| Title | : | They're Not Like Us #1 |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | - |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Comic Book |
| Number of Pages | : | - |
| Publication | : | First published December 24, 2014 |
They're Not Like Us #1 Reviews
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NetGalley offered the opportunity to read this title before its release for the purpose of reviewing.
There are a few things I like about They're Not Us. Having superhuman abilities is amazing, however there were several directions Stephenson could have taken this story.
Rather than having the group of mentally special kids rise up against The Voice in the beginning, they wait until someone else, a newcomer, appears to play the role of the collective conscience. "Syd" has to point out everything everyone else already knew was true, and it wasn't until after she voiced her opinions that they allowed themselves to make a move.
Is it anywhere near realistic within the realms of human experience and behavior? No. Is it meant to be? I think so. There are several quotes throughout the volume that points to thinking for yourself, what fuels your personal "fires," and other thought-provoking, self-analyzing quotes, which made me feel the world was meant to relate to our world. Unfortunately, the behaviors and lack of personalities really took away from the characters.
There were several corny scenes and near the end Syd is holding onto The Voice's arm...why would she do that? The artwork does not always align with the story, however I did appreciate the artwork on the walls of the mansion displaying the demons each character faces in their lives.
Perhaps I find They're Not Like Us unconvincing because it is supposed to appeal to a much younger audience, or maybe it just needs to be better controlled. I must admit that the drawings are very good, and I appreciate the effort shown in all the detail. I really wish I could give They're Not Like Us a better review, but the bottom line is that it contains plot holes and mystery surrounding certain characters, but is not compelling enough for me to read the second volume. I don't care about those characters, there was not enough build-up or even a real cliffhanger. It is forgettable and leaves off feeling complete, rather than the first in a series. -
A young woman stands on the side of a building. She's finally fed up with the noise in her head. Nothing helps. She feels the only way she'll have any relief is if she "sleeps" forever. Before jumping, a man tells her that maybe the only real salvation she'll have is if she accepts the truth of her situation.
Somehow, she survives. She learns that there's not just noise going on in her head. The mystery man ( I call Cas since he looks like Casanova Quinn from Casanova) informs her that she is a telepath, and he takes her to a home for other "gifted" people like herself. He gives her a new name (Syd) and tells her that she's never to think of her old life now.
At this point, it started feeling a little X-Men-ish for me, and I was starting to feel a little let down. All these people with awesome powers living together and assuming aliases. I was interested, but not moved. I was thinking, "Yeah, I'm going to wait for a volumed edition of this, at best." Then, the other shoe dropped when Syd was explained the rules of her new life, a life she didn't ask for. That was the "Well, damn!" moment that actually made me sit up in my bed.
From that point, even the title took on a different perspective. I looked at the title from the angle that the characters of this book aren't normal people. However, after reading it, I realize the title speaks more along the lines of normal people not being special like them. I'm interested. They got me. I'm buying issue #2 as I type. -
Got my copy from NetGalley, so thanks NetGalley. I guess...
DNF-ed at page 38 of 138. The art is good, very enticing, too bad the story just sucks. Also, what's up with that bunch of psychopaths??! Geez... "Uuu, we're so very special, uuu, we do things just because we can, uuu!" NO, just no. :/ And I'm furious the girl actually seems to give in to their explanations. I mean, WTF, woman, have you no morals?! Or reason? I could keep reading this if I wanted to find out whether the story changes in any way, but I'm just not interested. The "special people's" behaviour just makes me barf. Ugh... -
Image surely delivers books that are not ordinary. Nothing much to say about this one without revealing what it is about but give it a try. I'll be sure to keep reading it, it could be an interesting unique story or a pretensions story with substance, we'll have to see.
End of the year review: 3 stars, really? I'm WAY too generous. -
A lot of reviewers seem none too impressed by the art, but I quite liked it, including the 'graininess' of the style as a whole. The ending to this issue definitely intrigued me, perhaps enough to continue reading despite the first volume of this series receiving very mixed reviews. I'm feeling like it'll be quite 'Deadly Class' in tone. 3.75 stars.
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To go from thinking something is wrong with you all of your life to one day finding other people like you, you’d definitely lose it a little more that you thought you already had. But this is not Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters. This is a motley crew of folks of questionable morals, or at least that’s how it’s being made to seem.
A young woman who comes to be known as Syd decides that the voices in her head and all the things that comes with them like strained personal relationships and hospital stays are just too much to take. So she decides to shut them up for good. How she survives the fall is still a mystery to me and so is whether or not she really has to kill her parents to move on with her life as she was told to do at the end of this issue.
Wanting to know the answers to those questions is enough to keep me reading. It’s been releasing towards the end of the month since December, so the 4th issue should be out soon. Also, it’s DTO! Like always, I’m going to wait until there is a collected volume, but this is definitely on the list. -
Beautifully illustrated and snappily written, there still isn’t anything in these issues that dissuade me that this is about a bunch of nihilistic hipsters with a superiority complex. It feels too adolescent to work and hasn’t displayed enough evidence that it’s going to cleverly spin these ideas on their head. As it is it’s just hipsters hipstering psychically but some are good hipsters and some are bad
No character is overweight by the way. Not sure if this shows anything but it’s a weird view of the world at any rate -
Also a blonde female super-powered teen, but an entirely different story from /Strong female protagonist/. Both good and worth following.
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It's easy to try to compare the characters in They're Not Like Us to those in the X-Men universe (at first glance anyway). They all have special powers, such as the ability to create illusions and superhuman strength. The thing that sets them apart is that this group doesn't seem especially interested in being heroes; rather, they seem angry at "normal" people for treating them differently/badly. This is especially true for their parents, who had trouble accepting that their children were special and saw their gifts as curses; as a sort of initiation, the members are expected to murder their parents.
Then along comes Syd, a young telepath who doesn't understand the constant barrage of voices she hears day in and day out. She wants to make them stop at any cost, until The Voice (the leader of this group of misfits) finds her and brings her to his house. She's so tormented by her gifts that you almost assume that she will do whatever he says because he helps her control the voices. Syd is no push-over, however, and she quickly realizes that the people she meets are less like heroes and more like monsters. She refuses to blindly follow orders and questions their motives at every turn.
There are a lot of characters introduced in Volume 1 and we don't get to know all of them very well. The story pretty much centers around Syd trying to figure out if she wants to become part of the organization, as The Voice tries to convince her why she should. There is some background given about The Voice's childhood and one of the other members, Maisie (who can see into the future), insists that there is more to his story than Syd understands yet. I'm definitely interested in reading more of this comic to find out if there really is more to why they do what they do. I really liked Syd because she didn't just take what she was being told at face value; she continued to ask questions and stick to her morals.
The illustrations were just okay for me. I thought they were a bit rough and the colors were very subdued, although this last observation worked with the tone of the story. The story itself though was very interesting and I loved how it blurred the lines between good and evil. It makes you question what you might do in the same situation. By the end, it's apparent that there is some discord within the group and it remains unclear how everyone will proceed from there. This was a great introduction to what could be a very engaging series, and I am very much looking forward to finding out what happens next with these characters.
If you would like to check out more of my reviews, please visit my book review blog,
Lucky Devil Reviews -
I received this for review from the publisher via Netgalley in return for an honest review.
I don't know what I was expecting when I picked this up, but I certainly didn't expect this. We meet a girl who for most of the story goes by the name Syd and she wants to kill herself. Her parents, teachers and everyone else she has had contact with treats her like she is sick. While in hospital she gets kidnapped and told she is a telepath and that she should leave her old life behind and join them. These other people are led by a guy called The Voice and all is not what it seems. Syd is told she needs to totally leave her old life behind and that to do this she must kill her parents. This is the beginning of a very deep and disturbing first edition.
I'm not going to lie, for the first thirty pages or so I was very confused by everything that was going on, at times I was even tempted to just give up on it all. I couldn't see where it was going and I didn't feel all that pulled into the plot. However once I got into it, I really got into this. I found the characters intriguing, I developed some firm favourites and just couldn't get enough of the whole concept, which I thought was fascinating. I loved how I felt like I was having a life lesson about the good and bad in people while also reading about such dark subjects.
The art style wasn't my usual cup of tea, but I felt it worked well for the plot and subject matter. It couldn't ever be pretty or stunning because this graphic novel is nothing like that. The harsh lines matched the harshness of the subject matter. There is a lot of adult content in here, along with violence and other dark themes, so if you don't like that then I wouldn't recommend this. If you don't mind swearing, violence and generally messed up subject matter then you will love this. All of it felt like it served a purpose and not just thrown in for effect. If this sounds like it would be your cup of tea, then I highly recommend this. -
Honestly, I requested this from Net Galley for the cover. I didn't read the description at all. I know you're not meant to judge by a cover, but let's be honest--a lot of us do. Were I at the library, I'd do the same thing. I'd pick it up from the graphic novel section solely based on the title and cover and read it, because that's how you branch out and find new things.
Now that that's out of the way, the first few pages really drew me in. I finished this book in two sittings, taking time to actually get some sleep in between since I started it shortly past midnight. There was a lot of action in the beginning--starting with a suicide attempt and suddenly entering a breakout straight out of Mission Impossible, then transitioned into something comparable to X-Men.
So I thought, "Oh, here we go. A bunch of young men and women with super powers and a middle aged man who's going to save them and help control their powers." Not so. They're Not Like Us took a different turn, revealing that these aren't superheroes. These are jaded and cynical young people out for blood. And I loved it. After all, would I be a hero if I had powers? I'll be honest and say 'probably not'.
I really liked the art in this book too--it was diverse and interesting. Not everything has to be drawn like a manga.
Ultimately here's where I'm at. If I was in the library, I'd read this start to finish and look for the next one in the series. But would I buy it in a bookstore with my own money? Probably not. I'd still recommend this to graphic novel book clubs because of the questions about morality and free will--there's a lot to talk about. But if you're on the more conservative side and don't do well with fight scenes or occasional nudity, skip this book. -
The first volume of They’re Not Like Us suffers because it feels more like a prologue than an actual complete story in and of itself.
Syd is a telepath who is being driven insane by the voices in her head. When she is hospitalized after a suicide attempt, she is visited in the hospital by others with strange talents and given the opportunity to join them and learn more about her abilities. With the promise of learning to control her telepathy, Syd agrees. But the more she learns about the people she is living with, the less sure she wants to be one of them, particularly when she learns that violence is a way of life for the entire group.
Basically, this volume introduces Syd and the other main characters and establishes their world. Along with Syd, the reader learns how this misfit group of powered people lives and functions—or doesn’t—in a society that has largely rejected them; unsurprisingly, they have met that rejection with hostility. At the end of the book, though, Syd chooses a different path, setting the stage for conflict, and more interesting stories, in future volumes.
I wasn’t blown away by what was presented here, but I’m going to have to try the second volume in the series to see whether or not the story picks up now that the basics have been established.
An ARC was provided by the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. -
I REALLY liked (not loved but liked) this! I don't always write a review for everything I read but I wanted to make sure I posted somewhere that this should have Trigger Warnings for my friends. I kind of wish I knew before I read it but I know a lot of people who follow me that can't handle some of the topics brought up in here and I didn't want them to just go ahead and get it because I liked it. SO MASSIVE TRIGGER WARNING:Read with caution.
Otherwise I really did enjoy it. I had a few issues with 'the voice' but mostly I kept finding myself routing on the main character. *spoiler ahead* I REALLY REALLY enjoyed the scene when they beat the living hell out of the pedophile for being a pedophile. So yeah half of the book I was like YES YOU GUYS ROCK and the other half I'm like "well that's uhm, a lot to take in'. If you don't mind things that discuss sensitive topics then go for it because it really is a good read :) -
They're Not Like Us, Volume 1, by Eric Stephenson is a free NetGalley comic that I flipped through using Adobe Digital Editions throughout the month of July. Already being a little aquainted with Stephenson's drawing style, I looked forward to the possibilities of this ensemble/specials story.
Though the images and art are creatively gritty in their green, amber, and mud tones, my morality (which is steel in some places, marred nylon in others) could quite latch onto this concept. Each member of the group is embued with superhuman talents and a huge amassment of anger toward any ol' regular human - even committing theft and battery - who has a predetermined path to cross them or their greater cause. It was a big thing to try to accept as canon and really grew tiring. -
Great introduction to the series. The artwork is fantastic, the story line is amazing. If your a fan of Eric Stephenson's work than this will not disappoint you. We are introduced, in a very big way, to Syd who throws herself off of a hospital roof in an attempt to "quiet the voices" in her head or as she puts it "to sleep". I think the whole introduction to what appears to be the entire set of characters and what each can do can be a bit over whelming for a first issue, but it feels as though this series is going to go places fast and needs to set things up right away to fully explain what They're Not Like Us is going to be about. If you like Eric Stephenson's work, humans with extra abilities, and mild violence, than this series is for you.
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Here's another free comic book hubby got from Google Play.
A girl stands on the roof of a building. She's going to jump because she wants the voices in her head to stop. A man in a suit appears but she still jumps. The man breaks her out of the hospital and introduces her to a bunch of other 'telepathic' people.
She's different. Like them. And now has a new name: Syd. But there are rules, and the last rule is the best thing about the WHOLE ISSUE. Plus the artwork wasn't that grear. o.O
This was a bit slow and had an X-Men vibe, but is more blah. Yeah. Not feelin' this one. Won't be reading further. -
What if X-men were real people? And they didn't know their powers were real? How do you think they'd really act once they found out they weren't weirdos or crazy? (They probably wouldn't be the selfless super heroes...they'd probably be d*cks; out for numero uno.)
I like this take on a group of people with powers that aren't necessarily "good people." And yet you can sort understand were they're coming from because it's grounded in more reality than most superhero worlds.
It's not perfect but I like it. -
I received access to this as an E-book from the publisher via Netgalley in return for an honest review.
I was expecting a lot of things from this comic based on the cover and the description but was sorely let down. I did not enjoy the art style at all. In fact, it was very distracting. The story was extremely dark and I had a hard time getting into it. I can see where someone else might enjoy it (it did have potential) but I would have DNFed it if I hadn't promised to review it. I will not be continuing on with the series. -
In short, I'm a sucker for Manics references, which is why I bought this - and they're used well, significant without being jarring or pretentious and, in not sticking to them too literally, the comic feels more genuine.
The story so far is... pretty generic, but it's issue 1 so mostly set-up - I'll keep reading and if the story gets more interesting in subsequent issues this has the potential to be really good. -
I started off pretty excited about this comic, and got less and less pleased as the comic went on. Few of the powers were original, the superhero names weren't great, and they seem to be lead by a huge egomaniac. I do like the main character and some secondary characters. Will probably give it another try.
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I guess I really wanted to like this, but I just didn't?
I saw a story with potential there, and I still think it had potential at the beginning, but then it all started to kinda fade. I wasn't worried about anything that was happening and I didn't really care about the characters.
So, it had the pontential, but..
I don't know. -
This could go either way, I think. It could be mind-blowingly life-changing, or it could be unmitigated pretension. I haven't decided yet.
Or it could go the way of Nowhere Men and disappear just as I'm getting into it. -
I received this comic book from Goodreads. This comic book is more suited for my teen-age grandsons than me... a senior citizen. My 18yr and 20yr grandsons said the stories were okay. The plots were typical; but the artwork was good.
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Liked it, want to read more.
Three stars because at this point, while definitely intriguing, it's a bit derivative. Want to see where it decides to go; could turn into something awesome.
