Shrugged Volume 1 TPB: A Little Perspective

Shrugged Vol. 1 #-2,-1,0-8

by Michael Layne Turner

Everyday we're faced with choices. Left or Right? Stop or go? Love or hate? Yes or no? With each decision affecting our life, our fate. But what if those choices affected more than that -- like the fate of the universe? What if they already do? What would you choose? From Michael Turner, the creative mind that brought you Fathom and Soulfire, comes the next wondrous step in comic book entertainment! For every right, there is a wrong. For every action, there is a reaction. For every up, there is a down. And for every decision Theo makes, there is someone making the decisions for him....and ALL of us!! Welcome to Perspecta, and the reasons behind your wildest thoughts and darkest desires. This trade paperback collects Shrugged Volume 1 in its entirety, including the sold-out Preview and Beginnings issue, along with issues #0 through #8. Includes an extensive cover gallery featuring artwork by series artist Micah Gunnell, along with Shrugged creator Michael Turner and a host of others.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Urban Fantasy

280 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2009

About the author

Comic Book Artist. He studied pre-medicine at the University of Tennessee, and then moved to Aspen, Colorado, and later San Diego, where he taught martial arts, became an award winning water skier, and began drawing comic books. In 1994, he was hired by Top Cow Productions in Century City, California, where he was the co-creator of "Witchblade", a comic about a voluptuous female detective who fights evil with the aid of a mystical weapon that attaches itself to her arm and gives her superpowers. Turner later founded Aspen MLT, a Santa Monica publishing company that created online comic adaptations for the NBC television series "Heroes" and titles including "Fathom", a deep-sea story about a female superhero. He was also a regular cover artist for "Superman/Batman" and "The Flash". Turner's work was in demand for special editions and similar projects, and he drew covers for DC Comics' "Justice League" and Marvel's "Civil War". The milestone 500th issue of "Uncanny X-Men", released in July, 2008, featured one of Turner's special edition covers. He died of complications from chondrosarcoma, a form of bone cancer he had begun treatment for in 2000.

Reviews

[Jenn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I adored this tale. We've all heard stories about how everyone has a devil and an angel on their shoulders telling us what to do. Well, Shrugged takes that one step further creating an entirely new world aside from our own where these beings train to be attached to humans.

Our main character is a teenage boy just trying to get through life. When his mini- shoulder buddies can't seem to work in harmony, their arguments start bleeding over into reality and soon mysterious events are happening. I loved the liveliness of all of the characters both human and not. Ange and Dev as the shoulder buddies had me cracking up. Also, I love the play on names from the usual Angel and Devil. This story had heart as it touched on emotions and the feeling of wanting to belong and to be liked. It also played with the idea of free will and how much do we actually get to choose what we do. It made for a very interesting read.

And the art work was just fantastic. Colorful and vivid, it had me soaking in all of the panels to make sure I didn't miss anything.

[Rachael · Rating 1 out of 5]

I picked this up on a whim and I was very disappointed. The art is gorgeous and I was pleased to see diversity in the cast, but the climax of the story fell far short of the premise and only the main character actually had any lines. Most of the interesting details were completely unexplained: how and why did Carrie go to Perspecta? why Theo? what did his brother have to do with it? how did Dev break away from Theo and why didn't Ange do the same thing? why didn't the spirits of Perspecta just blast the hooded thing (we never got a name) in the first place? what was up with Kiori's dad and why did Kiori exist at all since she never said an important line?

I enjoyed the pictures, but numerous typos and an entire page missing text really took me out of the story. The plot was shallow and predictable when it wasn't totally pointless. I'm bummed that I wasted $25.

Update: Okay, I just found out that one of the creators was ill and passed away while the last issue was being written, so that might have contributed to the disjointed feel of the ending. However, the last three issues had the same problems, so I don't think it can all be blamed on that. Reading the introduction to the book, I expected a high concept with lots of exploration into the meanings of good vs. evil, but the story is full of trite cliches and no one asks why. Maybe it's my philosophy degree, but I do expect better of a story based on moral choices.

[Heron · Rating 4 out of 5]

Super cute and funny.

[Ernest · Rating 4 out of 5]

Picked this up because I like Michael Turner's art. Turned out to be a story with an interesting premise.

[Nikhil · Rating 4 out of 5]

It took a while to really get going, but really grew on me toward the end. Very original ideas. It's set up perfectly for a sequel but unfortunately the series was cancelled.