A Thing Called Truth

A Thing Called Truth #1-5

by Iolanda Zanfardino, Elisa Romboli (Illustrator)

A chaotic LGBTQ+ road trip!

A workaholic scientist who wants to save the world and a woman who fears nothing but discovering her own destiny find themselves mixed up in a chaotic, on-the-road adventure through Europe.

Will they manage to find a middle ground between their opposing ways of life—at least for long enough to complete their mission? And could this trip lead to an unexpected romance?

Collects A THING CALLED TRUTH #1-5

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, LGBT, Romance, Queer, Lesbian, Fiction

139 pages, ebook

First published April 13, 2022

Reviews

[Bookishrealm · Rating 2 out of 5]

What the hell is this?!?

Somebody please explain what I just read. This book had so much potential, but I'm so confused on how this was even approved for release. I thought that the medical aspect of it was interesting, but none of that was explained. We don't know any more information about Dorian. Their romance had potential, but felt stilted and unrealistic. I'm beyond disappointed with the number of plot holes and lack of character development. I do not recommend this one even if the artwork was beautiful. Too much potential went to waste with the creation of this story.

[Thea Jacobsen · Rating 3 out of 5]

The characters are sweet and their romance is compelling, but the pacing of the story as a whole is poorly executed. The narrative voice is sporadic and weak, making the internal reflections of the characters feel out of place. This seems to be a stand alone comic, but it does not complete half of the storylines it introduces. Despite this though I found it an relatively enjoyable read with beautiful expressive art.

[Robert · Rating 1 out of 5]

The tone changes so drastically from the first issue to the last, and the direction and focus of the story whiplashes as well, so that when you combine it with a faux anime style and a stilted writing style that reads like either a cheap translation or an unedited draft what you are left with is a disappointing read.

[Emily Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

Chaotic being the key word. Unsure what on earth I just read.

I’m not sure if even the authors and artists knew where they were going with this story because it’s so disjointed and makes hardly any sense. We have two main stories going on: a road trip and some villainous scientist plot, but both are hectic and don’t feel like they belong together. We also have a load of random side plot points and characters being introduced. I feel like either the road trip of scientist focus needed to be dropped to make the other clearer.

I enjoyed the art style and pallets used but could have done with more text / info to clear up what on earth was happening.

Rep// White sapphic woman MC, Black sapphic woman MC. Relationship is WLW / sapphic.


TWs listed below, please skip if you don’t want vague spoilers.





TW// divorce (past), stolen work, car theft, death of a sibling, hospital scenes.

[Shannon · Rating 1 out of 5]

This series reads like they ran it through Google Translate, but tbh I don't even think a proper translation would've helped this trite story.

Individual issue reviews: #1 | #2 | #3 | #4 | #5

Total review score: 1.5

[Jinghay (these.blank.pages) · Rating 1 out of 5]

There's no way it just ends like that.. THERE'S STILL SO MANY PLOT-HOLES!? Yes the romance subplot was adorable but what about Mag's research? Or Dorian's illness?? Or even conpleting the list???

My one star is for the artwork and the potential the story-line had.. But i'm honestly disappointed. It reads like the first volume in a series rather than a completed story..

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

*I received an ARC from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review*

"To understand what a movie has to say you have to watch it until the end, don't you think? If only to truly know what it was about. And everything we live through- when do we understand its meaning? How do you know when the end of the story is near? My whole life I've been waiting for a sign. I'm tired, doc. I won't wait for the end. I won't expect to understand anything. I want to live. I want to live now."

This was so much fun! I love a good road trip story, especially one filled with wonderfully spontaneous adventures and activities, and this was done so well!

The story follows scientist Mag who's made a huge discovery and possibly created something that will change health care for the better forever, but when her bosses hear about this, they fire her and try to steal her research. Mag gets drunk, sleeps in her car, only to wake up and find she's been kidnapped by a handsome woman named Dorian. Dorian is grieving from her brother's death and is following his last wish for her to finally live her life before she possibly dies too from the same disease by following his travel guide around Europe. Mag, having nothing to loose, ends up joining Dorian. The pair go from absolute strangers to lovers willing to risk it all for each other.

The plot does focus on the romance development and fun rather than the science and story we've been given at the beginning until the last few chapters of the graphic novel. Regardless, this wasn't an issue for me, but I can see how other people may feel misled or confused by it. I really loved the romance between Mag and Dorian, they're opposites but also exactly what each other needs. They're both going through tough times in their lives, and I adored how they opened up and supported each other.

I did enjoy what we were given of the high stakes stolen research plot, though never deeply explained what this groundbreaking discovery *really* is, I enjoyed the concept, action towards the end, and glimpses at the other scientists (especially the clumsy chemist!).

The end epilogue had me gasping in shock, I was actually tearing up until it took a sudden twist and was revealed to actually be happy (which I'm obviously glad about). It was super cute, the ten year skip felt right, and overall felt satisfying and still had the fun vibes!

4/5 🌟

[Lainy122 · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed the crap out of this, but the ending confused me. I thought we would end up back at the beginning, since it seemed like 3 pages of flash forward. Only...we didn't. I would have thought this was just the first volume, but it doesn't seem to be?
Hmm. Anyway, great story, I look forward to reading the rest one day haha!

[Luna MoonBear · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book, from the story to the art work.. it had the ability to captivate you and make you wonder what will happen next. It’s equal parts sad, funny and keeps you guessing. I can’t wait to read issue 2!

[Joe Bogue · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read Harder 2023 - Task #16

[Theediscerning · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hard-working medical research lab worker Magdalene finds that when she gets the breakthrough success to save the world, it's stolen from her. Pissed off at everything, she ends up soaking drunk in the back of her car – a car she finds is in a different country the following morning, and being driven by a tall blonde woman, Dorian. But this is no common crook, as we immediately think – this is a Dorian on a mission, honouring a wish to seize the day in cinematic fashion. Cue a road trip that might have some Thelma and Louise aspects, but is altogether more winning, less angry and just a bit more lesbian.

Well, despite the news at the back of issue five here, that a brand new fantasy-looking series is coming from these creators soon, I would rather we finish this off first, for this is really good fun, and has so much more to cover. Looking at all the publishers have put out, it implies however that this is it – it was a five-parter mini-series from the start, and what we have is all we'll ever have. Now, why is that? Has it flopped? I doubt it – the pages are lively, the plot is very lively (apart perhaps from extended sections where Mag talks to herself in the style of a scientific paper), and the way everything is contrived so that Dorian and Mag don't know their destiny from one city to the next still doesn't feel contrived to the reader.

The book ends, too, at the place perfectly suited for taking the whole title off in any direction imaginable, with so much – the opening bravura snatch of drama, the husband's subplot, and much more – all left hanging, deliberately or not. Now, I can see there are enough dots to connect to produce some kind of picture, but for once I think the enjoyment level was enough to mean this stopping so soon was almost dispiriting. So with this kind of conclusion, I can only come to a scientific conclusion of my own – the creators like fanfic a HECK of a lot. Because people are going to love this title, and boy are they going to want to make more of the story complete. Now that's a kind of success I've not come across before, but I think that definitely is a success. A strong four stars from me; surely the full five from many other readers.

[Theo · Rating 3 out of 5]

This seems unfinished with some very large plot holes. The story was unexpected, and the romance aspect was definitely the best part. I do enjoy this creative team, and I will read future or continuing books by them.

[Aaron · Rating 3 out of 5]

If adventure encompasses the unexpected when it is least convenient, surely the same can be said of opportunities of romance, professional success, and self-discovery. A THING CALLED TRUTH knocks about the uncertainties of two adults aching for validation only to find their personal truths to be nowhere near close enough to grasp.

A THING CALLED TRUTH is a fun but squirrely book. Porous plotting distracts from an otherwise casual and straightforward buddy escapade, and the title's fantastic artwork is occasionally blurred by idiosyncratic lettering. Still, why not enjoy the awkward troubles of a clinical scientist (who was kicked out of her own lab) and a drifter (who may or may not have a dire health problem)?

Magdalene calls herself a "genius," and for the most part, she backs it up. The problem? The day after documenting a significant breakthrough in her lab research, Mag has her security clearance and lab access revoked without notice. Seven years of research down the drain (and the profits, naturally, into someone else's pocket). Elsewhere, readers meet Dorian, a tall, handsome woman who looks like a punk rock loner (when in reality, she's brimming with piety). Dorian just lost her brother to a congenital illness, and fearing she's next in line, hits the road as an act of bravery and cowardice in equal measure. When Dorian swipes Mag's car, the trip of a lifetime is abruptly underway.

This comic treads considerably familiar ground in terms of accidental travel buddies, the destinies they run from, the destinies they carve for themselves, and the decisions they make along the way. Mag's bosses are corrupt professionals who acknowledge but never credit her hard work (and there's nothing she can do about it). Dorian's laissez faire disposition is a sharp reaction to personal loss (and thus fears addressing what's left of her life head-on).

Should Mag learn to breathe easy knowing her life is only as dramatic as she makes it? Will Dorian ever come to grips with the ephemeral nature of life's many setbacks? Altogether, this is a quintessential collection of "character change arcs" in which stubbornness and uncertainty eventually give way to spontaneity and a bourgeoning, willful curiosity.

The narrative approach isn't particularly novel, but the book's creative team thankfully invests plenty of time and energy into making Mag and Dorian plenty awkward and likeable throughout their journey. It's not a good road trip without a few brushes with the police, scrums with snotty tourists, graffiti, and "grand gestures" of almost romance.

Romboli on art duties is perhaps the largest draw of the book. The artist's knack for inimitable facial expressions and casual hand gestures lends personality to otherwise stock character types. It's rare to see characters bearing the same expression in books with Romboli's art. And as for the background, environmental, or otherwise production design, readers will notice the artist takes grand advantage of how A THING CALLED TRUTH takes place in scenic Europe. Packed train stations in northern Italy? Tourist hotspots in Madrid? The Paris nightlife? All quite gorgeous, and all with perfectly moody colors.

A THING CALLED TRUTH nevertheless struggles with a few details. Visually, the book's frequent reliance on song lyrics as inlaid text is clever but disruptive, and in terms of book lettering, the presence of multiple typos doesn't speak well to editorial quality control.

Regarding character dynamics, Mag, for example, is a scientist, but readers don't know what she's researching beyond vague presumptions of biopharmaceuticals. She regularly extols her success in nearly changing the world, but the story neither explores nor explains what assays she was executing or what challenges said tests were meant to resolve. Also, Mag has a bitter fight with her ex-husband, yet seems perfectly content with skirting her legal responsibilities and doesn't face any consequences for doing so. For being a genius, the woman's kind of lazy.

The mystery of Dorian's family illness is likely a deliberate move from the creative team, particularly when juxtaposed with Mag's line of work, but the lack of clarity is a disservice to readers eager for context. Why? Because it's difficult for one to care about a character's existential shortcomings when the purported threat or danger is willfully ignored from the start. Dorian is a cocky goofball who actively shields off her sentimentality. Better, for readers, for her shield to crack every now and then for a bit of added depth.

[Steff Fox · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have so many mixed feelings about Iolanda Zanfardino's A Thing Called Truth. On the one hand, I really, really wanted to like the story and characters. But on the other hand, Dorian was just straight insufferable. I spent the vast majority of my read utterly perplexed by how irritating she was. And while I can fully understand the appeal an introvert might see in having someone extremely outgoing in their life, the number of times Dorian's behavior results in these women running from police is excessive as hell.

I also don't feel like all the story beats of this graphic novel mesh well together; I'm sure there's a way to make it work, but this just doesn't cut it for me? Then there's Mags' work and the fact that she was unreasonably fired—paired with the lie about her resignation—and I find myself just wondering why this plot isn't more involved in the experiences that these women have. It doesn't return until about 75% of the way through the book and we've been forced to follow Dorian's brother's notebook inspired hijinks for much of the book at this point. And then Mags is selfish enough to try and implicate her coworker (who had spent much of the book worried about her, by the way)?

Just...why?

Did Dorian's selfishness rub off on her or something?

And I think that's the end all be all of it; I just couldn't stand these characters. Their plot-based decisions are so rude and selfish—chaos inciting bullshit—that I just found myself growing more and more irritated as I went on. So, I dunno. I don't think I'd say that the graphic novel is bad, exactly. But it needs some work.

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

[Doe Is Reading · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received this book as an ARC on Netgalley, however all opinions are my own.

So the reason I wanted to read this is because as you all know I love queer graphic novels and Oni Press is my favourite graphic novel publisher. So when I saw this one I knew I had to jump at the chance. I went into this not knowing much about the graphic novel and honestly I believe that is the best way to enter this one. This story had me going through such an emotional rollercoaster. The story is so bittersweet and is really heartbreaking at times, so I would definitely recommend reading this with a pack of tissues. However, for as many heartbreaking moments it has, it has much more hilariously cute ones. I found myself rooting for both the main characters from the very start and I loved how all of their differences brought them together to be and do something magical. I read this in one sitting because the story genuinely had me at the edge of my seat throughout most of it and wondering what they were going to do next on their adventure. The side characters truly added to this story also and were so easy to fall in love with, even when they weren't always at their best. I genuinely would recommend this to everyone who just wants a nice cute romantic comedy graphic novel, who's not affraid to feel the emotions this one will put you through. I loved this and definitely will be getting a physical copy of it once it's out!

[Katharine · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm so mixed on this graphic novel. The entire plot felt a bit confusing, and felt like it dropped the first story to veer off into the "spontaneous road trip with handsome stranger" adventure before remembering "Oh yeah, we opened with a dramatic plot about stolen medical research". The plot is all over the place, and moves so quickly it's hard to pin anything down. I enjoyed separate elements of this, such as the female leads learning from each other on how to be more open and how to be more true to themselves. The characters themselves were fairly enjoyable, and they did reach a heartwarming conclusion by the epilogue. But honestly, the chemist and the mysterious scientist were a much more compelling couple to me, and they were only in the book for a few pages! The art style is very fun, and I enjoyed the casual diversity of all the characters. That casual diversity made the characters feel a bit more grounded in their designs. I just wish the writing of the overall story were a bit tighter. Oh, there was also some casual nudity that surprised me, as it felt a bit out of nowhere. There is one [spice] scene, but it's nothing crazy.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review!

[East of Reality · Rating 3 out of 5]

If Mags and Dorian were real people, I’d hate them. Because Dorian’s brother died — and she may have the same health issues — she decides to steal a car and go around the world reenacting movie scenes like her brother wanted to do. Only the car she stole has someone in it, and Mags, having been fired, is angry and bored and lonely enough to go along with her.

They make scenes, they break laws, they act like entitled children. The only good thing about their adventure is that they’re not filming it. The B plot has Mag’s ex husband worried about where she is, afraid she’s been ‘disappeared’ by their evil corporate overlords and enlisting his lab partner’s help to try to find her.

It all ends in a madcap break in where Mags gets her work back after causing a crap ton of damage, hopefully not getting anyone killed, and then somehow taking down the evil corporation all while falling in love with Dorian.

It’s a cute idea and well drawn, but it’s one of those books that asks you to suspend your sense of disbelief a little too much for me to really enjoy it. It’s not bad, it’s just … not for me. Thank you very much to Net Galley and the publisher for the ARC.

[Peter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Omnibus edition. Wild, comedic road Trip. A fortuitous meeting/car-jacking sees two young women set out on a road trip across Europe. One escaping recent job issues, the other one trying to follow a journal suggesting sites and experiences.

The two are involved in many madcap adventures. Which in real life would see them in jail quite a few times.

As the miles mount up Magdalene and Dorian find a possible present together. In friendship and love.

Thank you to ONI Press and NetGalley for the comic ARC. The views expressed are all mine.

[Nathalie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading the reviews here it seems like a lot of people want and need clusure. This comic gave what it promised; a chaotic road trip. You can fill in the blanks yourself or just enjoy the things we do know and see. I didn't need any more background story or info about their future. Will I read a follow up comic? Absolutely as I love the creators' style and storytelling. Do I feel incomplete after finishing this? Absolutely not.

[KL · Rating 3 out of 5]

A manic (giant?) dream girl and textbook workaholic scientist go on a road trip. What can go wrong?

I guess everything went right for them but it feels unfinished to me. I would've love to explore more on Mag's research and Dorian's illness.

Art is not what I usually enjoy but it's still cute and somewhat of the story is kind of adorable too, although, I'm not into a big chunk of their adventures.

[The Sapphic Nerd · Rating 4 out of 5]

Two strangers on a wild road trip!

This comic has so much potential! Some of the dialogue is a little rough, but at its heart, it's two strangers thrown together on a wild road trip that bonds them. The art is fun and expressive, and it has a sweet rom-com feel with its "opposites attract" lead characters. The series was originally cut short, but there's a Kickstarter going for the rest of the story and I'm looking forward to reading it.

[Paul Allard · Rating 4 out of 5]

A bit of escapism in this comic collection - visually nicely-done

Mag is a scientist, betrayed by her bosses who ends up with Dorian, a poor jobbing young lady, on a road trip in which each finds more about herself. That's basically all that happens in this short first volume with LGBTQ+ overtones. It's nicely-illustrated and there's more to come. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

[eva · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was great! Super cool art, great premise, but I don’t know if maybe there are more issues or if there were supposed to be? Because the ending is quite abrupt and don’t really contextualize the first few pages of the comic and other bits of ‘foreshadowing’ scattered throughout. It feels like there were a lot of elements that should have been better utilized in the story but simply weren’t?

[Zimmy W · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rate: 3.5/5 stars

This was a great and very adorable premise! I think the ending fell apart for me; this either needed to be a much longer book/series (or is there more to this?) or much shorter. There were several loose ends to tie up and the reunion felt a little meh, but overall I really enjoyed and was shipping the two hardcore.

[Elia · Rating 2 out of 5]

The story is adorable (at least the road trip part) but the translation is absolutely horrid and takes you right out of the plot. Also the secondary plot at the lab is just kind of ... there... with no real reasoning behind it.

[Richard · Rating 3 out of 5]

A Thing Called Truth is okay. It's queer and cute. I wish it had named the films it references, because I know a lot about movies and I couldn't identify them all. It's also not a complete story, which is fine I guess, but at least so far this seems to be all there is of it

[Mirrordance · Rating 3 out of 5]

Una graphic novel di cui ho apprezzato molto i disegni. La trama è esile, è più l'idea di viaggio che una vera e propria trama. Un viaggio fisico ed un viaggio mentale ed emotivo raccontato con la leggerezza del fumetto.

[J R · Rating 3 out of 5]

Firstly, i'm not usually a huge comic person, so take my review with a grain of salt. but I did find the artwork gorgeous. Unfortunately the story struggled getting going and staying going and the characters were a little inconsistent. 3 stars. tysm for the arc.

[Dampfschiff · Rating 2 out of 5]

The art is so good it makes me sad to give it two stars, but the pacing is incredibly awful, the tone of the story changed weirdly halfway through and there are, like, a million plotholes. It feels like an unfinished product. Sad because I wanted a better lesbian road trip :c

[nelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dorian is the loml.
This, again, was so much fun! And touching and asdfghjkl.... that mean cute? I guess? I don't know but really enjoyed it.