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geekwayne's review against another edition
2.0
'Dark Engine Volume 1: The Art of Destruction' is one of those stories that dumps you right in the middle and lets you sort things out. I'm still not completely certain I sorted everything out by the end of volume 1.
A time travelling killer named Sym has been created out of dark magic and sent back in time to correct errors made to the world. She is violent, not very talkative, and also not afraid to fight with her clothes off and take and use trophies of her kills as armor and weapons. That all sounds pretty cool, but it's kind of a mess to understand that. The visual clues are all there, but it's lacking some cohesion and coherency. I don't mind Syn's lack of dialogue, and the stuff we learn towards the end is fine to keep until the end, but a bit more exposition from the future folks would have made it a little better.
This is only the first 4 issues of the series, so maybe it will even out and make sense as it goes. I liked the art sometimes, but not all the way through the book. It's got an ugly style that I don't mind. The story is dark and strange and I think I'd like it if I had more notion of what was actually going on. If I get a stab at Volume 2, I'll see if it makes more sense.
I received a review copy of this graphic novel from Diamond Book Distributors, Image Comics and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this strange graphic novel.
A time travelling killer named Sym has been created out of dark magic and sent back in time to correct errors made to the world. She is violent, not very talkative, and also not afraid to fight with her clothes off and take and use trophies of her kills as armor and weapons. That all sounds pretty cool, but it's kind of a mess to understand that. The visual clues are all there, but it's lacking some cohesion and coherency. I don't mind Syn's lack of dialogue, and the stuff we learn towards the end is fine to keep until the end, but a bit more exposition from the future folks would have made it a little better.
This is only the first 4 issues of the series, so maybe it will even out and make sense as it goes. I liked the art sometimes, but not all the way through the book. It's got an ugly style that I don't mind. The story is dark and strange and I think I'd like it if I had more notion of what was actually going on. If I get a stab at Volume 2, I'll see if it makes more sense.
I received a review copy of this graphic novel from Diamond Book Distributors, Image Comics and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this strange graphic novel.
daynpitseleh's review against another edition
2.0
I received this from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
The art style is interesting, although the gore might not be appreciated by some. The plot is a bit muddled though, and it leaves a bit to be desired.
The art style is interesting, although the gore might not be appreciated by some. The plot is a bit muddled though, and it leaves a bit to be desired.
carroq's review against another edition
2.0
Suffice it to say, I was not terribly impressed by this book. The world is in ruins and a group of men create a female living weapon to go back in time and destroy whatever caused the problem to begin with.
None of the characters are particularly interesting. Sym, the weapon, doesn't have much personality until the end of the book. She hops from time to time killing anything she encounters. The group that created her is so shrouded in mystery that it's difficult to get to know them. They are mostly waiting for the end of time or for Sym to complete her mission. It doesn't seem like they care which one happens first.
I enjoyed the art. It can be a bit gruesome though. There isn't much for plot and things move at a turtle's pace. I couldn't get into it because there wasn't enough here to make me care about what happened next.
None of the characters are particularly interesting. Sym, the weapon, doesn't have much personality until the end of the book. She hops from time to time killing anything she encounters. The group that created her is so shrouded in mystery that it's difficult to get to know them. They are mostly waiting for the end of time or for Sym to complete her mission. It doesn't seem like they care which one happens first.
I enjoyed the art. It can be a bit gruesome though. There isn't much for plot and things move at a turtle's pace. I couldn't get into it because there wasn't enough here to make me care about what happened next.
reginaexmachina's review against another edition
1.0
The blur of this sounded really interesting:
"The world is cracked and in ruin. The air is full of dead men's ashes, fallen colossi smother the earth with their decayed husks, and infectious monsters roam freely. In their desperation, a group of alchemists have created a killer named Sym from obscene magic, outfitting her with an engine that will allow her to travel back in time to stop whatever it was that made their world so. But the alchemists don't realize that the engine is sentient, that their unstoppable killer is powered by the seed of their destruction. "
However I was barely able to get through it. I somehow thought the protagonist was Sym the female warrior but she is barely in the comic. When she is she's mostly silent and the action was confusing to follow. The plot itself was hard to follow. The art was really good but I had no idea what was going on 90% of the time. I'm tired of these comics where the ideas and the art are great but the execution is sloppy and not cohesive. Argh.
"The world is cracked and in ruin. The air is full of dead men's ashes, fallen colossi smother the earth with their decayed husks, and infectious monsters roam freely. In their desperation, a group of alchemists have created a killer named Sym from obscene magic, outfitting her with an engine that will allow her to travel back in time to stop whatever it was that made their world so. But the alchemists don't realize that the engine is sentient, that their unstoppable killer is powered by the seed of their destruction. "
However I was barely able to get through it. I somehow thought the protagonist was Sym the female warrior but she is barely in the comic. When she is she's mostly silent and the action was confusing to follow. The plot itself was hard to follow. The art was really good but I had no idea what was going on 90% of the time. I'm tired of these comics where the ideas and the art are great but the execution is sloppy and not cohesive. Argh.
dereksilva's review against another edition
2.0
Seems like it has the potential to become an interesting story later on, but at least for now, there's too much going on and it's too difficult for me to follow.
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