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The Names #1-9
The Names
THE NAMES is a contemporary thriller that starts off as a revenge story: A deadly heroine ticks off--and kills--each "name" that brings her closer to knowing who killed her husband. It will become much more than that...
The world of THE NAMES is Big Money. Hedge funds, leveraged buyouts, market raids, flash buys. Incredibly high end deals that ruin lives and economies, where secret cabals gamble with people's lives and jaded billionaires find their kicks the only way they know how. The idea is to take what's REALLY GOING in the poisonous, deadly world of high speed, high stakes finance but really TURN IT UP, push it to the edge and make it sexy, dramatic, and thoroughly deadly.
It's about righting all the wrongs by any means necessary. It's KILL BILL meets WOLF OF WALL ST. in a world that's become Too Big to Fail. It's a relentless thriller that seeks to unlock the DA VINCI CODE that lies at the center of the world's finances as the people who really pull the strings in the world finally get what's coming to them.
The world of high finance has a profound but mysterious effect on all of our lives, yet is understood by too few of us. PETER MILLIGAN, an incredibly talented writer who's always been able to mine the zeitgeist for memorable stories, wants to create a compelling drama set in this world. LEO FERNANDEZ will bring a slick, sexy visual appeal and together make this another must-read book for VERTIGO.
Collects THE NAMES #1-8.
The world of THE NAMES is Big Money. Hedge funds, leveraged buyouts, market raids, flash buys. Incredibly high end deals that ruin lives and economies, where secret cabals gamble with people's lives and jaded billionaires find their kicks the only way they know how. The idea is to take what's REALLY GOING in the poisonous, deadly world of high speed, high stakes finance but really TURN IT UP, push it to the edge and make it sexy, dramatic, and thoroughly deadly.
It's about righting all the wrongs by any means necessary. It's KILL BILL meets WOLF OF WALL ST. in a world that's become Too Big to Fail. It's a relentless thriller that seeks to unlock the DA VINCI CODE that lies at the center of the world's finances as the people who really pull the strings in the world finally get what's coming to them.
The world of high finance has a profound but mysterious effect on all of our lives, yet is understood by too few of us. PETER MILLIGAN, an incredibly talented writer who's always been able to mine the zeitgeist for memorable stories, wants to create a compelling drama set in this world. LEO FERNANDEZ will bring a slick, sexy visual appeal and together make this another must-read book for VERTIGO.
Collects THE NAMES #1-8.
200 pages, Paperback
First published August 25, 2015
4 people are currently reading
495 people want to read
About the author
Peter Milligan
1,306 books392 followersLibrarian note:
There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name
Peter Milligan is a British writer, best known for his work on X-Force / X-Statix, the X-Men, & the Vertigo series Human Target. He is also a scriptwriter.
He has been writing comics for some time and he has somewhat of a reputation for writing material that is highly outlandish, bizarre and/or absurd.
His highest profile projects to date include a run on X-Men, and his X-Force revamp that relaunched as X-Statix.
Many of Milligan's best works have been from DC Vertigo. These include: The Extremist (4 issues with artist Ted McKeever) The Minx (8 issues with artist Sean Phillips) Face (Prestige one-shot with artist Duncan Fegredo) The Eaters (Prestige one-shot with artist Dean Ormston) Vertigo Pop London (4 issues with artist Philip Bond) Enigma (8 issues with artist Duncan Fegredo) and Girl (3 issues with artist Duncan Fegredo).
Series:
* Human Target
* Greek Street
* X-Force / X-Statix
There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name
Peter Milligan is a British writer, best known for his work on X-Force / X-Statix, the X-Men, & the Vertigo series Human Target. He is also a scriptwriter.
He has been writing comics for some time and he has somewhat of a reputation for writing material that is highly outlandish, bizarre and/or absurd.
His highest profile projects to date include a run on X-Men, and his X-Force revamp that relaunched as X-Statix.
Many of Milligan's best works have been from DC Vertigo. These include: The Extremist (4 issues with artist Ted McKeever) The Minx (8 issues with artist Sean Phillips) Face (Prestige one-shot with artist Duncan Fegredo) The Eaters (Prestige one-shot with artist Dean Ormston) Vertigo Pop London (4 issues with artist Philip Bond) Enigma (8 issues with artist Duncan Fegredo) and Girl (3 issues with artist Duncan Fegredo).
Series:
* Human Target
* Greek Street
* X-Force / X-Statix
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 39 reviews
August 25, 2015
Spoilsies ahead!
When Katya Walker’s Wall Street moneyman husband, Kevin, commits suicide by jumping out of his 51st storey window, she discovers he was part of a sinister organisation called The Names. Who are The Names? Sinister and… scheming and… rich? Um… they have names? Teaming up with her teenage stepson, Philip, a bona fide mathematical genius, the two set out to uncover the mystery of Kevin’s death – it wasn’t suicide, it was murder.
Oy yoy yoy – what a garbled mess this comic is!
I think Peter Milligan was aiming for some kind of satire on Wall Street/Capitalism, or maybe a sort of the rich preying on the poor metaphor, or… something! But he utterly and totally failed.
A lot of this book is an average cat and mouse story between Katya/Philip and the Surgeon, The Names’ bloodthirsty assassin. Then the Surgeon leaves the picture and another character becomes the villain. And then they disappear just as abruptly and it becomes about The Dark Loops – a financial program created by bankers that’s gained sentience and is about to smash capitalism (or something?) – and then it’s over?! It’s so unfocused and fails to fully explore The Dark Loops, the only really interesting aspect of this book.
Mysterious plot elements appear, seem to be relevant, and then disappear for good, turning out to be completely irrelevant. The Tulips, a rival group to The Names, enter and then leave - what was their point again? Why was the phrase “Don’t forget me champion” emphasised so much? It’s one dead end after another.
The dialogue is nothing short of abysmal. Here’s the Surgeon: "I am the Surgeon. I like to cut. Yes, I'm a psychopath. I took Hare's psychopathy test. I was off the chart. I usually hide my psychosis behind an engaging veneer of normality. But though I walk among you, I am different from you." – he’s attacking someone while telling you all about himself in that convincingly natural cadence. Later when the Surgeon slices someone’s face – which we can clearly see him doing in-panel – the character says “Fuck, my face!” redundantly. Peter Milligan’s been in comics since the ‘80s, has he learned nothing in his decades writing?!
The villains’ motivations make no sense. The Surgeon has his targets bundled up and beaten but then decides to arbitrarily make a phone call demanding “more respect”, something that hasn’t concerned him at all up until that point (or will after for that matter!), allowing our protagonists to escape. A similarly nonsensical motive afflicts Tara who says “He wasn’t supposed to get over me so quick. People like me don’t have feelings, it’s a matter of principle. If they hadn’t killed him I would’ve done it myself.” – what?!
These are questions for those who’ve read the comic (and even then I’m unsure if they would know): what does Philip’s mother want with him again and why? How did she survive a broken neck? Why does Stoker suddenly care about Katya and Philip?
There’s a running joke about how attracted Philip is to Katya, his stepmother, which isn’t funny. And lots of beautiful young women throwing themselves at repulsive older men is a theme for some reason – or maybe just wish-fulfilment for old man Peter Milligan?
I didn’t care for Leandro Fernandez’s art. The ultra-long smart phones look awful and Stoker’s face is ridiculously exaggerated - honestly, he makes baboons look attractive. It’s a caricature amidst regular-looking characters and I’m not at all sure why he made that choice.
Katya is heavily sexualised for one reason: so the “stepson wants to hump his foxy stepmother” joke can be trotted out again and again. So, so unfunny. Her skin sometimes changes from brown to white (she’s a black woman) through inconsistency, not design. Poor job, Cris Peter. And what the hell – the Dark Loops actually take the form of shadow creatures in one panel!? I thought they were a computer program!
Perhaps anticipating what a clusterfuck his book turned out to be, Peter Milligan has bizarre-head-shaped Stoker turn to the reader in the last couple pages and intone: "I don’t expect you to be satisfied. But you should try to accept it. This is the world we all live in, Katya, this is… The Names."
Interpretation: “Of course you’re not going to be satisfied, who would be? This was a disaster! But that’s me, Peter Milligan, crap writer extraordinaire (I mean, did you read my Doop book over at Marvel? What were you expecting?!), and here’s my latest nonsense… The Names.”
Here’s a name to avoid when you see it on a book cover: Peter Milligan!
When Katya Walker’s Wall Street moneyman husband, Kevin, commits suicide by jumping out of his 51st storey window, she discovers he was part of a sinister organisation called The Names. Who are The Names? Sinister and… scheming and… rich? Um… they have names? Teaming up with her teenage stepson, Philip, a bona fide mathematical genius, the two set out to uncover the mystery of Kevin’s death – it wasn’t suicide, it was murder.
Oy yoy yoy – what a garbled mess this comic is!
I think Peter Milligan was aiming for some kind of satire on Wall Street/Capitalism, or maybe a sort of the rich preying on the poor metaphor, or… something! But he utterly and totally failed.
A lot of this book is an average cat and mouse story between Katya/Philip and the Surgeon, The Names’ bloodthirsty assassin. Then the Surgeon leaves the picture and another character becomes the villain. And then they disappear just as abruptly and it becomes about The Dark Loops – a financial program created by bankers that’s gained sentience and is about to smash capitalism (or something?) – and then it’s over?! It’s so unfocused and fails to fully explore The Dark Loops, the only really interesting aspect of this book.
Mysterious plot elements appear, seem to be relevant, and then disappear for good, turning out to be completely irrelevant. The Tulips, a rival group to The Names, enter and then leave - what was their point again? Why was the phrase “Don’t forget me champion” emphasised so much? It’s one dead end after another.
The dialogue is nothing short of abysmal. Here’s the Surgeon: "I am the Surgeon. I like to cut. Yes, I'm a psychopath. I took Hare's psychopathy test. I was off the chart. I usually hide my psychosis behind an engaging veneer of normality. But though I walk among you, I am different from you." – he’s attacking someone while telling you all about himself in that convincingly natural cadence. Later when the Surgeon slices someone’s face – which we can clearly see him doing in-panel – the character says “Fuck, my face!” redundantly. Peter Milligan’s been in comics since the ‘80s, has he learned nothing in his decades writing?!
The villains’ motivations make no sense. The Surgeon has his targets bundled up and beaten but then decides to arbitrarily make a phone call demanding “more respect”, something that hasn’t concerned him at all up until that point (or will after for that matter!), allowing our protagonists to escape. A similarly nonsensical motive afflicts Tara who says “He wasn’t supposed to get over me so quick. People like me don’t have feelings, it’s a matter of principle. If they hadn’t killed him I would’ve done it myself.” – what?!
These are questions for those who’ve read the comic (and even then I’m unsure if they would know): what does Philip’s mother want with him again and why? How did she survive a broken neck? Why does Stoker suddenly care about Katya and Philip?
There’s a running joke about how attracted Philip is to Katya, his stepmother, which isn’t funny. And lots of beautiful young women throwing themselves at repulsive older men is a theme for some reason – or maybe just wish-fulfilment for old man Peter Milligan?
I didn’t care for Leandro Fernandez’s art. The ultra-long smart phones look awful and Stoker’s face is ridiculously exaggerated - honestly, he makes baboons look attractive. It’s a caricature amidst regular-looking characters and I’m not at all sure why he made that choice.
Katya is heavily sexualised for one reason: so the “stepson wants to hump his foxy stepmother” joke can be trotted out again and again. So, so unfunny. Her skin sometimes changes from brown to white (she’s a black woman) through inconsistency, not design. Poor job, Cris Peter. And what the hell – the Dark Loops actually take the form of shadow creatures in one panel!? I thought they were a computer program!
Perhaps anticipating what a clusterfuck his book turned out to be, Peter Milligan has bizarre-head-shaped Stoker turn to the reader in the last couple pages and intone: "I don’t expect you to be satisfied. But you should try to accept it. This is the world we all live in, Katya, this is… The Names."
Interpretation: “Of course you’re not going to be satisfied, who would be? This was a disaster! But that’s me, Peter Milligan, crap writer extraordinaire (I mean, did you read my Doop book over at Marvel? What were you expecting?!), and here’s my latest nonsense… The Names.”
Here’s a name to avoid when you see it on a book cover: Peter Milligan!
September 7, 2015
I received a free eBook copy of this title from the publisher through NetGalley.
This was a new title in the DC Vertigo line, and it seemed interesting enough by its description. Well, it's pretty good. Lots of big finance espionage and secret organizations and murdering psychopaths aplenty, and the key is figuring out which of these that the characters belong to.
It has humor, sex, violence, and lots of twists and turns. So it's certainly worth reading on a weekend afternoon, and the artwork is pretty decent too. All in all, a good read if you're in the mood for a graphic novel with a good storyline, but need a break from the superhero standard fare.
This was a new title in the DC Vertigo line, and it seemed interesting enough by its description. Well, it's pretty good. Lots of big finance espionage and secret organizations and murdering psychopaths aplenty, and the key is figuring out which of these that the characters belong to.
It has humor, sex, violence, and lots of twists and turns. So it's certainly worth reading on a weekend afternoon, and the artwork is pretty decent too. All in all, a good read if you're in the mood for a graphic novel with a good storyline, but need a break from the superhero standard fare.
December 2, 2017
This has to be the least interesting thing I've ever read by Peter Milligan. The concept is interesting, but the plot feels completely tossed off, as if he spent the least amount of time possible on it. Somehow the dialog manages to be simultaneously preposterous and dull. The art aspires to Eduardo Risso's cool, clean, quirky style, but as the story drags on, the execution becomes cheaper and shallower, and the action sequences don't track clearly and are difficult to follow.
Clearly this was intended to be an ongoing story, and the end comes abruptly and - quite suitably - gives zero satisfaction. There really is no point here.
This makes me rethink my appreciation for Milligan. It's so bad.
Clearly this was intended to be an ongoing story, and the end comes abruptly and - quite suitably - gives zero satisfaction. There really is no point here.
This makes me rethink my appreciation for Milligan. It's so bad.
August 24, 2015
Thank you Netgalley and DC Entertainment/Vertigo Comics for sending this to me for review.
Oh well... 2 stars because 1 is for dnf'ds.
I only didn't DNF it though because it was for review and because it was a graphic novel. But since the beginning I wasn't a fan of any aspect of it. The art? not my style. The story? felt incomplete and hard to understand. The Writing? with very unecessary bad words.
I know I know the back says in small letters that is sugested for mature readers and I should expect some things but the truth is even those felt unecessary. I'm sorry, the truth may hurt.
Oh well... 2 stars because 1 is for dnf'ds.
I only didn't DNF it though because it was for review and because it was a graphic novel. But since the beginning I wasn't a fan of any aspect of it. The art? not my style. The story? felt incomplete and hard to understand. The Writing? with very unecessary bad words.
I know I know the back says in small letters that is sugested for mature readers and I should expect some things but the truth is even those felt unecessary. I'm sorry, the truth may hurt.
June 30, 2016
High finance, aliens, and assassins. Quite the combination!
September 26, 2024
Everything goes fairly well until that ending which is anything but a resolution. It's too bad the potential was wasted. There are some cool concepts here, but the series seems like it needed more time to be completed. From rich Wall Street sharks, to a loving wife, from a psychopathic fixer, to a math whiz, from a secret organization to a cyber virus that can infect people, the story keeps you on your toes. It fizzes out by the end when it leaves pivotal questions unanswered.
The story opens with Kevin Walker being forced to write a suicide note by a fixer calling himself the Surgeon. Kevin then jumps to his death. The police rules it a suicide based on his medical records which show a history of depression and on his suicide, though in reality the first were forged and the second was written under duress. Kevin's loving wife Katya refuses to believe her husband's death is a suicide and begins her own investigation. She soon finds out about the Names, an organization that is feared in the underground circles. She kills a man for this information and is determined to do so much more. Though initially shelved as not a threat, the psychopathic Surgeon is keeping tabs on Katya's investigation and he doesn't shy away from torture of murder.
The story opens with Kevin Walker being forced to write a suicide note by a fixer calling himself the Surgeon. Kevin then jumps to his death. The police rules it a suicide based on his medical records which show a history of depression and on his suicide, though in reality the first were forged and the second was written under duress. Kevin's loving wife Katya refuses to believe her husband's death is a suicide and begins her own investigation. She soon finds out about the Names, an organization that is feared in the underground circles. She kills a man for this information and is determined to do so much more. Though initially shelved as not a threat, the psychopathic Surgeon is keeping tabs on Katya's investigation and he doesn't shy away from torture of murder.
July 26, 2021
I have often ranted about how putting agenda before story never ends well - in novels, comics, movies, tv series, what-have-you. Quite often, as this is the trend nowadays, this has to do with some issue relating to feminism, racism, inclusivity etc. Well, in this case we have a prime example tackling a completely different agenda, making the exact same mistakes.
Peter Milligan wants to talk about Wall Street, high risk "investments" (gambling, by any other name, except gambling with whole economies and people's lives), the whole stock market culture and the 1%. Cool, and at entry level, I am in complete agreement. World economies are basically run by an oligarchy of gambling junkies who keep getting richer, as the 99% are getting poorer.
*SPOILERS AHEAD*
So he weaves a classic grand conspiracy narrative, throwing in some sentient machines who want to take down the system for good measure. So far, so good. But then, the actual story is about a widow who wants to solve the mystery of her husband's murder, who was part of that economic cult, though he had turned against it.
And here the problems begin. Katya is a classic Mary Sue, basically untouchable by guys who have whole armies at their beck and call, while she is 100 pounds soaking wet, with a plot armor ten inches thick. She kills people with barely a thought or, more importantly, barely an afterthought. She develops no trauma whatsoever, and for everything she does, the repeated excuse was that "her husband trained her without her being aware". Then you have this bogeyman-type assassin, The Surgeon, who is basically H.P. Lovecraft with a scalpel. Finally, there's her step-son, a sort of (elective) autistic savant who jerks off to her pictures and was jealous of his father marrying her.
There are only paper-thin connections between all those elements and more often than not, dialogue and events are used purely for shock value.
What's worse, Katya's one actual goal, finding out who gave the order for her husband's murder, is never resolved, with a throwaway explanation of basically "it's too complicated".
In essence, Milligan tries to illustrate a point and shock the reader, throwing away his story and even his premise in the process. Still, it gets two stars because the action and artwork are visually beautiful, even if it's one of the few cases where they SHOULD have used glossy paper. The difference between single issues and the TPB is stunning, and not in a good way.
A real shame, this one. I took quite a bit of time hunting it down and all I ended-up with was an example for what NOT to do in comics.
Peter Milligan wants to talk about Wall Street, high risk "investments" (gambling, by any other name, except gambling with whole economies and people's lives), the whole stock market culture and the 1%. Cool, and at entry level, I am in complete agreement. World economies are basically run by an oligarchy of gambling junkies who keep getting richer, as the 99% are getting poorer.
*SPOILERS AHEAD*
So he weaves a classic grand conspiracy narrative, throwing in some sentient machines who want to take down the system for good measure. So far, so good. But then, the actual story is about a widow who wants to solve the mystery of her husband's murder, who was part of that economic cult, though he had turned against it.
And here the problems begin. Katya is a classic Mary Sue, basically untouchable by guys who have whole armies at their beck and call, while she is 100 pounds soaking wet, with a plot armor ten inches thick. She kills people with barely a thought or, more importantly, barely an afterthought. She develops no trauma whatsoever, and for everything she does, the repeated excuse was that "her husband trained her without her being aware". Then you have this bogeyman-type assassin, The Surgeon, who is basically H.P. Lovecraft with a scalpel. Finally, there's her step-son, a sort of (elective) autistic savant who jerks off to her pictures and was jealous of his father marrying her.
There are only paper-thin connections between all those elements and more often than not, dialogue and events are used purely for shock value.
What's worse, Katya's one actual goal, finding out who gave the order for her husband's murder, is never resolved, with a throwaway explanation of basically "it's too complicated".
In essence, Milligan tries to illustrate a point and shock the reader, throwing away his story and even his premise in the process. Still, it gets two stars because the action and artwork are visually beautiful, even if it's one of the few cases where they SHOULD have used glossy paper. The difference between single issues and the TPB is stunning, and not in a good way.
A real shame, this one. I took quite a bit of time hunting it down and all I ended-up with was an example for what NOT to do in comics.
May 27, 2020
Nope. Plot from word of high finance would be interesting, this is anything but. Wrong timing, completely weird and rushed plotlines, dead ends and just one or two interesting and meaningful plot twists. The art is simply bad - and the basic concept of conspiracy inside conspiracy based on shared mental illness is...argh.
Wasted shot at something that could have been an average, entertaining read.
Wasted shot at something that could have been an average, entertaining read.
July 3, 2021
Interesting, but I feel like it left it a little open-ended, possibly for a follow-on. I buy graphic novels vice comics so that I typically get a complete story in one volume. So this was a little disappointing in that respect.
February 12, 2018
More conspiracy comics!
February 16, 2019
Fair enough.
Not bad, considering what you get in bookstores these days. Good rythm, sexy.
But I'm still waiting for something really good...
Not bad, considering what you get in bookstores these days. Good rythm, sexy.
But I'm still waiting for something really good...
March 16, 2023
A bit stretched for maybe 1-2 issues, this could have been wrapped up in 7 issues ..and what was that ending! Still a one time read if you're into Thrillers..
January 7, 2017
Bwah, entertainend, maar niet meer dan dat.
March 1, 2017
Hokey sort of plot and set-up, basically just like the idea of critiquing and hunting down wall street for their crimes. But the hokey bad action film quality of it basically neutralizes any potential lasting political commentary, it just cartoonizes it
December 6, 2015
Big money. Hedge funds, market raids, acquisitions, corporate finance, collaborative corruption. The kind of high end deals that ruin lives, businesses, and national economies. One woman doesn’t care about the going ons of these white collar terrorists, she just wants one thing – a name. Her husband was murdered by a secret organization of high finance killers and she wants revenge, no matter who gets in her way. They want something, too. Her stepson. They believe the 16-year old boy genius will be an asset to their organization. But there are shadows everywhere and nobody is who they seem, with lies built on lies in every conversation. Who in the world can this family trust…and who does a girl have to kill to get some answers around here?
I received a free digital ARC courtesy of DC Entertainment, and reading this graphic novel digitally may have effected my impression somewhat. I had a difficult time getting into the story without having the physical book on hand. With something so art dependent as this kind of book I think that would have helped, as there were points in the story that I felt like I was missing something. It made some of the plot points awkward. Overall, this was an incredibly interesting story. The publisher describes it as Kill Bill meets Wolf of Wall Street, add a little X-Files in there and it definitely works. It is still a comic style graphic novel so the characters are pretty one dimensional – or at least they appear so in this first issue (this is the first of eight books), with the character having the most depth being one of the “bad guys”.
This is also very much an adult book, for readers 18+. There is blood, violence, language, sex, incestuous situations, torture, murder of all kinds, suicide – basically everything needed for an M rating. The artwork is very good, though I would love to see it on paper and not on a computer screen, which enhances this 18+ rating. The blood really drips, curves really vavavoom, and pain is excruciating. Every feeling, emotion, and personality just leaps off the page from love to insanity.
**I received a free ARC in exchange for my honest review. My review first appeared on my blog on 8/5/15**
I received a free digital ARC courtesy of DC Entertainment, and reading this graphic novel digitally may have effected my impression somewhat. I had a difficult time getting into the story without having the physical book on hand. With something so art dependent as this kind of book I think that would have helped, as there were points in the story that I felt like I was missing something. It made some of the plot points awkward. Overall, this was an incredibly interesting story. The publisher describes it as Kill Bill meets Wolf of Wall Street, add a little X-Files in there and it definitely works. It is still a comic style graphic novel so the characters are pretty one dimensional – or at least they appear so in this first issue (this is the first of eight books), with the character having the most depth being one of the “bad guys”.
This is also very much an adult book, for readers 18+. There is blood, violence, language, sex, incestuous situations, torture, murder of all kinds, suicide – basically everything needed for an M rating. The artwork is very good, though I would love to see it on paper and not on a computer screen, which enhances this 18+ rating. The blood really drips, curves really vavavoom, and pain is excruciating. Every feeling, emotion, and personality just leaps off the page from love to insanity.
**I received a free ARC in exchange for my honest review. My review first appeared on my blog on 8/5/15**
August 15, 2015
The Names seemed quite interesting especially for the reason that the main character is a black bad ass woman (not in a stereotypical way). The story starts with the murder case of Katya's husband and evolves into this giant conspiracy theory type of scenario. The mystery is well constructed and very interesting - the only problem is that the ending sucks. We don't really get to know what The Names really is, even though everyone seems to be a part of it. We don't get to know who killed Katya's husband either and the explanation "it's too complicated to ever be cleared" felt stupid. If you have an organization like The Names, then how's something like that an impossibility? Also, the Dark Loops surely seemed intriguing, but was its only function to crash stock markets? Like why would you need this alien like organization to do just that? The people involved in it were immortal and talked in algorithms for god's sake.
The art is OK, but perhaps is bit smudgy. Mostly there's just too much happening in the panels and too much black used. The inking is way too heavy and the colors are quite dark. Thus it takes time to read this, since you really have to concentrate to get what is happening. In a way The Names is quite Sin City like. The panels roll OK and all in all, the story develops well too. Milligan should lessen the heaviness of the panels and art to make this work better - otherwise this surely works albeit the stupid ending, which I hope could be changed, but probably cannot at this point.
The art is OK, but perhaps is bit smudgy. Mostly there's just too much happening in the panels and too much black used. The inking is way too heavy and the colors are quite dark. Thus it takes time to read this, since you really have to concentrate to get what is happening. In a way The Names is quite Sin City like. The panels roll OK and all in all, the story develops well too. Milligan should lessen the heaviness of the panels and art to make this work better - otherwise this surely works albeit the stupid ending, which I hope could be changed, but probably cannot at this point.
Read
October 1, 2016A lot of Peter Milligan's recent work has felt faintly silly in a bad way, but this one served to remind me how much fun he can be when he's being flat out ridiculous and yet somehow harnessing it right. Most of the components are the standard furniture of the conspiracy thriller - a secret society of the 1% with the world's governments and authorities in their pockets (actually, that bit's basically established fact now, isn't it?), a conspiracy enforcer so terrifyingly unhinged that even the conspiracy are starting to lose trust in him, a hot young widow bent on busting it all wide open and handily equipped with the martial arts prowess and autistic savant sidekick she'll need for the job...this is the stuff of sub-Dan Brown airport bookshop doorstops. But Milligan turns it all up to 11 with inappropriate sexual tension, coded clues that really don't make any sense, rogue algorithms possessing first markets and then people...and it's all utterly ludicrous but thoroughly entertaining. Fernandez' art, the slinkiness of which is the best thing about his subsequent Milligan collaboration The Discipline, is likewise in a more OTT mode here; in particular, the homicidal Surgeon looks like Prince Charles' Spitting Image puppet is running amok with a scalpel. And that's a perfect fit. If anyone tries to tell you this is remotely serious, be careful what they say about steel beams. But considered as a lark, it's Milligan's best work since the sad demise of Hellblazer.
September 16, 2015
The Names" is a creative look at Wall Street using the sci-fi premise that all of the data that we so worship is now trying to take control of us.
It's a metaphor that is a good one to explore, but Peter Milligan's story hits us over the head with it so much that it loses some of its insight.
The story opens with a man being forced to commit suicide by a Spock-look-a-like named "The Surgeon."
We'll soon learn through the man's grieving widow, the young and beautiful Katya, that there is something weird and mysterious going on here. Her husband, Kevin, was a member of a clandestine group called The Names. These are the people that pull all the financial strings behind the scenes. As Katya goes deeper and deeper into the mystery, the story gets weirder and weird. Katay enlists her autistic stepson, who is creepily obsessed with Katya, to solve the puzzle that is the Names.
As Katya gets closer to figuring out who killed her husband, she falls deeper into the world of the men and women behind the curtain pulling the puppet strings. While there is plenty of mystery, action and a heaping, helping of sexuality, to keep the story moving forward, by the end I felt like I didn't care and the ending didn't help either. It was as if the writer wrote until he had no more and just stopped.
It's a metaphor that is a good one to explore, but Peter Milligan's story hits us over the head with it so much that it loses some of its insight.
The story opens with a man being forced to commit suicide by a Spock-look-a-like named "The Surgeon."
We'll soon learn through the man's grieving widow, the young and beautiful Katya, that there is something weird and mysterious going on here. Her husband, Kevin, was a member of a clandestine group called The Names. These are the people that pull all the financial strings behind the scenes. As Katya goes deeper and deeper into the mystery, the story gets weirder and weird. Katay enlists her autistic stepson, who is creepily obsessed with Katya, to solve the puzzle that is the Names.
As Katya gets closer to figuring out who killed her husband, she falls deeper into the world of the men and women behind the curtain pulling the puppet strings. While there is plenty of mystery, action and a heaping, helping of sexuality, to keep the story moving forward, by the end I felt like I didn't care and the ending didn't help either. It was as if the writer wrote until he had no more and just stopped.
August 25, 2015
The Names started, for me as a great premise that has a lot of potential and ended being a lot of potential wasted.
The story starts with the murder of Katya’s husband and then starts to develop a more complex conspiracy theory scenario that’s built in a very well written mystery, the crappy part starts when Katya becomes this underrated character and we never find resolution as to what The Names really is, because working under the premise of “this is so heavy and complicated you wouldn’t understand” just shows lazy writing, world building and underappreciation of the reader’s intelligence.
Katya’s character development suffers despite being this badass black woman with great revenge fuel energy, focusing on the stepson with attitude problems.
I don’t want to emit a big judgement here bearing in mind I just got into a few numbers of the series, but I’m going to go on a limb and think the next issues aren’t going to address the problematic stuff going around it. I think giving it 3 stars is a lot but the art and illustration is line is refreshing and was what got me mostly hooked even when some frames had a lot going on.
The story starts with the murder of Katya’s husband and then starts to develop a more complex conspiracy theory scenario that’s built in a very well written mystery, the crappy part starts when Katya becomes this underrated character and we never find resolution as to what The Names really is, because working under the premise of “this is so heavy and complicated you wouldn’t understand” just shows lazy writing, world building and underappreciation of the reader’s intelligence.
Katya’s character development suffers despite being this badass black woman with great revenge fuel energy, focusing on the stepson with attitude problems.
I don’t want to emit a big judgement here bearing in mind I just got into a few numbers of the series, but I’m going to go on a limb and think the next issues aren’t going to address the problematic stuff going around it. I think giving it 3 stars is a lot but the art and illustration is line is refreshing and was what got me mostly hooked even when some frames had a lot going on.
December 1, 2015
The definition of "potboiler."
Rather than each chapter building on the last, the book repeats itself to the point of obsolescence. Katya isn't a character so much as a walking archetype whose dialog serves no purpose other than flatly convincing the reader that she should be in the story at all - "I loved my husband! I have to make them pay!" She gets into a lot of scraps and gets hit in the face a lot, but it always feels like padding. There are multiple showdowns with a villainous Surgeon character, but his appearances get duller each time, transforming from a scalpel-wielding psychopath into Boris from Rocky & Bullwinkle.
The jokes about her math whiz stepson fantasizing about her repeatedly fell short. The mysterious Dark Loops started as an interesting reveal, but were handled so sparingly and via exposition (and defeated so offhandedly) that there's really nothing to hang a compliment on besides Leandro Fernandez's prettier pages. He deserved better.
Rather than each chapter building on the last, the book repeats itself to the point of obsolescence. Katya isn't a character so much as a walking archetype whose dialog serves no purpose other than flatly convincing the reader that she should be in the story at all - "I loved my husband! I have to make them pay!" She gets into a lot of scraps and gets hit in the face a lot, but it always feels like padding. There are multiple showdowns with a villainous Surgeon character, but his appearances get duller each time, transforming from a scalpel-wielding psychopath into Boris from Rocky & Bullwinkle.
The jokes about her math whiz stepson fantasizing about her repeatedly fell short. The mysterious Dark Loops started as an interesting reveal, but were handled so sparingly and via exposition (and defeated so offhandedly) that there's really nothing to hang a compliment on besides Leandro Fernandez's prettier pages. He deserved better.
August 24, 2015
This book had so many flaws, yet, I wanted to like it----because how often do you get a lead black comic character?
Unfortunately, the story line was terrible----the lack of explanation of this shadowy organization was unfortunate, and the fact that Katya did not have any character development especially with her psycho over hyped sexual stepson---was annoying. Peter Milligan, please don't give up on the diversity----just please have a better narrative.
I gotta find my .gif for "I WANTED SO BADLY TO LIKE YOU!!!!"
It's probably somewhere along these lines---The cover made me swoon---but the storyline turned me off:
Unfortunately, the story line was terrible----the lack of explanation of this shadowy organization was unfortunate, and the fact that Katya did not have any character development especially with her psycho over hyped sexual stepson---was annoying. Peter Milligan, please don't give up on the diversity----just please have a better narrative.
I gotta find my .gif for "I WANTED SO BADLY TO LIKE YOU!!!!"
It's probably somewhere along these lines---The cover made me swoon---but the storyline turned me off:
August 13, 2015
I think this is the first time that I failed to finish a graphic novel; they're so easy to read that even if I hate them I will see it through.
It isn't everyday that a black woman is the lead character in a comic book, so I was excited to pick this up. However, her character was completely objectified at every turn, and instead of being in charge of her own revenge/mystery-solving plot, she was bossed around by her awkward stepson (who has no problem telling her about how she turns him on, by the way). The story itself wasn't horrible, but it suffered from the lack of character development and a mystery that I could actually care about.
It isn't everyday that a black woman is the lead character in a comic book, so I was excited to pick this up. However, her character was completely objectified at every turn, and instead of being in charge of her own revenge/mystery-solving plot, she was bossed around by her awkward stepson (who has no problem telling her about how she turns him on, by the way). The story itself wasn't horrible, but it suffered from the lack of character development and a mystery that I could actually care about.
September 19, 2015
I received a free copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
This graphic novel was action-packed from start to finish. I enjoyed every page. I enjoyed the fact that the main character was a female who could kick but and take care of herself. Katya knew there was no way her husband would have committed suicide so she set out to find out the truth. She and her stepson escape death dozens of times and become part of the names in order to discover Kevin's killer. Unfortunately, they never get that answer by the end but I'm sure the story will continue. The artwork was great, if not a little too bloody. This is definitely more for mature readers.
5 stars.
This graphic novel was action-packed from start to finish. I enjoyed every page. I enjoyed the fact that the main character was a female who could kick but and take care of herself. Katya knew there was no way her husband would have committed suicide so she set out to find out the truth. She and her stepson escape death dozens of times and become part of the names in order to discover Kevin's killer. Unfortunately, they never get that answer by the end but I'm sure the story will continue. The artwork was great, if not a little too bloody. This is definitely more for mature readers.
5 stars.
July 20, 2015
The Names tries very hard to be a cutting-edge thrill ride with shady financiers, chipped bankers, conspiracies, revenge, autistic characters and practically the kitchen sink. The plot-line is decent, the art-work is dark and moody enough, if a bit muddy in spots, but the characters do not quite engage enough to get the reader to really care what trauma they have to endure. The infectious Dark Loop virus would be more believable if all the characters were chipped in some fashion. In the end, The Names is just a decent thriller.
September 6, 2015
Reviews haven't been great on this. Of course, I really liked it. Peter Milligan creates a great conspiracy story which isn't really as it seems. Wonderful characters, especially the bad-ass Katya and the psychotic Surgeon. The real star of the book is the amazing Leonardo Fernandez who has a style similar to Joe Quesada. Just a perfect blend of cartoony and realistic. Either it didn't sell and was cut short to end the series or Milligan can start a great story but not stick the landing. Who knows.
October 17, 2015
I really liked this book so much. Vertigo has some really good titles out. After her husband, Kevin commits suicide, Katya finds out that he was mixed with some shady organization known as the Names. We have Katya and her stepson trying to figure out more about this mysterious organization and what really happened to Kevin. The art is pretty decent in this. The ending was a bit lackluster but I'm hoping there is a new volume coming out that will answer the burning questions.
I received a free copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
I received a free copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
January 14, 2016
A contrived story that relied a lot on shock value and seemed to rush through the third act. Weird plot points driven by sexual overtones that really could have been done without. Hyperviolence in comics can work, as it does in Mark Millar's Kick Ass. Here, it just seems to be overdone for the sake of showing off.
January 9, 2016
This is a graphic novel with mnyrder and mayhem. Main character is Katya Walker whose husband supposedly commits suicide. Thus begins her journey to find out what really happened to him. A financial organization called Names is at the heart of her search.
December 26, 2015
pretty bored with the whole "powerful conspiracy foiled by plucky individual" trope especially when the powerful conspiracy can't find anyone more rational than a generic version of the Joker to be their so-called enforcer.
December 30, 2016
There's some compelling elements in this story. Cool characters, interesting process. I'm looking forward to seeing where it goes. I'm not 100% sold on the concept (plot), but I think there is major room for some cool story like improvements.
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