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Little Monsters #1-6

Little Monsters, Volume 1

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They are the last children on Earth... who also happen to be vampires. For longer than they can remember, these child vampires have lived a life of eternal wonder amongst the ruins of humanity. But shocking events fracture the group and set them on a path of discovery that will shatter their innocence forever.

It's Lord of The Flies meets vampires in the first volume of a bold new ongoing series from Jeff Lemire and Dustin Nguyen, the Eisner-winning creative team behind the best-selling DESCENDER and ASCENDER series.

Collects issues #1 - 6

136 pages, Paperback

First published October 5, 2022

12 people are currently reading
849 people want to read

About the author

Jeff Lemire

1,406 books3,872 followers
Librarian note:
There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name


Jeff Lemire is a New York Times bestselling and award winning author, and creator of the acclaimed graphic novels Sweet Tooth, Essex County, The Underwater Welder, Trillium, Plutona, Black Hammer, Descender, Royal City, and Gideon Falls. His upcoming projects include a host of series and original graphic novels, including the fantasy series Ascender with Dustin Nguyen.

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5 stars
244 (19%)
4 stars
574 (45%)
3 stars
370 (29%)
2 stars
59 (4%)
1 star
5 (<1%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 179 reviews
Profile Image for Anne.
4,762 reviews71.3k followers
March 16, 2023
Ehhhh. I just don't know.
I do like the team of Lemire/Nguyen but the art was probably the best thing about this one for me.

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And I don't hate vampires or anything! But this just did. not. go anywhere. Like, the entirety of this first volume could have (or should have) been taken care of in issue #1.
You know how sometimes a writer will just cram too much into a panel or an issue? Well, not here.
The gist?
There are kid vampires living in some post-apocalyptic setting (after the 2nd pandemic!) who are waiting for the adult vampires to come back. Half of them find a human, eat him, and then get a taste for human blood. The other 3 find his young daughter and befriend her.
NOW THERE'S GONNA BE A FIGHT!

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And that's the whole fucking story.
What?

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I'm sorry but there's just not a whole lot here. I didn't hate it but I'm not going to be pacing back and forth waiting for the next volume to drop.
Recommended for fans of Lemire. <--you know who you are
Profile Image for Sam Quixote.
4,813 reviews13.4k followers
October 24, 2022
In a post-apocalyptic dystopian future (in a Jeff Lemire comic? That’s completely unheard of!), child vampires roam an empty city surviving on rats - until a human survivor stumbles across their path and they realise they’re not as alone as they thought. Tasting human blood for the first time in centuries, the group splits between those who want to continue their established way of life and those who want to venture out and see if there are more humans to feast upon. Which side will wi… zzz…

Little Monsters is basically a crappier Walking Dead minus the zombies, any interesting conflict or characters plus vampires - itty bitty ones. Even Dustin Nguyen’s art is mostly black and white with occasional colours appearing for blood, the moon and one of the character’s graffiti art.

There are a lot of characters introduced and none are really that memorable. If you read/saw Interview with a Vampire, you’ll know how child vamps come about and Lemire hasn’t deviated from this formula, so you can figure out that these kids encountered other vampires who turned them when they were young. We still get their pointless origins showing this even though they add nothing further to what most readers will already have guessed.

There’s nothing that wrong with Lemire’s writing or Nguyen’s art, I just wasn’t the least bit interested in anything that was happening and couldn’t care less which kid vampire side wins against the other or whether the human characters survive or learn to co-exist or whatever… Everything about this series feels unoriginal, derivative and completely unexciting. I don’t know who would find this title worthwhile - fanboys of these creators? - but I didn’t get much out of the eminently skippable Little Monsters, Volume 1.
Profile Image for Dave Schaafsma.
Author 6 books32.2k followers
November 4, 2022
Well, this is yet another angle on a dystopian future written by Jeff Lemire and Dustin Nguyen, and it is both dark and beautiful in their rough sketchy way, though with little color. It's funny, but I just read a dystopian novel by Lydia Millet, The Children's Bible where kids are on their own, trying to survive; you know, The Lord the Flies/Survivor (but with kids) territory. It's okay so far, bumped up from 2.5 stars to 3 for the art.

Eight kids who have been turned into vampires are surviving for a few years by eating rats and other small animals, until a human walks into town. What will they do about that? I know: Better eating, you say. Like they got a free pass to a five star restaurant, suddenly? Kids against the world, learning how to survive a world the previous generations have made. Kinda The Walking Dead, kid version? Well, it's just the first volume, and Lemire usually starts slowly, so maybe I'll read on.
Profile Image for James.
2,590 reviews80 followers
October 3, 2024
Re-read 10/3/2024
Still a great story. It had been 2 years since I read this and wanted to get refreshed before I start vol 2 for my spooky October reads. Reall excited to see how this plays out.




Man, this was sad as hell. But that is Lemire’s m.o. You have these 8 kid vampires just hanging out living life. There was some sort of world catastrophe and there seems to be not many people left around. These kids spend their nights just being kids. Playing manhunt, capture the flag, doing stunts, drawing on everything etc etc. Lemire really makes you care about their situation. They have been doing the same routine for 300 years. Then by the halfway mark, Lemire reminds us that they are vampires. They had been feeding on whatever small rodents they came across but they run into a human for the first time and once they get a taste of that blood, everything changes and that leads to some tragedy, the crew spit down the middle and one helluva cliffhanger ending. I thought it was cool what Nguyen did with the art. Going black and white and only adding color for the red blood. Will definitely check out the next volume.
Profile Image for Urbon Adamsson.
2,010 reviews104 followers
April 18, 2025
PT Jeff Lemire é, de facto, um escritor único.

Neste livro, traz-nos mais um conto fantástico — desta vez sobre um grupo de crianças vampiras que sobrevivem num mundo pós-apocalíptico. À medida que folheamos as páginas, vamos descobrindo mais sobre o seu passado sombrio e os desafios que enfrentam no presente.

A escrita e a narrativa de Lemire são simplesmente brilhantes, deixando-nos completamente agarrados até à última página. E claro, Dustin Nguyen está, como sempre, deslumbrante. Aqui, segue uma abordagem artística diferente daquela a que estou habituado, mostrando o quão versátil é enquanto artista.

Esta é uma edição em dois volumes, e mal posso esperar para pôr as mãos na segunda parte.

Um livro fantástico, no geral.

--

EN Jeff Lemire is indeed a one-of-a-kind writer.

In this book, he brings us yet another fantastic tale—this time about a group of vampire children surviving in a post-apocalyptic world. As we turn the pages, we gradually uncover more about their haunting past and the challenges they face in the present.

Lemire’s writing and storytelling are simply brilliant, keeping us completely hooked until the very end. And of course, Dustin Nguyen is as stunning as ever. Here, he takes a different artistic approach than what I'm used to seeing from him, showcasing just how versatile he truly is.

This is a two-volume edition, and I can’t wait to get my hands on the second part.

A fantastic book overall.
Profile Image for Drew Canole.
3,188 reviews44 followers
September 1, 2022
Interesting enough premise with nice artwork. Seemed a little too similar to Warren Ellis's FreakAngels to be a coincidence. 8 vampiric children have been hanging out in a post-apocalyptic city for years and years mostly just hanging out doing kid stuff until a human wonders into town.
Profile Image for Alexander Peterhans.
Author 2 books302 followers
February 1, 2023
The shortest way to describe this is literally Lemire Does Vampires. That's what it is, and that's what you get - child vampires trying to figure out how they became child vampires and everyone is dead (or are they!?!?). It's all very very sad, if that's your thing, but you get the feeling that the real story is yet to begin in, say, a volume number 2.

As with most of Lemire's genre work, don't expect any original ideas or storytelling, and you'll do fine.

Nguyen's art is fantastic, as it always is.

(Picked up a review copy through Edelweiss)
Profile Image for Adam M .
660 reviews21 followers
December 29, 2022
You can read my full review for No Flying No Tights here. While not incredibly fast paced, this was an intriguing set up that really ramps up near the end, leaving a lot of anticipation for the next installment. (as always a bias towards the art of Dustin Nguyen colors my perspective)
Profile Image for James DeSantis.
Author 17 books1,207 followers
March 11, 2023
A dark little charming tale of vampire kids left behind by their creators only to realize they could leave this isolated city long ago once they stumble upon some humans. But while half the kids want to rip these humans apart and eat them, the other half wants no part of it.

Lord of the flies meets vampires, a dark and twisted tale that I really got engrossed with. Lemire hardly ever misses, and this is no different. Worth a read even if it goes way too quick. A 4 out of 5.
Profile Image for Lukasz.
1,849 reviews478 followers
September 19, 2022
Children turned vampires, the end of the world, drama. I usually love Lemire's work, and Little Monsters is no exception. The pack of vampires live in a town and feed on rats. That changes when they discover a living human, and some of them develop a taste for human blood.

Dustin Nguyen is a gifted artist and in Little Monsters, he delivers beautifully detailed and evocative art. The characters look great, and the settings are dark and unsettling.

One could argue it's a bit tropey and was done before. Agreed. On the other hand, the art is gorgeous, the writing solid, and the story immersed me from the first page. Unfortunately, Vol. 1 ends on a nasty cliffhanger that only whetted my appetite for more little monsters. I need to know what happens next!

Profile Image for Lashaan Balasingam.
1,493 reviews4,622 followers
December 4, 2022
Despite an intriguing premise (Lord of the Flies meet The Walking Dead with vampires instead of zombies) and the engrossing artwork by Dustin Nguyen (mostly in black and white except for anything blood-related for a splash of red), the intrigue arrives far too late and not with as much vigour as it could've had as you're left wondering what exactly does this story offer that others haven't already. It is in fact it's adult versus children dynamic rather than its vampire versus humans dynamic that keeps this intriguing but only a second volume could really prove this series' worth...
Profile Image for Whitney (The Cover Collector).
616 reviews29 followers
January 9, 2023
The world and characters feel a bit empty in this first volume. Needs more meat, but has a good amount of teeth. Has potential to go from good to great if the characters get properly fleshed out with personality and real backgrounds instead of these superficial snippets.
Profile Image for ShamNoop.
403 reviews18 followers
October 21, 2022
Last issue was underwhelming but the set-up and characters are great.
Profile Image for Rod Brown.
7,428 reviews284 followers
December 23, 2024
A group of vampire children hang out playing games in a post-apocalyptic city in the 2320s. The first appearance of a human in over a century disrupts their status quo.

The scenario and characters are fairly intriguing and the action in the second half of the book has me grateful that I have the conclusion of the series on hand to read in the next few days.
Profile Image for Igel :).
240 reviews24 followers
January 20, 2025
4🌟
Ich mochte hier den Zeichenstil echt gerne. Die Story war auch recht vielversprechend bisher :) Ich denke ,dass ich die anderen Bände auch noch lesen werde
Profile Image for Anna  Quilter.
1,698 reviews52 followers
February 26, 2023
I always think every possible versions of original vampire stories have been told.
Not so..
This one's a gritty tale of isolated child vampires....who by chance get a taste of human blood..
Well at least some of them do..
Great art, storyline builds nicely and it's very compelling.
Profile Image for Hilda.
1,328 reviews295 followers
February 5, 2023
The world already ended, Yui. What else can be worse than that? Way I see it, every day after that has just been a bonus.

I don’t know if I’ll keep reading this. I like the concept. I still don’t know what the Elders, older vampires that turned the kids, wanted to do with them. They told the humans to stay away front the city and told the “children” to not leave the city. But then never came back! I have so many questions but also it didn’t grab my attention like I thought it would.

The illustrations are gorgeous though. I love the use, or lack of use, or color. You get one very colorful page of the drawings one of the kids made all over the city. That’s it. Everything else is black or white and then red, all the blood is bright red. I wonder how color will play into effect in the future. The only colorful parts seemed innocent and fun. The child’s drawing were full of color.
Profile Image for Mitticus.
1,166 reviews241 followers
October 19, 2022
Vampire children in a post-apocaliptic time live in a city by themselves, until a human appears. Their ages seem to be between 7 and 13 years old or so.

In some ways, is pretty predictable what will happen .

They play games , and remember some older times when a stranger told them that will never will be alone again.

Little-Monsters-2022-Issue1

This is just the beginning of the story, and it ends with a big cliffhanger. But it is seen that everything will change and the group will separate in contrary ideas.

Little-Monsters-2022-Issue-6

However, I find the notion of child vampires still being 'children' strange, when so many other works in the genre reflect the horror of being trapped in a child's body after centuries.

But I would still like to know what happens next.

Nota: Nombres:
Profile Image for Krystal.
2,202 reviews490 followers
October 10, 2023
A fun lil dystopian featuring children vampires. Very cool.

I like the story here, and I'm intrigued to know more. The characters are fantastic and fascinating and I like the flashbacks in with the present day stuff. Helps you get a feel for who these kids are.

The artwork is great - sketchy with splashes of colour to emphasise. Not my usual fair but it works well here.

This will be an easy one to finish off, I think!
Profile Image for Ben Wright.
689 reviews39 followers
October 18, 2022
Jeff Lemire continues to be one of my favourite writers in comics and Dustin Nguyen's is easily one of my fav artists working. This was really good, a post apocalyptic vampire tale, very Peter Pan meets the Walking Dead, and I'm here for it. In the short time we got a glimpse into the undead lives of the kids, and the childlike wonder mixed with savage predatory hunger makes them fascinating characters.
Profile Image for John Blacksad.
535 reviews55 followers
March 15, 2025
#jefflemire ismi olmasa böyle bir kitabı alır mıydım bilmiyorum. Kapak da yüksek değil bence. Nedense düşük başlıyorum. Fakat okudukça akıyor ve beğeniyorum. Çizgi romanda metin akıcılığı ve kararında olması çok önemli. Lemire kalemi akıcı. Riskli olabilecek ve daha önce iyisi ve kötüsü denendiği, bildiğimiz için (neredeyse) sadece kırmızı renk kullanımı #cheesy olma potansiyeli taşıyordu. Fakat çizgilerin de, renklerin de başarılı bitirildiğini söyleyebilirim. Yaratılmak istenen atmosfere uygun. #vampir teması da kadim olmasından sebep hayli tüketilmiş bir tema. Fakat oraya da yeni ve enerjik bir soluk getirmiş Lemire. Bu ciddi bir başarı. Evet tanıdık şeyler var, vampirlik, post apokaliptik evren, bir salgın (pandemi döneminde üretilmiş olması da biz dönemi yaşayanlar için anlamlı)… Fakat iyi ve özgün hissettiren bir harman var karşımızda. Ufak ufak zamanda sapmalarla gördüğümüz orijin hikayeleri, bugünkü keşif macerası… Burada Türk okura yapılmış bir ayıp olarak değerlendirdiğim ve beğendiğim bir başka seri #americanvampire geliyor aklıma biraz tabii. Ahh ah. Neyse. Sonrasında çocuk yaratıcılığı/sanatı/çizgilerinin renk açtığı sahnelerle kitaba dair beğenim artarak finalleniyor.

Çizgi romanda görsel atmosfer/bütünlük, metin akıcılığı ve eserin su gibi akması önemli. Bu cilt de bir avazda okunuyor. Daha ne olsun. Hemen ikinciye geçmek istiyorum. Devamda niyet varsa netleşecektir ama şu haliyle sembolik okumalar yapıyorum. Çocuk fikri riskli, sert sahnelerde vuruculupu artırıyor. Aynı zamanda masumluğu/sorgusuzluğu fakat #dürtü sahibi olmayı aynı bünyede sembolize edebiliyor. İçimizde (karanlık veya değil) dürtülerimiz var. Bunların kontrollü icrası veya tamamen tutulması insanı hayvandan ayırt eden özelliklerden. Dini inançlarımız, ahlak yapımız, adetler sınırlar çiziyor. Dürtüler kontrolden çıkabiliyor. Bu bir mücadele. Devam ciltte bakalım nereye gidiyor işler.
Profile Image for Jamie Connolly.
789 reviews5 followers
October 13, 2022
It was good. Not at all what I was expecting. It's also lemire so of course I'll keep reading and fully expect to love this book by some point. But it didn't happen for me yet. Not in this first volume anyway. Soon though. Soon. 4 stars.
Profile Image for M. J. .
159 reviews6 followers
October 29, 2022
A group of children go through the monotony and scarcity of the days while waiting for the elder ones to come back. The thing is these kids are vampires and without humans in the picture they survive meagerly on small animals and tired games, they're bored to death (ha!), and that's when a visitor arrives...
I had fun reading this one, there's nothing really astounding about the story and the art would look great in some issues and rushed in other ones. Nevertheless it is a pretty dynamic book, there's a nice flow the scenes. The character building is slow, but intriguing. The plot has a lot of potential, a few hints were given on this volume and I trust Jeff Lemire to infuse these characters with emotionally gripping backgrounds in the future. Themes of change vs. stasis, fight for survival vs. desire to maintain a comfortable, albeit unhappy life are recurrently brought up, we keep waiting for changes to happen, and they eventually do, but I could not help but feel slightly frustrated by the end. The delicate build-up / delivery balance was uneven. Despite that the pace of the story is good, Dustin Nguyen has a talent for creating panels that effectively transmit the importance of the emphasized scenes, some of them could be framed. I'll be keeping an eye on this one.
Profile Image for Chad.
10.4k reviews1,061 followers
November 2, 2022
Not the most original comic these two have come up with. It's about child vampires in a post-apocalyptic future playing games with one another and reduced to eating rats until they come across their first human in centuries. Then it's a separation into factions of those who love the power they receive and those who would prefer things to remain the same.A lot more needs to happen in future outings.
Profile Image for Eric.
428 reviews
August 28, 2022
Ended in such a huge cliffhanger loved the world buildup for this story.
Profile Image for Bibliophileverse.
717 reviews43 followers
November 27, 2022
The plot hooks you up from start, but eventually, slows down. I was just dragging myself to the end. Although, graphics were good, but the plot was way above my head. I felt that I was circling round and round in the plot. It was not going anywhere. It is totally my personal opinion about the book, may be be other readers would like the book.

I could only give 3 stars to the book for its interesting start and graphics. Thanks to Edelweiss and Image Comics for providing me an opportunity to read and review the book.
Profile Image for Jakub Kvíz.
345 reviews40 followers
August 7, 2024
This one caught me by surprise. While Lemire is one of my most favorite creators, I’ve been experiencing some sort fatigue with his recent stuff. While this was comming out, I read the first issue, but never really got back to it until now. And I absolutely loved it!

A group of vampire kids is stucked for eternity in the ruins of our world doing the same stuff every day, well… every night. But the endless routine gets broken once they came across an unexpected guest.

I am a big fan of Dustin Nguyen and while I think that the watercolors suits him the best, his black & white art sets the mood perfectly.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 179 reviews

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