Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.7 AVERAGE
3.7 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
being a fan of tillie walden's stories and drawings, as well as being somewhat familiar with the walking dead universe, i was really looking forward to discovering this comic. unfortunately, it didn't live up to all my expectations. i really liked the black-and-white artwork, which immersed me totally and immediately in the fantastic universe of this series. however, i had a much harder time with the story, which i sometimes found a little too disjointed to follow the various adventures that clémentine, the protagonist of this story, goes through.
thank you to netgalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review.
So, when I was in my early teens, I was obsessed with Telltale's The Walking Dead game. The day the first episode of season 2 came out, I cried so hard I had to leave school early. I had a fanblog dedicated to the games, and I watched so many play-throughs I could recite its dialogue by heart. So, in order to review Clementine, Book One, and unpack my feelings towards it, I need to talk a little bit about the games. Bear with me.
In the first season of the game you play as a man named Lee who has to take care of a little girl named Clementine. The game manages to build up this central relationship extremely well. It fundamentally changed everything about the zombie genre, and it went on to influence every child/protector narrative in gaming that came after it.
At the end of the first installment, Lee dies. And then, the problems start. Clementine becomes the playable character. The child/protector narrative is shattered. The games tried to fill this hole with more generic zombie survival storylines, generic, stale and unimpressive. They try to fix this mistake later by introducing another child for Clementine to care for, but it's no use. Players wanted to protect Clementine. Once she became a playable character, her personality was lost as she became a puppet of the character's choices. It was impossible to dive into her character as she needed to remain a blank slate.
That's where Tillie Walden comes in. She had a difficult task, taking this established character and having to rebuild her.
On this regard, I have to congratulate Walden. She gives Clementine a personality, breathes new life into her. I'm very happy with the choices she made for this character, and for the new characters as well.
There's tons of new characters, as Walden chooses not to explore any other established characters and have Clementine go off on her own again. I was a little annoyed at this in the beginning. The constant replacement of the supporting cast was something that made the games grow stale quickly. You knew you couldn't get attached to anyone because the writers would kill them as soon as they were bored with them. However, Walden manages to get you attached regardless. She introduces a smaller cast, and takes every character seriously, rather than treating them like zombie fodder.
Overall, I enjoyed this a lot and I'm excited for the next volume. In fact, I feel a sort of excitement I haven't felt for this franchise in a long time.
One start subtracted cause I miss Clementine's hat.
In the first season of the game you play as a man named Lee who has to take care of a little girl named Clementine. The game manages to build up this central relationship extremely well. It fundamentally changed everything about the zombie genre, and it went on to influence every child/protector narrative in gaming that came after it.
At the end of the first installment, Lee dies. And then, the problems start. Clementine becomes the playable character. The child/protector narrative is shattered. The games tried to fill this hole with more generic zombie survival storylines, generic, stale and unimpressive. They try to fix this mistake later by introducing another child for Clementine to care for, but it's no use. Players wanted to protect Clementine. Once she became a playable character, her personality was lost as she became a puppet of the character's choices. It was impossible to dive into her character as she needed to remain a blank slate.
That's where Tillie Walden comes in. She had a difficult task, taking this established character and having to rebuild her.
On this regard, I have to congratulate Walden. She gives Clementine a personality, breathes new life into her. I'm very happy with the choices she made for this character, and for the new characters as well.
There's tons of new characters, as Walden chooses not to explore any other established characters and have Clementine go off on her own again. I was a little annoyed at this in the beginning. The constant replacement of the supporting cast was something that made the games grow stale quickly. You knew you couldn't get attached to anyone because the writers would kill them as soon as they were bored with them. However, Walden manages to get you attached regardless. She introduces a smaller cast, and takes every character seriously, rather than treating them like zombie fodder.
Overall, I enjoyed this a lot and I'm excited for the next volume. In fact, I feel a sort of excitement I haven't felt for this franchise in a long time.
One start subtracted cause I miss Clementine's hat.
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
adventurous
dark
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Great comic that continues Clem's story from the TellTale games! I've got a little tired of the main Walking Dead story, but having Clem's has been refreshing.