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A review by pinkmalady
Dying Inside by Pete Wentz, Hannah Klein
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
sad
fast-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
4.0
some of the humor is still pretty grimace-worthily out-of-place, feeling like it was written by a bunch of adults trying to sound 'cool' to teenagers (and, like, that is most definitely true), but this was actually a pretty good read.
i saw a lot of people giving 'dying inside' a hard time for the preview/issue #0 that was released for free comic book day, but once you get past that (and even that part has its charms), it gets much, much better and more sensitively told.
the art is beautiful, (most of) the characters are fun to follow, the emotions resonate, and MOST (i was surprised) of the jokes land. though, as i said before, when the jokes don't land, they have me cursing pete wentz aloud for being a cringe old man. as if that is entirely his fault (it probably isn't, but hey). (that being said: call me!)
it lost me a bit during the climax whenthe villain is finally being confronted and we learn that he was (at least partially) redeemed/stopped being outright evil off-screen. it very abruptly and clumsily killed a lot of the momentum of the story.
that, paired with that ambiguous, sequel-bait-y ending (which i actually really loved some of the details of! i actually stopped in my tracks and had to take a moment to collect myself when i realized some of the possibilities/interpretations put on the table during the last few pages!), left it feeling unfinished, like it should've had more time to fully unpack all of its ideas.
i'm kinda hoping they decide to continue this graphic novel in one form or another, because its story is very much worth telling and expanding on further than what we got here.
i saw a lot of people giving 'dying inside' a hard time for the preview/issue #0 that was released for free comic book day, but once you get past that (and even that part has its charms), it gets much, much better and more sensitively told.
the art is beautiful, (most of) the characters are fun to follow, the emotions resonate, and MOST (i was surprised) of the jokes land. though, as i said before, when the jokes don't land, they have me cursing pete wentz aloud for being a cringe old man. as if that is entirely his fault (it probably isn't, but hey). (that being said: call me!)
it lost me a bit during the climax when
that, paired with that ambiguous, sequel-bait-y ending (which i actually really loved some of the details of! i actually stopped in my tracks and had to take a moment to collect myself when i realized some of the possibilities/interpretations put on the table during the last few pages!), left it feeling unfinished, like it should've had more time to fully unpack all of its ideas.
i'm kinda hoping they decide to continue this graphic novel in one form or another, because its story is very much worth telling and expanding on further than what we got here.