Antoine Ozanam

The premise was interesting but the plotting was way off, feeling incredibly rushed. Characterizations were very shallow, with inconsistent behavior on the part of several characters who seemed to change how they acted for the sole sake of the plot. The plot was also completely all over the place. It was like the creators didn't know if they wanted a high school story, a paranormal story, a mob story, or a superhero story. It had all that and more. It felt like the story was going through a constant identity crisis.

Also, this whole thing exuded a male machismo feel which turned me off. There was only one female character who was a background character for one book, disappeared for another, and then showed back up again as the damsel in distress/love interest/plot twist for the third. Just, yawn. I'm so over cliched male masturbatory storylines which relegate the token female as a plot point for the male main character.

The artwork was okay. It wasn't spectacular and it felt unfinished. I had a lot of trouble several times figuring out how the storyboarding was laid out - poor layout and design choices interfered with the reading flow. It shouldn't take me several tries to figure out the order to read the boxes on the page. A huge part of graphic novels is that the art needs to guide the reader, and it failed to do so here.

This book isn't for me.

Review copy courtesy of the publisher via NetGalley.… (mehr)

I received this comic for free from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. It'll be available through 30 April under the "Read Now" option if anyone is curious. :)

This is the first collection in a series of comics called "Klaw." The comics revolve around a boy named Angel who discovers that he is part of an ancient series of totemic warriors who have the ability to transform into certain animals at will. Couple this with astrology, government conspiracies, first-loves, and mafia gang wars and you have Klaw. It seems like a lot, right? Well, it is. Surprisingly, the comic does a really good job of keeping all the storylines in order and prevents them from becoming too baffling.

Around the end of the first issue the comic began to hold my interest. The romance plot was a little bit baffling to me, but the action kept me engaged. The writing was good, but the artwork was really where the comic began to shine. I loved the rendering of the various monsters, and the color palette itself fit for the kind of dark and dreary tone of the comic itself.

I would happily recommend this to anyone looking for a decent quick read, and think it's worth it to look it up while it's up on Netgalley and give a review. It's one of the more original storylines I've seen, and I'm curious where the comic will go next after the big reveal at the end of the first cycle. It's good fun, and definitely improved with each issue.… (mehr)

Klaw by Antoine Ozenam is a very well drawn weak story. There are many weaknesses in the story, from things that simply make no sense to borderline offensive material, culturally speaking.

The artwork is the volume's main redeeming quality. The characters were very good and I liked the backgrounds and the atmosphere presented.

I don't want to overly blast the story, it has promise. Perhaps it simply clashed with my sensibilities and expectations for narratives. It is worth checking out if you like the artwork of Joël Jurion and Yoann Guillé. They do some phenomenal work elsewhere and this is also above average.

Reviewed from an ARC made available by the publisher via NetGalley.… (mehr)