Channel Zero by Brian Wood
Publish Date: 12 June 2012 (paperback)
Publisher: Dark Horse
Page Count: 298
Synopsis: Special interest groups have bullied the government into passing the Clean Act, effectively killing freedom of speech and silencing the country into submission. TV and God become one and the same as America wages its own holy war against its citizens. Meet Jennie 2.5, media slut turned info-terrorist, out to save the country from itself, and restore free will and self expression. Hailed internationally as ground-breaking work in the field of sequential art, Channel Zero challenges and tests the limits, combining current events and no-future shock into a dark, paranoid, deep-ambient visual narrative.
Review: I recieved an ARC digital copy of Channel Zero from NetGalley, which I read on my computer, I had no trouble with this but did notice it caused the pages to be slightly pixelated meaning I couldn't appreciate the beauty of the art as much as I normally would when reading a graphic novel, but also the smaller text was harder to read, even with these negative parts which have nothing to do with the author or illustrator I feel I should mention them because even with these faults I have still rated it highly which illustrates just how much I enjoyed it, I have also actually got it on pre-order so I can drool over the art some more and let my boyfriend read it too as he is a sucker for Dark Horse books. Now time for my actual review part.
From the very first page this hits me as a very "V for Vendatta"-esque piece of work but also a very important because it is essentially that something could happen, or even is in the process of happening. It is set in America where they have recently passed the "Clean Act" which basically means the government has complete control over the media, nothing is show or told to the populations without the governments say so, and what is told is most likely manipulated to help the people feel safe whilst outside of America pretty much anything and everything could be happening and the American citizens wouldn't know a thing or recognise the outside world if they were to leave. I think on of the main reason I took to this book so well is because I love the storyline, but also because the main character Jennie 2.5 is so lovable and is very much an outcast as she appears to be the only person in the whole of America who can see how wrong their lives are and is fighting to regain to control for the public and I totally dig the underdogs. Not to mention she has the most rad tattoo's I've ever seen and style. What I also loved about this book was after the story had finished it included the development of the authors art and progress and development ideas that led him to this final outcome, which is something often included within graphic novels but the reason I loved it for this specific one is that you learn that Brian Wood actualyl created this for a school assignment! After Channel Zero has come to and end there is also a short story titled Jennie One which a different illustrator did the art for and I loved this section too, but again it included Becky's development stages in how she progressed from an manga based art style to something so much more. I loved this book throughout, every page has been deeply engraved in my mind and I can not wait to get my hands on my physically copy to read it again. Hey I may even pop back and let you know what my boyfriend thought too!
Review: I recieved an ARC digital copy of Channel Zero from NetGalley, which I read on my computer, I had no trouble with this but did notice it caused the pages to be slightly pixelated meaning I couldn't appreciate the beauty of the art as much as I normally would when reading a graphic novel, but also the smaller text was harder to read, even with these negative parts which have nothing to do with the author or illustrator I feel I should mention them because even with these faults I have still rated it highly which illustrates just how much I enjoyed it, I have also actually got it on pre-order so I can drool over the art some more and let my boyfriend read it too as he is a sucker for Dark Horse books. Now time for my actual review part.
From the very first page this hits me as a very "V for Vendatta"-esque piece of work but also a very important because it is essentially that something could happen, or even is in the process of happening. It is set in America where they have recently passed the "Clean Act" which basically means the government has complete control over the media, nothing is show or told to the populations without the governments say so, and what is told is most likely manipulated to help the people feel safe whilst outside of America pretty much anything and everything could be happening and the American citizens wouldn't know a thing or recognise the outside world if they were to leave. I think on of the main reason I took to this book so well is because I love the storyline, but also because the main character Jennie 2.5 is so lovable and is very much an outcast as she appears to be the only person in the whole of America who can see how wrong their lives are and is fighting to regain to control for the public and I totally dig the underdogs. Not to mention she has the most rad tattoo's I've ever seen and style. What I also loved about this book was after the story had finished it included the development of the authors art and progress and development ideas that led him to this final outcome, which is something often included within graphic novels but the reason I loved it for this specific one is that you learn that Brian Wood actualyl created this for a school assignment! After Channel Zero has come to and end there is also a short story titled Jennie One which a different illustrator did the art for and I loved this section too, but again it included Becky's development stages in how she progressed from an manga based art style to something so much more. I loved this book throughout, every page has been deeply engraved in my mind and I can not wait to get my hands on my physically copy to read it again. Hey I may even pop back and let you know what my boyfriend thought too!
Recommend: If graphic novels are your thing, totally. I loved it.
That is a fantastic thorough review, i really would like to read this but then it's a graphic novel so i have no idea how i would get on with it. I see what you mean though, you would struggle reading this on the computer but least you have an actual copy to come so you can appreciate the graphics more :) brilliant x
ReplyDeleteWhen I get my own physical copy I'll show you some of the pages. Its really quite beautiful to read something that tells a lot of the story through images.
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