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A review by umbreen
Vertigo Quarterly CMYK by Mattero Scalera, Steve Orlando, Philip Bond, Tony Akins, Carla Berrocal, Diego Agrimbau, Javi Fernandez, Benjamin Read, Annie Mok, Joe Keatinge, Dawson Walker, Rufus Dayglo, Roberti Rodi, Marguerite Bennett, Steven T. Seagle, Bill Sienkiewicz, Amy Chu, Shaun Simon, Rachel Autumn Deering, Rian Hughes, Matt Miner, Nathan Fox, Ken Garing, Al Davidson, Gerard Way, Jody Houser, Michael Moreci, Ryan K. Lindsay, Jared K. Fletcher, João M.P. Lemos, Tom King, Si Spencer, Ana Koehler, Martín Morazzo, Toril Orlesky, Andrea Mutti, Francesco Francavilla, Lee Garbett, Peter Milligan, Gene Luen Yang, Cris Peter, Tommy Lee Edwards, David Baillie, James Tynion IV, Fábio Moon, Jeff Lemire, Alitha Martinez, Emilio Utrera, Jock, Monty Nero
5.0
I received an electronic copy of this anthology through Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review.
To begin with, let me describe the stories. Each story had it's own sense of otherworldliness, though he manifestation of this otherworldliness came in many forms. Many of the stories discussed very real issues in a very real way, through the lens of fantasy/fiction. It brought the fantasy elements to the real world, and each of the stories made you consider something altogether new or think about something familiar from a new angle, which I enjoyed a lot.
The colors and styles in the illustrations of each of the stories within each color's volume was varied in a way which somehow managed to convey a clear division between each of the stories without making them feel disjointed. Overall, the illustrations are what I think of when I imagine the classic "comic book" style, but they also felt fresh and new, most likely due to the interesting manner in which color is used.
My only complaint concerns the readability of some of the text in an online format. Comics are obviously intended to be read in-print, but since e-versions of the anthology are available for purchase, I will add these complaints in. In particular, the problem was that if I set the reader to show the whole page, the text was too small to read easily. Naturally, I zoomed in to make the text larger. Unfortunately, some of the text became a bit too blurry to read without having to give it a few tries. Again, I understand that is probably not a problem in print, but if the anthology is going to be sold in an electronic form, this is a valid technical issue. If you're thinking of giving this one a go, I definitely suggest reading a physical copy.
Other than that problem, I really enjoyed this one! If you're interested in comics and fantasy, I would most definitely recommend it. The illustrations were beautiful, the stories were thought-provoking, and the concept behind the whole thing was executed in a clever manner.
[Full review here.]
To begin with, let me describe the stories. Each story had it's own sense of otherworldliness, though he manifestation of this otherworldliness came in many forms. Many of the stories discussed very real issues in a very real way, through the lens of fantasy/fiction. It brought the fantasy elements to the real world, and each of the stories made you consider something altogether new or think about something familiar from a new angle, which I enjoyed a lot.
The colors and styles in the illustrations of each of the stories within each color's volume was varied in a way which somehow managed to convey a clear division between each of the stories without making them feel disjointed. Overall, the illustrations are what I think of when I imagine the classic "comic book" style, but they also felt fresh and new, most likely due to the interesting manner in which color is used.
My only complaint concerns the readability of some of the text in an online format. Comics are obviously intended to be read in-print, but since e-versions of the anthology are available for purchase, I will add these complaints in. In particular, the problem was that if I set the reader to show the whole page, the text was too small to read easily. Naturally, I zoomed in to make the text larger. Unfortunately, some of the text became a bit too blurry to read without having to give it a few tries. Again, I understand that is probably not a problem in print, but if the anthology is going to be sold in an electronic form, this is a valid technical issue. If you're thinking of giving this one a go, I definitely suggest reading a physical copy.
Other than that problem, I really enjoyed this one! If you're interested in comics and fantasy, I would most definitely recommend it. The illustrations were beautiful, the stories were thought-provoking, and the concept behind the whole thing was executed in a clever manner.
[Full review here.]