Savor

by Neil Kleid, John Broglia (Illustrator), Frank Reynoso (Illustrator)

An adventuring chef must face five deadly restaurants, assemble the ultimate knife, and defeat a band of pirate cooks to save her island and the woman she loves.

Warrior chef Savor Batonnet has returned home, to the island of Earth's Oven, after years away. When she learns that a crew of demonic pirate cooks has captured both the island and her family, Savor has to take on her very first quest as a newly minted hero! But are being called a "hero" and a handful of skills all the ingredients she needs to face five deadly restaurants, forge the world's most powerful knife, save both her parents and the woman she loves?

Creators Neil Kleid ( Brownsville , Kings and Canvas , The Secret History of Deena Pilgrim ), John Broglia ( God Complex , Zombie-Sama ) and Frank Reynoso ( Kings and Canvas , The Sweetness ) serve up a bite-sized story about finding your way, food fighting, family, fun and adventure! Fans of video games and cooking competitions will enjoy this all ages graphic novel.

Genres: Graphic Novels

144 pages, Paperback

Published January 26, 2021

Reviews

[Chad · Rating 3 out of 5]

A strange cross of Iron Chef and kung fu movies with a video game "Beat the boss level" format. A Scott Pilgrim with culinary skills if you will. The art was a little overly busy and flat, but decent.

Received a review copy from Magnetic Press and Edelweiss. All thoughts are my own and in no way influenced by the aforementioned.

[April Gray · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was fun. You have an island that seems to be nothing but restaurants, with a legend about a legendary knife hidden on the island in pieces to keep it safe from a demon-possessed pirate. Oh, and there are demon pirates! Who doesn't love those? Add to that warrior chefs who fight with a combination of martial arts and metaphysical super-kitchen-powers, and a quest that involves a video game style romp through boss fights to get to the final battle to save the island and its inhabitants. The story is meant for all audiences, because the creators wanted to write a story their daughters could enjoy, with a strong female protagonist, and the resulting tale has strong girl power/be yourself/coming of age vibes. As I said, the story was fun and filled with action and adventure, and maybe a little cheese. Good times!

[Irina · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm not a totally neutral party to this (someone close to me was on the creative team), but this book frankly blew me away. It's got action, whimsy, and feeling in spades, but the food/fight combo makes it unlike any adventure comic I've read. The lively artwork keeps things moving from page to page while the ultimate message is a positive one about friendship and family. Here's hoping it's the first of many.

[Pat · Rating 2 out of 5]

Concept sounded weird but fun unfortunately the story was far too disjointed. To be honest I had very little clue what was going on. With more pages and focus on characters it could have been quite good.

[Jason · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was excited to read this after hearing the creator on Comic Book Club. The story and art were ok but I wish it took itself more seriously at times to be more interesting and unique.

[Heidi · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted to love it. It sounded really fun with the cooking theme but it was just a bit wired and a super disjointed story.

[aqilahreads · Rating 1 out of 5]

ahhhhhh unfortunately not really a fan of this. super disjointed, mostly didn’t know what was going on omg but the art is amazing!

[Adam Sequoyah · Rating 2 out of 5]

MPA ratings:
PG-13 for violence
PG for language