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A review by christajls
Bloody Chester by Hilary Florido, J.T. Petty
3.0
This review originally posted at More Than Just Magic
This is my first First Second graphic novel! I love finding new, smaller graphic novel publishers. It adds some great diversity to the field and their amazing collection has me adding a pile of great sounding books to my TBR. Seriously, if you haven’t heard of them yet, then check them out, they have great stuff for all ages and interests.
So now that I’ve said my piece about the publisher, let’s move onto the book itself, Bloody Chester. I saw this title on NetGalley as was immediately attracted to it’s eye catching cover. A quick scan of the synopsis let me know I was headed into Western territory – a genre that’s not unfamiliar to me, but it’s not a regular undertaking for me. But once I started reading, I found Bloody Chester surprisingly easy to get into, even for one not the most comfortable with the genre. Though it is no doubt a Western, Bloody Chester does not go over the top shoving in tropes or archetypes It just focuses on some solid characters and a simple story. Something all great stories are made of. I was also immediately put at ease by the artwork. Simple but distinctive. It kind of made me think this is what Jeff Lemire’s comics would look like if he wrote Westerns.
Once you look past the setting, you’re really dealing with the adventure of one boy – Chester Kates. Our “hero.” He’s a scrappy, skinny kid, who gets in a lot of fights but at the end of the day is determined to survive. He takes on the unpleasant job of burning town a ghost town called Whale because people believe it’s haunted/cursed. Chester is an interesting character. He’s not a bad kid by any means, but he at times has some questionable ethics. I wanted to like him, and for the most part I did. And I liked seeing him struggle between the choice of finishing the job or just making a run for it. Especially when faced with the threat of a disease called Coyote Waits.
Though there are many things I love about Bloody Chester, I ultimately felt like there were some things missing from this story. It kind of just…ends. You feel as though you’ve been left hanging. I also thought more could have been done at the beginning to set the stage. For example, I thought the reader might have better served with some more information about Chester. It was almost as if we were thrown into the story when it was already 15% in. Simplicity is often a good thing, but too much simplicity left this reader wanting more.
Recommendation: A fun, quick graphic read. Good for those who want to step outside their comfort zone a little without going too crazy, or committing too much time.
This is my first First Second graphic novel! I love finding new, smaller graphic novel publishers. It adds some great diversity to the field and their amazing collection has me adding a pile of great sounding books to my TBR. Seriously, if you haven’t heard of them yet, then check them out, they have great stuff for all ages and interests.
So now that I’ve said my piece about the publisher, let’s move onto the book itself, Bloody Chester. I saw this title on NetGalley as was immediately attracted to it’s eye catching cover. A quick scan of the synopsis let me know I was headed into Western territory – a genre that’s not unfamiliar to me, but it’s not a regular undertaking for me. But once I started reading, I found Bloody Chester surprisingly easy to get into, even for one not the most comfortable with the genre. Though it is no doubt a Western, Bloody Chester does not go over the top shoving in tropes or archetypes It just focuses on some solid characters and a simple story. Something all great stories are made of. I was also immediately put at ease by the artwork. Simple but distinctive. It kind of made me think this is what Jeff Lemire’s comics would look like if he wrote Westerns.
Once you look past the setting, you’re really dealing with the adventure of one boy – Chester Kates. Our “hero.” He’s a scrappy, skinny kid, who gets in a lot of fights but at the end of the day is determined to survive. He takes on the unpleasant job of burning town a ghost town called Whale because people believe it’s haunted/cursed. Chester is an interesting character. He’s not a bad kid by any means, but he at times has some questionable ethics. I wanted to like him, and for the most part I did. And I liked seeing him struggle between the choice of finishing the job or just making a run for it. Especially when faced with the threat of a disease called Coyote Waits.
Though there are many things I love about Bloody Chester, I ultimately felt like there were some things missing from this story. It kind of just…ends. You feel as though you’ve been left hanging. I also thought more could have been done at the beginning to set the stage. For example, I thought the reader might have better served with some more information about Chester. It was almost as if we were thrown into the story when it was already 15% in. Simplicity is often a good thing, but too much simplicity left this reader wanting more.
Recommendation: A fun, quick graphic read. Good for those who want to step outside their comfort zone a little without going too crazy, or committing too much time.