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geekwayne's review
4.0
'Deep Roots' by Dan Watters with art by Val Rodrigues is a weird graphic novel about plants that decide to fight back.
Plants and roots have had enough and they've decided to overthrow humans. Humans, of course, decide to fight back. As buildings become choked with roots and fall, and humanoid plant beings invade, a mission is taken to try to understand what is happening and to take the battle to the plants. Along the way, they meet an ancient warrior, and a man caught in the plant's world for over a century.
This book was weird and cool. There are two art styles prevailing and I love the "plant world" art with it tree ring lines informing everything. It doesn't all make complete sense, but it had me turning pages and reveling in the strangeness of it all.
I received a review copy of this graphic novel from Vault Comics, Diamond Book Distributors, and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this graphic novel.
Plants and roots have had enough and they've decided to overthrow humans. Humans, of course, decide to fight back. As buildings become choked with roots and fall, and humanoid plant beings invade, a mission is taken to try to understand what is happening and to take the battle to the plants. Along the way, they meet an ancient warrior, and a man caught in the plant's world for over a century.
This book was weird and cool. There are two art styles prevailing and I love the "plant world" art with it tree ring lines informing everything. It doesn't all make complete sense, but it had me turning pages and reveling in the strangeness of it all.
I received a review copy of this graphic novel from Vault Comics, Diamond Book Distributors, and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this graphic novel.
brandonadaniels's review
adventurous
dark
2.5
This mini series was full of fun ideas and imagery, but it was too ambitious for five issues. I too lament the days of Vertigo, but trying to force what used to be a twenty plus issue series into a single trade just doesn’t work.
carroq's review
3.0
Disclaimer: I received a free ecopy via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Sentient plants? Sign me up. I think the idea of a world where plants have become sentient and lash out at humans for the damage they are doing to the Earth is kind of cool, if a bit heavy handed. The art is fantastic. There are some wonderful scenes that made me stop to just take them in. It also has some moments where I just couldn't tell what was supposed to be happening.
The plot doesn't hold up real well though. There are a group of scientists investigating what is happening with the plants. None of the characters stood out to me, so the story just plodded along. The story gets caught in the labyrinthine environment as much as the characters that head into it. Not a bad book by any means, but the elements that didn't work for me held me back from enjoying the rest of it too much.
Sentient plants? Sign me up. I think the idea of a world where plants have become sentient and lash out at humans for the damage they are doing to the Earth is kind of cool, if a bit heavy handed. The art is fantastic. There are some wonderful scenes that made me stop to just take them in. It also has some moments where I just couldn't tell what was supposed to be happening.
The plot doesn't hold up real well though. There are a group of scientists investigating what is happening with the plants. None of the characters stood out to me, so the story just plodded along. The story gets caught in the labyrinthine environment as much as the characters that head into it. Not a bad book by any means, but the elements that didn't work for me held me back from enjoying the rest of it too much.
readingsofaslinky's review
4.0
The Happening meets Pan’s Labyrinth. Good follow up to reading Greta Thunberg’s speeches.
**Big fan of the sentient pea**
**Big fan of the sentient pea**
barb4ry1's review
4.0
After the ecological collapse, Planet Earth teaches humans a lesson. Homicidal vegetable homunculi gun down people across the globe. The Otherworld knows no mercy and it seems humanity's only chance is a clandestine organization and its "champion".
The book depicts two worlds and their intersection. We see both man’s world and an ancient vegetative world beneath. I'm impressed with this volume - it gets everything right. Pacing, world-building, characters, and art delighted me. The artwork of Val Rodrigues paired with Triona Farrell's colors do the job of presenting otherworldly landscapes and creatures convincingly and with style.
The only flaw I can see is the unfocused narrative, especially in the beginning, but don't let it stop you. Deep Roots is a thrilling eco sci-fi thriller.
The book depicts two worlds and their intersection. We see both man’s world and an ancient vegetative world beneath. I'm impressed with this volume - it gets everything right. Pacing, world-building, characters, and art delighted me. The artwork of Val Rodrigues paired with Triona Farrell's colors do the job of presenting otherworldly landscapes and creatures convincingly and with style.
The only flaw I can see is the unfocused narrative, especially in the beginning, but don't let it stop you. Deep Roots is a thrilling eco sci-fi thriller.
jmanchester0's review
4.0
Red Herrings from Hell. I love the way this story is written.
Though it was a tad hard to follow.
The whole environmental aspect was very inventive! And the art was perfectly dark and horrifying.
Eat your vegetables, Kevin.
Thanks to NetGalley, Diamond Comics, and Vault Comics for a copy in return for an honest review.
Though it was a tad hard to follow.
The whole environmental aspect was very inventive! And the art was perfectly dark and horrifying.
Eat your vegetables, Kevin.
Thanks to NetGalley, Diamond Comics, and Vault Comics for a copy in return for an honest review.
bbpettry's review
4.0
The Sentinel awakens in the Otherworld, a reflection of Earth where creatures of myth live. Humanity’s pollution has affected the land and roused him from slumber.
On Earth there is a heist, a violent one, perpetrated by anthropomorphic brussel sprouts. This kind of thing isn’t a surprise to people like Abigail Hester, but just another in a long line of increasingly improbable plant-related events. Hester runs the 000 Department that deals with “inaccessible phenomena.” In 000 facility, all manner violent vegetables are kept and researched. In there among them is anarchist Kaye Soni.
Soni is the last of a crew that attempted to weaponize psychotropics, but was captured when the projectile backfired on her. She’s been in a coma for weeks, lost in consciousness, attempting to “read a history of the world in the trunk of a great oak.” When she wakes up, she has a more direct plan than to shroom the public. She must go to the Otherworld.
Watters fakes the reader out a few times in a way I endlessly appreciate, and tells parallel stories that intertwine and come together like, well, roots.
FOR FANS OF: The Wilds by Vita Ayala, Dune, Paolo Bacigalupi, Alan Moore’s Swamp Thing, Pan’s Labyrinth.
ART: Intricate linework and paint textured colors. Seems to aim for and successfully maintains the look of, at the magical parts especially, being painted on the inside of a great tree trunk.
SELL IT: To the Tolkien nut that’s wandered into the comics section.
On Earth there is a heist, a violent one, perpetrated by anthropomorphic brussel sprouts. This kind of thing isn’t a surprise to people like Abigail Hester, but just another in a long line of increasingly improbable plant-related events. Hester runs the 000 Department that deals with “inaccessible phenomena.” In 000 facility, all manner violent vegetables are kept and researched. In there among them is anarchist Kaye Soni.
Soni is the last of a crew that attempted to weaponize psychotropics, but was captured when the projectile backfired on her. She’s been in a coma for weeks, lost in consciousness, attempting to “read a history of the world in the trunk of a great oak.” When she wakes up, she has a more direct plan than to shroom the public. She must go to the Otherworld.
Watters fakes the reader out a few times in a way I endlessly appreciate, and tells parallel stories that intertwine and come together like, well, roots.
FOR FANS OF: The Wilds by Vita Ayala, Dune, Paolo Bacigalupi, Alan Moore’s Swamp Thing, Pan’s Labyrinth.
ART: Intricate linework and paint textured colors. Seems to aim for and successfully maintains the look of, at the magical parts especially, being painted on the inside of a great tree trunk.
SELL IT: To the Tolkien nut that’s wandered into the comics section.
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