Pierre

Ken Games #1

by José Robledo, Marcial Toledano (Illustrator)

This first volume of the Ken Games series gives us a profile of Peter Fermat (aka Rock), a young man who, like each of the three main characters, is leading a double life. His story opens with a boxing match which has a nasty ending for the up-and-coming boxer, despite his victory. It's not long before we discover that Rock is not only striving to make it in the boxing world, but is also something of a mathematical genius, which is how he met his best friend, TJ. For the first time in all their years of friendship, TJ introduces Rock to a girlfriend, the lovely Anne. Anne and Rock soon establish a bond of trust when Rock discovers that Anne too is living a double life, even though Anne's secret is not exactly what she leads Rock to believe. This is just the beginning of the tangled web of lies and deception that gets ever more convoluted as the series goes on...

Genres: Comics, Bande Dessinée, Graphic Novels

56 pages, Hardcover

First published April 1, 2009

About the author

José Manuel Robledo Tiedra es un historietista español.

Reviews

[Ainhoa Prieto · Rating 4 out of 5]

⭐️4.5⭐️
El dibujo de Toledano es tremendamente elegante y el guión de Robledo, realmente interesante.
Esta historia a tres bandas con Pierre como principal protagonista es inquietante, atrayente y aditiva.

[Etienne · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have mixed feelings on this one. First, the art works is really great, I love the illustrations styles and the way it present good boxing action scene. The story is okay, but the boxing story have been written many times and this one just doesn't bring enough new material to make it original. The boxing aspect was good but it's all the problems/stories on the side that make it loose a bit of interest in it. Still a good comic, but it could have been even better with a more original story. But again, big thumbs up for the arts!!

[Juan Fuentes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Novela negra de ritmo ágil y que, pese a tener algunos personajes con su pizca de estereotipo (jugador profesional, boxeador y asesina) encajan todos muy bien. Lo he disfrutado.

[Elfo-oscuro · Rating 4 out of 5]

Una gran historia que te va a sorprender

[Marlène · Rating 5 out of 5]

Un premier tome introductif pour une trilogie dont le thème central est le mensonge. Chacun des trois personnages principaux révèle une épaisseur des apparences qu'il a construites, l'isolant un peu plus des deux êtres dont il est le plus proche. Chacun cache une réalité aux antipodes du visage qu'il expose, à part peut-être Thierry Feuille. Trois personnages pour trois intrigues se croisant magistralement.
Les graphismes m'ont initialement parus trop réguliers et peut-être un peu plats, avant de finalement se caler dans mon esprit comme justes, sans doute grâce à la colorisation qui tour à tour assombrit l'atmosphère, précipite à la catastrophe ou nous offre un instant plus clément et lumineux.
Je conseille vivement aux amateurs de thrillers, de jeu et de bons scénarios de se lancer dans l'aventure Ken Games.

[Wayne McCoy · Rating 4 out of 5]

'Ken Games #1: Rock' by Jose Manuel Robledo with art by Marcial Toledano is the first in a series about three characters who are all friends.

Peter Fermat, aka Rock, is a boxer who uses math to calculate how to beat his opponents. In the underground fight world, he is known as The Mathematician. He has a friend named T.J., aka Paper, who has a new girlfriend named Anne. Peter, T.J., and Anne all have secrets they are hiding from each other. Thus begins the web of deception between these three people.

It's an interesting story, and I like how it starts to play out here. There is enough left wide open to make me want to continue the story. The art is pretty solid too.

I received a review copy of this graphic novel from Europe Comics and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this graphic novel.

[Elia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ok at first I was like, "wow, these are three really horrible people who lie to everyone about everything. THEN there was a twist so out of left field and BIZARRE that I was like, "what the hell did I just read?!" It all sort of made a little sense when I realized the real translations of the three parts of the series were "Rock, Paper and Scissors" and this was Rock, the story of the boxer. The next is paper, the story of the gambler... and Scissors... well, you would have to read this to find out what scissors is about because I don't want to spoil that one for anyone.

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

Three characters, all liars to their friends or lovers. They say it's to protect them, until things change, but they are also lying to themselves. I liked the boxing analytics angle for the one character. The female character had a twist at the end that I didn't see coming. I thought this was just a straight drama book, but now there are assassins involved. Curious where this goes.

[Jesse · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was a major page-turner. I couldn't wait to find out what happened next! The main characters struggles feel very real and you really come to care for him and the choices he makes. The art is wonderful and the color pallet sets the perfect mood. All in all, this is a great book, and I definitely recommend you read it if you haven't yet!

[Chad · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought this was a really strong beginning. It's about a boxer who uses math to calculate how to beat his opponents. His best friend T.J. and T.J's new girlfriend, Anne. All three are keeping secrets about who they really are and that begins to play out. The art reminded me some of Frank Quitely.

[Daniel Mossop · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really interested to see what art work this guy goes on to create.

[Miguel Jiménez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Desde el principio te atrapa la historia. Los dibujos se me hicieron increíbles. Demasiado reales. No paraba de ver cada detalle, como representaban las calles, las lámparas, las sillas, los personajes mismos en distintas situaciones, etc, objetos que quizá pasen desapercibidos para algunos o lo ven como algo normal, pero a mi me impresionaron, bueno casi todos los dibujos de caricaturistas, historietistas me impresionan, jaja. Cuando llego a dibujar, a veces haciendo una copia de alguna trabajo de un caricaturista, o no me sale tal cual o me llevo un buen tiempo haciéndolo, porque tienes que hacer cada detalle que resulta imprescindible para el dibujo, en verdad, si no no se parece, tiene su chiste, sin duda. En fin, me gustaron mucho las ilustraciones.

Está corto este primer tomo, lo lees de volada, exagerando en una hora. Algo que me llamó la atención y creo que es lo principal de la trama, es que Pierre, el boxeador matemático, cree que es el único que miente, e incluso hasta como que se siente un poco mal, y a veces esto nos pasa mucho a las personas, creemos que somos los únicos que hacemos algo "malo", o "indebido", cuando gran parte de la gente lo hace, pero claro, todos lo disfrazamos con la tan querida doble moral.

Las historias de los tres personajes se me hicieron interesantes, en todas está la mentira, que se ve desde distintos enfoques. En general el comic es bueno. Está entretenido, vale la pena leerlo. De hecho no lo conocía, pero lo vi en un blog y me parecío interesante, por lo que lo descargué de internet. Aunque también valdría la pena comprarlo, pero investigando no veo que lo vendan aquí­ en la Ciudad de México, serí­a cosa de investigar mejor, pero sí, sí lo vale.

[Theediscerning · Rating 3 out of 5]

Three and a half stars.

Rock is a boxer who had to flunk out of a maths degree, partly because he was losing the second of his parents to the same disease. But he never told his best friend that that was happening, nor that he was finding a solace in the ring, using all his statistical nous to work out where and when to get the victories coming. But then, neither said best friend, nor that fellow in turn's new fiancée are exactly telling the truth about themselves in this trilogy. It's a little depressing that all three of them are huge fibbers, and some of the truths are more than a little far-fetched when they arrive here, but this wasn't too bad a read. It certainly looks alright, but a hugely blunt ending means I'd wait to have all three volumes to hand before embarking.

[Gonzalo Oyanedel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lo que distingue al noir de otras vertientes criminales como el misterio o el suspenso es, ante todo, su ambigüedad moral. En una socieda cargada de violencia y miedo, la tenue división entre el bien y el mal pasea sus fantasmas en relatos que destapan una sociedad en crisis, salpicando al lector - espectador.

"Ken Games" de Robledo y Toledano añade astucia a la fórmula seccionando en tres entregas un relato que va de menos a más, donde las relaciones humanas -cargadas de culpa y mentira- tienen al delito como un mero telón ante las máscaras que lucen sus protagonistas; actores de una doble vida que necesariamente pone las probabilidades en contra.

[Miss Moneypenny]

Se trata de una historia en forma de 3 actos de Robledo y Toledano, la historia de tres amigos Pierre, TJ y Anne los tres con una doble vida que el resto desconoce. Es una historia muy completa para tratarse de 3 álbumes me ha sorprendido muchísimo para bien como digo tiene una trama muy sólida e interesante. La recomiendo mucho 9/10

[Canard Frère]

La trame est très prometteuse dès le premier tome, qui tisse une histoire pleine de faux semblants et de rebondissements.

[Elchamaco · Rating 4 out of 5]

Buen dibujo y una historia entretenida.