38 reviews for:

Elmer

Gerry Alanguilan

4.09 AVERAGE

biscuitcrux's review against another edition

5.0

My boyfriend reads a lot of superhero comics, which he insists are good but which sound crappy. He also has a thing for chickens, which is obvious in the amount of chicken knicknacks he has. One day, he showed me this graphic novel he bought at the comic book store. "Look at this," he said. "A comic about what would happen if chickens gained human intelligence and speech." "Cool." I said, secretly thinking it sounded lame. Later on, he brought this silly book to my house and told me I should read it because it was good and he thought I would like it. Whatever. At least it looked short.

So I read it. And I will say, I was totally wrong about it. This book was amazing. This is played totally straight, with all the seriousness of a book about the holocaust. And it works. Boy howdy, does it work.

The story focuses on a second-generation setient chicken who is given his father's diary, which he started keeping as soon as he learned to speak and write. The book describes the terrible ordeal his father, a fighting cock on a farm in the Phillipines, went through when every chicken suddenly became intelligent, being hidden from frightened and murderous humans by a sympathetic farmer, and the whole chicken civil rights movement.

Sounds silly, I know. But it was amazing. I would highly recommend it to people like me who love serious graphic novels. And I can't wait to read more by this author!

munchin's review against another edition

5.0

Wow, didn't think this would be such an emotionally complex book.

katonthejellicoe's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective sad tense fast-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

3.75

On the surface, 'Elmer' is a story about how chickens became sentient beings. On its very core, this comic book is about prejudicial violence, animal cruelty, and ironically, human rights. The illustrations also perfectly fit the atmosphere and tone that the story was trying to achieve, albeit disorienting at times.

michaelclorah's review against another edition

5.0

A friend lent this to me, and it's superb. Strong art, mixing human bigotry (against chickens who suddenly become intelligent) and the family ties among one chicken family unit. It's very smartly scripted, insightful, and humane. Definitely recommended.

shaylross's review against another edition

4.0

I was fairly impressed. It gives you an idea of racism in the form of chickens and directs you in a mostly realistic point of view of what could actually happen if chickens did one day gain human intelligence. It was entertaining and gripping.

neonmime's review against another edition

5.0

This is one way to look at racism in the human race. Creative and a little crazy. Even though the main characters were chickens I had a hard time holding back tears when the plot/story got dark.

toebean5's review against another edition

3.0

It was good, I'm just perplexed why it keeps showing up on lgbt comics lists. There's a possibly gay side character... but that's weak. This was way bigger than that.

rudwulf's review

dark funny medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death

Moderate: Animal cruelty

Minor: Xenophobia

melodys_library's review against another edition

2.0

Meh.

peyjturner's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0