Looking For a Good Book

This is definitely one of the odder graphic novel series’ I’ve come across but the first two books really took my by surprise (read the review for Volume 1 here and the review for Volume 2 here).  I’ve been completely sucked into this short-run series (four volumes) and was really delighted to see the third volume available.

And then I read it.

Remember, please, that I really liked the first two volumes, despite (or because of) its being extremely quirky and violent.  But those first two volumes held secrets that were slowly being revealed to us and each page moved us forward, if only slowly.  This volume comes across as a book intended to placate and hold the reader until the last volume, rather than actually giving us something new to look forward to.

My reaction, coming out of this volume was, “So..is Jason Shiga just trying to see how far he can push the reader’s tolerance? Is he trying to turn me off?”

This book was one long, nasty chase sequence, filled with dead bodies, violence, bestiality, violence, homosexuality, and more violence.

Oh, yeah, there’s some story here, but it didn’t feel like there was anything new.

The last chapter in the volume does give us a little teaser – something to look forward to in the next volume. Part of my reaction to this being a ‘filler” volume comes with this last chapter, though.  Twenty-plus pages and the art was nothing more than black panels and word balloons. Yes…you read that correctly.

Normally, I might think Shiga is being creatively brilliant, but after this book filled with extraneous chase scenes and dialog that felt redundant, the page after page after page of black panels felt more like a cop-out than something creative.

If this series was longer than four books, this volume would likely be my last.  But if there truly is only one more volume, I’m interested in seeing how this wraps up.

Looking for a good book?  Despite Volumes 1 & 2 being a worthwhile read, Demon Volume 3 by Jason Shiga, doesn’t follow through with anything to keep the reader going.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

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Demon, Volume 3

author: Jason Shiga

artist: Jason Shiga

publisher: First Second

ISBN: 1626724547

paperback, 224 pages