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48th out of 79 books
—
47 voters
The Homeland Directive
by
Robert Venditti (Goodreads Author),
Mike Huddleston
As head of the National Center for Infectious Diseases, Dr. Laura Regan isone of the world's foremost authorities on viral and bacteriological study.Having dedicated her career to halting the spread of infectious disease, she hasalways considered herself one of the good guys. But when her research partner ismurdered and Laura is blamed for the crime, she finds herself at t...more
Paperback, 144 pages
Published
July 26th 2011
by Top Shelf Productions
(first published 2010)
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Thrillers are fluff. There's really no way around it. Even the best are designed not to engage the philosophical beast but to entice the reptile man. Thrillers appeal to our base instincts, our demand for survival. They stoke the fires or our adrenaline and even the smartest of them fail to thrill if they get too smart. At that point, they cease to be thrillers and become some kind of careful literature that makes knowing use of the thriller's mode. Either that or they become bad thrillers.
Fortu...more
For his first creator-owned work since the groundbreaking
Surrogates
, Venditti delivers a taut thriller that elevates the genre within the comics medium. After Dr. Laura Regan's research partner is murdered and she is blamed for the crime, police, the FBI, cyber-detectives, and mercenaries hunt for the CDC researcher. Why does everyone want Regan dead? What are the upper echelons of the federal government trying to hide? Who are the mismatched quartet of inter-agency spooks trying to protect Re...more
The Homeland Directive is a good read. It's got good pacing and doesn't feel overly drawn out. If anything, it may have benefitted from slowing down a smidgen to provide a better background on some of the characters, especially the "rogue agents" who get very little exposition as to their origin and connection to each other. In favor of moving the story along, depth is set aside. There are elements of typical "conspiracy theories" here, but they don't make the story overly formulaic. The conspir...more
The only reason I'm giving this four stars is because the concept is pretty intriguing. The rest of the book is a fairly standard government conspiracy thriller and cat-and-mouse tale. The writing is clear and the dialogue is good overall, but there's nothing too gripping about the story, except for the "what's it all about" element, which makes it worth reading. (But I don't blame anyone who waits to find it used or to find a library copy.)
The art style is intriguing and the color palette works...more
The art style is intriguing and the color palette works...more
What happens when terror is just not scary enough? Robert Venditti tackles the question with his governmental conspiracy tale in The Homeland Directive. Laura Regan, a prominent researcher for the CDC, finds herself at the center of a conspiracy. With her lab partner murdered and the government hunting her down, Laura must incover the truth behind the lies from Washington. Aided by a quartet of defecting agents, the group must stay alive and off the grid in order to determine the true cause behi...more
In Talking Head's song "Don't Worry About The Government" David Byrne paints a portrait of typical (American) naive complacency.
This book does an excellent job at shaking one's complacency and assumptions up.
Well not me so much, as I already mistrust the government.
I do not think it is outlandish to imagine forces in our government fabricating a "terrorist" attack if it gave them more control and power over it's citizens as a result.
See: Operation Northwoods.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operati...more
This book does an excellent job at shaking one's complacency and assumptions up.
Well not me so much, as I already mistrust the government.
I do not think it is outlandish to imagine forces in our government fabricating a "terrorist" attack if it gave them more control and power over it's citizens as a result.
See: Operation Northwoods.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operati...more
A compelling plot and creative art. Wow, what more could I ask for?
This book starts us out slow and builds fast. It tells a story from "on the ground", not as if there's a narrator or any inkling that outsiders are peering in and wondering what's going on.
This was a lot more fun to read than I usually give credit to non-capes graphic novels. So many lack a really tightly-plotted story and imaginative backstory - this must've taken Venditti quite a while to put together.
The art is quite a mix of...more
This book starts us out slow and builds fast. It tells a story from "on the ground", not as if there's a narrator or any inkling that outsiders are peering in and wondering what's going on.
This was a lot more fun to read than I usually give credit to non-capes graphic novels. So many lack a really tightly-plotted story and imaginative backstory - this must've taken Venditti quite a while to put together.
The art is quite a mix of...more
I am pretty clueless when it comes to art. When I read a graphic novel, for me it is generally ALL about the story, but with this one, the art definitely made an impression. It was...jarring. I'm not sure how best to describe it, but it made me uneasy from the beginning. If it had been music, I would say discordant. Edgy? This is a book that will give you nightmares. We can only HOPE our government officials are not so corrupt. The pages fly by and there is no satisfying ending. Is there justice...more
We have here a graphic novel to satisfy any and all conspiracy theorist. There is a secret government within the government bent on bringing the government down. And then you have some folks from within the secret government within the secret government bent on stopping the secret government's plot. So that should keep a person happy along with some very interesting artwork that looks like they used in some of the older comics, only with a washed out type of effect. And that artwork style will w...more
Typical post-9/11 story of a powerful government officials conspiring against a seemingly ineffective president. A virus being spread using contaminated cash is supposed to be determined to be a terrorist attack, so the government can take away more freedom in the name of security. Caught in the middle is a rather extraordinary American citizen whose job makes her a target for the conspirators. The story is well paced and well illustrated but very predictable. Teenagers would probably enjoy this...more
I really wanted to like this book. It has such an interesting premise being set in the US right after 9/11 and there's murder, intrigue, and conspiracy...and the government may be behind it all. But...it draws way too much inspiration from V for Vendetta and from political thrillers like Enemy of the State.
The story, while well written, is predictable if you've read "V for Vendetta" before or any political thriller where the government has gone bad. It follows the same basic pattern and there's...more
The story, while well written, is predictable if you've read "V for Vendetta" before or any political thriller where the government has gone bad. It follows the same basic pattern and there's...more
Solid conspiracy thriller set in the post-9/11 "Orwellian present" never quite delivers on its ambitious setup, fizzling in the third act with a last-second twist that comes a little too easy. It's almost like Venditti gave his own story a premature Hollywood edit, or perhaps Homeland Security paid him a visit... Huddleston's artwork pulls off double-duty with great visuals that deliver a subtle but compelling soundtrack throughout.
A decent conspiracy theory thriller. What the story loses in plot holes it makes up for in enthusiasm and good characterization. The art takes a bit of getting used to with sometimes vague pencils but wildly creative coloring that varies from gray scale to single color accent to watercolor washes. The story's topics are timely and frighteningly real. This would make a good movie and it's definitely a fun graphic novel.
There's such an interesting conspiracy at the root of this story about a government-made viral outbreak that I won't spoil it here except to say that this is a sophisticated and plausible tale about that sort of thing. It feels very of the moment and hits all the right notes about national security.
This is also a really nicely designed book with an interesting and unique art style that really helps set the tone for the book.
This is also a really nicely designed book with an interesting and unique art style that really helps set the tone for the book.
A fun, fast-paced tech thriller with really interesting art. I thought the overall beats for the plot were pretty predictable, but the main character of Regan and some of the fine details Venditti worked in are nice. I don't think I've seen Huddleston's work before, but I really liked the overall look of this. He was able to go from detailed to sketchy, depending upon what the scene called for, and made an interesting use of color.
This was a solid, if not extremely original, conspiracy story. Pacing, characters, and plotting are solid. The art is extremely interesting, but distracts from the story. (It's frequently too hard to tell who characters are, and the random splotches of color, while interesting, pull you out of the story too frequently.) Anyway, solid, but nothing spectacular.
Somewhat predictable. Taps into the American conspiracy zeitgeist. Political background is thinly drawn, as if the author did not want to point fingers at the obvious right-wing nut-bar Republicans that are clearly at the heart of the conspiracy. The dodging of real American politics is kind of a letdown. Time to call out the fascists and fanatics for what they are and take it to where they live...
I got sucked into this conspiracy story because of its great illustrations and mysterious conspiracy premise. Not all that believable in the end, (neocon types are depicted badly but even I wouldn't believe them capable of what happened in this book), but still a fun, graphic read.
A relatively solid plot for this post-9/11 conspiracy thriller. It has an intriguing terrorist plot, but it wrapped up really quickly and the whole "why was this happening?" was never really answered. Great art and strong character development for the short stint.
The Homeland Directive is a solid conspiratorial thriller. The story is definitely plot-driven; it's main weakness is a lack of deep characterization. The art is great -- stylized and sketchy with mixed-media flourishes. Overall, it's a fun read, but not a future classic.
Recommended for paranoid people. Germs, government, hospitals, this book has it all. The art takes a while to get used to, and some of the charaters tend to run together, but overall it' s a fun read and has some scary concepts to ponder.
a great plot worthy of the best x-files episodes and very good artwork that really makes the story and setting shine. I loved the sketchy quality of the art and I was literally on the edge of my seat the whole time. great commentary on the war on terror, every conspiracy theory out there and the opposing forces of freedom and safety. highly recommended!
The plot is obvious and a bit underdeveloped. However, the art is so stunning that the word bubbles could have been empty and this would have been worth the price of admission. Great work by Mike Huddleston.
A really strong narrative of government conspiracy and intrigue. Reads a bit like the author is looking forward to the option being picked up by Hollywood, but in a good way.
A perfectly fine graphic novel about a group of government agents trying to prevent a biological attack, which is being masterminded by other people within the government. There is nothing overally original, interesting, dynamic or exceptional about the story, the script or the art.
An engaging graphic novel thriller. I didn't see the ending coming and it was populated by fascinating characters and an interesting use of color in the art.
I really, really liked this book. I'm a secret fan of a good conspiracy tale and this had me on the edge of my seat and thinking about how much of a Gretel I am.
Public library copy. I really enjoyed this book, I kept placing it toward the bottom of the my to-be-read pile and actually renewed the book more than once. I'm glad I gave it chance, it reads with an intensity matched by, say, an episode of the television show 24 or a popcorn flick produced by Jerry Bruckheimer. The artwork isn't quite as fancy as many may want, but the digital colors set the tone and the pictures service the story well enough.
Bought primarily because it was written by the same guy who did "Surrogates" (and its sequel). Thoroughly entertaining. Also thought-provoking.
Liked the artwork and the set up of the story, but then it kinda fizzled out and ended. No great twists or plot. Nice, but...
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Robert Venditti is the New York Times bestselling author of the sci-fi graphic novel series The Surrogates, the first installment of which was adapted into a feature film starring Bruce Willis and Ving Rhames. He also writes the graphic novel adaptations of Rick Riordan’s bestselling Percy Jackson and the Olympians novels. His most recent book is the political/medical thriller The Homeland Directi...more
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Dec 15, 2011 12:49pm