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alandd's review
4.0
An entertaining story about a post-human Earth. Humanity seems to have disappeared from the planet and this, in turn, seems to be a safe environment for humans to return. However, things are not that simple, and when the plan of a man is shattered, we are shown that "humanity" can also dwell in unexpected places. Loved the moral and development, not so much the graphics, though, although I praise the audacity to show some raw images.
ellelainey's review
5.0
** I WAS GIVEN THIS BOOK FOR MY READING PLEASURE **
Copy received through Netgalley
~
Human, by Diego Agrimbau, Lucas Varela
★★★★★
144 Pages
Content Warning: extinction, dictatorship, death, slavery, off-page forced insemination
Human is a graphic novel about what humanity is capable of, the injustices we commit without thought of consequences, the depravity we're all capable of in extreme situations, and the hard truth that the world would be better off without our destructive influence.
That sounds harsh, but it's the truth.
Honestly, when I began reading Human, I wasn't sure what to think. Alpha was an interesting character, though it would have been good to have an idea of identity long before halfway through the story, as I didn't realise Alpha was female until Robert used pronouns. Until this point, Alpha thought their name was Robert, because of the marks on their robotic body RBRT. However, getting past that was easy enough because, in my mind, robots are all genderless. Once Robert came into the story, it became something interesting and new – the last human on Earth – until he reveals that his wife, June, crash landed nearby.
The plot is clever, original and absolutely something I could imagine an egotistical scientist could imagine – take his wife to the distant future, after humans have already destroyed their own world. Emerge in a time when the planet has flourished without humans and recovered from the damage we've done, then repopulate the planet with his wife. Enter = God complex.
How Alpha – a robot who was made with the ability to disobey, if an order was only given once (given twice, they would be compelled to comply) – reacted to all of this was the interesting part. Created by humans, but fundamentally a robot with only rudimentary Empathy programming, Alpha was, by far, the most interesting character. They had a unique view of the situation. At times, they reacted as a robot would, but at others, they showed more foresight, more empathy and understanding of the situation than Robert, with his egotistical and limited human view.
For me, Human was a graphic novel that explored the depths of human nature in less than 200 pages, with stunning sci-fi appropriate illustrations, and a clever and original plot. I loved Alpha and June equally, One was intriguing and Robert was a typical human who couldn't adapt to a changing world. In short, Human was utterly terrifying...because of its realism.
Though it's not billed as a Volume 1, the story left the ending resolved but open to more. I'd definitely be intrigued to see what came next.
Copy received through Netgalley
~
Human, by Diego Agrimbau, Lucas Varela
★★★★★
144 Pages
Content Warning: extinction, dictatorship, death, slavery, off-page forced insemination
Human is a graphic novel about what humanity is capable of, the injustices we commit without thought of consequences, the depravity we're all capable of in extreme situations, and the hard truth that the world would be better off without our destructive influence.
That sounds harsh, but it's the truth.
Honestly, when I began reading Human, I wasn't sure what to think. Alpha was an interesting character, though it would have been good to have an idea of identity long before halfway through the story, as I didn't realise Alpha was female until Robert used pronouns. Until this point, Alpha thought their name was Robert, because of the marks on their robotic body RBRT. However, getting past that was easy enough because, in my mind, robots are all genderless. Once Robert came into the story, it became something interesting and new – the last human on Earth – until he reveals that his wife, June, crash landed nearby.
The plot is clever, original and absolutely something I could imagine an egotistical scientist could imagine – take his wife to the distant future, after humans have already destroyed their own world. Emerge in a time when the planet has flourished without humans and recovered from the damage we've done, then repopulate the planet with his wife. Enter = God complex.
How Alpha – a robot who was made with the ability to disobey, if an order was only given once (given twice, they would be compelled to comply) – reacted to all of this was the interesting part. Created by humans, but fundamentally a robot with only rudimentary Empathy programming, Alpha was, by far, the most interesting character. They had a unique view of the situation. At times, they reacted as a robot would, but at others, they showed more foresight, more empathy and understanding of the situation than Robert, with his egotistical and limited human view.
For me, Human was a graphic novel that explored the depths of human nature in less than 200 pages, with stunning sci-fi appropriate illustrations, and a clever and original plot. I loved Alpha and June equally, One was intriguing and Robert was a typical human who couldn't adapt to a changing world. In short, Human was utterly terrifying...because of its realism.
Though it's not billed as a Volume 1, the story left the ending resolved but open to more. I'd definitely be intrigued to see what came next.
snchard's review
4.0
The "I Am Legend" vibes were so strong (the protagonist is even named Robert!) that I wondered if it was a retelling. Very nicely done, the art and especially the color palette set the tone of the story and the dialogue is believable. Definitely not a book that will restore anyone's faith in humanity.
I received a free ebook ARC from NetGalley.
I received a free ebook ARC from NetGalley.
v_nessa's review
2.0
This book was a wild ride and not for the faint of heart. I had expectations from the premise and it "dashed them quite expertly". Set 500,000 years in the future when, hopefully, the planet has healed enough to become inhabitable two scientists plan to land their pods and become the new Adam and Eve. of course, things don't always turn out the way you plan them.
This book deals with unfulfilled expectations, for you and the characters, a bit of madness, and some pretty grotesque scenery in instances. It was definitely a bit disturbing, understandably so, but I also thought it was pretty interesting. Though not my style, the art was interesting as well with a limited palette.
I do wish we'd seen more of the recordings filled out in the book as I think it would help fill in the characters and make you care more about them. I also feel like this could even be the beginning of a series the way it left off.
This book deals with unfulfilled expectations, for you and the characters, a bit of madness, and some pretty grotesque scenery in instances. It was definitely a bit disturbing, understandably so, but I also thought it was pretty interesting. Though not my style, the art was interesting as well with a limited palette.
I do wish we'd seen more of the recordings filled out in the book as I think it would help fill in the characters and make you care more about them. I also feel like this could even be the beginning of a series the way it left off.
irena_mcg's review
4.0
This is for the Saga lovers.
The plot is on Earth 500,000 years in the future. The main protagonist Robert comes to Earth with a team of robots to find his love June ... and I guess they want to repopulate the Earth. So you have that Adam and Eve theme.
Everything goes wrong of course.
Spoiler:
Other things like impregnating females are really weird but not surprising from people because they are awful. It shows the real nature of people, selfish and not caring for other opinions.
The art is beautiful. I liked the combination of colors.
The plot is on Earth 500,000 years in the future. The main protagonist Robert comes to Earth with a team of robots to find his love June ... and I guess they want to repopulate the Earth. So you have that Adam and Eve theme.
Everything goes wrong of course.
Spoiler:
Spoiler
I guess the real plot is that the strange creatures on Earth are actually people developed into species to fin the current environment. I liked that.Other things like impregnating females are really weird but not surprising from people because they are awful. It shows the real nature of people, selfish and not caring for other opinions.
The art is beautiful. I liked the combination of colors.
dinipandareads's review
3.0
This was a pretty bizarre graphic novel that I'm not quite sure I loved. I was immediately drawn in by the cover and the synopsis, which presented a pretty interesting post apocalyptic tale about returning to earth 500,000 years post death (both humanity's and Earth's). I thought that the story was well illustrated, however, the illustration style wasn't what I expected when I picked this up. I thought the color palette of reds, greys, black and white was an interesting choice though; in a way it made earth seem a little bit leached of life, although that clearly wasn't the case as there was plenty of animals living in the jungle. While I wasn't a big fan of the illustrations, I thought the overall message of the story was very thought-provoking and made reflect on our relationship with our surroundings.
After hundreds of thousands of years in cryo-sleep, Robert awakes to find his wife and fellow scientist, June, has died waiting for him as she landed on Earth before him. During her time on our newly revived planet, she reneges on their mission and decides that what they set out to do wasn't actually for the greater good. Mired in grief over her loss and revelations left on video tapes, Robert's mind quickly unravels. He becomes paranoid and hell bent on conquering the jungle and wildlife by bringing them into submission and is convinced that he will build a new society that's populated by himself, calling the new era the time of the Robert Sapiens. I thought mother nature's natural selection to evolve all animals and to kill off all the humans was an interesting angle. I also thought that it was interesting that Alpha, a highly intelligent cyborg whose role in the original mission is to be Robert's counsel and psychiatrist, was the only morally aware and just character, instead of the only remaining human on earth. It seems that despite our good intentions, we are always the ones that are seeking to change our environment to fit what we think is best, rather than what's actually best for everything around us. In doing so, we end up creating discord with nature and the creatures around us for what we think is essentially to our survival. As depressing as it may be to think about, it makes me question whether we're capable of learning from our giant mistakes, no matter how well-intentioned we think we're being.
I did like how the story ended with justice and on a slightly more hopeful note, and it certainly made me curious about what would happen next. It was an entertaining enough story about humans and human nature, but it just wasn't one that I absolutely loved or would read again. Thanks to NetGalley and Europe Comics for the free copy in exchange for an honest review.
After hundreds of thousands of years in cryo-sleep, Robert awakes to find his wife and fellow scientist, June, has died waiting for him as she landed on Earth before him. During her time on our newly revived planet, she reneges on their mission and decides that what they set out to do wasn't actually for the greater good. Mired in grief over her loss and revelations left on video tapes, Robert's mind quickly unravels. He becomes paranoid and hell bent on conquering the jungle and wildlife by bringing them into submission and is convinced that he will build a new society that's populated by himself, calling the new era the time of the Robert Sapiens. I thought mother nature's natural selection to evolve all animals and to kill off all the humans was an interesting angle. I also thought that it was interesting that Alpha, a highly intelligent cyborg whose role in the original mission is to be Robert's counsel and psychiatrist, was the only morally aware and just character, instead of the only remaining human on earth. It seems that despite our good intentions, we are always the ones that are seeking to change our environment to fit what we think is best, rather than what's actually best for everything around us. In doing so, we end up creating discord with nature and the creatures around us for what we think is essentially to our survival. As depressing as it may be to think about, it makes me question whether we're capable of learning from our giant mistakes, no matter how well-intentioned we think we're being.
I did like how the story ended with justice and on a slightly more hopeful note, and it certainly made me curious about what would happen next. It was an entertaining enough story about humans and human nature, but it just wasn't one that I absolutely loved or would read again. Thanks to NetGalley and Europe Comics for the free copy in exchange for an honest review.
parsecs's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
alexys_tenshi's review
4.0
*I received an ARC of this from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.*
"Human" is one of the best graphic novel that I have read this year.
It's about a futuristic and distopic world where Alpha - a robot - is searching for answers and his memory. He discovers a "new" species - apes - and other robots (who seems they know Alpha). Meanwhile he wake up their creator Robert from a cryosleep of 500.000 years.
From now on there will be an amazing adventure.
I think Robert hasn't lost his humanity, especially with his anger and "idea of colonization" typical of human beings.
While reading I was surprised and a little "angry" with him when appears to put nature vs technology in battles to prove what he can do.
Alpha is my favorite (obvously) and he's like Robert's conscience. The right path to follow when you're lost.
Is a new beginning for a new species.
I liked so much the style and colors of this graphic novel: red, black and white are a powerful combination.
This story was exciting, haunting, cute and extremely gory at times.
"Human" is one of the best graphic novel that I have read this year.
It's about a futuristic and distopic world where Alpha - a robot - is searching for answers and his memory. He discovers a "new" species - apes - and other robots (who seems they know Alpha). Meanwhile he wake up their creator Robert from a cryosleep of 500.000 years.
From now on there will be an amazing adventure.
I think Robert hasn't lost his humanity, especially with his anger and "idea of colonization" typical of human beings.
While reading I was surprised and a little "angry" with him when appears to put nature vs technology in battles to prove what he can do.
Alpha is my favorite (obvously) and he's like Robert's conscience. The right path to follow when you're lost.
Is a new beginning for a new species.
I liked so much the style and colors of this graphic novel: red, black and white are a powerful combination.
This story was exciting, haunting, cute and extremely gory at times.
lucsbooks's review
3.0
I loved the premise of this story. I really, really loved the art and colors that were used and thought they were perfectly aligned with the tone of the story.
Honestly, I ended this graphic novel wanting all humanity to go extinct and that is my way of saying I really enjoyed it.
Thank you to NetGalley and Europe Comics for this DRC.
Honestly, I ended this graphic novel wanting all humanity to go extinct and that is my way of saying I really enjoyed it.
Thank you to NetGalley and Europe Comics for this DRC.