Noir

Noir

by Łukasz Bogacz, Wojciech Stefaniec (Illustrator)

On – policjant, On – pisarz, On – kobieciarz, Ona – lekarka. Rodzina. Relacje, Uczucia, Małe kłamstewka. I te duże.
Wystarczą trzy dni, żeby wszystko się zmieniło…

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Noir, Graphic Novels Comics

120 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 2013

Reviews

[Jane · Rating 1 out of 5]

Oh, this was really not a good one for me. Even on a giant screen and using reading glasses I found it hard to read, and the black and white sketchy art was very difficult for me to follow. I gave up about 20% of the way in because I had no clue what was going on.

1 star from me

Thank you to NetGalley and Europe Comics for providing me with a DRC of this book.

[Richard · Rating 3 out of 5]

A really dark story of three men trying to stay connected when the female focus their mother and wife walked out on the family.
Men don't do the bonding thing quite so well; they get together oncea week at a shooting range and competitively fire at a target. Things are not getting any easier it seems, Dad is a Cop nearing retirement fearing a lonely time where his boys will not stay in touch. Relationships haven't gone that well for the boys; neither of them being able to sustain converations as work demands keepsthe older brother's marriage tense while the younger one doesn't believe in marriage it seems.
They men are tense each with their own issues and unable to opening say what they mean and confide in one another. Thecop trading water but dreading leaving the force; the older boy, a successful author but not such a good husband perhaps and the younger one without meaningful employment, in debt and needing to borrow larger sums of money from his sibling.
Things get very complicated very quickly when the writer get news he feared and cannot just talk to his surgeon wife. He suddenly has an epiphany; drawing on his talents to control a plot and expand his story with logic and without glaring mistakes he seeks to take control back of his life as though he was writing himself as a character in one of his books.
This has both a sense of purpose and clear thinking to control his actions but it makes him self-reliant and single minded he withdraws from the rest of his family. Citing the pressures of finishing his novel his new focus means he redefines his relationships with lasting effect.
A comic book, well illustrated but restricted in art other than the use of light and shade, No colour here just that monochromatic look of a bygone age. Little to endear itself in terms of characters as all seem to be in a state of unravelling and following narrow paths removed of choice.
Plenty of passion and carrying a stark reality of when relationships become strained. It was just long enough to enjoy but a struggle to read at times and tell characters apart in just black and white.
The lack of colour palate sets the tone but the drawing or artwork is not as stylised as say Sin City as played out in the movies; but that is comparing apples with pears. With the constraints of pen and ink the story is well defined and the absence of colour emphasises the lack of redemption evident in the story. Well worth reading but devoid of hope and reconciliation. True to its theme and title NOIR.

[Sooraya Evans · Rating 1 out of 5]

Lame.
The main character, Robert Boganiec spends his days ranting while doing mundane stuff. It only gets slightly interesting WAYYY towards the end. Having to suffer through the messy art makes the journey extremely painful. Not to mention the constant tailless bubbles and dialog boxes. It's hard to keep track who's saying what most of the time. Ugh!!!

[Etienne · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mixed feeling again with this one. The Noir theme is well presented by the story and the illustrations, but those illustrations are very sketchy and after a while you get tired of it and sometimes even forcing yourself trying to understand what is there. Mostly the same for the story, yes it's dark and start good but after a while you just realize it didn't go nowhere and just going round and around. It had good potential but lack a bit of finish for the illustration and some substance in the story!

[Molly · Rating 2 out of 5]

Noir is definitely what it's billed as - a noir graphic novel. It's got all the elements: sordid affair, femme fatale, rival brothers, cop father - but it wasn't quite for me. It's all darkness, no light, and while there is an element of meta-plot with the main character being a novel writer himself, it just didn't come together in a satisfying way. If you're a huge fan of traditional noir, though, this will probably be right up your alley.

[Bill Coffin · Rating 2 out of 5]

A fairly standard crime of passion story, told in the style of Crime and Punishment, except if there was no Punishment. The art is well done but it is so heavy that it becomes overbearing, to the point of making the story a little difficult to follow. Also - and this is not the book’s fault- but something definitely seems to have been lost in translation from the original Polish. Or, maybe this is such a Polish book that there are contexts an American like me is simply missing.

[Lukasz · Rating 2 out of 5]

Black and white sketchy artwork looks impressive, although I prefer gentler lines. It fits bleak and unforgiving story well, though.

The plot didn't surprise me. The characters remain flat and uninspiring. If you're in the mood for a brutal, dark story about disastrous relationship give it a go.

ARC through NetGalley

[Valéria. · Rating 2 out of 5]

Storyline expectable, characters were flat and not interesting. Though art was something that really catch my eye, black and white sketchy artwork, it provided a good, dark atmosphere. It could have been really great comic book if there was more interesting story, or likeable characters. Or at least something.. I don't know, a bit of humour.

#KNcelendz2019 (16)

[Wayne McCoy · Rating 2 out of 5]

'Noir' by Lukasz Bogacz with art by Wojciech Stefaniec is an interesting idea for a story, but the execution leaves some things to be desired.

A crime writer writes perfectly narrated stories. His personal life is messy though. Through dark art and strange narration, the story unfolds as the writer finds out his wife is unfaithful.

What he does next makes the story more interesting, but by then, it's too little, too late. The art feels a bit like photocopies that are too dark, and has a zine quality to it that I liked, but it's a bit hard to follow also. I got more interested in the latter half of the story, but the first two thirds were kind of a slog to get through. I've read a similar story told better elsewhere unfortunately.

I received a review copy of this graphic novel from Europe Comics and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this graphic novel.

[Nikki "The Crazie Betty" V. · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think if there had been better contrast artwork in this graphic novel I would’ve rated it higher. As it stands, it kind of gave me a headache to try and determine what was in each panel because there was so much black and darkness. I have no issue with b/w noir, but there needed to be better contrast. The story itself was dire and tragic and I saw it coming right from the get go of the book, but I still really enjoyed it. The story is definitely old-school crime noir and I wouldn’t be opposed to re-reading it in the future.

Received via Netgalley. All reviews and opinions are expressly my own

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow. Intense and dark.

If you like a little bit of noir with your noir, this is for you.

The story and writing were really well done, and the art? The art fit perfectly.

Recommended.

(And, BTW, I was listening to some random music while reading this book, and the song A-Steya by My Sleeping Karma came on…it was the perfect soundtrack for this book; I’ve never heard of the band before, but check it out.)

Thanks to NetGalley and Europe Comics for a copy in return for an honest review.

[Raven Terry · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thanks NetGalley for this ARC, in exchange for an honest review. I found this a little hard to follow at times because of the organization, however, I really enjoyed this. The artwork truly fits the work, it puts you in a sort of unrest, you feel the anxiety/distress. Unfortunately, our distributors do not carry this title, so we can’t add it to our collection, however, I would definitely recommend this for my patrons who want a short thriller.

[Dave · Rating 3 out of 5]

Stark Dark Gloomy Graphics

Very impressive stark black and white artwork giving a real dark feel to the graphic novel. Although a little color here and there might have helped. The story itself was not so interesting.

[Przemysław Skoczyński · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wizualny majstersztyk, ale fabuła dosyć prosta i oklepana, a motyw zbrodni mielony wszędzie miliony razy. W każdym razie warto dla rysunków i mrocznej atmosfery wykreowanej przez obu panów.

[Theediscerning · Rating 1 out of 5]

This might have the core of a decent read, but presentation is just awful. Scratchy, first-draft artwork that has been reproduced awfully in the e-arc means you don't know who is who and what their facials are like; copious disembodied voice-boxes and speech bubbles with short tails and in the 'wrong' reading place just make for gibberish at times, and all told it proves too slapdash and primitive to bother with. I *think* it's about the rivalry between two brothers sleeping with the same woman, but who knows?

[Ije the Devourer of Books · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a dark and violent story told in black and white graphics. A crime author is finishing the end of his next book when he suddenly commits some crimes of his own.

The story is a bit hard to follow because the drawing is actually quite dark itself. It took me time to figure out who was who and what the different relationships were.

Not a favourite of mine.

Copy provide by Europe Comics via Netgalley in exchange for an unbiased review.

[Elia · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ok, so the STORY is good, though the fact that it is a translation makes it a little bit choppy. The problem here is that the art is just absolutely God-awful. Maybe some of that can be blamed on the fact that I read it as an advanced copy form Netgalley, so MAYBE the quality was not great, but the art style is unfinished, blurry and messy. And the black and white makes it hard to distinguish between characters or really know which way is up half the time.

[Chad · Rating 2 out of 5]

A crime writer finds out his life isn't what he thinks it is and decides to take revenge. This heavily inked black and white artwork looks like it was put through a xerox machine a few times. The art was extremely hard to follow and strained my eyes.

[Sofia · Rating 3 out of 5]

actually 3.5**
A weird looking book about something fascinating

[Andréa]

Note: I received a digital review copy of this book from the publisher.