Fragile

Fragile #1-3

by Stefano Raffaele

Love Never Dies!! It couldn't be truer that in the world of Fragile! In this post-apocalyptic world, 95% of the world's population is dead. However, the dead have no intention of resting in peace. The few "living" survivors have organized safe havens that are mostly secure. Alan Olden was a simple carpenter inside a small walled town until an accident, as fatal as it was stupid, took his life. While on the run from humans and the undead zombie hunters called Disinfestors, Alan finds the girl of his dreams - the decomposing, yet beautiful Lynn. As their bodies degenerate, they make a desperate effort to "live" again by seeking out an experimental serum that might save them. In the process, they fall deeper and deeper in love...a love they will need to survive against danger, disfigurement, and decomposition. Stefano Raffaele tells a truely unique tale for the horror genre: a zombie love story!

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Horror, Zombies, Romance, Fiction, Graphic Novels Comics

176 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 2005

About the author

Italian comic book artist, known for his work on New Gods, Birds of Prey, Batman, X-Men Adventures, X-Factor and the Conan the Barbarian series.

Reviews

[Enchanted fox · Rating 1 out of 5]

Overcomplicated mess.

[Natalia Rodríguez · Rating 3 out of 5]

Me entretuvo bastante en esta cuarentena. Se deja leer. Es el primer comic que leo en mi vida y creo que podría haber sido peor jajaja.

[Contra Inercia · Rating 3 out of 5]

En este tomo, las personas fallecidas no se convierten en seres irracionales sedientos de carne humana, sino que vuelven a levantarse, manteniendo su conciencia, pero intentando mantener a raya sus impulsos caníbales. Por supuesto, los hay que sucumben a sus necesidades. Pero, más allá, de estos casos, se crea una especie de sociedad paralela en la que los humanos rehúyen de estos zombis colaborando con otros muertos que se dedican a perseguir a los zombis. Suena raro, ¿verdad? Pues funciona.

Además, en paralelo a esto tenemos historias secundarias que toman su importancia al final de la obra, como la creación de un suero que prolongue el tiempo de estancia de los no muertos en la Tierra (ya que se pudren a los dos meses de su fallecimiento), el protocolo de salvación de cien vivos para encerrarlos en un búnker durante dos meses y sobrevivir o incluso la trama de un padre millonario que busca reconvertir a la vida a su hija, el interés romántico del protagonista. Efectivamente, los zombis desarrollan sentimientos y vínculos afectivos, lo cual me ha parecido bastante llamativo, aunque no me vuelve loco esta alternativa. Los zombis son seres temibles que por definición no están diseñados para que empaticemos con ellos.

La historia es interesante, y el dibujo y color acompañan a la perfección, con tonos anaranjados que buscan aportar la suciedad de un desierto y con escenas realmente gores, como toca en este tipo de obras. En resumen, es una obra que a mí me ha gustado, pero reconozco que me ha faltado algo más para ponerla dentro de las mejores novelas gráficas que he leído este año, que como ya sabéis, no son pocas.

[Paddy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had [relatively] high hopes for this one, but it just disappointed. It’s opening is interesting, explaining a little of the backstory to how the characters are where they are and why, but it gets choppy real quick before descending into an incoherent mess.

Its storyline suffers from what one can only presume is bad editing - there’s a lot of exposition that seems to be missing with panels lacking context that seemingly should be there [ie. something later being shown or mentioned that is the result of something that hasn’t previously been shown or mentioned which just confuses and results in much page-flicking to backtrack and check], sloppy typos, and some pretty lazy - and this is being charitable - lgbtq representation. It may have been published in 2005, but that’s not an excuse: it shows, and it grates.

Fragile’s narrative seeds are genuinely interesting - which makes it all the more unfortunate that an opportunity to explore all of that feels so sadly squandered here - swiftly descending into trudging thru overused Action tropes instead of focusing on nurturing what it started out with. As soon as Alan meets [redacted] its wheels start to wobble, before coming-off in less than spectacular fashion. Expect a bumpy ride. One for Zombie fans/completists only.

FOR FANS OF:
The Walking Dead
World War Z

[Dávid Novotný · Rating 3 out of 5]

Art was nice and interesting, but story felt little overcomplicated. Maybe if author would stick only to the romantic line, and left out all secret research and special commandos stuff it would work better. That were few sudden jumps in the story and some lines that didn't get a chance to evolve in that few pages.

[Brenda (Entre letras y páginas) · Rating 2 out of 5]

De la nada desaparecen o aparecen personajes, amor super colgado, la trama de la historia se pierde entre los varios elementos que quieren meter.
Los dibujos no están mal, pero no sé, el final nada que ver con lo que parecía que iba la historia lol

[Edmund Bloxam · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sometimes the humour clashed with the horror clumsily, breaking the tension. The fundamental love story was underdeveloped. It wasn't entirely clear what happened at the end.

But I've read worse.

[Valeriane · Rating 2 out of 5]

2,5 rocks.
J'ai moyennement adhéré au dessin. Et de là, je me suis moins accrochée au scénario.
Par contre, pour le côté glauque et dégoutant, ça vaut un 5!
J'ai quand même souri à plusieurs reprises. Ca reste une découverte épique.

[Gonzalo Oyanedel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Una mezcla de géneros para ofrecer una revisión distinta al filón de los muertos vivientes. Recomendada.

[Cagne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Trippy, an interesting take, some diversity, gruesome experiments, cool.