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heabooknerd's review
2.0
BACKTRACK was a really interesting concept and I loved the idea of people competing in a race through different time periods. Our main character is Aly, a young woman who drives getaway cars for hire; but life hasn't been kind and Aly is struggling to get over the death of someone on her last job. Overall, the story was interesting but these first chapters just felt like a lot of angry people driving around. They have no control over where they end up and they've only just started to work together. The time spent in each time period is so short for us as the reader that it almost doesn't matter what the setting is for the race. There are several characters that also keep dropping wise words about letting go and moving on to Aly but the messaging feels a little heavy handed for the story.
ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review
ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review
heyitsmeg777's review
4.0
The fast/furious mix with mad max was really cool! I found myself enjoying the book and beginning to understand the characters. The idea of time travel was a bit confusing and I would like to see this more fleshed out in future volumes, but it definitely caught my eye and my interest!
Thanks to Netgalley for this book!
Thanks to Netgalley for this book!
geekwayne's review
3.0
'Backtrack, Vol. 1' by Brian Jones and Doug Garbark with art by Jake Elphick is about a group of racers racing through time.
A group of racers with regrets are approached with an opportunity: Win the race and have a chance to fix a mistake of the past. A woman receives the invite with a poignant reminder of her error and takes the challenge. The first race finds racers in prehistoric times outrunning dinosaurs on the way to a waypoint.
It's an interesting premise as long as you don't look too deep. Somehow muscle cars are able to run on any terrain. Somehow people who desperately want to win are cooperating. It's still quite a bit of fun and the art is not bad, either.
I received a review copy of this graphic novel from Oni Press and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this graphic novel.
A group of racers with regrets are approached with an opportunity: Win the race and have a chance to fix a mistake of the past. A woman receives the invite with a poignant reminder of her error and takes the challenge. The first race finds racers in prehistoric times outrunning dinosaurs on the way to a waypoint.
It's an interesting premise as long as you don't look too deep. Somehow muscle cars are able to run on any terrain. Somehow people who desperately want to win are cooperating. It's still quite a bit of fun and the art is not bad, either.
I received a review copy of this graphic novel from Oni Press and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this graphic novel.
lattes_lipstick_literature's review
3.0
A Thank you to Netgalley for allowing me to read this. This is my honest and unbiased review
The Concept for this really caught my eye. I'm a big fan of action movies and graphic novels and I really wanted a little fast paced action in between everything I've been reading. In this we meet Alyson Levy, a past driver who now spends her days drinking til she can't stand. It's obvious from the start that there's something weighing down Levy, of course, in comes a mysterious man who offers Levy a chance to right her wrong. There is just one condition, she needs to win a race, which sounds too good to be true.
At first suspicious, she relents and qualifies, however, it's not just any race and she finds herself not only struggling to win but also survive. Since this is the first volume I gave it some leeway when it came to set up, but there's a lot of dialogue in this. The action is okay, but it doesn't pick up much until the end. WE also only get to see snippets of what happened with Levy that made her accept this deal. I was hopping I would get to see more than what was given but I understand the need to spread it out.
There also a large cast of characters, most of whom didn't matter or are very annoying, but there are a handful I do like . The artwork is good and does carry the action scenes well.
Overall, an interesting premise that has a lot of promise.
The Concept for this really caught my eye. I'm a big fan of action movies and graphic novels and I really wanted a little fast paced action in between everything I've been reading. In this we meet Alyson Levy, a past driver who now spends her days drinking til she can't stand. It's obvious from the start that there's something weighing down Levy, of course, in comes a mysterious man who offers Levy a chance to right her wrong. There is just one condition, she needs to win a race, which sounds too good to be true.
At first suspicious, she relents and qualifies, however, it's not just any race and she finds herself not only struggling to win but also survive. Since this is the first volume I gave it some leeway when it came to set up, but there's a lot of dialogue in this. The action is okay, but it doesn't pick up much until the end. WE also only get to see snippets of what happened with Levy that made her accept this deal. I was hopping I would get to see more than what was given but I understand the need to spread it out.
There also a large cast of characters, most of whom didn't matter or are very annoying, but there are a handful I do like . The artwork is good and does carry the action scenes well.
Overall, an interesting premise that has a lot of promise.
capesandcovers's review
4.0
Backtrack has some of the best comic covers I've seen in awhile, between the layout and design, to the art, inking and coloring. Marco D'Alfonso did an amazing job on them and I keep getting distracted by all of the details in them. I started off like that because it's the main reason I decided to read this trade, along with liking the premise of a time travelling race.
Backtrack Vol. 1 follows Levy, a ex-getaway driver whose life has fallen apart after her last job. When she's offered the chance to go back in time and fix her mistake she doesn't believe it's real - but decides to try to do it anyway. That's how she ends up in a race through literal time, along with 14 other drivers, all willing to do whatever it takes to win.
The premise of Backtrack is such a good one, it's got time travel, dinosaurs (!) and is lowkey reminiscent of Mad Max and Fast and the Furious series. It's a fun balance of cheesy and dark, with some emotional elements to help balance out the action. It's also got those supervillain run fight arena vibes that show up in Marvel and DC, which is a niche trope, but one that I adore. My only complaint is that I wish we had gotten to know the characters a bit more before the story really kicked off. I barely knew who Levy was before I was supposed to root for her in the race, and some of the characters barely got any screen time before being unceremoniously offed ala Slipknot in the Suicide Squad movie.
Joines isn't the only one who worked on this though. Backtrack has gorgeous interior art by Jake Elphick, the characters all have a pretty distinct design from one another (with the exception of all of the moustaches lol), and I appreciated how much effort went into consistently giving each character a unique face and body type. The art was topped off by beautiful, vibrant colors by Doug Garbark, that keep things interesting without being too overwhelming. A lot of times I feel like the balance between using bright and dark colors tends to lean very heavily to one side or the other, and I loved having an in-between, especially when it was used to show dark moments in the characters' lives.
Overall I enjoyed my introduction Backtrack, and am looking forward to seeing where things go next for Levy, Moirai and everyone else. Honestly, I enjoyed it enough that I'd love to see it as a TV series, I think it would transfer over pretty well, and there's definitely enough room to work with adding more details in to make full seasons.
Backtrack Vol. 1 follows Levy, a ex-getaway driver whose life has fallen apart after her last job. When she's offered the chance to go back in time and fix her mistake she doesn't believe it's real - but decides to try to do it anyway. That's how she ends up in a race through literal time, along with 14 other drivers, all willing to do whatever it takes to win.
The premise of Backtrack is such a good one, it's got time travel, dinosaurs (!) and is lowkey reminiscent of Mad Max and Fast and the Furious series. It's a fun balance of cheesy and dark, with some emotional elements to help balance out the action. It's also got those supervillain run fight arena vibes that show up in Marvel and DC, which is a niche trope, but one that I adore. My only complaint is that I wish we had gotten to know the characters a bit more before the story really kicked off. I barely knew who Levy was before I was supposed to root for her in the race, and some of the characters barely got any screen time before being unceremoniously offed ala Slipknot in the Suicide Squad movie.
Joines isn't the only one who worked on this though. Backtrack has gorgeous interior art by Jake Elphick, the characters all have a pretty distinct design from one another (with the exception of all of the moustaches lol), and I appreciated how much effort went into consistently giving each character a unique face and body type. The art was topped off by beautiful, vibrant colors by Doug Garbark, that keep things interesting without being too overwhelming. A lot of times I feel like the balance between using bright and dark colors tends to lean very heavily to one side or the other, and I loved having an in-between, especially when it was used to show dark moments in the characters' lives.
Overall I enjoyed my introduction Backtrack, and am looking forward to seeing where things go next for Levy, Moirai and everyone else. Honestly, I enjoyed it enough that I'd love to see it as a TV series, I think it would transfer over pretty well, and there's definitely enough room to work with adding more details in to make full seasons.
jentidders's review
3.0
I'm not a fan of cars or car-fiction (e.g. the Fast & Furious franchise) but make it sci-fi with time travel and stick it in a comic book, with cool art and I'm in! This was an intriguing first volume and I'm looking forward to reading more.
tinamayreads's review
3.0
BACKTRACK, Vol. 1 by Brian Joines, Jake Elphick and Doug Garbark is a fun comic book about a car race traveling through time. The main character, Alyson, is a hard edge woman bent to win. The artwork is very moody and evocative to the storyline and all the action is great. There’s a lot going on with all the different characters and their backstories and the many different settings. I especially love the cover of this book! It immediately drew me in. This one is definitely a wild ride!
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Thank you to Oni Press via NetGalley for my review copy!
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Thank you to Oni Press via NetGalley for my review copy!
trike's review
3.0
It’s the Fast and the Furious (or Death Race) + time travel, so I’m kinda surprised this isn’t already a movie. It’s pretty spare but solid despite that. It’s also got a hint of Star Trek with bored rich future people watching barbarians race cars across epochs. “I’ll wager 4 quatloos on the newcomer!” and all that. Overall pretty fun.
mandalynreads's review
3.0
Story- This work felt like it had a lot of potential but fell short in a few areas. Overall, I enjoyed my read of this. Getting to see all of the different time periods and people was fascinating, but there were too many characters and I quickly got lost with how was who and what they were doing and why. I think that as the story gets more works in it, that problem will get better, but for this one it was an issue for me.
Artwork- I really enjoyed this artstyle. It was dirty and gritty but had enough character in it to help aid in the storytelling. There were moments where things were confusing, but overall I felt like the artist not only understood how to make graphic novels, but was doing it with style.
Artwork- I really enjoyed this artstyle. It was dirty and gritty but had enough character in it to help aid in the storytelling. There were moments where things were confusing, but overall I felt like the artist not only understood how to make graphic novels, but was doing it with style.