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Oliver #1
Oliver, Vol. 1
A startlingly original take on the Dickens classic, Oliver re-imagines Oliver Twist as a post-apocalyptic superhero who brings hope to the downtrodden people of a bleak near-future England as he seeks to uncover the truth behind his own mysterious origins.
Collects OLIVER #1-4.
Collects OLIVER #1-4.
128 pages, Paperback
First published July 22, 2020
3 people are currently reading
64 people want to read
About the author
Gary Whitta
42 books397 followersGary Whitta is an award-winning screenwriter best known for The Book of Eli starring Denzel Washington. He also co-wrote the Will Smith sci-fi movie After Earth, and was writer and story consultant on Telltale Games’ The Walking Dead. He is co-writer of the upcoming Star Wars movie Rogue One as well as the animated series Star Wars Rebels.
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
April 23, 2020
Yet another retelling of Oliver. This one set in a post-apocalyptic future with a super-powered Oliver. Yet I quite liked it. The story is about a bunch of clones that have been abandoned in a nuclear ravaged London. They were created to fight a war and now that the war is over England has put them in a prison camp. One night a pregnant woman arrives and gives birth to Oliver. The story follows the very basics of the Dickens' novel from there.
Darick Robertson's art is great. There's a lot of acrobatic action in the panels. The colors are muted for the setting but spot on.
Received a review copy from Image and Edelweiss. All thoughts are my own and in no way influenced by the aforementioned.
Darick Robertson's art is great. There's a lot of acrobatic action in the panels. The colors are muted for the setting but spot on.
Received a review copy from Image and Edelweiss. All thoughts are my own and in no way influenced by the aforementioned.
April 14, 2020
Uninspired grim future Dickens pastiche that never really takes off.
In the future, there is a war. The UK has the technology to clone people, so they people their armies with clones. The enemy (never becomes clear who they were) dumps a nuclear bomb on London and the war ends. Britain no longer wants anything to do with their clone army, so they're told to stay in irradiated London, and work in, well, workhouses.
A pregnant woman wanders into the clone colony, and gives birth to our protagonist, Oliver. She dies, and Oliver grows up with the clones, with no idea who his parents were.
This the start of the mystery at the core of the book, and as a mystery it doesn't make a lot of sense.
There's some light world building, which quickly drowns in a whole lot of acrobatic fight scenes (and I mean a LOT), and then the whole thing ends on a tepid cliffhanger.
The art looks like something from the 90s. In fact, the writing also feels quite 90s, trying to emulate 2000 AD and never really hitting it, never being transgressive or funny.
(Received an ARC through Edelweiss)
In the future, there is a war. The UK has the technology to clone people, so they people their armies with clones. The enemy (never becomes clear who they were) dumps a nuclear bomb on London and the war ends. Britain no longer wants anything to do with their clone army, so they're told to stay in irradiated London, and work in, well, workhouses.
A pregnant woman wanders into the clone colony, and gives birth to our protagonist, Oliver. She dies, and Oliver grows up with the clones, with no idea who his parents were.
This the start of the mystery at the core of the book, and as a mystery it doesn't make a lot of sense.
There's some light world building, which quickly drowns in a whole lot of acrobatic fight scenes (and I mean a LOT), and then the whole thing ends on a tepid cliffhanger.
The art looks like something from the 90s. In fact, the writing also feels quite 90s, trying to emulate 2000 AD and never really hitting it, never being transgressive or funny.
(Received an ARC through Edelweiss)
April 28, 2020
A dystopian retelling of Oliver Twist. It starts off quite well, but I was kinda confused at his ageing process, although it does get touched on. Its got all the big scenes from pop culture but I'm still a little confused at why they needed to base it around this story. It could have really been a cool story if they had a little more freedom.
February 23, 2020
Well, this was a book that wavered quite noticeably in my appreciation. It starts out rather well, with a post-Apocalyptic, semi-steampunk London housing some left-over Rogue Trooper-types, and one hybrid of the bottle-born men born of natural mother. He witnesses how they exist in a workhouse, and, as his name suggests, asks for more food come break time. However, the gung-ho action that follows that just descends into Spiderman gymnastics with added rain – your bog-standard athletic combat that just went too far to negate all the good we'd had early on. Some kind of whack-ass production problems meant the fourth issue was dated several months after the opening three, and shows the book diverging from both the clear Dickens parallel and the city-based combat actioner, so there's certainly some promise of intrigue in what's to come. I just found what we have so far a little too uneven – at one time it adds so much more to the Oliver Twist story than I would ever have expected, then swamps itself in derivative action directing. So not quite the real deal, but an interesting read all told. Three and a half stars.
October 1, 2020
A future dystopian version of Oliver Twist, sort of. It seems vaguely inspired at best, and I feel like Whitta took more cues from the episodes of Clone Wars that featured the troopers more than he did from Dickens. That's not precisely a criticism. There's plenty of fertile ground in the notion of identical clones being sent to fight a war, and the basic notion that Oliver's journey will be finding answers about his parentage is a decent starting point. I just wasn't in love with the art or the action scenes, both of which I found uninspired. Others may find more of interest here than I did, especially because I do think there's a solid foundation for the story.
February 15, 2020
This is an exiting and gritty re-telling of Oliver Twist. Set in a post apocalyptic London, Oliver is a hybrid child. Half human half AI. Brought up by other AI he doesnt really know who he is until one day he goes up against the human oppressors and they in turn try to hunt him down, but Oliver resists and as he does so the other AI begin to fight back against their oppressors.
Great to read and gripping. It is a very creative re-telling of Oliver Twist and I really enjoyed it. Definitely one series to look out for.
Great to read and gripping. It is a very creative re-telling of Oliver Twist and I really enjoyed it. Definitely one series to look out for.
August 29, 2020
Clever, original, intriguing re-telling of Oliver. Set in a post-apocalyptic world, Oliver is an anomaly. Not just an orphan, but a mixed blood of unnamed origin, who can survive in a world that he shouldn't be able to live in.
The backstory of super soldiers created to fight a war, mass produced by machine birth, gives it a Resident Evil/Matrix vibe. The artwork is gritty, dark and foreboding. The perfect atmosphere for the story that's being told.
Really interested to see how it continues.
The backstory of super soldiers created to fight a war, mass produced by machine birth, gives it a Resident Evil/Matrix vibe. The artwork is gritty, dark and foreboding. The perfect atmosphere for the story that's being told.
Really interested to see how it continues.
April 26, 2020
This is a dystopian retelling of Oliver Twist. For some reason, my copy was put together as issue 2, 1, 4, 3. It’s weird but it works. The art is fantastic and suits the story very well. It kinda ends on a cliffhanger. I will be seeking out vol. 2.
ARC provided by the publisher via Edelweiss+ in exchange for an honest review.
ARC provided by the publisher via Edelweiss+ in exchange for an honest review.
April 4, 2020
Thanks to Edelweiss for the e-arc!
Nice twist on a classic! Then again, the original was pretty grim so dystopian isn't much of a stretch, but it's done well. Can't wait to see where it will go next!
Nice twist on a classic! Then again, the original was pretty grim so dystopian isn't much of a stretch, but it's done well. Can't wait to see where it will go next!
August 21, 2020
Curious to see more, but not breaking a sweat about it either.
Dystopian literature is usually my jam, but I fail to see how this group of "soldiers" wound up subdued and cast off this way. There are a little too many ??? going on for this to be truly inspired.
Dystopian literature is usually my jam, but I fail to see how this group of "soldiers" wound up subdued and cast off this way. There are a little too many ??? going on for this to be truly inspired.
January 17, 2022
Good storytelling. Great imagery. From a technical perspective flawless. However, I’m not yet convinced the story is gripping enough. It’s dark, violent, and militant without a clear moral or balance. Not sure if I will pick up the next ones.
November 13, 2023
Intriguing premise but not fully explained world-building. The action scenes with Oliver looked nice at first, but there can only be so many parkour-in-pouring-rain-and-lightning sequences before they get tedious.
February 20, 2022
Holy Crap, Batman. This was an amazing twist on my all time favorite novel. I need another volume, that cliff hanger was awful. Please, please give another volume.
April 25, 2025
2.5/5
Aprobado justito por el dibujo, porque el guión es flojito flojito (y eso sueldo benévolo).
Aprobado justito por el dibujo, porque el guión es flojito flojito (y eso sueldo benévolo).
March 2, 2025
Graphic novel number 2 of the year ☺️
Another dystopian story but this was a retelling of Oliver Twist. Loosely…
I really liked it but not sure I’ll continue with the series
4 stars
Another dystopian story but this was a retelling of Oliver Twist. Loosely…
I really liked it but not sure I’ll continue with the series
4 stars
November 18, 2020
Check out my review at No Flying No Tights
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews