some_okie_dude27's review
Fun book, though its straw man of the rich has the subtlety of Neil Blomkamp, and his grasp on the term 'subtlety' is limited enough as it is with such atrocities like Elysium. But Andrews is almost worse with this tripe. The poor people are all sweet and innocent, just trying to get by but are unable to because of the evil, rich people who want to get richer and don't care who get in their way. The rich people are all evil: vindictive, perverted, and maddened by power, and as mentioned before will stop at nothing to gain more power for themselves. The allegories are also clear cut and obvious for our current administration, yet Andrews never says anything of interest with this subtext, as complexity is only for the people who want a good, interesting story, how silly of them.
Bah, but it's mere entertainment, some may say. But so was Charles Dickens back in the day, and his work is complex, well rounded, and actually funny in its social satire and some could say the same for Warren Ellis, who's blurbed on the front of this book, who also happens to be complex, well rounded, and again, actually funny. Ellis is certainly correct when calling this series demented, as it gets rather violent and disturbing at times, yet without real purpose or meaning to it. I don't mind shocking imagery or violent intensity, I mean, sure, take me out of my comfort zone, but Andrews seems as if he's trying to make up for flat characters and story by shocking the readers with disturbing imagery and saying 'hey, this is fucked up, right?' The shocking imagery used in this book is so contrived it makes Lars Von Trier seem refined in his approach to violence,
It's an interesting idea on paper: what if The Punisher decided to go after one percenters instead of the usual street level criminals that he fights. Yet, much like Mark Millar, Andrews never does anything substantial with the idea that he gives out, rather than 'poor people good, rich people bad.' Characters are shallow, vapid assholes who don't change, and I understand that it's intentional, that 'ah, these rich people are vapid and shallow, and only care about status' yet there's no variety in any of these characters, though some of the middle issues of this trade show promise, it is used as mere set up for a later arc which I'll probably not read. It's almost like Andrews has forgotten how a story works.
Andrews' art style is as curious as ever. His bouncy, energetic style is reminiscent of Tony Moore, yet with a strange cartoon-like edge that makes it dynamic. The only reason I don't completely trash this series is because I liked the art work quite a bit. He brings a style that's both moody, energetic, and even hallucinogenic, to quote Ellis again. I found myself consistently enjoying the art more than the story, for unlike a story that's so flat and cliched, it's nice to find an art style that's so unusual, unpredictable, and so unlike many other artists in the comics industry, and few can be compared to him in terms of his strange, blocky yet bouncy style.
In the end it's another piece of comic book fluff, as well as being another uninspired 'rich person bad' revenge fantasy. Perhaps I'll keep Andrews in mind though, if not only for his rather inspired art work.
Bah, but it's mere entertainment, some may say. But so was Charles Dickens back in the day, and his work is complex, well rounded, and actually funny in its social satire and some could say the same for Warren Ellis, who's blurbed on the front of this book, who also happens to be complex, well rounded, and again, actually funny. Ellis is certainly correct when calling this series demented, as it gets rather violent and disturbing at times, yet without real purpose or meaning to it. I don't mind shocking imagery or violent intensity, I mean, sure, take me out of my comfort zone, but Andrews seems as if he's trying to make up for flat characters and story by shocking the readers with disturbing imagery and saying 'hey, this is fucked up, right?' The shocking imagery used in this book is so contrived it makes Lars Von Trier seem refined in his approach to violence,
It's an interesting idea on paper: what if The Punisher decided to go after one percenters instead of the usual street level criminals that he fights. Yet, much like Mark Millar, Andrews never does anything substantial with the idea that he gives out, rather than 'poor people good, rich people bad.' Characters are shallow, vapid assholes who don't change, and I understand that it's intentional, that 'ah, these rich people are vapid and shallow, and only care about status' yet there's no variety in any of these characters, though some of the middle issues of this trade show promise, it is used as mere set up for a later arc which I'll probably not read. It's almost like Andrews has forgotten how a story works.
Andrews' art style is as curious as ever. His bouncy, energetic style is reminiscent of Tony Moore, yet with a strange cartoon-like edge that makes it dynamic. The only reason I don't completely trash this series is because I liked the art work quite a bit. He brings a style that's both moody, energetic, and even hallucinogenic, to quote Ellis again. I found myself consistently enjoying the art more than the story, for unlike a story that's so flat and cliched, it's nice to find an art style that's so unusual, unpredictable, and so unlike many other artists in the comics industry, and few can be compared to him in terms of his strange, blocky yet bouncy style.
In the end it's another piece of comic book fluff, as well as being another uninspired 'rich person bad' revenge fantasy. Perhaps I'll keep Andrews in mind though, if not only for his rather inspired art work.
crookedtreehouse's review
3.0
Things I enjoyed about Renato Jones Season One:
The artist's ability to make his intentions come to fruition.
The different visual styles Andrews presents to convey different moods / time changes.
The character design of The Freelancer
The Eat And Then Kill The Rich plot
The obvious but necessary dig at how ethically bankrupt Apple's business practices are
Things I Didn't Enjoy About Renato Jones:
The pacing
The cringey dialogue
The scattershot storytelling
The incomprehensibility of The Awesome (or whatever he was called)'s storyline
The father figure / mentor character
Overall impression
I went into this book thinking it was going to be too Over-The-Top for me, even though I agreed with the premise. And while its first two issues won me over, I found interest waning with each subsequent issue.
If you like Not Quite Ultraviolent But Fairly Violent assassin stories with .. not so much a political bent as a political sledgehammer, I would check this book out. If Robert Kirkman's [b:Die!Die!Die!, Vol. 1|43999494|Die!Die!Die!, Vol. 1|Robert Kirkman|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1556909117l/43999494._SY75_.jpg|68403161] intrigued you but was too violent, this might be your bag of murder.
The artist's ability to make his intentions come to fruition.
The different visual styles Andrews presents to convey different moods / time changes.
The character design of The Freelancer
The Eat And Then Kill The Rich plot
The obvious but necessary dig at how ethically bankrupt Apple's business practices are
Things I Didn't Enjoy About Renato Jones:
The pacing
The cringey dialogue
The scattershot storytelling
The incomprehensibility of The Awesome (or whatever he was called)'s storyline
The father figure / mentor character
Overall impression
I went into this book thinking it was going to be too Over-The-Top for me, even though I agreed with the premise. And while its first two issues won me over, I found interest waning with each subsequent issue.
If you like Not Quite Ultraviolent But Fairly Violent assassin stories with .. not so much a political bent as a political sledgehammer, I would check this book out. If Robert Kirkman's [b:Die!Die!Die!, Vol. 1|43999494|Die!Die!Die!, Vol. 1|Robert Kirkman|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1556909117l/43999494._SY75_.jpg|68403161] intrigued you but was too violent, this might be your bag of murder.
pizzabrot's review
4.0
Wow, this was surprisingly really good and unique! The optimist that I am, I did not expect me to like this at all! I never imagined that I would actually read a graphic novel in my whole life since that is something I was just never interested in or could be bothered trying, but life really throws you crazy curveballs and opportunities sometimes. (as well as people, ha!) I'm one of those rare species who've never read a comic book before (apart from the occasional Mickey Mouse paperback when I was very young and those are classics which should not be counted) and it took me some time initially getting accustomed to the style of writing, but it ended up being really refreshing and just so much fun!! I'm not a visual person at all, so I had lots of difficulties interpreting the pictures correctly and found myself staring embarrasingly long at them, trying to figure out what the frickfrack was going on and whether I had seen the particular person in a former frame before. I'm just so bad with faces...it's terrible! I felt like a really old person trying to understand why the youngsters are fascinated by this crazy thing. But the writing and whole reading experience were so incredibly fun and refreshing! I didn't even care about the brutality and violence, because it's so hilariously fitting in the context of it all. I absolutely LOVE Kaare Andrew's sarcastic writing and the wonderfully exaggerated and in all honesty also quite demented plot! (which is exactly how I like my fiction) I don't know how to describe it, but the author has a very particular and dry sense of humor that I just really enjoy (Philippe, if you ever read this: you have it too and sometimes I felt that it was you who wrote this entire thing!). It was satire at its best. Obviously, since I never read anything of that genre I don't have any means of comparison, but I found myself constantly going back to reading, even though I was incredibly tired today and had originally wanted to wait until I finished my other book first. That's how much I actually liked it! And that's despite me absolutely loathing any kind of superhero stories because no, this is just not something I need in my life. Saving the world from evil monsters, yaaaawn. Maybe the evil monsters want to live too? Show some tolerance for once! Of course, I didn't know there was this funny little piece called Renato Jones out there...though I have to say, the author really couldn't have picked a cheesier and more unfitting name for his crusader in spe. (Renato, really? RENATO?!) The whole novel was just completely delusional and absolutely bonkers, constantly making me question both my and the author's sanity, but to agree with Warren Ellis' review on the cover: also so very very gorgeous! Actually thinking about getting my own copy!
PS: It wouldn't hurt to choose a less sexist and pornographic-looking cover next time, so people on the tube wouldn't stare at me thinking "What terribleness happened to this girl that she's reading this thing about a woman with crisscross-taped breasts on the cover" (who even puts tape on nipples? It's not like we don't know what's underneath there! MEN...) Also this would've looked much better in red or blue!
--------- UPDATE ---------
I reread this today (Dec. 29th 2021) and I feel like I understood the comic even less the second time (especially the ending). The story itself is simple enough, but I just DON'T GET THE GRAPHICS. Ugh! I'm confused and annoyed (because I'm confused) and somehow the gratuitous violence bothered me so much more this time. Sort of regretting buying my own copy now. I can barely cope with the sexsim and kind of want my money back. I don't know what happened to "chill" Kathi from 2019, but Kathi from 2021 just doesn't have the patience or tolerance for it anymore. 3 Stars from me this time around, because even though I still haven't read any other comics to compare it too, I feel like art-style-wise this is one of the more creative ones. Plus I'm a sucker for societal criticism, even if's as on the nose as here. But still...the taste it leaves, it's not a nice one.
PS: It wouldn't hurt to choose a less sexist and pornographic-looking cover next time, so people on the tube wouldn't stare at me thinking "What terribleness happened to this girl that she's reading this thing about a woman with crisscross-taped breasts on the cover" (who even puts tape on nipples? It's not like we don't know what's underneath there! MEN...) Also this would've looked much better in red or blue!
--------- UPDATE ---------
I reread this today (Dec. 29th 2021) and I feel like I understood the comic even less the second time (especially the ending). The story itself is simple enough, but I just DON'T GET THE GRAPHICS. Ugh! I'm confused and annoyed (because I'm confused) and somehow the gratuitous violence bothered me so much more this time. Sort of regretting buying my own copy now. I can barely cope with the sexsim and kind of want my money back. I don't know what happened to "chill" Kathi from 2019, but Kathi from 2021 just doesn't have the patience or tolerance for it anymore. 3 Stars from me this time around, because even though I still haven't read any other comics to compare it too, I feel like art-style-wise this is one of the more creative ones. Plus I'm a sucker for societal criticism, even if's as on the nose as here. But still...the taste it leaves, it's not a nice one.
chrisfarnsworth's review
5.0
As graphically inventive, visually exciting, and as subversive as Miller's THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS was in 1986, RENATO JONES is the story of a vigilante updated for the 21st Century. Dark, explicit, and occasionally disturbing, Andrews has created a comic-book critique of the economic trends that are leaving more and more with less and less. It's drenched with blood and sex, so it's not for everyone. And it's not subtle. But comic books aren't really meant to be subtle, and the portraits of corrupt financiers, politicians, and executives are only slightly distorted caricatures of some real-life villains.
alexauthorshay's review
3.0
I don't really know what to think about this. I knew it was going to be weird just from the cover, but it wasn't exactly bizarre in a good way. Very gory and graphic, sometimes a little hard to tell what's going on. The dialogue is also hard to follow at times. One guy said 'dude' in every speech bubble, and I know it's supposed to be annoying but I almost couldn't keep reading it was so obnoxious. The volume itself ends on a pretty good cliffhanger, and the art (when you can tell what's going on) is quirky and colorful; I like the style. It suits the atmosphere of the comic and the main character. That said, even though the background your given on Renato is horrible, I don't really feel for him as a character. I don't really feel for any of them actually. It's a lot of anger and resentment towards the rich, lots of blood and killing, and very little emotional involvement.
mistled's review
3.0
I don't know that it's good, but I enjoyed it. It's about as subtle as a brick to the face. It's characters are intentionally one-dimensional for the most part. The cliffhanger is good as cliffhangers go, but the reason for it in general is fairly dumb. It's in that place of "I'm not unhappy that I read it, but don't know that I'd recommend it to my friends."
danhibiki's review
adventurous
dark
funny
inspiring
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
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