela is nowhere close to making me believe Vita would be attracted to this piece of shit in this graphic novel.
AND they choose to
Then they are getting into LOVER'S QUARRELS which is SO STUPID and also Charlotte is a fucking idiot along with being a bad person. AND it's hard for me to care about the fighting, since I'm going to be on Vita's side since Charlotte is shit. She's a piece of shit.
So this comic is starting to annoy me.
TL;DR Just like television series, you can only carry a premise so far before it starts to falter. How long can you ride a certain idea out? Usually creators don't know when to stop and beat something into the ground. With a few exceptions: Scott Pilgrim, Volume 1: Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life had a great run, for example. Or you can choose to tie everything up in one volume, like with Blankets. This is also a good decision. But when you do a long-running arc, like SAGA, you are going to run into problems because it's unsustainable. What seems brilliant in the first six issues seems tired and done by issue twelve.
Full props to Sebela for a great concept here, and a great inception. However, I can already see this losing steam. Which is sad. Hopefully it wraps up before throwing itself in the trash, like SAGA did.
NAMES IN THIS BOOK
March 5, 2023
This was not nearly as fun as Crowded, Vol. 1: Soft Apocalypse because the majority of it was Charlie and Vita constantly fighting about the same things again and again. The fights were so repetitive and rested on the fact that both characters had basically no backgrounds. When details were finally revealed about their pasts, they were told through info dumps and with only vague details that clearly left out most of the story. Given that their backstories, particularly Charlie’s, were a major focus of the plot because of its weight on the present events, the vagueness of them was extremely frustrating.
The mystery of what caused Charlie’s kill campaign which occurred in both the background through the obsessed non-character Circe and in the forefront through Vita’s constant investigating was tiresome. The same revelations kept being made but they were meaningless because they weren’t full answers; instead they dripped out like water from a leaky tap.
On top of that, Charlie and Vita’s dynamic pretty much exploded. What was fun and banter-filled in Crowded, Vol. 1: Soft Apocalypse turned to constant petty fighting and sniping at each other in this vol. Their hooking up came out of nowhere and ruined their love-hate relationship by attempting to make it a love-love relationship, something which didn’t work for such a stubborn character like Vita. And Charlie became more and more unlikeable in this vol as her pathological lying and manipulative ways were exposed. So in truth, the most likeable character was the wordless dog—and that in itself says a lot about this comic.
The mystery of what caused Charlie’s kill campaign which occurred in both the background through the obsessed non-character Circe and in the forefront through Vita’s constant investigating was tiresome. The same revelations kept being made but they were meaningless because they weren’t full answers; instead they dripped out like water from a leaky tap.
On top of that, Charlie and Vita’s dynamic pretty much exploded. What was fun and banter-filled in Crowded, Vol. 1: Soft Apocalypse turned to constant petty fighting and sniping at each other in this vol. Their hooking up came out of nowhere and ruined their love-hate relationship by attempting to make it a love-love relationship, something which didn’t work for such a stubborn character like Vita. And Charlie became more and more unlikeable in this vol as her pathological lying and manipulative ways were exposed. So in truth, the most likeable character was the wordless dog—and that in itself says a lot about this comic.
November 1, 2020
2.5 stars?
I sped through the end of this because I can't remember the last time I watched a couple get together and I really, really didn't want them to.
I cannot stand Charlie.
Look, I don't like romance in general. 9/10, I don't like that couples you see most commonly exist of one partner who takes care of the other and one partner who exists just to make the other person's life difficult. Vita was hired to protect Charlie and all Charlie does is lie about the bad things she's done and make stupid, selfish choices that lost Vita her home, her car, and nearly got her killed several times. In this book, Charlie sabotages Vita's relationship with Jo - the one person in this book that actually cares for Vita and tries to help her.
I don't like Charlie as a character. As I was reading this, I hated that she kept trying to guilt Vita because Vita (very rightfully) didn't trust her and kept trying to figure out why so many people want Charlie dead. She was just annoying, selfish and needy. I realized that a big part of why I hate Charlie as a character is that this book doesn't do the work the Good Place did to make Eleanor Shellstrop likable. Charlie and Eleanor are somewhat similar in that their series starts where they're suffering the consequences of a life spent only looking out for number one. Eleanor ends up in hell, Charlie ends up with a 1 million dollar bounty. Only the Good Place has Eleanor realize she's been a bad, selfish person and she takes steps to improve herself. She helps the people like Chidi, Jason and Tahini as they help her improve as a person. She becomes someone worthy of a second chance.
Charlie does not.
She continues to make the same mistakes, lead Vita and Dog into more danger and then she complains when bad things happen as a result and people don't trust her. I just kept hoping Vita would finally just leave. I really hate when one character keeps trying to help a selfish, self centered person - especially when it's to their own detriment.
The art also took a change to make Vita look a lot more masculine which would've been fine if that's how she started, but the last volume wasn't like that. So, I was more confused than anything else.
I just found myself annoyed reading this. I didn't like Charlie in the last volume and that dislike moved up to hate in this one. I can't remember ever rooting against two women to end up together in anything I've ever watched or read but... here we are.
I sped through the end of this because I can't remember the last time I watched a couple get together and I really, really didn't want them to.
I cannot stand Charlie.
Look, I don't like romance in general. 9/10, I don't like that couples you see most commonly exist of one partner who takes care of the other and one partner who exists just to make the other person's life difficult. Vita was hired to protect Charlie and all Charlie does is lie about the bad things she's done and make stupid, selfish choices that lost Vita her home, her car, and nearly got her killed several times. In this book, Charlie sabotages Vita's relationship with Jo - the one person in this book that actually cares for Vita and tries to help her.
I don't like Charlie as a character. As I was reading this, I hated that she kept trying to guilt Vita because Vita (very rightfully) didn't trust her and kept trying to figure out why so many people want Charlie dead. She was just annoying, selfish and needy. I realized that a big part of why I hate Charlie as a character is that this book doesn't do the work the Good Place did to make Eleanor Shellstrop likable. Charlie and Eleanor are somewhat similar in that their series starts where they're suffering the consequences of a life spent only looking out for number one. Eleanor ends up in hell, Charlie ends up with a 1 million dollar bounty. Only the Good Place has Eleanor realize she's been a bad, selfish person and she takes steps to improve herself. She helps the people like Chidi, Jason and Tahini as they help her improve as a person. She becomes someone worthy of a second chance.
Charlie does not.
She continues to make the same mistakes, lead Vita and Dog into more danger and then she complains when bad things happen as a result and people don't trust her. I just kept hoping Vita would finally just leave. I really hate when one character keeps trying to help a selfish, self centered person - especially when it's to their own detriment.
The art also took a change to make Vita look a lot more masculine which would've been fine if that's how she started, but the last volume wasn't like that. So, I was more confused than anything else.
I just found myself annoyed reading this. I didn't like Charlie in the last volume and that dislike moved up to hate in this one. I can't remember ever rooting against two women to end up together in anything I've ever watched or read but... here we are.
July 20, 2020
I received an ARC copy of this book from Edelweiss
Absolutely loved this! It took me a second to remember what exactly was going on and warm up to the story again but once I did I was once again swept up in the story. This volume once again has plenty of action as well as some escalation in the will-they-won't-they bickering between the two main characters, but also introduces some new info about the world and why exactly Charlie has been targeted by such a large REAPR campaign. Also I would just like to formally thank whoever decided to give Vita so much short sleeved / sleeveless outfits in this volume, I will be thinking about her arms for weeks <3
Absolutely loved this! It took me a second to remember what exactly was going on and warm up to the story again but once I did I was once again swept up in the story. This volume once again has plenty of action as well as some escalation in the will-they-won't-they bickering between the two main characters, but also introduces some new info about the world and why exactly Charlie has been targeted by such a large REAPR campaign. Also I would just like to formally thank whoever decided to give Vita so much short sleeved / sleeveless outfits in this volume, I will be thinking about her arms for weeks <3
September 5, 2020
compared to vol 1 it was not so good, but the setup for vol 3.....i am Looking
Rep: Black lesbian mc, bi/pan mc
CWs: gore, violence, murder
Rep: Black lesbian mc, bi/pan mc
CWs: gore, violence, murder
July 5, 2020
The first volume of Crowded was one of my favorite books last year – a fresh take on a technological, app-driven dystopia, paired with an exciting story and one of my all-time favorite characters, queer and stoic bodyguard Vita Slatter.
This second chapter of Vita and Charlie’s story takes them to Las Vegas and an underground missile silo, as they desperately seek safety during Charlie’s Reapr campaign – she’s got over $2 million on her head at this point – but Vita also has to know what’s gotten Charlie into this mess, so they can figure out who started the campaign in the first place.
There’s a bit less action in this arc – though there are still car chases, explosions and smart escape attempts – to focus on Charlie and Vita’s relationship. Charlie is even more insufferable from the first volume, and while an unlikable protagonist is completely acceptable, it made getting through some scenes tougher. (I called her “sympathetic but dislikable” last time, and she’s certainly decreased in the former.) On the other hand, we see beneath Vita’s tough exterior and learn more about her past - she's a compelling, very well written, complex character, and I'm just a little bit in love with her.
We see a bit more of the dystopian world as well, though it wasn’t as delicious as a bunch of librarians with guns like the last volume, nor did it have quite the same biting commentary on mob mentality and gun control, though this arc does shift its focus to privacy and technology.
Stein, Brandt and Farrell continue to elevate Sebela’s story with fantastic art. I love how expressive characters are, particularly Vita’s dismayed and bewildered reactions, and they paint a convincing Las Vegas in this dystopia. The violence, kooky side characters, and imaginative fashion all make the story more amusing and interesting to live in, not to mention making this alternate reality believable. I especially enjoyed Farrell’s funky colors, and I’m still waiting for an explanation as to why everyone else is a normal skin tone, except for pink Charlie.
Spoilers this paragraph. A romantic relationship between our protagonists been hinted at since Charlie seemed to be fully enjoying herself at the strip club Bi Furious (which, if anything real comes out of Crowded’s messed up world, that better be it). Although, it’s much harder for me to see how Vita falls for Charlie, than vice versa. This is far from a fairy tale romance though, as the two fall for each other in different ways, fight constantly, and even betray each others’ trust, some in ways that haven’t been resolved yet by the end of the volume. While narratively this development makes sense, and kudos to the team for some great steamy scenes…I couldn’t get behind the relationship. Part of it is because I still find Charlie insufferable, but also, I don’t think they work together. Charlie and Vita are separated by the end of the volume, and frankly, I’m not rooting for them to make it. It might be odd to say that and still admit I enjoyed the story, but both things are true. Also – the big reveal of Charlie’s wrongdoing was a bit less salacious and interesting than I’d hoped.
Volume two’s can be tough and drag in the action while building character development -the first is certainly true, and the second wasn’t my favorite. While I’ll have to disagree with Ryan Reynolds that this is the “best book ever,” it’s still a solid followup to Crowded’s first issue, and I’m looking forward to the next (I’m guessing final) installment.
This second chapter of Vita and Charlie’s story takes them to Las Vegas and an underground missile silo, as they desperately seek safety during Charlie’s Reapr campaign – she’s got over $2 million on her head at this point – but Vita also has to know what’s gotten Charlie into this mess, so they can figure out who started the campaign in the first place.
There’s a bit less action in this arc – though there are still car chases, explosions and smart escape attempts – to focus on Charlie and Vita’s relationship. Charlie is even more insufferable from the first volume, and while an unlikable protagonist is completely acceptable, it made getting through some scenes tougher. (I called her “sympathetic but dislikable” last time, and she’s certainly decreased in the former.) On the other hand, we see beneath Vita’s tough exterior and learn more about her past - she's a compelling, very well written, complex character, and I'm just a little bit in love with her.
We see a bit more of the dystopian world as well, though it wasn’t as delicious as a bunch of librarians with guns like the last volume, nor did it have quite the same biting commentary on mob mentality and gun control, though this arc does shift its focus to privacy and technology.
Stein, Brandt and Farrell continue to elevate Sebela’s story with fantastic art. I love how expressive characters are, particularly Vita’s dismayed and bewildered reactions, and they paint a convincing Las Vegas in this dystopia. The violence, kooky side characters, and imaginative fashion all make the story more amusing and interesting to live in, not to mention making this alternate reality believable. I especially enjoyed Farrell’s funky colors, and I’m still waiting for an explanation as to why everyone else is a normal skin tone, except for pink Charlie.
Spoilers this paragraph. A romantic relationship between our protagonists been hinted at since Charlie seemed to be fully enjoying herself at the strip club Bi Furious (which, if anything real comes out of Crowded’s messed up world, that better be it). Although, it’s much harder for me to see how Vita falls for Charlie, than vice versa. This is far from a fairy tale romance though, as the two fall for each other in different ways, fight constantly, and even betray each others’ trust, some in ways that haven’t been resolved yet by the end of the volume. While narratively this development makes sense, and kudos to the team for some great steamy scenes…I couldn’t get behind the relationship. Part of it is because I still find Charlie insufferable, but also, I don’t think they work together. Charlie and Vita are separated by the end of the volume, and frankly, I’m not rooting for them to make it. It might be odd to say that and still admit I enjoyed the story, but both things are true. Also – the big reveal of Charlie’s wrongdoing was a bit less salacious and interesting than I’d hoped.
Volume two’s can be tough and drag in the action while building character development -the first is certainly true, and the second wasn’t my favorite. While I’ll have to disagree with Ryan Reynolds that this is the “best book ever,” it’s still a solid followup to Crowded’s first issue, and I’m looking forward to the next (I’m guessing final) installment.
Read
July 8, 2020Nothing ages like the future. A year back, the first volume of Crowded was a well-pitched satire on the gig economy, crowdfunding, influencers...and then the world changed, so now it reads a little like those fifties SF stories where someone gets off the rocket-plane to Pluto and looks for a pay-vidphone. Sure, there are still the apps exploiting all points in the chain, the bad actors cloaked behind online anonymity – but the crowds, the conventions, the easy interactions? The commonplace says that science fiction is really about the present, not the future, which isn't untrue, but is a bit of a bugger when the present is changing at the rate it is now. All that writing people were supposedly going to have time for, but I can't see how any of it bar historical novels, secondary world fantasy and very short pieces published quickly can keep up.
Still, the manic assassination thriller and the will they/won't they chemistry of the odd couple leads (plus exasperated idiot dog) mostly carry it through. At times its determination to cover all bases leads it into inconsistency - I like seeing tech-bro entitlement and bullshit claims of self-sufficiency skewered as much as anyone, but would someone as consistently irresponsible as Charlie, the narcissistic target of the mysterious yet not exactly surprising crowdfunded hit (think pre-death Eleanor Shelstrop), really have been the house mum for a gaggle of geeks? And if Vita, her gig economy bodyguard, was really once the Secret Service protection for President Monae, wouldn't you hope the US might during that administration have been wrenched at least a little away from this hypercapitalist nightmare? Towards the end, too, the dynamic between them runs into that familiar problem where, having been resolved a little too much, new sources of dramatic tension need to be found, and I wasn't as convinced by the revised direction. Set against which, there's one fabulous twist which I don't want to give away to the world at large, but which I would totally use to sell some people on the series*; and Ro Stein and Ted Brandt's art has even more of an Erica Henderson gone to the bad vibe than it did on the first volume.
Plus, for all that it now inadvertently feels like retro-futurism, even if its turn-off is barely in the rear view mirror, there are the little moments which are inadvertently super-now:
"We don't even miss the outside anymore."
"You should. They got bars, movies, stores. It's pretty neat."
So glad I didn't read that a week or a month earlier, I'm not sure I'd have coped.
*SPOILER: when they attempt to hide out with a reformed militia/cult, it turns out they're in fact something worse than a cult – MLM. With guns.
(Edelweiss ARC)
Still, the manic assassination thriller and the will they/won't they chemistry of the odd couple leads (plus exasperated idiot dog) mostly carry it through. At times its determination to cover all bases leads it into inconsistency - I like seeing tech-bro entitlement and bullshit claims of self-sufficiency skewered as much as anyone, but would someone as consistently irresponsible as Charlie, the narcissistic target of the mysterious yet not exactly surprising crowdfunded hit (think pre-death Eleanor Shelstrop), really have been the house mum for a gaggle of geeks? And if Vita, her gig economy bodyguard, was really once the Secret Service protection for President Monae, wouldn't you hope the US might during that administration have been wrenched at least a little away from this hypercapitalist nightmare? Towards the end, too, the dynamic between them runs into that familiar problem where, having been resolved a little too much, new sources of dramatic tension need to be found, and I wasn't as convinced by the revised direction. Set against which, there's one fabulous twist which I don't want to give away to the world at large, but which I would totally use to sell some people on the series*; and Ro Stein and Ted Brandt's art has even more of an Erica Henderson gone to the bad vibe than it did on the first volume.
Plus, for all that it now inadvertently feels like retro-futurism, even if its turn-off is barely in the rear view mirror, there are the little moments which are inadvertently super-now:
"We don't even miss the outside anymore."
"You should. They got bars, movies, stores. It's pretty neat."
So glad I didn't read that a week or a month earlier, I'm not sure I'd have coped.
*SPOILER: when they attempt to hide out with a reformed militia/cult, it turns out they're in fact something worse than a cult – MLM. With guns.
(Edelweiss ARC)
November 4, 2020
This is just absolutely bonkers in the best way. It is such an over-the-top takedown of our culture that it is a continual joy with each reveal. It’s like The Purge meets Idiocracy* by way of The Informant! as directed by Guy Ritchie.
Just the notion that there is an assassination app called Reapr is great, so of course there is the protection app called DFend, which naturally results in hijinks, but all the other wacky apps really underscore the insanity and bullshit of the gig economy.
The background gags are a delight, too. One billboard advertises “Marie’s Condos: Minimum Space, Maximum Joy.” By the time we get to a multilevel marketing scheme that’s all about distributing guns like Amway or Mary Kay, you start thinking, “Yeah, of course, that makes total sense.”
And I have to say, it’s been a long time since I have enjoyed loathing a character as much as I do Charlie, the girl who is the target of the Reapr campaign. She’s such a wonderfully terrible, awful person, but you can kind of understand why she’s so shitty.
This whole thing is demented and great, and it’s not wrong about us.
* Read the source: The Marching Morons.
Just the notion that there is an assassination app called Reapr is great, so of course there is the protection app called DFend, which naturally results in hijinks, but all the other wacky apps really underscore the insanity and bullshit of the gig economy.
The background gags are a delight, too. One billboard advertises “Marie’s Condos: Minimum Space, Maximum Joy.” By the time we get to a multilevel marketing scheme that’s all about distributing guns like Amway or Mary Kay, you start thinking, “Yeah, of course, that makes total sense.”
And I have to say, it’s been a long time since I have enjoyed loathing a character as much as I do Charlie, the girl who is the target of the Reapr campaign. She’s such a wonderfully terrible, awful person, but you can kind of understand why she’s so shitty.
This whole thing is demented and great, and it’s not wrong about us.
* Read the source: The Marching Morons.
August 12, 2020
Po prvním našlápnutém dílu tu máme druhý díl a s ním docela přibrždění tempa. Jednička byla rychlá a šílená a moc vás nenechala vydechnout. Dvojka vás nechá vydechnout možná až moc. Víc se tu vykreslí charaktery, je tu dost prostoru věnováno vztahu mezi hlavními hrdinkami, ale když se na to člověk ohlédne, tak to působí jako nádech a zalepování děr před posledním bookem. Víc informací o postavách je super, ale když se mu věnuje tolik prostoru, tak se to podepíše na absenci akce, což v akční sérii je poznat. Pořád tu nějaká akce je, ale o dost míň než v prvním booku a až zbytečně velká část zvratů se vyřeší tak očekávaným způsobem, že to pěkné není. Tak jako tak další díl určitě beru a jsem zvědav, jestli je opravdu poslední nebo se tam ještě jeden někde vejde.
July 5, 2022
Charlie stresses me out so much!!!!
June 28, 2020
This was a fun read. A real action buddy comedy blockbuster thriller. It just kept getting more interesting once we got past the whole trust / don't trust issue due to them trying to not die. Then there was more backstory for the other cool hunter which was kind of filler. Then suddenly a cliffhanger, kind of disappointing. I would say more but that would be all kinds of spoilers but that ending makes this more a 4.5 or 4 star book.
July 14, 2020
What a fun book. A running woman story set in a near future dystopia with crowd funded, legal murders. Thought provoking and fast paced with absolutely stellar art. I need volume 3 now
December 19, 2021
After reading the first volume, I wasn't sure if I wanted to check this one out. But I kept thinking about so I finally did.
My main issue continues to be with Charlie, the white woman lead. Outside of the fact that I disagree with pairing Black characters up with white women (as white women are largely depicted as being more desirable than everyone else) but Charlie is rather contemptible!
Generally, I am not interested in the likability of a character but it's difficult for me to ignore race and the power imbalance (Charlie is paying Vita to protect her) between the two.
Charlier is evasive, emotionally manipulative, immature and self righteous. She pushes Vita to open up, while not revealing very much about herself. She constantly downplays her own actions, and feels extremely entitled about her behavior and reasoning.
Vita's job is made more difficult by Charlie being unwilling to reveal what she did and why. And Charlie attempts to manipulate Vita into loving her (who has rejected her in this way, although they do have sex) and doesn't actually seem that interested in keeping herself alive.
Overwhelmingly I dislike how the narrative sort of bends to Charlie's will; in some ways I feel like the narrative makes Vita out to be the bad guy while Charlie is allowed to behave like a child (which for me is where some of the racial stuff comes up).
My hope is that Charlie dies in the end, but I doubt that's where we're going to end up.
There is also my concern that Charlie is hour glass shaped, and as I've mentioned in another review, this is really common when the narrative involves sex. I dont know why this body type is considered THE more desirable type but I wish it was meaningfully confronted in fiction.
On a good note, I do like the body diversity among the women. We meet a very buff woman named Sharon who used to work with Vita, and there is another Black defender named Circe that we meet too.
All in all, I mostly just hate Charlie and I think her death would improve everything about the comic.
My main issue continues to be with Charlie, the white woman lead. Outside of the fact that I disagree with pairing Black characters up with white women (as white women are largely depicted as being more desirable than everyone else) but Charlie is rather contemptible!
Generally, I am not interested in the likability of a character but it's difficult for me to ignore race and the power imbalance (Charlie is paying Vita to protect her) between the two.
Charlier is evasive, emotionally manipulative, immature and self righteous. She pushes Vita to open up, while not revealing very much about herself. She constantly downplays her own actions, and feels extremely entitled about her behavior and reasoning.
Vita's job is made more difficult by Charlie being unwilling to reveal what she did and why. And Charlie attempts to manipulate Vita into loving her (who has rejected her in this way, although they do have sex) and doesn't actually seem that interested in keeping herself alive.
Overwhelmingly I dislike how the narrative sort of bends to Charlie's will; in some ways I feel like the narrative makes Vita out to be the bad guy while Charlie is allowed to behave like a child (which for me is where some of the racial stuff comes up).
My hope is that Charlie dies in the end, but I doubt that's where we're going to end up.
There is also my concern that Charlie is hour glass shaped, and as I've mentioned in another review, this is really common when the narrative involves sex. I dont know why this body type is considered THE more desirable type but I wish it was meaningfully confronted in fiction.
On a good note, I do like the body diversity among the women. We meet a very buff woman named Sharon who used to work with Vita, and there is another Black defender named Circe that we meet too.
All in all, I mostly just hate Charlie and I think her death would improve everything about the comic.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 3, 2022
It starts off with a bunch of momentum after volume 1, and after that stalls out. Romance gets thrown in which makes sense but becomes all-encompassing. Sure, the tension has been there since the beginning, but I wasn't reading this book because of the romance. The actual plot about the killing campaign technically develops further in this volume but it feels more like wheel-spinning and padding it out. The characters get a bit of personality and backstory to be less one-dimensional here but at the expense of my rapidly dwindling interest in where this is actually going.
Art still kicks ass though, this series is gorgeous as hell.
Art still kicks ass though, this series is gorgeous as hell.
September 14, 2020
This volume was so exciting! I would really like the next volume ASAP please. Vita and Charlie's relationship evolved a lot and I loved seeing how it changed.
July 4, 2020
3.5 I think I liked this one better then the first. I liked Charlie a lot better in this one. Also I don’t know how to feel about her and vita. I think I like it. I still liked the art style. I also liked how that I can remember it didn’t really follow random killers.
October 11, 2023
I enjoyed this more than the first one 2.5/5 Dogs.
I feel like the art improved a lot and the (toxic) relationship between the two protags was more interesting in this volume. (Still wouldn't say I'm a necessarily a fan tho.)
I feel like the art improved a lot and the (toxic) relationship between the two protags was more interesting in this volume. (Still wouldn't say I'm a necessarily a fan tho.)
October 9, 2021
Still a great story! Keeping me on my toes
July 19, 2020
I guess this is where things start to go more into character rather than the world which is on the back burner. But that doesn't mean character doesn't show the world. It turns out there's plenty of commentary when it comes to corporate socialism. The general outline on why Charlie has a bounty on her head is because she did what Facebook and Google do, selling data to third parties. Unfortunately, without money or lawyers or friends in high places she's got a target on her back. Meanwhile the central theme of this trade is how privacy becomes privatized. Sure there are ways to secure privacy by all accounts and get around other services of security, but some of them still favor people with wealth. Or alternatively form pyramid schemes in different names like sales cults which reward people for getting new members but prey on people's need for connection. Especially since commodifying connection can warp people's perceptions on the subject, making people more like products to peruse, buy, and resell. Just look at how it's affected Charlie.
July 31, 2020
The second volume of this series starts out pretty rough. It keeps some of the beats of Vita and Charlie on the run and kicking ass, but somehow it losses the fun of it. I think part of it is Charlie (and Sebela) trying to keep back the details of what might have caused someone to start a REAPR campaign against her.
I found the second half of this book to be a lot better. Partly because the relationship between Vita and Charlie changes in some ways. It also regains that lightheartedness that was missing from the first portion of the volume. The balance between the serious and the fun was much better toward the end. It left me hopeful that the series will keep its momentum without overstaying itself.
I found the second half of this book to be a lot better. Partly because the relationship between Vita and Charlie changes in some ways. It also regains that lightheartedness that was missing from the first portion of the volume. The balance between the serious and the fun was much better toward the end. It left me hopeful that the series will keep its momentum without overstaying itself.
July 12, 2020
In volume 2, we get to know the background of our main characters, plus the other REAPR assassin Circe whose been tracking our dynamic duo. There was quite a bit less action in this one as the main characters (Vita and Charlie) start a love affair that takes up a considerable amount of the arc. I mean...I know it was coming but it seriously takes up a big chunk of the volume. Also, I thought the Multilevel Marketing subplot was a little odd. I am interested to see what happens next for Vita and Charlie, but I preferred volume 1 to this one for sure.
July 26, 2020
Ugh. Charlie is still the worst and I wanted to give up halfway through, but the concept, and Vita have pulled me through. I hope the series ends after Volume 3 cause I want answers, but I can’t handle much more of Charlie.
The art is GORGEOUS, though.
The art is GORGEOUS, though.
July 29, 2020
I enjoy this book very much. The art is especially fun, and I like looking for Dog on every page, because it's always worth it. I'll write more later, I just wanted to register that I've read this before I forget it.
July 30, 2020
Not quite as much fun as the first volume, though still an okay read. Might want to dial back on the awfulness of Charlie's character. The bickering gets to be a bit much at times, too. Like the art, the colors, etc.
December 25, 2020
OH. WOW.
I really really hope this series gets a vol. 3 at some point in the future because that cliffhanger killed me.
WOW.
this was amazing.
I really really hope this series gets a vol. 3 at some point in the future because that cliffhanger killed me.
WOW.
this was amazing.
October 14, 2020
Vita continuously confirming that fictional baes are just Better™️
Displaying 1 - 30 of 115 reviews