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geekwayne's review
3.0
'Accell Volume 1: Home Schooling' by Joe Casey is part of the Lion Forge event series about a bunch of young folks that find themselves with powers. Unfortunately, imitation isn't always the sincerest form of flattery.
Daniel DosSantos moves pretty fast normally, but when fragments of a meteor hit Earth, he finds he has speed powers. When he uses them and runs through things, he gets beat up and broken bones, but it's ok because he has fast healing as well. He decides he needs to head to the desert to see just how fast he can run, and he finds himself running into a weird other dimension.
Whenever someone has super speed as a power (or any power that mirrors an existing one from a famous character), comparisons are inevitable. In my mind, this book falls short. I did like the kind of loopy art with it's exaggerated perspective and character dimensions. This was the most coherent of this series so far. I'll keep reading. I like the idea of this series and I'm hoping it will.
I received a review copy of this graphic novel from Lion Forge, Diamond Book Distributors, and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this graphic novel.
Daniel DosSantos moves pretty fast normally, but when fragments of a meteor hit Earth, he finds he has speed powers. When he uses them and runs through things, he gets beat up and broken bones, but it's ok because he has fast healing as well. He decides he needs to head to the desert to see just how fast he can run, and he finds himself running into a weird other dimension.
Whenever someone has super speed as a power (or any power that mirrors an existing one from a famous character), comparisons are inevitable. In my mind, this book falls short. I did like the kind of loopy art with it's exaggerated perspective and character dimensions. This was the most coherent of this series so far. I'll keep reading. I like the idea of this series and I'm hoping it will.
I received a review copy of this graphic novel from Lion Forge, Diamond Book Distributors, and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this graphic novel.
trike's review
1.0
On the surface this looks like a fun book, but the promising opening quickly becomes a generic Been There Done That super speedster story.
Here we have a slacker video game kid who found a piece of the meteor from “The Event”, took it home and while he slack-napped on his bed he got super slacker powers. Sorry, speedster powers. It is, quite literally, the exact same plot from the meteor freaks of the TV series Smallville. The idea back in 2001 that the crash landing of baby Kal-El in Kansas brought with it chunks of kryptonite which in turn caused the locals to gain various powers was fairly new. We’d seen it in comics (Rising Stars) and literature (Wild Cards), but not TV. And back then Smallville was pretty much it when it came to televised superheroes.
So knowing all of that, why would anyone simply repeat it? Beats me. If there were something new added here I would be totally on board. Everything is a remix, anyway, and there’s nothing new under the sun (someone wrote that in Ecclesiastes a couple thousand years ago, and it’s truer than ever), but at least *try* for something original. Just calling your character Hispanic and using 2015 slang doesn’t cut it.
I was so bored by the generic story that I kept wondering about the details: how does this kid earn money? Does he live with his parents? Where are they? Where did he get his super suit? In Spider-man they make Peter’s personal life an important part of the story. Here we don’t even get a hint of how this twenty-something can afford to play video games and skateboard all day. You can give him a Latino name and put him in a working-class LA neighborhood, but this has the stink of Rich White Suburban Kid all over it.
The art is vibrant but sometimes hard to follow.
Here we have a slacker video game kid who found a piece of the meteor from “The Event”, took it home and while he slack-napped on his bed he got super slacker powers. Sorry, speedster powers. It is, quite literally, the exact same plot from the meteor freaks of the TV series Smallville. The idea back in 2001 that the crash landing of baby Kal-El in Kansas brought with it chunks of kryptonite which in turn caused the locals to gain various powers was fairly new. We’d seen it in comics (Rising Stars) and literature (Wild Cards), but not TV. And back then Smallville was pretty much it when it came to televised superheroes.
So knowing all of that, why would anyone simply repeat it? Beats me. If there were something new added here I would be totally on board. Everything is a remix, anyway, and there’s nothing new under the sun (someone wrote that in Ecclesiastes a couple thousand years ago, and it’s truer than ever), but at least *try* for something original. Just calling your character Hispanic and using 2015 slang doesn’t cut it.
I was so bored by the generic story that I kept wondering about the details: how does this kid earn money? Does he live with his parents? Where are they? Where did he get his super suit? In Spider-man they make Peter’s personal life an important part of the story. Here we don’t even get a hint of how this twenty-something can afford to play video games and skateboard all day. You can give him a Latino name and put him in a working-class LA neighborhood, but this has the stink of Rich White Suburban Kid all over it.
The art is vibrant but sometimes hard to follow.
quirkycatsfatstacks's review
2.0
I received a copy of Accel Vol. 1 from NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.
Accell Volume one is one of the newest graphic novels out from the Catalyst Prime series from Lion Forge. There’s a lot of pressure being put on this franchise right now, as many fans are hoping it’ll establish a world capable of competing with industries with larger universes, like Marvel and DC.
I loved the cover right away; it’s different from the other covers one typically sees out there, making it stand out (as well as being more memorable, which is a bonus for establishing a new universe). I’ll admit I was surprised that the color palette seen on the cover is carried over into the comics – it’s all very bright with mostly prime colors and the like (intentional pun perhaps?).
So I’ll say this right away; I really wanted to like this series. I love what Lion Forge is doing with Catalyst Prime, and I’m without a doubt one of those fans hoping this new venture of theirs takes off big (I think the comic industry on the whole could use some more competition, as competition is great for the fans!). Unfortunately this particular series failed to hold my interest, and it was a struggle to actually read it through to the end (perhaps I let my hopes get too high, resulting in me liking the series less than I otherwise would have? I’d like to think that is the case).
The description on Goodreads will give any curious readers a good idea of what they’re in for; it’s a fairly accurate synopsis of the entire volume. Essentially what we’re dealing with here is (and I hate to say it like this) a Flash/Quicksilver copycat, which frankly is fine with me (I’m convinced there’s more ways to play out the speedster concept) when done in an interesting manner. Sadly this one was a bit of a miss; the character himself is uninteresting and underdeveloped. With time I think he would have some potential – for example I would love to see a character like this go through something that forced heavier character development. So while I didn’t like Daniel in this volume, I’ll acknowledge the possibility that I could grow to like him in later volumes.
As for Daniel’s abilities…I was really excited at first. In the first issue we see Daniel take some very serious damage in response to the actions he took. I love seeing consequences for super hero abilities, I can’t say that enough. So naturally I was pretty excited to see some legit real world consequences happening here. Unfortunately those consequences didn’t actually linger…it turns out that Daniel can also accelerate his healing; bringing him back to normal in rapid time (wouldn’t that theoretically age him or have some other consequence?). So that was a bit of a let down. Perhaps the writers will expand on that further later, one can hope!
I’m torn on how I feel about the artwork. On the one hand, I love how bright the comic is, as it stands out from all the others I’ve been reading lately. But then again, perhaps there’s a reason more serious comics tend to avoid that color palette? I’m ok with the deviation from the norm I think, I’m just finding myself wishing I had like the series better on the whole. Despite all of this, I still really do have high hopes for Catalyst Prime, and will continue looking forward to what is coming out next.
For more reviews, check out Quirky Cat's Fat Stacks
Accell Volume one is one of the newest graphic novels out from the Catalyst Prime series from Lion Forge. There’s a lot of pressure being put on this franchise right now, as many fans are hoping it’ll establish a world capable of competing with industries with larger universes, like Marvel and DC.
I loved the cover right away; it’s different from the other covers one typically sees out there, making it stand out (as well as being more memorable, which is a bonus for establishing a new universe). I’ll admit I was surprised that the color palette seen on the cover is carried over into the comics – it’s all very bright with mostly prime colors and the like (intentional pun perhaps?).
So I’ll say this right away; I really wanted to like this series. I love what Lion Forge is doing with Catalyst Prime, and I’m without a doubt one of those fans hoping this new venture of theirs takes off big (I think the comic industry on the whole could use some more competition, as competition is great for the fans!). Unfortunately this particular series failed to hold my interest, and it was a struggle to actually read it through to the end (perhaps I let my hopes get too high, resulting in me liking the series less than I otherwise would have? I’d like to think that is the case).
The description on Goodreads will give any curious readers a good idea of what they’re in for; it’s a fairly accurate synopsis of the entire volume. Essentially what we’re dealing with here is (and I hate to say it like this) a Flash/Quicksilver copycat, which frankly is fine with me (I’m convinced there’s more ways to play out the speedster concept) when done in an interesting manner. Sadly this one was a bit of a miss; the character himself is uninteresting and underdeveloped. With time I think he would have some potential – for example I would love to see a character like this go through something that forced heavier character development. So while I didn’t like Daniel in this volume, I’ll acknowledge the possibility that I could grow to like him in later volumes.
As for Daniel’s abilities…I was really excited at first. In the first issue we see Daniel take some very serious damage in response to the actions he took. I love seeing consequences for super hero abilities, I can’t say that enough. So naturally I was pretty excited to see some legit real world consequences happening here. Unfortunately those consequences didn’t actually linger…it turns out that Daniel can also accelerate his healing; bringing him back to normal in rapid time (wouldn’t that theoretically age him or have some other consequence?). So that was a bit of a let down. Perhaps the writers will expand on that further later, one can hope!
I’m torn on how I feel about the artwork. On the one hand, I love how bright the comic is, as it stands out from all the others I’ve been reading lately. But then again, perhaps there’s a reason more serious comics tend to avoid that color palette? I’m ok with the deviation from the norm I think, I’m just finding myself wishing I had like the series better on the whole. Despite all of this, I still really do have high hopes for Catalyst Prime, and will continue looking forward to what is coming out next.
For more reviews, check out Quirky Cat's Fat Stacks
sevenacrebooks's review
2.0
Accell: Volume 1 by Joe Casey from Lion Forge.
Thank you to Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.
After finding a meteorite and placing it under his bed, 20 year-old Daniel Dos Santos has gained super speed. He seems to spend his time playing video games, trying to save the day, and pushing away his girlfriend who is more interested in him than he is in her. We follow Daniel as he tries to fight crime, speed heals himself, and finds himself in the desert on a vision quest. I don’t care for using the girlfriend’s character as a way to include a mob boss daddy. There’s an abrupt change in the story to tell how the meteorites came to earth and to introduce a new villiain. The story felt rushed and disconnected. This story wasn’t for me.
Thank you to Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.
After finding a meteorite and placing it under his bed, 20 year-old Daniel Dos Santos has gained super speed. He seems to spend his time playing video games, trying to save the day, and pushing away his girlfriend who is more interested in him than he is in her. We follow Daniel as he tries to fight crime, speed heals himself, and finds himself in the desert on a vision quest. I don’t care for using the girlfriend’s character as a way to include a mob boss daddy. There’s an abrupt change in the story to tell how the meteorites came to earth and to introduce a new villiain. The story felt rushed and disconnected. This story wasn’t for me.
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