I often feel like Niles is still trading on his original [b:30 Days of Night, Vol. 1|831829|30 Days of Night, Vol. 1|Steve Niles|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1178747918l/831829._SY75_.jpg|280664] success. It was good, but I can't say I've really truly enjoyed much of his work since.

Still, I keep trying.

This, I will say, is actually one of his better ones, with Greg Ruth turning in absolutely masterful artwork that feels like the lovechild of Gene Colan and Herb Trimpe. I'll say this with no hesitation: The artwork saved this story from utter banality.

We've all seen this story before, from Mary Shelly's [b:Frankenstein|18490|Frankenstein|Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1381512375l/18490._SY75_.jpg|4836639] to The X-Files...the unwanted freak who actually holds more humanity inside their monstrous form than those who claim to be human.

And, to be honest, for much of the story, Niles handles Will—the main so-called freak in the story—with some delicacy. It's only when the inevitable violence comes that the story slides off the rails. It feels like Niles had the great start of a story, and probably the last scene, but didn't quite know how to get from the mid-point to the end.

To be fair, he really didn't get there.

However, because I've had three DNF graphic novels in as many days, I'm feeling somewhat charitable, so I'll give him three stars for the first three-quarters of the story, and a solid, don't-even-have-to-think-about-it five stars for the art, to end up at 4 stars. ( )

I got a little disappointed... I guess I tought it would be more like "30 Days of Night", but it's a tale about... well "freaks" in a small village and how it's inhabitants live with that secret. ( )

For 2012 references, the book was the love-child of Frankenstein's monster meet Winter's Bone.

That what I've been thinking the whole time I was reading this book. Its the story of a young boy named Trevor with a deformed six years old younger brother, Will. Their father, a misogynistic bastard and abuser who like to degrade everyone, wanted to kill the younger brother for being different. A couple of pages later it was revealed that Will have telepathy in which he sensed the death of someone who was like him. Their father newly resolved with the abomination in the family, decided to end his son's life until Trevor try to prevent his father with a bullet which missed. Before his father would hit his older brother, Will unveiled a superhuman ability of flamethrowing from his throat. Leaving his father fried crispy in the barn and their mother letting them go. They went to find more caged creatures like Will and behind them was a group of rednecks with guns and a thirst to kill all of the deformed children.

The graphic is gloomy and the watercolour and the details and shades were magnificent. I find myself hard to appreciate most western graphic novels because of the overused filling computer colouring but each of the pages from this book were bringing live to the screen. The intensity of the shades heightened the overwhelming depression, mania and hope that are prevalent in some graphic novels like The Walking Dead but in this stand alone book, I kept coming up various of scenes and themes that was bleeding through the graphics silently. The fear of the unknown, the sense of freedom, the inquisitiveness and redemption of several of the characters. The tears.

The artistic work on this book is plain overwhelming. The content carry a lot of depth in it and make me wish for more.
( )

For 2012 references, the book was the love-child of Frankenstein's monster meet Winter's Bone.

That what I've been thinking the whole time I was reading this book. Its the story of a young boy named Trevor with a deformed six years old younger brother, Will. Their father, a misogynistic bastard and abuser who like to degrade everyone, wanted to kill the younger brother for being different. A couple of pages later it was revealed that Will have telepathy in which he sensed the death of someone who was like him. Their father newly resolved with the abomination in the family, decided to end his son's life until Trevor try to prevent his father with a bullet which missed. Before his father would hit his older brother, Will unveiled a superhuman ability of flamethrowing from his throat. Leaving his father fried crispy in the barn and their mother letting them go. They went to find more caged creatures like Will and behind them was a group of rednecks with guns and a thirst to kill all of the deformed children.

The graphic is gloomy and the watercolour and the details and shades were magnificent. I find myself hard to appreciate most western graphic novels because of the overused filling computer colouring but each of the pages from this book were bringing live to the screen. The intensity of the shades heightened the overwhelming depression, mania and hope that are prevalent in some graphic novels like The Walking Dead but in this stand alone book, I kept coming up various of scenes and themes that was bleeding through the graphics silently. The fear of the unknown, the sense of freedom, the inquisitiveness and redemption of several of the characters. The tears.

The artistic work on this book is plain overwhelming. The content carry a lot of depth in it and make me wish for more.
( )

It was okay, but it just seemed like a huge gap in the story from when the adults caught the kids until the end. ( )