Review by olliecheek - Spectators, vol. 1

olliecheek 's review for:

Spectators, vol. 1 by Brian K. Vaughan

4.5

adventurous dark emotional tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Thank you to Netgalley and Image Comics for the ARC.

Content warning for almost everything you can think of (i.e., violence, nudity, blood, murder, etc). Definitely putting the graphic in graphic novel.

Spectators follows Val and Sam, two individuals who have died, and now spend their days watching other humans live their lives. Val’s death is more recent and occurred during a mass shooting. Years later, she meets Sam, a cowboy-esque man who passed away a much longer time ago. Together, they explore relevant stories of their past lives while they observe people navigating the end of the world. It is raunchy, provocative, and an unexpected love story.

I love Brian Vaughan’s stories. I’ve been reading Saga for a while now, so I was excited to read his latest work. I found the plot intriguing, and I found it particularly interesting to see how sex or intimacy are almost treated as more taboo, or as taboo, as violence/murder. Brian definitely captures the way that humans are often drawn to the things that we are most discouraged to engage with. We all end up being voyeurs on some level.

I think the art is very well done. I love when artists play with colour to represent shifts in time or to capture different environments. Graphic novelists can sometimes neglect the art over the story, but this is very much not the case with Spectators. The art and use of colour is so good that I often was focused on the details of the main characters, despite the absolute chaos happening behind them.

It's definitely not for everyone, but if you’re into Vaughan’s stories, this will likely be right up your ally.

Content Warnings