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jekutree's review against another edition
5.0
Alan Moore and Oscar Zarate’s incredible graphic novel tackles themes of self doubt, capitalism and the faults of the 80’s.
As typical 80’s Moore work goes, it’s fucking incredible. You get your mostly base 9 panel grid seen in Watchmen, later chapters of V For Vendetta and From Hell, themes of time passing and even the awesome Moore match cut page transitions. However, this story presents itself in a pretty unique structure (it works backwards through both time and technology) while also featuring gorgeous painted visuals from Oscar Zarate. I think this also features Moore‘s best chatter. There’s a lot of conversations that happen throughout the book between off panel characters and the way they mirror the main story but also standalone as believable conversations is pretty awesome.
The story follows Timothy Hole as he tries to come up with an idea to market a cola type beverage to a Russian audience. The kind of on the nose metaphor this creates of Capitalism penetrating Communism enforces the themes of the story as this whole job Timothy is assigned to causes him to spiral into this hole of self doubt as Timothy used to be a self identified communist/socialist. Oh and Timothy is being chased by a child who wants to kill him.
A Small Killing goes through all the mistakes and changes that this character has done and gone through in his life in a really interesting way. He goes backwards from New York, to London to his home town throughout the story and each location change offers the reader another regret or another lifestyle change in Timothy’s life. Like I said before, structurally this book really shines.
Overall, I think this is an extremely strong addition to Moore’s catalogue. Obviously, Oscar Zarate’s work can’t be overlooked as well as he paints the fuck out of this book. But, this is something I’d recommend to anyone wanting to read anything that feels naturally mature and innovative. There’s a lot to be learned from a book like this.
As typical 80’s Moore work goes, it’s fucking incredible. You get your mostly base 9 panel grid seen in Watchmen, later chapters of V For Vendetta and From Hell, themes of time passing and even the awesome Moore match cut page transitions. However, this story presents itself in a pretty unique structure (it works backwards through both time and technology) while also featuring gorgeous painted visuals from Oscar Zarate. I think this also features Moore‘s best chatter. There’s a lot of conversations that happen throughout the book between off panel characters and the way they mirror the main story but also standalone as believable conversations is pretty awesome.
The story follows Timothy Hole as he tries to come up with an idea to market a cola type beverage to a Russian audience. The kind of on the nose metaphor this creates of Capitalism penetrating Communism enforces the themes of the story as this whole job Timothy is assigned to causes him to spiral into this hole of self doubt as Timothy used to be a self identified communist/socialist. Oh and Timothy is being chased by a child who wants to kill him.
A Small Killing goes through all the mistakes and changes that this character has done and gone through in his life in a really interesting way. He goes backwards from New York, to London to his home town throughout the story and each location change offers the reader another regret or another lifestyle change in Timothy’s life. Like I said before, structurally this book really shines.
Overall, I think this is an extremely strong addition to Moore’s catalogue. Obviously, Oscar Zarate’s work can’t be overlooked as well as he paints the fuck out of this book. But, this is something I’d recommend to anyone wanting to read anything that feels naturally mature and innovative. There’s a lot to be learned from a book like this.
jammasterjamie's review against another edition
3.0
That was a surprisingly run-of-the-mill story when you consider that it came from Alan Moore. It's a good story, just sort of lacking some of the more spectacular insights that I've grown used to getting from his books. It reminded me in some ways of Don DeLillo's "Underworld" crossed with David Lynch's "A Straight Story", in a manner that could only be written by Alan Moore. I don't know... I'm not necessarily disappointed with this and I enjoyed the prose and the art, but there was just something missing in this one for me. I think if the grand mystery of it all hadn't have been so obvious that I might have enjoyed it more, but I knew what was going on right away and thought I was supposed to, so while this wasn't a complete miss for me, it certainly isn't among Moore's Greatest Hits, in my opinion.
rebus's review against another edition
0.5
It seems to go along with Moore's usual critique of the upper class and the professions where sociopaths roam in high numbers, but I found the central premises and themes flawed and not well expressed, either by author or by the artist (whom I don't care for at all). The fact is that the only reason I knew what was going on at all was an entirely too long interview with the artists for the reissue. The tale still seemed a bit trite, to be haunted by one insignificant moment in childhood (that virtually all children have at some point).
And what is so wrong about blaming a corrupt society? That epiphany near the end of the volume rings especially hollow, the hubris of the upper middle class that sees 80% of society as inferior, and sees their own among their class who whine about it nearly as bad. It is the upper middle class that harms the world without an iota of consciousness, but that is not evident in this overly poetic script (Ennis overrates it dramatically, a shock since he is the artist most influenced by Moore to me, especially the brilliant The Boys).
It's also factually incorrect to say that most yuppies in that era had been hippies 10-15 years prior. The vast majority of Boomers did sell out, but don't believe it wasn't driven by the more crass among Gen X, and don't dismiss the past as merely different times.
One of Moore's few dismal failures.
And what is so wrong about blaming a corrupt society? That epiphany near the end of the volume rings especially hollow, the hubris of the upper middle class that sees 80% of society as inferior, and sees their own among their class who whine about it nearly as bad. It is the upper middle class that harms the world without an iota of consciousness, but that is not evident in this overly poetic script (Ennis overrates it dramatically, a shock since he is the artist most influenced by Moore to me, especially the brilliant The Boys).
It's also factually incorrect to say that most yuppies in that era had been hippies 10-15 years prior. The vast majority of Boomers did sell out, but don't believe it wasn't driven by the more crass among Gen X, and don't dismiss the past as merely different times.
One of Moore's few dismal failures.
neven's review against another edition
3.0
It's a concise summary of Alan Moore's creative meandering since the early 1990s that he currently considers this trite indie novel his best work.
watchingpreacher's review against another edition
5.0
The structure of this is a thing of beauty, and the themes are some of my favourites. A great character study, excellently written and drawn. A wonderful short tale, funny, bleak and everything in between. Jamie, you're gonna love this.
_micah_'s review against another edition
3.0
Minus a star for a boring af protagonist. Decent storytelling, though the story itself was very, very eighties. Apparently everyone "sells out" eventually, okay? Pretty yet claustrophobic images, I'm assuming the mashed-together aspect was on purpose, it certainly contributes to the feel of the story.
stefan_lennemyr's review against another edition
emotional
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
Difficult to feel much love for the broken, but flat, main character. And that’s a pity because the whole story revolves solely around him and his past.
glitterandtwang's review against another edition
3.0
it was okay. i'm not at all sure why alan moore considers this one of his best works. a man hallucinates his aborted son who wants to kill him... comes off like bizarro pro-life propaganda, which is not at all something i'd expect from him. the art was fine, though it was occasionally easy to conflate characters.
neven's review against another edition
3.0
It's a concise summary of Alan Moore's creative meandering since the early 1990s that he currently considers this trite indie novel his best work.
candystripelegs's review against another edition
5.0
Probably my new favourite Alan Moore graphic novel. Its a lot more simple and a lot more hopeful than some of his other books, and that change in pace really caught me off guard. I really loved the moral of the story and the interview in the back where Moore expanded on the theme from the personal to the political.