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geekwayne's review
4.0
What do you get when you combine amazing artist Ande Parks with screenwriters Joe and Anthony Russo (Community, Captain America: Winter Soldier)? You get a high velocity story like 'Ciudad.' It rockets from page to page and feels very much like an action movie.
Eva Roche is kidnapped and her father wants her back so badly that he'll hire mercenary Tyler Rake and his team to pull it off. The problems begin with the city of Ciudad that they find themselves in. Tyler is good with an inventive name and improvising when things go bad, but he's not so good when the victim he's rescuing gets under his skin. When things go sideways (more than once), Tyler and Eva find themselves thrown for curveball after curveball. The bullets fly as everyone involved shoots first before asking questions.
My review copy had some pretty low grade art, and I see complaints about it on GoodReads, but some online samples I've seen show a much better resolution than the review copies. That's unfortunate, because the review copy looked like a third generation xeroxed 'zine, and that's no way to treat Ande Parks art. The story is very cinematic and kept me turning pages. I thought it was a pretty good story.
I received a review copy of this graphic novel from Diamond Book Distributors, Oni Press and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this fast-paced graphic novel.
Eva Roche is kidnapped and her father wants her back so badly that he'll hire mercenary Tyler Rake and his team to pull it off. The problems begin with the city of Ciudad that they find themselves in. Tyler is good with an inventive name and improvising when things go bad, but he's not so good when the victim he's rescuing gets under his skin. When things go sideways (more than once), Tyler and Eva find themselves thrown for curveball after curveball. The bullets fly as everyone involved shoots first before asking questions.
My review copy had some pretty low grade art, and I see complaints about it on GoodReads, but some online samples I've seen show a much better resolution than the review copies. That's unfortunate, because the review copy looked like a third generation xeroxed 'zine, and that's no way to treat Ande Parks art. The story is very cinematic and kept me turning pages. I thought it was a pretty good story.
I received a review copy of this graphic novel from Diamond Book Distributors, Oni Press and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this fast-paced graphic novel.
zare_i's review
4.0
Now this was action packed. Imagine story that is a mix between "Escape from New York", "Mile 22", "Raid", "16 Blocks", "Gauntlet" and "Proof of Life".
Some will say this graphic novel reads like a movie script and they would be right. This is "movie script" in as far that story is very simple - mercenary expert in extraction of people from highly dangerous environments gets stuck in Paraguay, in Ciduad de Este, and hunted by corrupted government officials and criminal underworld because he is trying to extract the daughter of a very important person from the clutches of the kidnappers.
To say all tropes are in is not required - it would be like saying that starships and weird creatures are part of every space opera.This is an action event through and through, characters are slightly underdeveloped but again this is not drama nor criminal investigation that would flesh out the characters. Again no need - entire story is a race with time, fighting great odds to ensure our two heroes manage cross the city border into safety. We are spectators as action scenes play out in this great city and as our heroes try to get to the safety outside of it.
I can understand that good people of Paraguay might feel offended by description of lawlessness in Ciudad de Este but we need to come to terms that stereotypes exist and always will (hmmm, Russians are always baddies, I wonder why eh). Ciudad is here just a metaphor of large metropolis and underlying criminal shadowy world that is present in every major city.
Art might be off-putting to some but I liked it. It is a little bit cartoon-ish and I don't mind it. Decision to go without colors was in my opinion a great one (but then again I am fan of b&w graphics since Alex Raymond, Hal Foster and Al Williamson).
Good action romp and very interesting book. If you are fun of action stories that do not diverge or branch into ever more complicated story-lines give this one a chance, I think you will like it.
Some will say this graphic novel reads like a movie script and they would be right. This is "movie script" in as far that story is very simple - mercenary expert in extraction of people from highly dangerous environments gets stuck in Paraguay, in Ciduad de Este, and hunted by corrupted government officials and criminal underworld because he is trying to extract the daughter of a very important person from the clutches of the kidnappers.
To say all tropes are in is not required - it would be like saying that starships and weird creatures are part of every space opera.This is an action event through and through, characters are slightly underdeveloped but again this is not drama nor criminal investigation that would flesh out the characters. Again no need - entire story is a race with time, fighting great odds to ensure our two heroes manage cross the city border into safety. We are spectators as action scenes play out in this great city and as our heroes try to get to the safety outside of it.
I can understand that good people of Paraguay might feel offended by description of lawlessness in Ciudad de Este but we need to come to terms that stereotypes exist and always will (hmmm, Russians are always baddies, I wonder why eh). Ciudad is here just a metaphor of large metropolis and underlying criminal shadowy world that is present in every major city.
Art might be off-putting to some but I liked it. It is a little bit cartoon-ish and I don't mind it. Decision to go without colors was in my opinion a great one (but then again I am fan of b&w graphics since Alex Raymond, Hal Foster and Al Williamson).
Good action romp and very interesting book. If you are fun of action stories that do not diverge or branch into ever more complicated story-lines give this one a chance, I think you will like it.
alisarae's review
3.0
Ciudad, by Ande Parks, Joe Russo, and Anthony Russo, reads like an action flick, which is probably why it was picked up for a silver screen adaptation by Sierra Pictures. It is fast paced, violent, gritty, and features all the twisted corruption that we love about South American politics. In spite of its predictability, and the characters being more like caricatures than real people, I found myself liking it for the same reason people like action movies. It’s racy and entertaining and not from my world.
Full review on Papercuttts.
(note: I got an ARC from Netgalley, but that didn't affect my honest opinion)
Full review on Papercuttts.
(note: I got an ARC from Netgalley, but that didn't affect my honest opinion)
vivamonty's review
3.0
Gritty, cinematic, extremely violent. Hard to follow at times due to opaque detailing in the art, but the action blockbuster story keeps things intriguing cover to cover.
glire's review
Ni siquiera pude terminarlo. El "arte" es terrible, de hecho he visto cosas mejores en las caricaturas del periódico. Las imágenes se ven pixeladas y muchas veces para poder entenderlas tenía que hacer mega zoom en la pagina, o entrecerrar los ojos y girar la cabeza 45 grados a la izquierda, mientras bailaba la danza de la lluvia. Ok, exageré, pero el punto es que requería mucho esfuerzo, y como no había nada que me incitara a seguir leyendo, abandoné.
¿Qué le pasó a Miguel? ¿No tiene ojos, le arrojaron acido a la cara? ¿Qué es esa mancha negra, sangre, pintura, un pulpo asesino que lo está abrazando? Tantas dudas y tan poco interés de mi parte en descubrir la respuesta.
Los diálogos son malos. Generalmente no tengo ningún problema con un lenguaje grosero, total uno que otro insulto nunca ha matado a nadie. Pero aquí los insultos son el dialogo, hasta el punto que perdían el sentido y era aburrido seguir leyendo.
La trama es cliché y no tiene nada particularmente memorable.
En general, esto es como la transcripción (con muy malos dibujos) de una de esas viejas y malas, películas de acción para televisión.
¿Qué le pasó a Miguel? ¿No tiene ojos, le arrojaron acido a la cara? ¿Qué es esa mancha negra, sangre, pintura, un pulpo asesino que lo está abrazando? Tantas dudas y tan poco interés de mi parte en descubrir la respuesta.
Los diálogos son malos. Generalmente no tengo ningún problema con un lenguaje grosero, total uno que otro insulto nunca ha matado a nadie. Pero aquí los insultos son el dialogo, hasta el punto que perdían el sentido y era aburrido seguir leyendo.
La trama es cliché y no tiene nada particularmente memorable.
En general, esto es como la transcripción (con muy malos dibujos) de una de esas viejas y malas, películas de acción para televisión.
bluepigeon's review
2.0
The first thing that I must say about the digital copy of Ciudad that I got from NetGalley (Thank you!) is that there must be something wrong with the digital file. Except for a few pages (for example, page 39), most pages appear pixilated, sometimes making it impossible to see what is happening in each panel. I had to read it on my computer with 2x and 4x zoom to be able to make out the dialog (though the zoom made the pixilation even worse!) Page 39, however, was beautifully drawn. So, I am assuming this was just an error, which needs to be rectified immediately if the publisher wants positive reviews of the digital version.
Beyond the art, the story is engaging enough, but nothing novel or unpredictable. Perhaps the way the story is told, where panels show events overlapped with past or current conversations, make the storyline a bit more dynamic and layered, akin to watching a film with narration and events going on at the same time, but beyond this, every new turn of events is predictable. Most of the dialog is bordering on cliché. Bad boys talk tough, women are always weak and cowering, the morally ambivalent main character is too tough on the outside, but a caring teddy bear on the inside, and on and on. There is a lot of attempts to noir, and some of it does work, but overall, I can say that this is just another graphic novel with lots of shooting and bad talking without much content. One of the main cornerstones of noir is the unique philosophizing of the main character that we hear throughout the story, which is lacking in this novel, except for the sentimental letter in the end, which does not add much to the story or the characters.
All in all, Ciudad will make a blockbuster film, I am sure. But it is not a memorable graphic tome.
Beyond the art, the story is engaging enough, but nothing novel or unpredictable. Perhaps the way the story is told, where panels show events overlapped with past or current conversations, make the storyline a bit more dynamic and layered, akin to watching a film with narration and events going on at the same time, but beyond this, every new turn of events is predictable. Most of the dialog is bordering on cliché. Bad boys talk tough, women are always weak and cowering, the morally ambivalent main character is too tough on the outside, but a caring teddy bear on the inside, and on and on. There is a lot of attempts to noir, and some of it does work, but overall, I can say that this is just another graphic novel with lots of shooting and bad talking without much content. One of the main cornerstones of noir is the unique philosophizing of the main character that we hear throughout the story, which is lacking in this novel, except for the sentimental letter in the end, which does not add much to the story or the characters.
All in all, Ciudad will make a blockbuster film, I am sure. But it is not a memorable graphic tome.
rosseroo's review
4.0
The real Paraguayan city of Ciudad del Este forms the backdrop for this hyper-violent action thriller graphic novel. Hats off to the creators for picking such a fertile setting for, what is essentially a very well-worn story of a mercenary hired to rescue an attractive young woman. The city is less than sixty years old, but due to its location on the border with Brazil and very near the border of Argentina, has blossomed into a commercial hub with more than 300,000 people living there. What makes it really interesting, however, is the mix of the population -- in addition to Paraguayans, there are loads of Brazilians, Argentines, Koreans, Taiwanese, Lebanese of all religious stripes, Iranians, and more. This mix comes alive in the extremely bloody story, which has the mercenary and girl on the run from several different factions of gunmen. The whole thing is kind of mash-up of The Professional, The Warriors, Terminator 2, Escape From New York, Bourne Identity, and so on. Kind of fun if you like that kind of stuff with a high body count. The stark black and white artwork -- no greyscale -- fits the action perfectly, kind of reminded me of European comics from the '80s.
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