Drifter Volume 1: Out of the Night

author: Ivan Brandon
name: Wayne
average rating: 3.19
book published: 2015
rating: 3
read at: 2015/08/07
date added: 2015/08/07
shelves: graphic-novels
review:
'Drifter, Volume 1: Out of the Night' by Ivan Brandon and Nic Klein is a graphic novel to read more for the art than the story. That's not a bad thing, if you like style over substance.

When a lone spaceman named Abram crash lands on the world of Ouros, he's in for a strange time. He encounters strange creatures, then is shot. When he comes to, he's in an interesting enough town, but the time since he crashed has elongated. Rather than a short time, he finds it's been quite a while. The town seems like a throwback to Westerns, with a saloon and grubby miners. Abram is still finding his footing as this volume ends.

There seem to be a lot of plot elements and many of them are thrown out without context. This left a kind of jarring reading experience as the reader is constantly shifting and trying to figure out what part of the story they are in. I like the space western setting. It's been done a lot, but I think it's not overstayed it's welcome yet. The art by Nic Klein is what really saves this. It's strange and clean and gorgeous to look at. It did keep me turning the pages to see what strange thing he'd paint next. A spaceship crashed in the water or goggled renegades or dangerous underground worms. It's all quite good. Maybe the story will settle down and begin to make some coherent sense, and maybe that's the point of the early volumes, to throw the reader off-kilter like Abram is. For now, I wish the story had lived up to the art.

I received a review copy of this graphic novel from Diamond Book Distributors, Image Comics, and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this graphic novel.


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