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geekwayne's review against another edition
2.0
'Burn The Orphanage Volume 1: Born to Lose' does start with a burning orphanage and a bunch of angry streetfighting types, but it never gave me a reason to care about the orphanage or even these silly cartoonish streetfighting types.
The story started so abruptly, I felt like I had missed something. Usually orphanages are not remembered fondly, much less sought revenge for, but this is what Rock and his friends Bear and Lex do. Subtlety and nuance are not elements of this story. This is a street brawl with crudeness and violence. It's brashness offended me, not for brashness sake, but just the immaturity level of the story. Then the story moves into godlike creatures fighting aliens in an arena. It's a throwback to the Streetfighter type video games, but it just came across as silly overall.
The art is inconsistent. Sometimes the drawings are good, sometimes, not so much. One sequence toward the end where Rock is hallucinating himself into a side scroller was brilliant. Showing Rock biting off testicles, decidedly less than brilliant. I like "in your face" books, but this one just didn't deliver for me.
I was given a review copy of this graphic novel by Diamond Book Distributors and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this graphic novel.
The story started so abruptly, I felt like I had missed something. Usually orphanages are not remembered fondly, much less sought revenge for, but this is what Rock and his friends Bear and Lex do. Subtlety and nuance are not elements of this story. This is a street brawl with crudeness and violence. It's brashness offended me, not for brashness sake, but just the immaturity level of the story. Then the story moves into godlike creatures fighting aliens in an arena. It's a throwback to the Streetfighter type video games, but it just came across as silly overall.
The art is inconsistent. Sometimes the drawings are good, sometimes, not so much. One sequence toward the end where Rock is hallucinating himself into a side scroller was brilliant. Showing Rock biting off testicles, decidedly less than brilliant. I like "in your face" books, but this one just didn't deliver for me.
I was given a review copy of this graphic novel by Diamond Book Distributors and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this graphic novel.
fics_and_bricks's review
adventurous
funny
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
hobbes199's review against another edition
2.0
I can understand what this tribute to side scrolling beat 'em ups is trying to do, but this is a mess. So much so that I kept checking that I hadn't missed panels or pages.
lizzytacular's review against another edition
5.0
Packed with great characters, action, video game references, and fun, this is a 90s-inspired gem!
annaonthepage's review
Got this in a sale to try it out. Liked the title as a promise of adventure. Not sure I'll carry on with the series as I didn't get much out of this volume. It ambled and digressed and didn't really flow. I liked Bear as he was endearing, and reminded me physically of Gregory in The Nao of Brown. No one is really developed outside of tropes though.
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