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Afterlift #1-5
Afterlift
2020 EISNER AWARD WINNER FOR BEST DIGITAL SERIES!
Ride-share driver Janice Chen has enough to deal with, from annoying passengers to overbearing parents.
But when she picks up a pair of mysterious passengers who are pursued by otherworldly forces, Janice realizes that her already-terrible day might be headed straight to hell. This Eisner Award-winning series from Chip Zdarsky ( Sex Criminals , Daredevil ) and Jason Loo ( The Pitiful Human-Lizard ) features car chases, demon bounty hunters, and figuring out your place in this world and the next.
Collects Afterlift #1-#5 along with all covers and a sketchbook section.
Ride-share driver Janice Chen has enough to deal with, from annoying passengers to overbearing parents.
But when she picks up a pair of mysterious passengers who are pursued by otherworldly forces, Janice realizes that her already-terrible day might be headed straight to hell. This Eisner Award-winning series from Chip Zdarsky ( Sex Criminals , Daredevil ) and Jason Loo ( The Pitiful Human-Lizard ) features car chases, demon bounty hunters, and figuring out your place in this world and the next.
Collects Afterlift #1-#5 along with all covers and a sketchbook section.
136 pages, Paperback
First published February 2, 2021
46 people are currently reading
163 people want to read
About the author
Chip Zdarsky
877 books857 followersChip Zdarsky is a Canadian comic book artist and journalist. He was born Steve Murray but is known by his fan base as Chip Zdarsky, and occasionally Todd Diamond. He writes and illustrates an advice column called Extremely Bad Advice for the Canadian national newspaper National Post's The Ampersand, their pop culture section's online edition. He is also the creator of Prison Funnies and Monster Cops.
Source: Wikipedia.
Source: Wikipedia.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 87 reviews
March 23, 2020
Janice Chen is making ends meet as an Lyft driver until one night she picks up a passenger and co-rider whose destination is Hell. Chased by other demons and her own conscience will she deliver to the demon she's picked up and deliver the co-rider's soul to damnation? It was a neat premise which devolves into a morality play. Zdarsky seems to work best when he stays inside the confines of the Marvel universe.
Jason Loo's art is a little loose and undefined for me. The flashbacks particularly had me confused as to whose story we were flashing back to. All his characters look the same.
Jason Loo's art is a little loose and undefined for me. The flashbacks particularly had me confused as to whose story we were flashing back to. All his characters look the same.
February 17, 2021
A rideshare driver gets drafted into transporting a soul to the afterlife (+ Lyft = "Afterlift") and ends up in slam-bang Fast and Furious chase scenes through purgatory and hell with angels and demons on her tail. Dumb fun with a little bite of grief and trauma.
March 11, 2021
A rideshare driver with a massive, and largely unexplained chip on her shoulder finds herself tasked with driving an overdose victim to...hell. MWWWHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!
Its a neat idea that gets kind of a hohum treatment in this pretty forgettable graphic novel. Character development and consistent story telling unfortunately take a backseat to pretty boring fights between arguing demons and the appearance of a very cheesy version of Satan. There's next to no world building and the ending, while I guess sort of empowering with its message that the afterlife is more or less whatever you believe it is because heaven/hell etc. are all personal, sort of gets lost in total confusion about how all of our characters have actually ended up where they are.
I had a lot of trouble following this and I was a fan of the art work. Everything just sort of feels halfassed.
Its a neat idea that gets kind of a hohum treatment in this pretty forgettable graphic novel. Character development and consistent story telling unfortunately take a backseat to pretty boring fights between arguing demons and the appearance of a very cheesy version of Satan. There's next to no world building and the ending, while I guess sort of empowering with its message that the afterlife is more or less whatever you believe it is because heaven/hell etc. are all personal, sort of gets lost in total confusion about how all of our characters have actually ended up where they are.
I had a lot of trouble following this and I was a fan of the art work. Everything just sort of feels halfassed.
February 13, 2021
*Thanks to Edelweiss and the publisher for providing me with an eARC in exchange for an honest review.*
Fantastically unique and original, this was a hell of a ride, *cough*, or should I say a hell of a car ride? That’s right, there was all sorts of driving around purgatory and running around hell, and it was chaotically epic!
I loved that interspersed amongst the prolific action was a story of redemption and forgiveness. This was made even better by a compelling protagonist and interesting and dynamic characters all around.
A wonderful and fun read that’s honestly nothing like what you’d expect it to be! I can certainly see why it won an Eisner award!
Fantastically unique and original, this was a hell of a ride, *cough*, or should I say a hell of a car ride? That’s right, there was all sorts of driving around purgatory and running around hell, and it was chaotically epic!
I loved that interspersed amongst the prolific action was a story of redemption and forgiveness. This was made even better by a compelling protagonist and interesting and dynamic characters all around.
A wonderful and fun read that’s honestly nothing like what you’d expect it to be! I can certainly see why it won an Eisner award!
August 4, 2021
Interesting idea about an Uber driver suddenly martialed into becoming a driver for souls to the next realm. The art is nice, but kind of messy from time to time. Ultimately, the message is a bit too facile, too pat for me, or I might have rated this a bit higher.
February 1, 2021
Chip Zdarsky has become one of the most exciting writers in comics the past few years, especially during his time at Marvel where he has been writing some of the best stories we’ve seen out of Spider-Man, as well as currently doing one of the best Daredevil runs with artists Marco Chechetto and Jorge Fornés. However, having started out as an indie cartoonist and finding his big break in the Image title Sex Criminals, Zdarsky has always supported creator-owned work as is the case with his Comixology Original, Afterlift, which won the 2020 Eisner Award for Best Digital Series.
Please click here for my full review.
Please click here for my full review.
March 13, 2022
Our main character, Janice, is a Lyft driver. Then next fair she picks up has her dive to pick up another person, a woman. As they begin to drive, Janice asks where are they headed and the guy, Dumu, tells her he is taking the woman to hell and your are going to drive us. That is definitely not what I was expecting to hear. Of course now they have some demons chasing them wanting to take the woman’a soul for themselves. A cool concept that ended up being just ok. The artwork was serviceable but there really wasn’t much world building or character development and they story kind of moved in a hurry towards the end. I will say there was a nice heartfelt moment at the end that was a nice touch.
September 5, 2023
2.5 stars. I’m usually a pretty big fan of anything I read by Zdarsky, but this one just fell flat for me. This was a complete story, but one that felt a little too predictable and too rushed. This didn’t really have the Zdarsky charm that I expected and am used to.
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April 14, 2020A driver for a ride-sharing app finds herself engaged to ferry a soul to Hell. As her punter says, this has happened enough times in old stories with carriages – why wouldn't they want to use the modern equivalent? Besides, as we'll soon see, said punter is a lot happier modernising than many of his colleagues. Well, perhaps better call them workplace rivals? The sort of rivals with axes and flaming swords. Initially I felt Loo's art was better at evoking the everyday awfulness of gig economy life than the supernatural elements, but increasingly that felt deliberate, like after her initial disbelief faded this was just one more set of arsehole clients unthinkingly tangling her up in their drama. And of course Zdarsky has been showing himself for some time as a much better writer than most creators one initially encounters as artists. Which is why I was looking forward to this even before, bless 'em, they released the Comixology collection free on the first new comics day with no new comics. I'm not convinced it quite pulls off the ending - getting into the mechanics of Heaven and Hell, the meaning of it all, is about as tough an artistic target as there is, and precious few creators succeed at that. Still, it comes a lot closer than Dante or Milton managed.
July 6, 2021
A Lyft driver picks up a demon dragging a recently deceased woman to Hell. After that high concept was revealed in the first issue, I couldn't imagine how Chip Zdarsky would string Afterlift out to five issues. Kudos to him for managing it in relatively smart, propulsive fashion. The book doesn't really go anywhere unexpected, though. I mean, it goes to Hell, which I guess is unexpected for an Lyft driver. But beyond that: not much surprise.
Afterlift is the sort of book you put down and say "Well that was neat!" and then forget all of the key elements of the story. So, moderate recommend?
Afterlift is the sort of book you put down and say "Well that was neat!" and then forget all of the key elements of the story. So, moderate recommend?
November 10, 2023
An interesting exploration of themes like afterlife, redemption in the 11th hour, self-worth and personal sacrifice. The story is a modernized version of a soul's journey to the afterlife, with some action involving demons and fallen angels to keep things interesting. I didn't really care for the main characters or the action enough to consider this a truly great story, but I appreciated the imagination of the authors, the pacing and writing style as well as the vivid artwork.
September 7, 2021
Cool idea, an ok art, but I wasn't a fan of the writing and the story.
October 7, 2021
I believe I would have liked this more without the demons.
May 30, 2021
Intriguing premise, cool characters, a lot of fun, and great art.
April 7, 2021
I really enjoyed this series! As someone who was raised religious, I have a lot of the same insecurities and guilt that you can kind of shrug off, but still follows you. This really hit home for me and I loved how it approached religion/the afterlife for each person.
July 2, 2020
This was a quick, fun read but the story didn't have the depth that it should've. It introduced some cool ideas about the afterlife and how it relates to modern day. I liked the ways they acknowledged cultural perspectives of the afterlife but it felt like they just scratched the surface and they could've gone more into specific moral beliefs and stuff. The ending was my biggest problem with it, like a character arc got wrapped up in a sweet, interesting way but then immediately gets completely undermined. I understand that it's meant to emphasize how everyone needs different things but still it felt poorly delivered and made that character's conclusion feel less fulfilling and almost petty. Overall I really enjoyed the twists in development and the way they established character backgrounds.
June 7, 2021
When a title you've never heard of wins an Eisner Award, for a graphic novel reader like me, that usually indicates I need to search it out and see if its something I want to read. When I saw that Chip Zdarsky wrote it, after looking at the cover, I picked it up with no other further knowledge.
Heading into this book blind, I didn't really know what to expect. What unfurled was epic and amazing...
Without ruining the story, the premise is this:
Janice drives for a ride-share company (think Uber or Lyft) and makes okay money doing it. One night, she picks up a very charismatic passenger. He leads her to pick up another person, and then informs her where they are headed. Janice has been selected to drive this person to her final destination: Hell.
What would you do if you were acting as transportation to the afterlife?
This story is amazingly well written and the art is fantastic. You absolutely should be reading this book. High recommend.
Heading into this book blind, I didn't really know what to expect. What unfurled was epic and amazing...
Without ruining the story, the premise is this:
Janice drives for a ride-share company (think Uber or Lyft) and makes okay money doing it. One night, she picks up a very charismatic passenger. He leads her to pick up another person, and then informs her where they are headed. Janice has been selected to drive this person to her final destination: Hell.
What would you do if you were acting as transportation to the afterlife?
This story is amazingly well written and the art is fantastic. You absolutely should be reading this book. High recommend.
February 26, 2021
Zdarsky is one of my favorite writers in comics right now, but this is a very surfacey story about a rideshare driver who gets caught up having to transport a soul to Hell.
It never really gets beyond that premise. The characters never relly achieve any depth, and the ending feels unearned.
It's not terrible. It's just a perfectly servicable execution of a moderately interesting prompt. If you like a fast-read light fantasy surrounding a modern premise, this will be perfect.
It never really gets beyond that premise. The characters never relly achieve any depth, and the ending feels unearned.
It's not terrible. It's just a perfectly servicable execution of a moderately interesting prompt. If you like a fast-read light fantasy surrounding a modern premise, this will be perfect.
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March 13, 2021Real random pickup -- Paul F. Tompkins was going to steam-interview Zdarsky and Loo, so I requested this from the library, but by the time I got it, the interview was already done, and in any case, I had already forgotten it.
The premise here is solid and straightforward, so with minimal spoilers: Janice Chan hates herself a little bit (I think?) for not being there when her family needed her, so now she drives for a rideshare company and ends up getting hailed by a demon who is ferrying a soul to hell. Hijinks, etc.
Not entirely successful for me: the relation between Janice and the lost soul is too sketchy to bear the weight of her actions, and while you could spin this relationship as her second chance to make up for how she failed her own sister, that's not quite clear. And while the story may end with a powerful notion of forgiving yourself -- so that, at the very least, you can be there for others -- thematically it never quite hits those notes hard enough to make a song.
Plot-wise, eh, it's a few days later and I don't recall much beyond how in the first issue the demon tells her that she is immune to the human world now that she is on this mission, and the story never quite shakes that sense for me.
The premise here is solid and straightforward, so with minimal spoilers: Janice Chan hates herself a little bit (I think?) for not being there when her family needed her, so now she drives for a rideshare company and ends up getting hailed by a demon who is ferrying a soul to hell. Hijinks, etc.
Not entirely successful for me: the relation between Janice and the lost soul is too sketchy to bear the weight of her actions, and while you could spin this relationship as her second chance to make up for how she failed her own sister, that's not quite clear. And while the story may end with a powerful notion of forgiving yourself -- so that, at the very least, you can be there for others -- thematically it never quite hits those notes hard enough to make a song.
Plot-wise, eh, it's a few days later and I don't recall much beyond how in the first issue the demon tells her that she is immune to the human world now that she is on this mission, and the story never quite shakes that sense for me.
January 16, 2021
I enjoyed the concepts and modern adaptations of mythology in Afterlift more than I enjoyed the actual plot. That being said, the story itself is really exciting, though I found it to be a little predictable. The artwork is solid, if a bit underwhelming. It's always easy to tell what's going on in each panel, though some panels are more visually exciting than others. All in all, this graphic novel was a fun read but it didn't really wow me. Despite the fact that I wasn't necessarily blown away, this is a series worth checking out. After all, it did win Eisner, Shuster, and Harvey awards last year.
--An excerpt from a review written for Graphic Policy. Advance copy of Afterlift provided by Dark Horse Comics.
--An excerpt from a review written for Graphic Policy. Advance copy of Afterlift provided by Dark Horse Comics.
August 2, 2021
I loved this! I believe faith is important and this is one of those comics that is respectful of religion and faith but not a pedantic treatise. It reminded me of G. Willow Wilson, another of my favorite comic writers who deals with faith in a heartfelt, genuine, but not preachy way.
The art is beautiful, kinetic, colorful, and strikes the perfect tone for the settings and characters. I will be seeking out more of Jason Loo’s work. I don’t always notice lettering, but even that is noticeably great, varied for different characters but not drawing undue attention to itself.
Howard the Duck, Spider-Man, Daredevil, Sex Criminals, Jughead, and now this! I have yet to read a Chip Zdarsky book I don’t love. As you might guess from those titles, no two are the same but they’re all great.
The art is beautiful, kinetic, colorful, and strikes the perfect tone for the settings and characters. I will be seeking out more of Jason Loo’s work. I don’t always notice lettering, but even that is noticeably great, varied for different characters but not drawing undue attention to itself.
Howard the Duck, Spider-Man, Daredevil, Sex Criminals, Jughead, and now this! I have yet to read a Chip Zdarsky book I don’t love. As you might guess from those titles, no two are the same but they’re all great.
September 6, 2021
This was a lot more fun than I expected. A Lyft driver finds herself at the helm of a ride to the afterlife after picking up a strange rider. Soon demons are chasing her through the streets and then into various levels of the afterlife.
The concept is great, but it is used as a vehicle for some mindless action rather than being fleshed out in a more thought-provoking way about death. Sure, we don’t all want our escapism to make us think, and this will certainly entertain.
The story hinges on the main character making some choices many of us likely would not, and the characterization of important side characters is pretty weak. But this is a quick, undemanding read that’s fun while it lasts.
The concept is great, but it is used as a vehicle for some mindless action rather than being fleshed out in a more thought-provoking way about death. Sure, we don’t all want our escapism to make us think, and this will certainly entertain.
The story hinges on the main character making some choices many of us likely would not, and the characterization of important side characters is pretty weak. But this is a quick, undemanding read that’s fun while it lasts.
July 9, 2021
The core idea behind this series is "what if you were an Uber driver and one day your customer wanted a ride to Hell?" And what's what you get, an ordinary woman named Janice braving large groups of demons to transport a newly dead soul to the afterlife and getting caught up in a struggle to save both of their souls. Lots of car chases and sword-fighting, and watching Janice grapple with her own relationship to dead and religion in the face of this totally kind of confirmed but really but maybe sort of confirmed religious afterlife experience. I'm surprised how much action and drama the creative team was able to pack into just five issues, and I enjoyed how well-balanced everything was.
December 3, 2025
Who knew that becoming a psychopomp would be so...psycho?
Something that seems like it would fit in a mythical adventure is given a twist that somehow is distinctly 2010's. A lost soul has to ferry a dead soul to the land of the dead, but she doesn't like the idea that the reaper is clearly from the bad place and she is taking this recently dead girl to the bad place.
Completely bonkers theology aside, not a bad time with an Asian lead being led in two different sides as she tries to save someone who she thinks doesn't deserve the infernal pits. Also the artist notes in the back says a lot of the driving scenes were inspired by "Initial D" so I can't hate that.
Something that seems like it would fit in a mythical adventure is given a twist that somehow is distinctly 2010's. A lost soul has to ferry a dead soul to the land of the dead, but she doesn't like the idea that the reaper is clearly from the bad place and she is taking this recently dead girl to the bad place.
Completely bonkers theology aside, not a bad time with an Asian lead being led in two different sides as she tries to save someone who she thinks doesn't deserve the infernal pits. Also the artist notes in the back says a lot of the driving scenes were inspired by "Initial D" so I can't hate that.
August 21, 2020
🎆 Read for the 2020 KU Shitathon™ challenge - [Mini Edition #3: July-September] - over at Maraya's Cave Of Freaking Wonders 🎆
♦ Plan A - Book: #3 of 7 ♦
♦ Plan A - Book: #3 of 7 ♦
4.5 Stars
January 26, 2021
OMG what was this book? It was part ... I don't know and I don't know. We have our main character, an "uber driver" to Hell. Literally. Only she does not realize that at first. It is a bout redemption, life, family, forgiveness of yourself and others. It is about demons, angels and humans. There is fun, humor, guns, battles, blood and love. Everything is mixed up and perfectly organized. The colors, details, paneling and other format of the graphic novel is traditional. Also multiracial characters, girl power and one hell of a car chase comes into play.
March 10, 2021
Janice is a young teenager who is working on the nights as a taxi driver. Once she had a fare with a strange couple. And everything is changing. Life of Janice will never be as before.
We have a lot of cars in AFTERLIFT, even in the air. We have here Purgatory, Heaven and Hell, even Lucifer. We have swords fight, demons and angels. And all this makes perfectly sense, even there are some religionistic thoughts and live philosophy behind. And a lot of action.
More about it: https://digitalcomicslovers.blogspot....
We have a lot of cars in AFTERLIFT, even in the air. We have here Purgatory, Heaven and Hell, even Lucifer. We have swords fight, demons and angels. And all this makes perfectly sense, even there are some religionistic thoughts and live philosophy behind. And a lot of action.
More about it: https://digitalcomicslovers.blogspot....
June 5, 2021
This is a fun, fast-paced story. There's not a lot of space for world-building, so readers will get more out of it if they start not being completely ignorant of major world religions. There are some parts that are difficult to believe-- hard to share without getting spoiler-y, but a few plot turns that really didn't make sense in context (or, because it's such a quick tale, more like the lack of extenuating context).
Happily, this male-led creating team provided a female main character who kicks ass and isn't overly-sexualized. A welcome addition to leading ladies!
Happily, this male-led creating team provided a female main character who kicks ass and isn't overly-sexualized. A welcome addition to leading ladies!
August 5, 2021
My boy Chip is at it again! When will he stop!?
Afterbirth was a pretty dope book. It's about like an Uber driver who ends up on the trip of a lifetime. Deathtime. Whatever, Afterbirth keeps it exciting and engaging. The art is pretty fun, and the story is nicely self-contained, which isn't always the case with comics these days where things can go on and on and on and on and on and on. I actually wrote all of those "and on's" without copying and pasting. I'm an American Hero.
Anyway, get Afterbirth wherever you can!
Wait...Afterlift. Shit. Well, whatever.
Afterbirth was a pretty dope book. It's about like an Uber driver who ends up on the trip of a lifetime. Deathtime. Whatever, Afterbirth keeps it exciting and engaging. The art is pretty fun, and the story is nicely self-contained, which isn't always the case with comics these days where things can go on and on and on and on and on and on. I actually wrote all of those "and on's" without copying and pasting. I'm an American Hero.
Anyway, get Afterbirth wherever you can!
Wait...Afterlift. Shit. Well, whatever.
July 19, 2022
I always love Jason Loo's artwork. It was cool to see him illustrate another writer's work. This story was definitely a different tone that The Pitiful Human Lizard, but still cool in its own way! I thought the story was a really cool concept. I wish the explanations were a little more clear and concise and not left until the very last minute. I also wish we saw Janice's sacrifice a little more in detail- e.g. seeing her watch over her parents from the afterlife, finding where her sister went, etc. Overall cool story and would recommend.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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