This was so much darker than I was expecting it to be... Not that I really knew what to expect...

It's was really well written and drawn I did enjoy it but it was really dark.

It was just a little too dark for me personally.

A slick clean design, a sharp tense story, a nice unrolling of ideas. This book is good for a broad adult audience. It may have some derivative elements, but that's okay, it plays with expectations. There is also a nice helping of humour as well. I would recommend this book.

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for an opportunity to review this in exchange for my honest review.

The premise of this books seems very simple, but what happens with the three characters is anything but. A pharmaceutical company has created a revolutionary drug that they want to test in drug trials, subsequently, they choose three people as their guinea pigs. Hence the title. The author lays out the testing, subsequent side effects, and societal changes for these three very different individuals. I won't go into the crux of what those changes are because that is the meat of the story, but the author illustrates those changes very well. One of the drawbacks for me personally as a reader is I didn't care about the characters. I wanted to, but it did not feel as if there was a true protagonist to the story. The characters change as time marches on, but change does not necessarily equal a protagonist. They felt all very flat. One thing this story absolutely excelled at was flow. The pages read like a movie or TV show and moved from scene to scene effortlessly. I loved that! Also, graphically it is exceptionally well done. Check it out.

This is a story of three characters that undergo a pharmacological test for a new drug, in exchange for a great deal of many. In their admissions tests, they conceal their secrets: one has memory loss, another says she is an artist but lacks artistic competences, and the third struggles with impotence (or it seems).

The drug has a lot of secondary effects, and the question is if there are good or bad.

The story plot is really good and engaging. I really enjoyed it, so much that I was very frustrated, every time I had to put it down, for something.

However, I had a serious problem with the use of characters look alike, such as Leonard Nimoy Meryl Streep and Philip Seymour Hoffman. I find it to be a very disrespectful gimmick. An artist is a curator of one´s work. To use their image, without one's permission, it feels very wrong.

#GuineaPigs #NetGalley

guinea pig
noun
plural noun: guinea pigs
1. a domesticated tailless South American cavy, originally raised for food. It no longer occurs in the wild and is now typically kept as a pet or for laboratory research.

2. a person or thing used as a subject for experiment.


There is new revolutionary drug M2C2T has been created. Phase 1 of testing has been complete and now for Phase 2, it has to be tested on human. 2 men and 1 woman chosen as test subjects and 35,000 dollars after a month. This story is about how testing goes, how that affects individual and how their life changes after this.
It was nice concept and very neatly executed with great graphic design.

A new drug has been created and 3 subjects are needed to test it. Each subject has issues and the drug reacts with each of them. The story follows them through the initial testing and then afterwards as they deal with the after-effects.

This is not my usual type of read. I found the story hard to follow in places and some of the images were difficult to read. It is a fairly quick read but personally wasn’t my cup of tea. The art was very detailed and
It was interesting to see how the story developed but I don’t feel that the storyline was very clear - however as this is my first taste of a graphic novel maybe I just don’t get the concept?
I’d definitely be interested in trying another graphic novel in the future.

Book Review
Title: Guinea Pigs
Author: Benacquista Tonino & Barral Nicolas (Illustrator)
Genre: Graphic Novel
Rating: ***
Review: So all I know about Guinea Pigs is that it is a graphic novel about the human trail phase of drug testing. So we are introduced to a new drug only referred to as M2C2T and the three candidates chosen to test the drug. The first is 44-year-old Daniel, who has a form of amnesia which means he is constantly losing jobs, and this is a quick and easy way for him to earn some cash, then there is 23-year-old Romain, who has his own personal problems but otherwise physically healthy and finally the 26-year-old Miss Parchiby, who tried to be an artist and failed.
These three are chosen to test a new anti-anxiety drug over 21 days within the facility but I have a feeling that things aren’t going to go to plan for these three. By day 4 the group are already experiencing side effects with Daniel and the Miss Parchiby suffering from bad dreams while Romain has insomnia. As the group share their experiences with the drug, we get to know more about each person but by day 11 they are breaking their contract by leaving the facility although the doctors don’t know this, but we do learn the girl’s name is Moira.
As the end of the trail gets closer, we see the three struggling to cope with the side effects, but they are glad to be done with it. After the trail ends, they are given a small supply to get the drug out of their systems effectively, but they find they have never felt better. All three have got rid of the problems that led them to the trail in the first place, however, when they don’t turn up for their check ups the doctor tracks them down, but they refuse his help.
Refusing the doctors help leads all three of them to become gravely injured and as they are all close, they decide to sue the company unless they are given a lifetime supply of the drug which the company agrees to allowing Moira, Daniel and Romain to go about their lives. However, due to the incident some of the doctors start taking the drug and experience its effects for themselves.
This peace doesn’t last long when the drug becomes available on the common market thanks to someone manufacturing it themselves and the doctors as the group to track this person down which they do and are given more M2C2T in return. However, they are now hopelessly addicted to the drug and while it hasn’t been too harmful to them there isn’t much that can be done for them in the long term.
Overall, Guinea Pigs highlights both the positive and negative side effects of clinical testing on humans and what it can reduce some people to, while it wasn’t the most original or inviting story, the artwork really saves it and I’d recommend purely on that basis.

An interesting take on what would happen if you could take a drug that would not so much free you from your inhibitions, but make you into the opposite of what you currently are.

Do you want that? Would you want to go from being shy, to being outgoing? Would you want to go from being a pacifist to being aggressive?

Three subjects are chosen who have no idea what the drug will do, but when they find out, they do not want to give it up.

And interesting window into how people would react if they found they could do whatever they wanted to and would be good at it. And strangely, how the world around them reacts as well.

For, it is not just the drug company that wants them to stop being who they have become, but others as well.

Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.

Guinea Pigs is a fine example of the intertextuality between art and words. I love how the book included multiple panels on each page and how some of these panels were wordless, depending on the reader to interpret their meaning.

An enjoyable reading experience.

An interesting concept about the money and influence of multi-national drug companies and their research and methods required to develop new medicines.
I’m not sure 3 people would be an acceptable sample size but for the interests of the story the focus is just on 3 individuals, volunteers, but paid a lot of money for their participation in the drug trial.
The money is to offset time lost, possible side effects and retain absolute control over the exercise.
I’m sure we have all heard of real life examples where things go wrong.
Here remarkable, unimaginable results follow and the story is about both the positive and negative results of such a trial. The trouble taken to cover things up and suppress negative publicity and keep control when the test subjects, the guinea pigs in his project unite and make their own demands.
Plenty of scope to run riot with this theme and a measure of restraint is employed in the narrative to make the story both fun and feasible. Clearly with fiction you can give a clear run to your imagination and inteoduce some shock value. In the process a deeper message is revealed about what makes us the individuals we are, rather than just due the different paths taken or alternative realities based on our person choice and opportunity.
The result is science fiction but too close to home and it is a story that resonates with anyone who would seek to pop a pill or two to improve themselves. Many lives have been transformed by drug research but not perhaps as dramatically as the three random subjects here, who got more than they bargained for.

'Guinea Pigs' by Benacquista Tonino with art by Barral Nicolas is a story that could be happening even as you read this review.

A drug company has a new drug they want to test. They are looking for people who don't normally test. In exchange for 21 days of testing, the subjects will get 3,500 euros. The subjects selected are Daniel, Romain and Moira. They all have some personal problems, so they willingly sign up. The test isolates them and they are forced to take drugs and give blood daily. The drug has a weird side effect on each of them.

I liked this slowly moving story of science and side effects. I wasn't sure how to feel about these characters, but I cared more for them as the story moved along.

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

This is the first graphic novel I have downloaded from NetGalley, and I am really excited. I have wanted to get into graphic novels for a long time, but nothing really took my interest, until Guinea Pigs.
I love the premise of this novel, the obscure cover drew my eyes to it immediately.

I absolutely devoured this graphic novel. It wasn't what I was expecting though, from the blub, I was expecting something else.
This novel dives into the world of addiction, forced acciction even. How big Pharma is controlling the world, the people, the media, the way the public see value in things.

Much More Than Expected

From the blurb you might expect this is be just a medico melodrama with an anti-Big Pharma subtext, but that would be underestimating this entertaining and twisty tale.

We start with our three heroes. They each have rather unique problems that might benefit from an anti-anxiety drug, and they all could use some serious money. The opening scenes in which the trial clinicians weed out "professional" drug testers are amusing. Our three heroes are introduced in three interesting biographical arcs. Once we get to the testing we enter into the suspense of finding out what effect the drug will have, and we follow the three main characters for 21 days of boredom and bonding.

NO SPOILERS, EXCEPT SOME MILD PLOT HINTS. The drug is effective in unexpected ways. At this point you begin to wonder where the rest of the book could go. Well, in a way it has just gotten started. We will follow our heroes, take a twisty turn for each, and then hit three mini climaxes, (including a touch of a mystery), before reaching the end of the trail. As I said, lots more than I expected.

The writing is crisp. The tale is dialogue driven, and that dialogue is realistic and assured. The drawing seems to be a bit too minimalist at first, but it ends up to be just the right choice for carrying, while not overwhelming, the story. There are moments of humor, some nicely handled edgy throwaway bits, and much better and more engaging character development than one usually encounters.

So, this was an entertaining tale that had a suspenseful pull and a satisfying ending. A nice find.

(Please note that I received a free advance will-self-destruct-in-x-days Adobe Digital copy of this book without a review requirement, or any influence regarding review content should I choose to post a review. Apart from that I have no connection at all to either the author or the publisher of this book.)

This must have been a hot potato in France when published, seeing as one of the worst disasters in the world of healthy body drug trials happened there a decade or so ago. Having done many similar trials, I can see where this is complete claptrap – people taking blood every hour and never using a cannula, people under round-the-clock observation having private rooms with lockable doors – but I can see the drama inherent in three misfits lumped together on a three-week drug study. Which, of course, only proves to be the beginning. One can't remember much anyway, another is the world's limpest, least successful gigolo, and the other an Indian lass with daddy issues. The plotting gets a little woolly by the end, but it's an enjoyable story - and just about different enough from the 'Limitless' movie to be easily recommended.

This was an interesting graphic novel. It explores three very different characters who are all on the same drug trial and they receive 3,500 euros for their participation on it. The art style was really great and it helped flesh out the characters well. The plot was written in an interesting way and my favourite character was definitely Moira. The backgrounds that are created for the characters help understand the choices they make after taking the trial drug. This book is a good study on human behaviour and the choices we make as humans.

Daniel, Romain and Moira all sign up to participate in some clinical trials for a new drug. They need the money and 3,500 euros is a lot to be paid for swallowing a few pills.

They also need to find ways to cope with their personal struggles. Daniel suffers from memory loss. It affects his ability to find and keep work and he has two kids to feed. Romain is impotent and viagra just doesn't help. He wants to be the kind of man that women will swarm to because of his sexual prowess but that isn't happening any time soon. Moira wants to be a famous artist like her father but she is failing her college course in Paris and she wants to return home to India.

They all have needs and they each need money so they are relieved when they are chosen to be guinea pigs.

But the results they end up with are not the results that the scientists or the test subjects could have foreseen, and suddenly their lives are very different.

Unfortunately I can't say how different but this new drug does a lot more than scientists thought it would.

This is an excellent graphic novel. I really liked the artwork and the story was excellent. It is the kind of story that works well in pictures but you wish you could read a prose version because there is just so much more that needs to be explored.

The characters are interesting and all their personal stories and the twists and turns make the novel quite gripping. I read it all in in sitting and I wouldn't have predicted what happened.

This is a really good story with great artwork and well worth reading if you like graphic novels.

Copy provided by Europe Comics via Netgalley in exchange for an unbiased review.