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jeremyjfloyd's review
adventurous
challenging
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.25
quetzelish's review against another edition
4.0
This was a weird book. The artwork is very good despite it being hard to tell what's going on at times. What I mean is that the art is very stylistic, with heavy shadows and rough lines. It isn't a clean style but it works well for the story. Speaking of, the story is certainly an odd one. The imagery is surreal and the plot, while making sense by the end, certainly is all over the place. All in all, a great book but a very strange read. Dark, twisted and oddly poignant, it makes for a story unlike any other.
chamblyman's review
5.0
A beautiful new edition of this groundbreaking graphic novel originally published in 1993. Enigma explored identity, sexuality, and mental illness through a meta-textual superhero mystery decades before it became hip in comics like The Umbrella Academy and Saga, or TV shows like Legion. Milligan's barely on the rails narrative loop-de-loops and Fegredo's itchy-scratchy-electric artwork are a perfect marriage for this dark head-trip of a story. Imagine David Lynch re-imagining The Shadow!
btmarino84's review against another edition
5.0
"If it wasn't for the fact that a monster called The Head was plunging a metal pipe up his nose preparatory to sucking his brains out, Michael Smith could almost laugh."
Peter Milligan shows that, even if is was a bit less famous, he deserves to have the same praise that other "British Invasion" guys like Warren Ellis, Grant Morrison, Garth Ennis, Neil Gaiman and Alan Moore do. Like Jamie Delano and Paul Jenkins, Milligan has not had quite the success or "mainstream" acceptance of those guys (though some of Milligan's work was as critically acclaimed, much of it was hard to find. It really is a shame that his Shade the Changing Man series is not as well collected and bought as things like Animal Man, Sandman, Hellblazer, and Transmetropolitan. It's all part of Karen Berger's glorious editorial work and just as big a part of Vertigo's importance as a publisher) but his work is as interesting and entertaining as most anything published by them and he continues to do great work today. This comic in particular is a beautiful, bizarre, hilarious and psychedelic mess that, though it shares certain characteristics with some of those other people, could only have come from his unique brain. The art is chaotic and dreamlike, with certain things seeming out of focus or slightly obscured, like a nightmare. The coloring goes along with this with a bleeding watercolor style to it.
Peter Milligan shows that, even if is was a bit less famous, he deserves to have the same praise that other "British Invasion" guys like Warren Ellis, Grant Morrison, Garth Ennis, Neil Gaiman and Alan Moore do. Like Jamie Delano and Paul Jenkins, Milligan has not had quite the success or "mainstream" acceptance of those guys (though some of Milligan's work was as critically acclaimed, much of it was hard to find. It really is a shame that his Shade the Changing Man series is not as well collected and bought as things like Animal Man, Sandman, Hellblazer, and Transmetropolitan. It's all part of Karen Berger's glorious editorial work and just as big a part of Vertigo's importance as a publisher) but his work is as interesting and entertaining as most anything published by them and he continues to do great work today. This comic in particular is a beautiful, bizarre, hilarious and psychedelic mess that, though it shares certain characteristics with some of those other people, could only have come from his unique brain. The art is chaotic and dreamlike, with certain things seeming out of focus or slightly obscured, like a nightmare. The coloring goes along with this with a bleeding watercolor style to it.
iliyenzio's review against another edition
5.0
I had to pause reading this because od school, but this was fantastic. The characters, development, etc were on point.
excavatinglizard's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
robin_dh's review
dark
emotional
funny
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
lyrafay12's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
informative
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
4.75
brnineworms's review
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
I was excited to read Enigma and it didn’t disappoint. At first I wasn’t a fan of the scratchy art style but over the course of the story the artwork became more refined. I assumed that this shift was intended to parallel the protagonist’s arc of self-discovery, but in reality it was simply a result of the artist’s skills developing over time. I wasn’t the only one to think it was a deliberate stylistic choice, however. It became something of a myth that even some of the people who worked on the graphic novel bought into. A fiction being accepted as fact and displacing the truth – how very Enigma!
The writing has the edginess and attitude the 1990s are known for, but in the midst off all that there’s a strangely sweet queer romance. I wasn’t expecting such a genuinely tender moment of two men in love holding each other. The characterisation is strong, Michael being a young man paradoxically afraid to confront the unknown yet eager to learn more about the mysterious Enigma, and Enigma himself adopting “parameters” in order to build an identity and cope with an overwhelming world.
I could talk at length about the themes of the story – sexuality, identity, selfhood, reality, truth, and so on – but I think I’ll have to rein it in before I start gushing.
Enigma is a good book. It’s not perfect, but I must admit I like it both in spite of its flaws and because of them. I’ll definitely revisit it at some point. I recommend you give it a read.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Abandonment, Blood, Body horror, Car accident, Death of parent, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Incest, Infidelity, Animal death, Cursing, Medical content, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Confinement, Death, Mental illness, and Murder
Minor: Ableism, Alcohol, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Misogyny, Excrement, Grief, Xenophobia, Addiction, Cancer, Cannibalism, Child abuse, and Drug use
nerdydreamer107's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0