Night Hunters

by Dave Baker (Writer), Alexis Ziritt (Artist), Robert Negrete (Letterer)

Freedom awaits, enlist today! If you want to live in Gran Caracas you have two options: become a cop or die.

Night Hunters by Alexis Ziritt (Space Riders) and Dave Baker (F*** Off Squad) tells the tale of two brothers who have to navigate the futuristic cyberpunk world of Venezuela 100 years in the future.

Genres: Comics, Science Fiction, Graphic Novels, Cyberpunk, Dystopia, Comic Book

116 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 2021

Reviews

[Chad · Rating 3 out of 5]

In the cyberpunk future Venezuela, two brothers grow up on opposite sides of the law. One, who becomes a cyborg, works for a corrupt police force that is the only way to make some money. The other becomes a drug dealer leading the cities gangs. Of course, they get set on a collision course for one another.

The art is gritty with some old school coloring. Sometimes the coloring works well, others it completely obfuscates the art.

[Alexander Peterhans · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is more cyberpunk than any Cyberpunk 2077- related books you'll find.



Two poor brothers live in the dense megacities of future Venezuela. It's the kind of place that would scare Robocop, a police state that can barely control the soaring murder rates, but where you're constantly reminded by the state that cops are so goshdarn swell.

One of the brothers succumbs to a cop-related accident, and has to be largely rebuilt as a frightening skull-faced cyborg.



We jump a decade or so, and the cyborg brother works with the cops as a sniper, still skull-faced (albeit with a cloth bag over it) and still only able to "speak" with clicks (I guess voice synthesising hardware is prohibatively expensive).

It won't surprise you that the other brother is on the other side of the law, and the brothers are moving towards a confrontation.

If I have one point of real criticism, it's that the title is instantly forgettable.



To call the book's art 'gritty', would be an understatement. It's filled with scraggly, thick-lined drawings, that are absolutely perfect for the story. The colouring is also excellent, really lifts the book.



If you're into cyberpunk, don't sleep on this one.

(Picked up an ARC through Edelweiss)

[Jake · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoy FWC materials, every time I see it is a creatively evocative use of images and colors to fit moods and settings. So with the cyberpunk genre comes a story about trying to survive in a Venezuela where the government gives people a way out of poverty by joining the military police. It's a pretty standard setup about people looking for a better life. Some people just can't like one of the protagonists Julian who after the damage he sustained did everything he could to help himself and his ailing father. And that's despite Julian originally being opposed to the augmentations these people give. Or a member of Julien's team who's trying to keep his daughters from experiencing great hardships. But then again, some of them revel in just having the augmentations to be killing machines just for the sake of feeling powerful.

Everybody's looking for a better life, but what happens when being capable just means the only good options are politicians who don't have people's interests in mind? What happens when people on the fringe of society can make something better than what governments offer them? And what happens when these people go to extremes just to prove a point? This made me feel heavy with reminders of the events that led to 9/11.

[Fraser Simons · Rating 4 out of 5]

A retro cyberpunk comic, both in plot and aesthetic, set in a futuristic Venezuela where most people are incarcerated, it’s a police state, and there’s open warfare between the police—the last lucrative job available to the average person—and street gangs. It’s a pretty standard setup.

When two boys are ushered home by their father as the city is going into lockdown, a surprise raid happens and the family is ripped apart, with the boys being set on opposite paths that collide as the story unfolds.

All expression of identity is regurgitating rhetoric that’s found around the favelas and it’s mostly all frenetic action, but it’s not brainless fun only, which I appreciated. Though, I will say I love the art and the action sequences look fantastic. Every panel is high contrast and gritty, with the paper being an interesting choice. It’s not matte and feels, again, very old-school. It does sometimes wash out the colour, but most of the time it does augment the artwork and palette. And the feel allows for it to distinguish itself further.

I really liked the ending and had this been a bit more substantive I think it’d have reached to a 5 star heights, but it is necessarily simplistic and so boils down to a really fun ride that reiterates trodden ground in the sub-genre.

[Apa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very ACAB cyberpunk. Not the sleek and shiny chrome cyberpunk but the punk, dirty, fighting to live another day kind. The story could be straight out of a 80s/90s cyberpunk action movie and that's a praise. The art is very very rough and powerful. What makes this a real cyberpunk story is the world. According to the best traditions of scifi it's actually our current world with certain aspects are turned up to 11. Dark, hopeless, nihilistic but there's a fight for something different going on.

There's a lot of inspiration here to use in CY_BORG.

[Lola · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5
Amazing art, average story, great afterword.

[Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

You gotta read it!

[I.D. · Rating 4 out of 5]

The art is (mostly) fantastic but the story is pretty average. It’s nothing you haven’t read before despite the Venezuelan setting, but the whole package manages to still be worth checking out. Another solid book from these guys.

[Maria (Mulu) Avila · Rating 3 out of 5]

1. Me encantaron las referencias a la Caracas real ya que casi no se ve en historias tan cul como esta.


Aquí por ejemplo me encanta el uso del color :3 es lit amarillo, azul y rojo
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2. El estilo vintage/sucio de las líneas que tienen las ilustraciones está biutiful, en especial al ser un comic tan cyberpunk. Le da como el toque perfecto y crea un estilo muy único. Los colores están super bien utilizados y los tonos contrastan muy bien con la historia a contar.
3. Me encantó en especial el primer capítulo o volumen #1
4. Tbh la historia no es nada impactante, pero si fue entretenida. Lo mejor sin duda es el arte, la crítica y las ideas del mundo cyberpunk futuro que se plantean, no tanto el plot en si.
5. Las dos últimas páginas están preciosas. Fueron mis favoritas de todo el comic.
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[Tatiana · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a fabulous comic! Picked it up by chance, because the style looked really unique and appeared to depict a cyberpunk world of the future.

Enjoyed thoroughly and was happy to have picked it up. The comic makes you think about corrupt systems that forego people; all the while providing showstopping visuals to tell the story. Really recommend!

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great art, gritty story about a dystopian future with corrupt governments and rampant immorality contrasted by boyish optimism and foolish idealism. It’s a story of two brothers who have gone on opposite path that, in time, cross in a major juncture of the story, political landscape and their pursuits. Give it a try!

[Micah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic art, each panel is just one or two saturated colors, like you're somewhere between a neon-lit megalopolis and an 80s arcade game. If you want to cruise through a violent cyberpunk dystopia where freedom fighters decide it's time to confront the wackos, conmen and sadists keeping everyone in a cage, look no further.

[Leslie Carnahan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm only giving this 3 stars because this really isn't my taste in comic/graphic novel. I liked the retro/older comic style. The coloring was amazing. The story was intriguing. But there was a little too much violence for me (war type violence). Overall, good. Just not my cup of tea.

[Brian Longtin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nice art and character design (if a little crowded and hard to read in some sequences), but the story bites off more than it can chew across 100 pages, leaving little room for subtlety or detail in a fairly standard futuristic oppressed vs oppressors tale.

[Katerina Stathaki · Rating 3 out of 5]

Alexis Ziritt did a very good job with the art, I particularly loved the coloring style. Unfortunately, the story is nothing new or exciting!

[Laurian · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought this was so interesting, in concept. The visuals were off-putting - to the point where it distracted from the message.

[E · Rating 4 out of 5]

- great art
- simply a rearrangement and playing around of old tropes, aesthetics
- stands out bc of its punk rage

[Daniel Vlasaty · Rating 4 out of 5]

cyberpunk police state dystopian hell.

[Mikael · Rating 5 out of 5]

Art is a bit rough at times but shows great detail otherwise. The story is true to the Cyberpunk themes and decidedly Latin American noir.

[Greg Steele · Rating 3 out of 5]

good art