Sketch Monsters - Book 1 by Joshua Williamson and Vincente Navarrete

Sketch Monsters - Book 1: Escape of the Scribbles

I got this book in ebook format from Oni Press, through Netgalley

Eight-year-old Mandy isn't what you'd call an emotional child. Whether at her own surprise birthday party, scoring the winning goal, or being stung by a bee, Mandy doesn't show her feelings.

Instead she draws them as MONSTERS in her sketchbook! But one day her emotions run wild and those monsters escape! Mandy's only help catching them is an eccentric monster named Happster, who causes more problems than he solves.

Can Mandy catch all the sketch monsters and return them to her sketchbook before they destroy her town?




This is a very cutesy book, with a pretty straightforward story. Mandy shows no emotions whatsoever, not when she's happy nor when she is sad. Poker face at its best. But when the monsters she draws escape the sketchbook she has to catch them in a very special way – she has to show the emotion they portray.

The art is quite fun in this book, very bright, and the monsters very childlike, and very cute (and for the most part, not very frightening).

And since this a really small book, it can be read in a flash. The story, not being very surprising or in any way complex, is still nice to read. I'm not sure I would go out of my way to read any new issue of this comic, thought.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

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Orcs: Forged for War by Stan Nicholls and Joe Flood

Orcs: Forged for War

I got this book in ebook format from First Second Books, through Netgalley

Orcs: Forged for War is the first graphic novel in Stan Nicholls’ beloved Orcs universe. The fantasy landscape in this world is brutal and unforgiving, and populated by a race of unlikely protagonists: the powerful and violent warriors, orcs. Orcs: Forged for War is an original story—a new entry in this series, not an adaptation of old material. It follows a ruthless and deadly cohort of warrior orcs as they fight their way free of the dominion of an evil human enchantress. Sitting on an exhilarating peak with high fantasy on one side and the thrilling, gruesome battlefields of graphic novel classics like Frank Miller’s 300 on the other, Orcs presents the world of its ogre-like protagonists with technicolor violence and moments of unexpected sympathy.


Orcs: Forged for War gives a taste into the Orcs universe, one which I didn't know. But the prologue explained not only the reason for this graphic novel but some insight into the world – not that it would be much needed. Forged for War stands well on its own.

The universe of Orcs seems like a nice one to explore – unlike pretty much all fantasy, here this race is not evil, war-driven for sure, but their actions are not malicious. There was a lot that was backstory (that I got to know in the prologue and throughout the graphic novel) and that interested me. Well, to tell the truth, the backstory interested me more than the actual story.

Not that it was bad. It was rather straightforward, with a lot of fighting, and somewhat predictable. And more fighting. In the end, it was not really my cup of tea – I would have preferred something with more plot. The artwork was nice (after, the cover did catch my attention), but still not enough for this book to cause any kind of impact. I might give the novels a try, though.


Rating: 2.5 out of 5

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