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rlevy_95's review against another edition
3.0
Found it a little cringy with the outing in the beginning and found the entire comic pretty corny. The art was great & it was a fast read.
ellelainey's review against another edition
3.0
** I WAS GIVEN THIS BOOK FOR MY READING PLEASURE **
Copy received through Netgalley
~
Kill A Man
Steve Orlando, Phillip Kennedy Johnson, Alec Morgan
★★★☆☆
128 Pages
Content Warning: violence, MMA, homophobia, death of a character
This was an interesting graphic novel, with an up-to-date, relevant plot that explores the trials of homophobia within sports, and also takes a look at coming-out, both in terms of a young man being outed and the struggles faced through that process.
However, I do have to point out that one of the reasons I wanted to read this was because it was billed as a YA graphic novel. I was so excited, thinking there would be a sports-and-queer positive storyline in a graphic novel aimed at young men. Instead, I found the book was filled with swearing, homophobia, bloody violence and an MC that had zero romance in his life until the final few pages and was instead consumed by nameless/meaningless hook-ups. The one supposedly positive queer relationship within the story fell flat in terms of actually inspiring sympathy, compassion or a sense of romance. It felt lacklustre and lacked affection. I was never inspired to like or feel a connection to Mayne.
I would never bill this story as suitable for the YA market. Perhaps a NA, 17+ market, but definitely not for anyone younger, which is what YA means.
I did like that the story explored the concept of coming out, as a sportsman, dealing with homophobia in sports, and rigged matches. However, the ultimate message that came across was that gay men can't/shouldn't exist in the world of sports, because they will never be given a fair chance by the sporting community or other sportsmen. Unless those sportsmen were gay, no one would ever accept them for who they were. There was a really HUGE opportunity to portray otherwise, but it didn't, and that really felt like a loss, especially if they do intend to market this to the YA audience.
I genuinely felt that the overall message was negative – it focused so intensely on the fact that a gay man killed a straight man. The story was so set on emphasising this that it came across very negatively towards gay men. It also focused a lot on the concept of gay man not having romantic or intimate relationships, rather just focusing on James' flings and hook-ups. It had ample opportunity to portray two sides of a story, but focused too much on one storyline and that meant it didn't have the chance to properly explore the relationships it should have.
The reality of James' experience with his family, and dealing with his coming out, was realistic and well handled.
Overall, the story was good and had a lot of potential, I was just disappointed to see that some opportunities had been given an opening that was never followed through on. I was also less inspired to forgive those failings, since the story did come across as a bit of a blend between the Rocky IV and Creed movies. As a massive fan of the Rocky franchise, this was far too close to the plot of both movies, and lacked the originality I was hoping for.
Copy received through Netgalley
~
Kill A Man
Steve Orlando, Phillip Kennedy Johnson, Alec Morgan
★★★☆☆
128 Pages
Content Warning: violence, MMA, homophobia, death of a character
This was an interesting graphic novel, with an up-to-date, relevant plot that explores the trials of homophobia within sports, and also takes a look at coming-out, both in terms of a young man being outed and the struggles faced through that process.
However, I do have to point out that one of the reasons I wanted to read this was because it was billed as a YA graphic novel. I was so excited, thinking there would be a sports-and-queer positive storyline in a graphic novel aimed at young men. Instead, I found the book was filled with swearing, homophobia, bloody violence and an MC that had zero romance in his life until the final few pages and was instead consumed by nameless/meaningless hook-ups. The one supposedly positive queer relationship within the story fell flat in terms of actually inspiring sympathy, compassion or a sense of romance. It felt lacklustre and lacked affection. I was never inspired to like or feel a connection to Mayne.
I would never bill this story as suitable for the YA market. Perhaps a NA, 17+ market, but definitely not for anyone younger, which is what YA means.
I did like that the story explored the concept of coming out, as a sportsman, dealing with homophobia in sports, and rigged matches. However, the ultimate message that came across was that gay men can't/shouldn't exist in the world of sports, because they will never be given a fair chance by the sporting community or other sportsmen. Unless those sportsmen were gay, no one would ever accept them for who they were. There was a really HUGE opportunity to portray otherwise, but it didn't, and that really felt like a loss, especially if they do intend to market this to the YA audience.
I genuinely felt that the overall message was negative – it focused so intensely on the fact that a gay man killed a straight man. The story was so set on emphasising this that it came across very negatively towards gay men. It also focused a lot on the concept of gay man not having romantic or intimate relationships, rather just focusing on James' flings and hook-ups. It had ample opportunity to portray two sides of a story, but focused too much on one storyline and that meant it didn't have the chance to properly explore the relationships it should have.
The reality of James' experience with his family, and dealing with his coming out, was realistic and well handled.
Overall, the story was good and had a lot of potential, I was just disappointed to see that some opportunities had been given an opening that was never followed through on. I was also less inspired to forgive those failings, since the story did come across as a bit of a blend between the Rocky IV and Creed movies. As a massive fan of the Rocky franchise, this was far too close to the plot of both movies, and lacked the originality I was hoping for.
jekutree's review against another edition
4.0
Solid.
The story itself was a great story of forgiveness and tremendous perseverance. The art is fantastic and the characters are all great. I do think there is a ton of deep rooted phobia in athletics (which is a major portion of the book) but having it be as blatant as it is here seems a bit cartoonish at times.
Strong 7/10
The story itself was a great story of forgiveness and tremendous perseverance. The art is fantastic and the characters are all great. I do think there is a ton of deep rooted phobia in athletics (which is a major portion of the book) but having it be as blatant as it is here seems a bit cartoonish at times.
Strong 7/10
crookedtreehouse's review against another edition
3.0
I really wanted more from this book than just slapping Gay Issues on the standard underdog sports story. The premise, that an up and coming boxer's career is put in jeopardy when he's outed by a competitor, was cool. I also liked the dichotomy of the up and coming boxer's father having been a bigot who died in the ring after verbally assaulting his queer opponent. But it starts treading water about halfway through and just becomes familiar trope after familiar trope until we reach the end where we're hit with another familiar trope.
Fans of sports comics might love this, and if you're looking for an LGBTQIA+ sports comic, well ... there's Fence, Avant-Guards, and Check Please, most of which are better. But this one skews more adult without being, you know, Adult.
Fans of sports comics might love this, and if you're looking for an LGBTQIA+ sports comic, well ... there's Fence, Avant-Guards, and Check Please, most of which are better. But this one skews more adult without being, you know, Adult.
irayred's review against another edition
3.0
Sometimes you have to fight your way to success, even more so if you’re a queer person, surrounded by bigots.
James Bellyi is a young MMA wrestler who’s outed by his opponent in the middle of a fight and now, the company he works for, doesn’t want him to get the title, even if he deserves it.
On top of that, James’ dad died a few years ago by the hand of a gay MMA wrestler too. You see, DJ Bellyi was a homophobe who practically was asking to get beaten down. Wayne was the one who knocked him down for good and the guy never got up again. But this death changed both young James and Wayne. Now, so many years after that accident, Wayne becomes James’ coach and he helps him get back on the horse.
Now, this kinda sounds like the movie Creed, I know, the only difference is that we got a queer MC. Thus, we have the right amount of drama and action scenes that make this a fast read. Though I wasn’t really in love with the art style, the story has its strong points.
I would definitely recommend to read this graphic novel whether if you’re a fan of MMA or you’re interested in different yet entertaining queer stories.
I received an ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
James Bellyi is a young MMA wrestler who’s outed by his opponent in the middle of a fight and now, the company he works for, doesn’t want him to get the title, even if he deserves it.
On top of that, James’ dad died a few years ago by the hand of a gay MMA wrestler too. You see, DJ Bellyi was a homophobe who practically was asking to get beaten down. Wayne was the one who knocked him down for good and the guy never got up again. But this death changed both young James and Wayne. Now, so many years after that accident, Wayne becomes James’ coach and he helps him get back on the horse.
Now, this kinda sounds like the movie Creed, I know, the only difference is that we got a queer MC. Thus, we have the right amount of drama and action scenes that make this a fast read. Though I wasn’t really in love with the art style, the story has its strong points.
I would definitely recommend to read this graphic novel whether if you’re a fan of MMA or you’re interested in different yet entertaining queer stories.
I received an ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
homosexual's review against another edition
4.0
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me an ARC!
My Booktube
The story is as it says in the synopsis so there isn't much else for me to say. The coloring and panel work in this is very nice and helped contribute to the atmosphere while reading.
This is more of a 3.5 but I rounded up for the shoutout to queer people in sports at the end. What can I say, I'm sentimental.
My Booktube
The story is as it says in the synopsis so there isn't much else for me to say. The coloring and panel work in this is very nice and helped contribute to the atmosphere while reading.
This is more of a 3.5 but I rounded up for the shoutout to queer people in sports at the end. What can I say, I'm sentimental.
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