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Heroes: Graphic novels Volume 1: v. 1
ReviewsBeautifully Produced Collection Review date: 2008-06-12 Rating: 10 out of 10 Ok first up two things ... 1 - I enjoy Heroes & am enjoying the 2nd Series but wouldn't class it as an all-out "favourite" show of mine. It's cool, it's well-produced & it's interesting but it's never quite hooked me in like 24 or Lost. 2 - I'm not a big comic-book buff. I devoured comics as a kid & I sometimes pick up compilations of tie-in's that relate to favourite films/tv shows of mine but I'm certainly no expert With the above in mind I REALLY enjoyed this Heroes Collection. It's a large compendium of short stories featuring major & minor characters from the tv show but although mirrors the time-line of Series 1, the stories are unique & original. This is not a simple re-telling in graphic form of the first series. The stories are cool and I couldn't fail to be impressed how easily they sit alongside the show. Sometimes tie-in products fall way-short of expectations due to the fact that they simply aren't a patch on the movie or show they feature. This isn't the case with this collection although MAYBE this is partially down to the fact that the show isn't always expertly written ? The thing that impressed me most about this Graphic Novel is how well it's produced. I picked it up for under £10 & did so as I thought it was great value for money considering the classy cover & brilliantly laid-out contents. The illustrations throughout the book are all full colour and superbly inked which really appealed to me. Far more impressive than many other comic books I've picked up recently. Overall if you're a fan of the show I'd recommend this item. Not only is it an interesting, lengthy read but it's also something I'll happily keep in my book collection as one of my more impressively produced books. heroes the untold story Review date: 2008-01-18 Rating: 10 out of 10 Heroes is the latest smash hit everyone's talking about american tv show, in which ordinary people suddenly find they have special powers. Whilst you might be able to pick up on the story from this if you've not seen the show I would recommend you go to the dvd for heroes season one reviews instead. Not least because the stories in this collection fill in a lot of untold information from the show, and you'll get more out of it if you've seen the programme. Anyway, this collects online comic strips published whilst the first season was broadcast. There are roughly thirty four of them, all about five to six pages long, and they tell stories involving the characters and plots from the show. Some fill in things we didn't get to see on screen, like what hiro did when he first came back to tokyo after seeing the bomb go off, jessica and dl's crew on the safe cracking job, dl escaping from prison, and how future peter and niki got together. Other stories fill in the past of hana, the mysterious lady who was seen in one episode and who can see e mails in her head, and what her past is and what she did next. There's also another tale that tells you of the first connection between the linderman and petrelli families. All stories begin with a comic style cover, and the art in each is different, but all of the visuals are pretty good. the book runs to 234 pages in total, has an introduction by masi oka who plays hiro on screen, and an interview at the back with the writers of the comics. It's a good sturdy and well bound hardback volume, and has a splendid painted cover on the dust jacket. Well worth a read if you're a fan. AMAZING Review date: 2008-01-12 Rating: 10 out of 10 This is incredible. A must have for all heroes fans. The graphics in the books are AMAZING. The stories are great, You find out about every thing that happens between the episodes of heroes you don't see. You find out how people meet and how people use thier powers in other ways. Do not miss this great deal. So GET IT NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Interesting But Not What Expected Review date: 2008-01-06 Rating: 6 out of 10 You get a lot of content for the discounted price ( 236 pages ), but this is very much a book of 2 halves - each of which is in many small pieces. Confused ? You may well be. About half of the content is made up of 9th Wonder issues relating to the main characters, most of which consist of a cover and 4 pages. Almost none of these issues are connected to each other, so as independent stories they basically consist of situation > problem > superpower > moral / foreboding. Some stories are new and supplement the tv show ( like Eden's past ), some are new but pointless ( reading minds helps fight crime - what a revelation ) and some are literally just recaps of events that happened in the tv show ( pah ). The other half of the content is the story of Wireless, which includes a lengthy sub-story where she learns part of the Linderman's history. This is all new stuff, and may even impact on the show if the final teaser pages are anything to go by. BUT I am not spoiling anything to say that Wirless is a smart, strong, independent female who can battle / seduce her way through armies of mere men - the sort of character you can find in just about any comic book or tv show in this post-Buffy era. Which is not to say her story is worthless, just that you shouldn't go in expecting anyone on par with Nikki / Jessica or Claire. Both components of the volume are let down by two design factors : 1] The issues are ordered by release, so the stories are jumbled together chaotically. Wireless' story is interrupted by stand-alones at every turn, and stand-alones are ordered so that present, future and past events are shown with no thought to chronology. Many of the 9th Wonder covers also have little / no connection to the short story that follows. I would certainly have preferred the Wireless arc had been compiled in to a seperate section at the least. 2] The art varies wildly, presumably because of the many artists contributing. Opinion of specific art is a matter of personal taste, but there is no denying that is plain odd to see the same characters appearing in multiple issues but drawn completely differently ( a particular issue with the Wireless arc which sees her vary between children's cartoon and near-realism ). You will have to expect that, at some point in the collection, whichever characters you favor are likely to be drawn very ugly compared to their actors. Oh Milo, what have they done to ye ?! There are also original characters / versions of characters ( e.g. younger or older ) which you will have to recognize by name in some issues, because they bear little resemblence to their previous appearance. In my view this squandered quite a lot of the potential of this collection, because at no point was it possible to believe that this is a collection of Isaac Mendez' comic books - he would have to have been the most schizophrenic artist that ever lived to amass this medley of styles. I think that it would have been more interesting / collectable for them to have gone all out on authenticity, but there is no sense of that at all. Overall : 3 out of 5. Read the whole collection and I do not think you will walk away disappointed, but there are individual issues within it that may well make you wonder why you are bothering. Product Details/SpecificationsAuthors: Chuck Kim Aron Eli Coleite Creators: Alex Ross (Illustrator) Michael Turner (Illustrator) Staz Johnson (Illustrator) Phil Jiminez (Illustrator) Recording label: Titan Books Ltd Manufacturer: Titan Books Ltd EAN: 9781845767068 Binding: Hardcover ISBN: 1845767063 Number of pages: 240 Publication date: 2007-11-23
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