A crime writer finds out his life isn't what he thinks it is and decides to take revenge. This heavily inked black and white artwork looks like it was put through a xerox machine a few times. The art was extremely hard to follow and strained my eyes.

This book is definitely special.

It starts out with the end of the story, as many books do, and skips to the beginning. However, as I was reading, it only clicked that I had read the end about three fourths through the book – that was definitely a nice surprise.

I struggled with the art, though. Some pages were absolutely beautiful, however, most of the looked off to me. The characters were in that weird limbo where their faces have parts that are really detailed and some others aren’t even finished.

I considered dropping this book because of its art – the characters looked too much like a sleep paralysis demon – but the plot kept me going.

It’s terribly dark, so dark you can’t help yourself, you need to see how it will all end.

And I’m glad I saw how it got to the end. It was gruesome, it was dark, it was, well, a noir.

Rating: 3.5 stars

Ok, so the STORY is good, though the fact that it is a translation makes it a little bit choppy. The problem here is that the art is just absolutely God-awful. Maybe some of that can be blamed on the fact that I read it as an advanced copy form Netgalley, so MAYBE the quality was not great, but the art style is unfinished, blurry and messy. And the black and white makes it hard to distinguish between characters or really know which way is up half the time.

I think if there had been better contrast artwork in this graphic novel I would’ve rated it higher. As it stands, it kind of gave me a headache to try and determine what was in each panel because there was so much black and darkness. I have no issue with b/w noir, but there needed to be better contrast. The story itself was dire and tragic and I saw it coming right from the get go of the book, but I still really enjoyed it. The story is definitely old-school crime noir and I wouldn’t be opposed to re-reading it in the future.

Received via Netgalley. All reviews and opinions are expressly my own

This graphic novel simply wasn't for me. I couldn't get past the drawings and artwork, although it was very impressive, it was just not my style.

But, if you like reading different types of comics, or like mystery/thriller graphic novels, go for it, you might totally love it.

I’ve been rolling through a bunch of noir crime stories lately, and I figured a book called Noir would be a perfect fit for that. Noir ended up being pretty mediocre, unfortunately. Following a family full of secrets and an ongoing murder investigation, the story bounces around without ever feeling sufficiently surprising or gritty. Noir was more noir-lite than anything else, and as far as crime graphic fiction goes, other titles recently reviewed in Graphic Novel Weekly have been much stronger.

Review will be available at provided link on 4/4/19.

I’m sorry to say that this just wasn’t for me. I couldn’t get through it, and. I won’t be putting out a public review.

Oh, this was really not a good one for me. Even on a giant screen and using reading glasses I found it hard to read, and the black and white sketchy art was very difficult for me to follow. I gave up about 20% of the way in because I had no clue what was going on.

1 star from me

Thank you to NetGalley and Europe Comics for providing me with a DRC of this book.

The aspect of what a texture of jealousy or loneliness can do to a person is based on the ideal of what is to be gained or lost in the transaction. With “Noir” [Lucasz Bogacz/Europe Comics/117pgs], the tendencies of the shadows within the art tend to reflect the loss of innocence but also the retreat into the darkness. Like something like “Baby Teeth” there is a texture of loss that resides in the heart of the character, whether it is ingrained in the author’s psyche or not. The existence that he leads does not seem to be one loss or gained but stuck in a limbo. Whether Dante saw “The Inferno” as these types of abject corners of the psyche can be a source of contention but the lead character here definitely doesn’t want to be understood, he seems to just want to use the experience for his own personal means. The idea of an unfinished book starts out simply enough but the aspect of the action he needs to take to get to the forlorn conclusion seem to wisp out any sort of life he could or might have. The one element that really plays well within this art construct is some of the oblong angles and closeup of the eyes which look more like dirty muddled photographs than art plus, at times, the repeating visions of single panes as if he is going over the ideas in his head very quickly as if it would change the outcome. Ultimately the graphic novel ends in an existential way pursuing the fact or why am Ia here and where will I go.

C+

By Tim Wassberg

A very interesting story that was not able to sustain my attention for the totality of the narrative. An admirable attempt.

Wow. Intense and dark.

If you like a little bit of noir with your noir, this is for you.

The story and writing were really well done, and the art? The art fit perfectly.

Recommended.

(And, BTW, I was listening to some random music while reading this book, and the song <i>A-Steya</i> by My Sleeping Karma came on…it was the perfect soundtrack for this book; I’ve never heard of the band before, but check it out.)

<i>Thanks to NetGalley and Europe Comics for a copy in return for an honest review.</i>

Due fratelli, una donna, un tradimento.

La lucida discesa nella follia di un marito tradito doppiamente, intrappolato nel dolore e nel mondo cupo, nichilista dei romanzi noir che scrive, in una spirale di morte che vede come inarrestabile trama della propria vita.

Si aggiunge alla trama un'arte sporca, carica di ombre: oscuro il titolo, oscura la vicenda, oscura la pagina.

Una lettura non originalissima, ma che svolge con efficienza il compito di aprire una finestra sulle ombre dell'animo umano.

This might have the core of a decent read, but presentation is just awful. Scratchy, first-draft artwork that has been reproduced awfully in the e-arc means you don't know who is who and what their facials are like; copious disembodied voice-boxes and speech bubbles with short tails and in the 'wrong' reading place just make for gibberish at times, and all told it proves too slapdash and primitive to bother with. I *think* it's about the rivalry between two brothers sleeping with the same woman, but who knows?

'Noir' by Lukasz Bogacz with art by Wojciech Stefaniec is an interesting idea for a story, but the execution leaves some things to be desired.

A crime writer writes perfectly narrated stories. His personal life is messy though. Through dark art and strange narration, the story unfolds as the writer finds out his wife is unfaithful.

What he does next makes the story more interesting, but by then, it's too little, too late. The art feels a bit like photocopies that are too dark, and has a zine quality to it that I liked, but it's a bit hard to follow also. I got more interested in the latter half of the story, but the first two thirds were kind of a slog to get through. I've read a similar story told better elsewhere unfortunately.

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.

Storyline expectable, characters were flat and not interesting. Though art was something that really catch my eye, black and white sketchy artwork, it provided a good, dark atmosphere. It could have been really great comic book if there was more interesting story, or likeable characters. Or at least something.. I don't know, a bit of humour.

Although I did like the black and white graphics, it was hard to follow at times. This was definitely a dark, noir graphic novel. A bit too dark for my taste.

This is a dark and violent story told in black and white graphics. A crime author is finishing the end of his next book when he suddenly commits some crimes of his own.

The story is a bit hard to follow because the drawing is actually quite dark itself. It took me time to figure out who was who and what the different relationships were.

Not a favourite of mine.

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

Noir is definitely what it's billed as - a noir graphic novel. It's got all the elements: sordid affair, femme fatale, rival brothers, cop father - but it wasn't quite for me. It's all darkness, no light, and while there is an element of meta-plot with the main character being a novel writer himself, it just didn't come together in a satisfying way. If you're a huge fan of traditional noir, though, this will probably be right up your alley.

Black and white sketchy artwork looks impressive, although I prefer gentler lines. It fits bleak and unforgiving story well, though.

The plot didn't surprise me. The characters remain flat and uninspiring. If you're in the mood for a brutal, dark story about disastrous relationship give it a go.

A noir, thematically and visually, family drama full of tension and fated tragedies. The artwork may provide a dark atmosphere, however, it was occasionally hard to identify the dialogue bubble with the character speaking.