Fraternity

Fraternity #1-2

by Juan Díaz Canales, José Luis Munuera (Illustrator)

1863: during the American Civil War, the inhabitants of New Fraternity, Indiana find themselves far from the front lines of the conflict embroiling the United States but still constantly under threat from it; food is scarce, deserters come to seek asylum, and a mysterious feral beast that walks on two legs prowls the forest around the town. The beast seems to have some connection to Emile, a feral child found a few years earlier who had been taken in by the townsfolk during simpler times. As their fear and paranoia grows, the townsfolk start to hunt the beast and turn on each other, with tragic results that threaten to undo all that they have been working towards.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Fantasy, Horror, Historical Fiction, Bande Dessinée, Supernatural

128 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 1, 2011

About the author

Juan Díaz Canales is a Spanish comics artist and an animated film director, known as the co-creator of Blacksad.

Reviews

[Dave Schaafsma · Rating 3 out of 5]

Juan Carnales wrote the interesting anthropomorphic (cat as detective) noir comics series Blacksad that I think I liked better then than now. The story was never as good as the art by Juanjo Guarnido, but the series won some awards. I did like it, just didn't love it.

This two volume collection, Fraternity, again written by Carnales and drawn well by Jose-Luis Munuera, also features better drawing than story, though the ideas on which the story is based are interesting. The story is set in 1963 in New Fraternity, Indiana, when the Civil War was under way, and the pacifist/anarchist Transcendentalism of Thoreau and Emerson and others was also happening. One character in the story is an anarchist, based on the guy presumed to be the first American anarchist, Josiah Warren. Now as then the concern as a society is how to live together across differences. Anarchism in general holds "the state" to be mostly harmful to that end. Sometimes we associate anarchism with either liberal and conservative libertarian political philosophies, as both the far right and far left distrust government for different reasons.

The (fictional) colony developed in Fraternity, is one of the liberal anarchist/libertarian groups, built on the twin principles of equality and individualism, which of course creates tensions in this story we view as a backdrop to the largely unmentioned civil war. Throw in a feral child and a monster (is it Mary Shelley's Frankenstein that would help us question our society, or is just a demon?). Can we as humans figure it all out and Get Together? Well, 150 years later we know things got worse and not better in terms of human conflict than this 1963 fable. "Human nature" would seem to be always tending to conflict and division in spite of our best efforts. A kind of strange and top-heavy anarchist meditation on peace, love and understanding. Thought-provoking? I guess. A surprising turn for Carnales from escapist noir to somewhat obscure political philosophy, but I will read other reviews to see what it is I may have missed in this one.

[Chad · Rating 3 out of 5]

Set during the Civil War at a small community that is trying to create a perfect utopia. Factions arise as it starts to fall apart and a creature appears. This had some potential but too many subplots. The monster angle felt a bit out of place with everything else also going on. I loved the art. It reminded me of the old Disney version of the Legend of Sleepy Hollow.

Received a review copy from Lion Forge and NetGalley. All thoughts are my own and in no way influenced by the aforementioned.

[Mitticus · Rating 3 out of 5]

In 1863, a colony in US founded upon utopian ideas of equality (with socialism and atheism basis) is depicted with struggles between their members to survive . The founder , Robert McCorman is old, and soon is just witness to the turbulent times of war does nothing to help if not rather to emphatized differences of classes and race.



A wild child found in the forest and a strange creature with whom he has connection, pushes the story into a fabled context, where innocence finds naked violence and a labyrinth that perhaps or does not represent how many ideas remain in nothing or as in the end you can only hope to reach the center without finding the solution that is expected.

Realistic and violent. And there is a hint of ciclical recurrence

story - 3
art - 4

No character is blameless and there is not a clean conclussion.




+Digital arc gently provided by Netgalley and publishers in exchange for an honest review+

[Skirmish · Rating 3 out of 5]

Book Reaction: https://nildivision.blogspot.com/2018...
Rating: 3 Stars - not exactly setting my world on fire but I liked it

I received a copy of Fraternity from Diamond Book Distributors via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

[marko · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesantna priča protkana fantastičnim i horor elementima koja se dotiče mnogih tema poput rasizma, rodne ravnopravnosti, politike, nauke, vere i nade u neku bolju budućnost.

[Dev · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received an ARC copy of this book from NetGalley.

This was an interesting read and definitely good for October, but almost every person in it is just awful and it's a little bit more depressing than I would have liked. Even so, I did like the ending and thought it was very fitting. The art was good and the color palette matched the mood very well but I think it could have maybe been just a touch less cartoonish and really leaned into the dark nature of the whole thing.

[Etienne · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,5/5. The illustrations in that book are awesome. Like the story there are quite dark, but there is beauty in darkness, and this book is full of it. Unfortunately the story development is a bit slow for my comic book liking, but it's still a book worth looking at!

[Juho Pohjalainen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Juan draws animals (anthropomorphic or not) better than humans: the characters in this story feel like caricatures, somewhat uncanny. It's not bad art, but it never really grew on me.

Story-wise, there isn't a great deal in here. An American Minotaur threatens a seemingly peaceful community, a mute wild child is somehow involved, and soon everything begins to fall apart. Very few of the characters involved were any interesting or reasonably fleshed-out, and even the sympathetic ones tend to end up suddenly going bad towards the end.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really great art and intriguing premise, but the story was awfully grim. Still digesting this one.

Next day update: OK, since this still had the power to stir my brain—a lot—this morning, I’m bumping up my rating.

I’ve been thinking about the monster—why is it there? What is it a metaphor for? The god they abandoned? The depth of understanding and harmony with the natural world that most of them never achieved? I’m not sure.

One thing that was nagging at me was whether or not they developed enough the idea that a utopian society will always fail, that there’s something flawed about humanity that kept the experimental community like the one in the book—and the real one it was based on—from working. Maybe they did a better job than I originally thought. They had characters who represented the focus on pure philosophy and characters who represented a focus purely on the physical, and these two groups could never come to terms or balance. And maybe that’s the point. The founder of the community dying as his project was failing was easy to spot, but still poetic.

Who knows? I could be way off, but since this book gave me a little exercise for my brain, I appreciated it, grim as it was. I liked the glimmer of hope at the end, but it will take some more mulling to decipher what it means. Maybe that Emile was closer to enlightenment than anyone else.

[Dakota Morgan · Rating 2 out of 5]

What a weird, weird story. Fraternity stars a utopian community that harbors a mute young boy and a lot of argumentative old white dudes. The mute boy meets a demon in a labyrinth and then...well, nothing really happens. The old white dudes hate the boy and demon and also some black soldiers. There are a few sympathetic characters, I think, but we never really get to know them enough to know why we should care about them. Honestly, that's the case for all these characters. The story seems to start in act three, as if the weird introductory letter is enough to carry us through acts one and two.

The art is fine at least, but let me be clear: Juan Diaz Canales' Blacksad series is one of my all-time favorites and Fraternity's uniformly brown art doesn't hold a candle to that. And the plot is even farther from Blacksad's skillful story-weaving. Fraternity is a bland, weird read if you haven't encountered Blacksad. If you have read Blacksad (and you liked it), avoid Fraternity at all costs so you don't ruin your impression of Juan Diaz Canales.

Honestly, the thing that gets me the most about Fraternity is that the story features a massive canyon labyrinth in Indiana. Uhhhh have you been to Indiana?

[Ivan Jovanovic (Valahiru) · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nakon Božićne priče, želeo sam da pročitam i rasprodato izdanje Munuerinog Bratstva. Nakon što sam uspeo da ga pronadjem i kupim, odmah sam započeo čitanje.

Scenarista Dijaz Kanales (Bleksad) ovde saradjuje sa Munuerom koji je zadužen za crteže. "Bratstvo" je inspirisano stvarnim ljudima, filozofijama i društvom, ali se radnja odigrava u imaginarnom gradu. Gradjanski rat još uvek besni, dok u ovom gradu ljudi osnivaju eksperimentalnu zajednicu. Ono što se u početku činilo kao dobra ideja, ispostavilo se vremenom kao propast.

Radnja obiluje različitim likovima, ali je priča meni bila isuviše monotona. Scenario je sam po sebi takav, ali meni nije bio zanimljiv. Dešavalo se na par minuta da mi pažnja bude privučena, da bi u sledećem trenutku opet postalo monotono. Očekivao sam nešto drugačije od ovog stripa.

Munuerin crtež mi se ranije zaista dopadao, ali mi ovde nije opravdao očekivanja. Možda je stvar i u koloru koji odgovara atmosferi priče, pa je u tamnim tonovima.


Crtež svakako odgovara atmosferi, kreira mračnu sredinu, likove i tenziju koja raste vremenom.

Bratstvo je zapravo tragičan podsetnik na sve što se može desiti kada pustimo strahu da nas vodi. Kada dopustimo nagonima da vladaju nama.

[Álvaro · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.8 o así. Muy justito.

Una historia ambientada en una comunidad utópica americana del siglo XIX, que trata de ser una fábula sobre el odio al distinto, el buen salvaje... pero cuyo guión es muy poco fluido, con demasiados personajes,y mal perfilados (sorprendente viniendo del "monstruo" Díaz Canales).
El dibujo es deudor de Disney, y de Morris (al que hay mención en los agradecimientos), por lo que,cumpliendo, hay pocas sorpresas,si bien el tratamiento digital del trazo y del color es tan marcado, se nota tanto que no es orgánico, que me ha chirriado bastante.

Muy soso.

[Miroslav · Rating 3 out of 5]

Prica je previse ambiciozna za ovakav format. Neki od podzapleta, iako zanimljivi, mogli su biti izbaceni kako se ne bi gubio fokus. Ovako, autori pokusavaju da urade previse toga odjednom i ni jednu stvar ne postizu na zadovoljavajuc nacin. Crtez je odlican, ali je kolorit mogao biti nesto zivlji - na trenutke je previse monotono.

[Edward Correa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fraternity es una obra que puede verse como pequeña y de rápida lectura, pero tiene elementos que parecen sacados de las noticias actuales: discriminación por raza y género, luchas por el poder y por imponer creencias y beneficios propios, egoísmo y miedo a lo desconocido. Interesante lectura con un arte soberbio, elegante y muy poderoso.

[Sonic · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fairly simple story (thats not a bad thing) with some excellent under-themes!

[Siina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fraternity reminded me of Shyamalan's The Village a lot and it was as confusing. It tells the story of the settlers, who wanted to create their own Utopia in the 19th century. It's set in Indiana, USA. The settlers find a feral boy they name Emile, who has something to do with this monster everyone is trying to find and kill. Not only that but the lack of food and loss of Utopian dreams and values makes people turn to monsters themselves. Killing seems easy and justified, who even needs solidarity? Fraternity is a good example of how people cannot really function together and make a perfect society. The lack of trust and the need to value yourself more than others is always present and the dark and grim atmosphere is very fascinating. The plot doesn't really go anywhere though and the characters feel paper-thin, which is a shame, since Canales knows better (just look at Blacksad). The comic felt sporadic and the focus was nowhere to be seen, so basically the atmosphere had to pull everything together and it couldn't.

The art is great, brutal and still fine with scratches. The dark color world fits very well and the monster looks just awesome. Points for facial expressions and overall art quality, which makes this look wonderful. The art and atmosphere alone just couldn't save this enough, although Fraternity isn't a bad comic. It depends on what you are after whether this rocks your boat or not. For me Fraternity fell flat, but I could still enjoy the parts that worked.

[Jason · Rating 2 out of 5]

The plots and characters take a while to reach an unsatisfactory ending. There's no answer to the creature or its potential connection to Emile, the love triangle fizzles, and the town council is stuck in their ways. (e-galley from NetGalley)

[Safronia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Une histoire vraiment pas joyeuse mais des dessins superbes, je n'avais pas saisie que c'est le dessinateur de Blacksad, mais je comprends maintenant pourquoi j'ai flashé dessus !

[Museofnyxmares · Rating 3 out of 5]

Blog Post: https://museofnyxmares.wordpress.com/...

3.5/5 Stars

*I was provided with an ARC of this book through Netgalley, in exchange for my honest opinion.

I think that this is one of the most sombre graphic novels that I’ve read, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, just different. The opening letter intrigued me and had some thought provoking ideas in it, but I was a bit nervous that the novel would continue in this manner. Therefore you can imagine my excitement when I turned the page and was greeted with stunning artwork, that captured the tone of the book perfectly. The artwork had this raw, almost primitive look to it that I enjoyed tremendously. To further this effect, the artist stuck to very earthy, dark tones to capture this story and it definitely set the mood. It created such a sense of foreboding from the very start, which continued throughout. The images were very clear in the scenes that they were trying to depict and I loved the use of the landscapes, as almost an extra character in the book.

Fraternity looked at how the idea of Utopia sounds idealistic on paper, but is also extremely far from becoming a functioning reality. The towns people are constantly bickering amongst themselves and it’s very clear that they all had different ideas of what a Utopia should look like, and they can’t find their version reflected in their current situation. Like the letter foreshadowed at the start, you can have this so called ‘Utopia’ perfectly planned out and agreed upon by all, and yet human nature is bound to run it’s course and throw a spanner in the works. People ended up quarreling about Religion, whether to extend hospitality to outsiders and what to do with the local monster.

As it is set in 1863 there is reference to the war and also racism. There are some black soldiers who show up in the town, with a sketchy story about why they are there and are suspected to be deserters. Most of the towns folk aren’t happy about them hanging around, supposedly because they are outsiders. However, there are probably more racist undertones to their complaints, which some of them are more vocal about. One man says “Negroes” on a couple of occasions, and I’m not too sure how I feel about it. I personally just don’t think that it’s necessary, as I was able to decipher that the character was being racist without the use of that unpleasant word. This is just my personal opinion, and it may not bother other POC, but like I said, I just don’t think it’s necessary. The novel did hint at the type of abuse that these black soldiers faced in the army though, which I think is very important to highlight.

Although there wasn’t really much explanation why, there seemed to be a connection between the once feral boy, Emile, and the monster. I quite liked this odd little pair and it was probably one of my favourite things about the book. And I’m hoping that in the next installment we will be able to see more of this. I enjoyed Fraternity, as it was like nothing I’ve read or seen before and so I would recommend it.

[Ricky Schneider · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fraternity is a serviceable graphic novel from Spanish writer Juan Diaz Canales with art from Jose-Luis Munuera. It echoes the aesthetic of J.A. Bayona or Guillermo Del Toro but the somewhat convoluted story and distant characters make it a visually arresting though narratively lacking tale. It centers around a young feral boy and a mysterious monster that follows him. Based in the 19th century, the story is immersive and entrancing before becoming a bit too ambitious and ambiguous at the same time.

There are big themes at play in this graphic novel. It attempts to tackle everything from otherness to disparity of wealth and class to the titular idea of our connected nature and how integral that is to our survival. Perhaps it was too big of a bite to chew for this specific literary form but the sentiment and intention behind it is noble. The main characters have previous relationships that remain somewhat unknowable throughout the story and the protagonist is completely silent for the entirety of the book. This could have been overcome with some clever scene work but unfortunately it persisted as an obstacle in connecting with the characters and their perspectives.

The artwork by Munuera is gorgeous. Particularly, I found the character designs to be wonderfully reminiscent of mid-century Disney or Don Bluth at his best. The use of color and shading was absorbing and atmospheric. As the broad themes unraveled into complex political implications, the narrative began to run away with itself. However, by the end, the overall journey was enjoyable and entertaining enough as a dark fable to delve into and the visuals were skillful and beautiful enough to smooth over the clunky writing.

[DJL · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGalley for allowing me to read this graphic novel.

Being a fan of Canales' Blacksad graphic novels, I was quite interested in reading Fraternity and the cover also drew my interest. That being said, I was a bit confused by the pacing of the story. This historical inspired graphic novel is about an independent community that has essentially withdrawn from the government (along with the Civil War) to become a self-supporting Utopian society. Unfortunately, there are complications as supplies are running low and division rises between the wealthier contributors and the field-working farmers, allowing "human nature" to be the slow downfall of the society.

While I was interested, I spent a lot of time in confusion as to why certain elements were even placed in the story. With the inclusion of these additional plot devices, including the arrival of Civil War deserters, the feral child, and his forest guardian (which most believed to be a demon from Hell), I suppose it sped up the dissolution of the society which also resulted in quite a few deaths not to mention the burning of part of the commune. There were so many things going on in the story, I became quite turned around by the end of it all.

It's not really horror more speculative-historical fiction, but I think if some things had either been omitted or more developed, the story might not have been quite as confusing. But then again, that might have been the desired result of both Canales and Munuera. I would recommend this graphic novel to readers who enjoy illustrations with a mysterious air and a story that will keep them guessing.

[Salamah · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an interesting and unique story. I am not sure if I liked the story exactly but I thought it was such an unusual read that I gave the book 3 stars. The story starts off about a man (I forgot his name) who basically wants to start a new community in which people are free to live how they want to, democracy rules and that everyone helps each other. However, it doesn't actually work out that way for various reasons but the main reason is that people are hungry and poor. Nothing is done to really keep the community going especially because everyone is not contributing their fare share of work, while others are greedy and feel they should be in charge of the community in general. The main character is a little boy who does not speak Emile and a woman who is a feminist. The characters are living during the 1863 which makes the idea about starting a free community crazy because slavery is still in place and the Civil War is raging on. To top it all off there is a strange demon like creature living in the woods spying on the community. The community does not do well and much happens that eventually leads to it's end. The end of the story was the best part actually for me and I was surprised by the ending. One thing I did not like about this story is that I had too many questions at the end of the story. Like who really is Emile?, how come the demon likes him? Where did Alex go? Did the old man die on his own or did the demon kill him?

[Alessandro · Rating 5 out of 5]

Un’opera sorprendente, capace di unire la forza della grande narrativa a fumetti con la profondità di un romanzo filosofico. "Fraternity" ci porta nell’Indiana del XIX secolo, in un villaggio che tenta di realizzare un’utopia sociale, libera dalle convenzioni e dalle ingiustizie del mondo esterno. Ma ben presto emergono le contraddizioni più tipiche della natura umana: egoismo, paura del diverso, istinti di sopraffazione.
La sceneggiatura di Juan Díaz Canales è impeccabile: asciutta, incisiva, con dialoghi che aprono squarci di riflessione mai banali. I disegni di José Luis Munuera sono semplicemente magnifici: potenti e delicati allo stesso tempo, capaci di evocare atmosfere sospese tra il realismo storico e la suggestione del fantastico.
Quello che colpisce di più è come, dietro la vicenda di un piccolo esperimento sociale, si rifletta un discorso universale: l’impossibilità di costruire una comunità ideale senza fare i conti con le fragilità e le ombre dell’animo umano. E, inevitabilmente, sono i “diversi” — quelli che la società etichetta come tali — a diventare il bersaglio delle tensioni e delle paure collettive.
Fraternity è una graphic novel potente ed evocativa, che lascia dietro di sé una lunga eco di domande. Un gioiello che merita di essere letto, discusso e ricordato.

[Aaron McQuiston · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Fraternity" is the story of a utopian town of New Fraternity, Indiana, a mute boy found in the woods, and a monster that is killing deer and livestock. This setup sounds good, and some parts of the story are incredible, but as a whole, most of the story is more about political strife in the town, those who believe the monster is a sign from God versus the founding members of the town who built the structure on atheistic beliefs, and the sightings and destruction of people and property by this monster are what bring the town into turmoil. I really love the style of the comics, some of the panels I just stared at for a long periods before moving on to the rest of the story, but this is only an average book because the storytelling seems to drag. I feel like they really wanted to do something different, make this more about the repercussions on the town's morality due to a monster in the woods more than the monster himself, and the effort is noticed. It is a nice try but not the best direction to telling this story. The art is beautiful though. This saves "Fraternity" in my mind.

I received this ARC through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

[Jesús · Rating 2 out of 5]

Where Canales’ earlier book, Blacksad, suffered under the weight of its source material (mid-century films noirs), Fraternity suffers under the weight of having too many ideas. The premise alone already sounds way too busy: a 19th-century utopian community is beset from within by racism, classism, ableism, religious difference, food shortages, illness, greed, and love triangles, and it is beset from without by the ongoing US Civil War, deserting soldiers, the return of an old friend, and, oh right, a forest monster.

Clearly, the book lacks focus. Even a 1,000 page comic would struggle to find its footing amidst so many competing and overlapping ideas. But at a mere 120 pages, there’s simply no way for it to develop any of these ideas to any degree of satisfaction, let alone complexity.

Yes, as with Blacksad, the art in Fraternity is gorgeous. But also like Blacksad, Fraternity’s art far surpasses its writing. Canales does very well in securing ultra-talented collaborators, so he’d likely do much better working as a comics editor instead of as a writer.

Fraternity is another beautiful disappointment.

[Paul Decker · Rating 3 out of 5]

*I received this book as an eARC from Lion Forge and Diamond Books via Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review*

This graphic novel starts with a fictional essay about New Harmony, a proposed utopian colony. Historical characters such as Josiah Warren and Robert Owen are referenced. This is a set up to the comic which shows a proposed utopian colony named New Fraternity. There are fantastical elements in this historical alternative historical story, particularly a monster. There's also tension between the colonists as well as outside entities.

I found the artwork very fitting in the tone of the story. There are some dark images, but it flows well with the vibe. This is a comic heavy on dialogue. I found it a bit burdensome to read at times.

I give this comic book a 3/5. I found it entertaining, but a bit heavy on dialogue.

[Nathaniel Darkish · Rating 2 out of 5]

Though the art was pretty decent (with the exception of a couple of characters who were drawn in a way that felt like caricature that you'd get in a tourist trap) and the creature design was pretty cool, I largely was unimpressed by this graphic novel. I felt like there was a lot going on-- a monster in the woods, a silent wild child, a town built on principles of atheism, military desertion, racism, sexism... I don't mind there being many facets to a story, but many of these didn't really connect to each other in any meaningful way, which made the shotgun-blast of ideas covered a bit confusing (which then left me bored).

[Soobie is expired · Rating 1 out of 5]

Beh... Non credo di averci capito molto. Mi è sembrato che gli autori facessero riferimento a fatti a me sconosciuti che forse avrebbe aiutato la comprensione della storia. Invece niente: ho fatto tanta fatica.

C'è un bambino che non parla. C'è un'unica donna che vive in un villaggio utopico dell'Indiana. Ci sono una manciata di disertori neri che vorrebbero nascondersi e dimenticare gli orrori della guerra. E ci sono quelli a capo del villaggio, che son un po' fusi. E tutto questo si mette a girare insieme verso una conclusione che non può essere positiva.

Non male i disegni, ma... Sigh! Magari son io che mi son instupidita a forza di legger fumetti.

[Jerrad · Rating 4 out of 5]

A simple story with excellent art. It is a story of people attempting to create a socialist community in America during the civil War and to avoid taking sides in the conflict. The main protagonist is a wild boy the town folk catch in the woods and bring back to civilize. Of course the kid remains a little wild. The main problem in the story is capitalist greed and diminishing resources and how it affects their attempted utopia and their professed beliefs about racial and social equality. There's also a big monster thing that befriends the boy in a cool, but unnecessary subplot.

[Paula Lyle · Rating 2 out of 5]

The art was interesting, but the story was so depressing. All the people are horrible, except one woman. The feral child doesn't seem to be actually evil, but his smile at the end doesn't bode well for his new community. We don't actually know these people, all the old people are dead and gone, so it seems pretty dark.

I received an eArc from NetGalley.