harrietj's review against another edition
3.0
Cape and Thumbprint were excellent but Kodiak was only okay and the Christmasland stuff was boring and obvious.
supperrupper's review against another edition
3.0
Storng start with the cape stories but then it kinda waned. Love the artwork just not a huge fan of the Wraith comics
jo_in_bookland's review against another edition
4.0
I really enjoyed the stories in this dark graphic novel collection, except for Thumbrint which depicted brutal situations of war which no doubt reflect real-world realities. My favourite was probably The Wraith as it brought me back into the creepy world of Christmasland. It was interesting to get the story behind its creation.
The illustrations for all stories were excellent!
The illustrations for all stories were excellent!
williegaddis29's review against another edition
4.0
I think The Cape is the best stand alone story in this one. The prequel is a nice addition but I think it didn’t really require it. Thumbprint could’ve been a little more, it felt like it was building and then just stopped before it hit. Kodiak was a fun little story with some cool art. Wraith really only makes sense if you’ve read NOS4A2 even though it explains everything which is kind of odd. Since I’ve read it though, this was great and I really loved the story of Chess and his son
ollie_lee's review against another edition
4.0
Multiple stories all in one big book! I really enjoyed "The Cape" and the follow up "The Cape: 1969".
"Thumbprint" was my least favorite in the collection. Did not care for the artwork and the story line was vague. "Kodiak" was the shortest story but my most favorite. I'm kind of a sucker for a good love story. "Wraith" was a good story as well but did not come close to how great "NOS4A2" was. It's a follow up story to Joe Hill's earlier novel with a lot of violence and messed up characters. That is my only problem with some of Hill's work. He can write a good story but I find that I don't like any of his nasty characters so it leaves me with no one to route for.
"Thumbprint" was my least favorite in the collection. Did not care for the artwork and the story line was vague. "Kodiak" was the shortest story but my most favorite. I'm kind of a sucker for a good love story. "Wraith" was a good story as well but did not come close to how great "NOS4A2" was. It's a follow up story to Joe Hill's earlier novel with a lot of violence and messed up characters. That is my only problem with some of Hill's work. He can write a good story but I find that I don't like any of his nasty characters so it leaves me with no one to route for.
cail_judy's review against another edition
3.0
"Wraith" was by far the strongest series in the collection. Creepy as all hell - Hill and the artist captured Christmasland with a surreal, sharp edge.
The others were entertaining but felt undercooked with one-dimensional characters.
The others were entertaining but felt undercooked with one-dimensional characters.
howlinglibraries's review against another edition
4.0
I love Joe Hill's work in general, so when I realized there was an entire collection of graphic novel short stories that I hadn't read yet, I was pretty excited and had to get my hands on it immediately. The Graphic Novel Collection features mostly hits with a couple of misses, and since there are only a few stories, I'll break them down as such:
→ The Cape:
I thought this was a really solid introduction to the collection. It starts off by showcasing a boy who believes his "cape" (really a modified baby blanket) is magical, but he has a traumatic accident and grows up to be fairly damaged due to that. As he reaches adulthood, he becomes cynical towards everyone in his life, and upon finding that magical cape, decides to seek revenge. It's really violent and pretty sad, but an extremely intriguing and fleshed-out story.
→ The Cape: 1969:
The second story is actually a prequel to the first, in which we learn how the cape got its powers — through a freak incident occurring to the father of the boy from the first story — and, more heavily, the way trauma can break a human being and turn them into a monster. I liked this one a lot less, but I can appreciate the need for backstory that it fulfilled.
→ Thumbprint:
A US veteran, discharged for abusing soldiers and civilians in the war in Iraq, finds herself in deep paranoia when she comes home and starts seeing hints of her past pop up. I think I'd have enjoyed this a lot more in an actual short story formatting, because it just didn't translate well to the graphic novel. It doesn't help that I strongly disliked the art style, and was horribly uncomfortable with a lot of the dialogue (though I know that was part of the point, to make the reader face how awful the happenings in Abu Ghraib were).
→ Kodiak:
A couple of boys meet a scarred man who tells them the story of how he got his scars — by fighting a vicious bear while being held captive in his youth. I thought this one was fun enough, even though it didn't hold any similarity at all to what I typically expect from Joe's writing (I don't even think I'd call it horror).
→ The Wraith:
Finally, the collection ends with this graphic novel about Charlie Manx, the terrifying, vampire-esque villain from NOS4A2. Charlie is genuinely one of the most awful, worrisome, love-to-hate-him villains I've ever seen in my life, so I was excited to spend more time in Christmasland, and this graphic novel did not disappoint in the slightest. You could definitely read this without having read NOS4A2, but I wouldn't recommend it, because the full story has such a deliciously dreadful, slow buildup to the big "reveal" of Christmasland and the children therein, that I think reading The Wraith first would be robbing yourself a little bit.
→ The Cape:
I thought this was a really solid introduction to the collection. It starts off by showcasing a boy who believes his "cape" (really a modified baby blanket) is magical, but he has a traumatic accident and grows up to be fairly damaged due to that. As he reaches adulthood, he becomes cynical towards everyone in his life, and upon finding that magical cape, decides to seek revenge. It's really violent and pretty sad, but an extremely intriguing and fleshed-out story.
→ The Cape: 1969:
The second story is actually a prequel to the first, in which we learn how the cape got its powers — through a freak incident occurring to the father of the boy from the first story — and, more heavily, the way trauma can break a human being and turn them into a monster. I liked this one a lot less, but I can appreciate the need for backstory that it fulfilled.
→ Thumbprint:
A US veteran, discharged for abusing soldiers and civilians in the war in Iraq, finds herself in deep paranoia when she comes home and starts seeing hints of her past pop up. I think I'd have enjoyed this a lot more in an actual short story formatting, because it just didn't translate well to the graphic novel. It doesn't help that I strongly disliked the art style, and was horribly uncomfortable with a lot of the dialogue (though I know that was part of the point, to make the reader face how awful the happenings in Abu Ghraib were).
→ Kodiak:
A couple of boys meet a scarred man who tells them the story of how he got his scars — by fighting a vicious bear while being held captive in his youth. I thought this one was fun enough, even though it didn't hold any similarity at all to what I typically expect from Joe's writing (I don't even think I'd call it horror).
→ The Wraith:
Finally, the collection ends with this graphic novel about Charlie Manx, the terrifying, vampire-esque villain from NOS4A2. Charlie is genuinely one of the most awful, worrisome, love-to-hate-him villains I've ever seen in my life, so I was excited to spend more time in Christmasland, and this graphic novel did not disappoint in the slightest. You could definitely read this without having read NOS4A2, but I wouldn't recommend it, because the full story has such a deliciously dreadful, slow buildup to the big "reveal" of Christmasland and the children therein, that I think reading The Wraith first would be robbing yourself a little bit.
pdz's review against another edition
Didn't finish it. Not my thing. I read nos4a2, and the final section is all about that character and had no desire to revisit it.
More...