ARC Graphic Novel Review: They're Not Like Us (They're Not Like Us, Vol. #1)

Author| Eric Stephenson  Artist| Simon Gane  Rating| 2.5 Stars

Edition| eGalley courtesy of Netgalley  Release Date| July 21st, 2015

Buy Links| Amazon*/Barnes and Noble*/Book Depository

I received a copy of They're Not Like Us from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

So, this is basically supposed to be "what if the X-Men were psychopaths" kind of story.  And I wasn't really too fond of it.  For one, the art was not something I enjoyed in the least.  For another, the story was mostly set up, the characters made little sense, and the plot felt forced.

What did I like?  Well, our main character was pretty interesting and she carried the story well.  She was also the only one with any kind of head on her shoulders and all her reasoning made sense.  She saw through the horrible nature of these people and spoke reason.  She was a really strong character, and I'm glad she could singly handily keep this story from falling to one star.

Let me start with why I disliked the art.  It wasn't bad in any context, and looking at other reviews are saw that many people really did enjoy it.  I just couldn't enjoy it.  It felt childish and I didn't like how many individual strokes and pieces there were to each character.  Also, each character was given about one facial expression, and that changed very little no matter what was happening, and that bothered me.

Then there's the story itself.  It was boring and predictable and dark for no reason.  Not to sound philosophical, but there can't be anything dark in a story unless there is light in it as well, and there was no light to balance here.  No breathing room.  And very little action as well.  Every action felt forced and I really wasn't invested in any of the characters, most of which were two-dimensional.

Overall, I don't recommend this one.  If you are curious, click here to add it to Goodreads.