'Green Class #1: Pandemic' by Jerome Hamon with illustrations by David Tako is a graphic novel about an epidemic and a group of kids who make stupid choices.

A group of students from Canada on an ecological field trip to Louisiana stumble in to a huge epidemic. The virus turns those infected in to monsters. When one of the kids comes down with the virus, they have the choice of leaving him behind, but they all stay. Now they find themselves trapped where they really shouldn't be.

The art is good, but the story is weak. Stories about groups of people making obviously bad choices are not my favorite. The story from 2019, feels extra creepy in a post-2020 world.

This was an interesting graphic novel. Considering what the last two years have been like, I feel that pretty much anyone can relate to this book. I can't say that I enjoyed reading about a pandemic but the story was well written and the artwork was great too. Overall, an interesting book that I really enjoyed.

A bunch of Canadian teenagers are in Louisiana on a field trip when a plague breaks out that turns people into mutants. A bunch of the kids stay behind to help their friend when he's infected and end up walled in within the infected city. It's solid stuff if very by the numbers. The teens make a bunch of stupid decisions without thinking to stick by their friend. The art was very good.

This was a great find. The combination of story and art here was perfect, with the stunning artwork playing an equal part in creating the world of the story. The story itself has a lot of heart with characters I would like to spend more time with. I really hope the series continues as the story that is building here is definitely one which can go in many directions and I look forward to seeing where the creators take it. Some pages of the graphic novel were just a joy to look, which is a strange thing to say considering the subject matter, but believe me when I say, you’ll enjoy looking at this book. Often artists don’t get the same recognition as the writers of graphic novels, but I personally think they are equally deserving of praise in bringing this story to life.

I like stories that have zombies in it. And if there are really interesting characters and nice surroundings - I am gonna buy it. This was, unfortunately, not the case. It was kind of okay-ish, with a few memorable moments I really liked, but nothing more.

Tree zombies? Zombie trees?
Anyway, there's an epidemic in Louisiana, and a poor, unsuspecting group of Canadian teenagers are just trying to get home from their class trip when one of them gets infected. All hell breaks loose when the government realizes that the contagion is spreading SUPER fast and so they wrap Louisiana in a huge wall so no one can get out and infect the rest of the country.
Five teens decide to stay behind in the quarantine zone to help their infected friend, but no one quite realizes what exactly they signed on for until it's WAY too late, and horrible brutal stuff ensues.

After studying the ecology and nature of the American south for a few weeks, a group of young Canadian students find themselves leaving the Louisiana marshlands only to have their bus stopped on the way to the airport as - in the time they were away - a deadly virus has broken out all over the world in epidemic proportions, highly contagious and turning its victims into hideous, mindless creatures of superhuman strength when angered. With the military already beginning to build a wall around the infected area they are in, the young students are checked and cleared to depart ... until it becomes obvious that one of their own has become infected, and therefore must stay behind. When the infected youth's sister chooses to stay with him, a chain reaction of emotions among the group ends with all of them remaining with them (some more willingly than others), waiting to see how a new treatment works on their friend in the hopes they can then find a way out with him when he's cured. Green Class 1: Pandemic is just the beginning of what happens when this group of friends are shut off from the rest of the world, surrounded by either the infected or the monsters the infected have become, all of whom are their enemies even as they wait to see if one of their own turns on them as well. Beautifully drawn and colored, the characters in this graphic novel come off as individuals with backstories you do care about, trapped in this zombie world surrounded by a wall seemingly without end as they try to find a way out. And while the story itself doesn't bring anything really new to the table, the people who populate it - these young students who risk themselves to try and save a potentially-doomed friend - made me freaking irritated as heck when book one ended on a cliffhanger and I couldn't find out what happened to them next. And that is a sign of a decent ride. 4/5 stars

NOTE: I received a free ARC of this title from NetGalley and the publisher, in exchange for an honest review.

A class field trip turns into a fight to live when the unexpected starts happening. Loyalties are tested. This story gives life to the premise of "what happens if you leave civilization and find it changed when you return"? It also raises questions of how this infection started and who gains from it.

The inciting incident in this book is pretty standard. We've got an interesting cast of characters, though each character is pretty thinly developed, given basically a single character element. The particulars of the plague here are more interesting. There's at least a half scientific explanation for what it does to victims. The end of this volume promises bigger things to come.

Group of teenagers meets the mutant apocalypse. The story is as simple as that, driven by teenage dumb decision and emotions we saw many times. I'm a bit tired of that, the stereotype of teenagers without the voice of reason serving the (cheap) plot. But here we go again. The story is not that bad if I don't mind the classic overused schemes. It feels very natural, gives good reader satisfaction even if this is the first book and it obviously will be continued. I can live for the next part for the while, thanks to that (and I appreciate that very much). The art is fine, I would call it a nice standard. Works well for the theme, could be sometimes bit chaotic but otherwise, it's neat without any significant deviation. There is nothing to praise, but nothing to complain also, which is fine by me. There is big promise in ending that the story could get even more adventurous and "bigger", but we need to wait to see until next book (or books). In conclusion, I'm not super excited about Green Class, but I did enjoy it and if you like the postapocalyptic adventures, and don't mind teenagers with all their quirks, you should give this a try. Especially if you like Europe Comics (as I do).
3,5/5

Thanks to Europe Comics and NetGalley.net to provide the free copy. #GreenClass #NetGalley
(Originally published at Goodreads)

I am generally intrigued by stories that involve a closed environment, such as the movie Alien and its claustrophobic space ship. Green Class has that, too, with an enclosed environment and a horror-based core idea. I was excited to dive in!
A group of Canadian students on a trip to Louisiana to study the evolutionary impact of global warming on frogs finds themselves trapped in a quarantine zone after the outbreak of a deadly new virus. This virus is turning people into violent monsters and there is no known cure. The students need to find a way to survive if they hope to escape and return home.
I really wanted to like Green Class, but it fell short for me. Most of the students were unlikable and I struggled to find empathy for them. They came across bitter, spoiled, and judgmental. The story moved quite slowly, as well, with only spurts of solid pacing. The art was pretty solid, with a great richness of tone, but it wasn’t enough to make Green Class an engaging read.
Fans of outbreak horror might consider giving this story a read, but overall I would consider giving this one a pass.
Review will be available at provided link on May 23, 2019.

Standard zombie comic, with dull, interchangeable brattish teens stuck in the US when a virus breaks out. It's wordy, the artwork has all been seen before, the characters really are so uninteresting they're halfway to being zombies already – this is not nearly distinctive enough. Even when it goes all Cloverfield at the end I doubt it would inspire me to return. One and a half stars.

I'm not a fan of zombies, but a group of teenagers trying to survive the end of the world? That's something I wanted to see, and I'm glad I did it. There are really attractive elements in this story, and the ending was incredible. I'm not a fan of the artwork, but the plot was good enough to keep reading. Will keep an eye for the next volume for sure!

Full Review MAY 11: https://tintanocturna.blogspot.com/2019/05/comic-green-class-1-pandemic.html

I enjoyed reading this! This is one of those books that once I started reading, I couldn't put down. I finished it in one sitting. I would recommend that everyone check it out - both the story and art design were excellent.

Educators will definitely want to read this book before giving it to their students to read, as some of the subjects might not be appropriate for their students.

Thanks to NetGalley and Europe Comics for providing this copy to me.

This starts with every teachers worst nightmare, following a filed trip you are stranded with a sick student in what appears to be a war zone. Two weeks of filed research mean our Canadians have missed the initial reports, the initial panic and they walk straight into the quarantine whilst just trying to get home. One of the group is sick and his friends join his sister in staying behind when the group are given the all clear. The zone of infection is walled in and turns into a power structure where the clear are kept together under militia control and supplies are dropped whilst the infected turn into Groot like monsters who have very little connect with their past lives.

However, our group of heroes in a fast paced jump forward find that their friend remembers them and works with them to defeat the militia folk.
With washed out artwork and fast moving plot this is a solid start to a series. I’d like to have seen a bit more explanation of the jumps in time but think it would serve well to start a discussion of how we handle isolation and illness.

I've needed a new graphic novel to get into and I think I just may have found the one !

The artwork was spot on and the story was strong, the characters were all unique and (to me) likable/relatable so I fell hard and fast for this one. It starts off fast too which is great, nothing worse than a slooow comic.

I can tell there's a lot more coming from this story, especially with the end. I want to know more about the characters, their back stories, the virus, all of it. It does a fantastic job at sucking you in and I personally can't wait to read more !

Recommend.

The artwork is certainly stronger than the writing. The writing feels like it's a direct, machine, translation from the original. There's no flow or rhythm to the dialogue.

And the story itself, well it's only in the final pages that there is a hint of an original idea. Until then, it's a fairly standard post apocalyptic (in this case, The Walking Dead for a younger audience) tale but then.... then it might become something else in volume two. Unfortunately, there wasn't enough in here to make me at all interested in reading more.

My thanks to Europe Comics for a digital edition of graphic novel ‘Green Class: 1. Pandemic’ written by Jérôme Hamon with art by David Tako in exchange for an honest review. It was translated from the French by Edward Gauvin.

“Ha ha ha! Two weeks without internet and it’s the end of the world!”

A group of Canadian students were on a two week trip with their instructor to study frogs in the Louisiana swamps. They emerge to discover that a viral pandemic has transformed the world. The virus causes extreme mutations. While they are tested and cleared to leave the quarantined zone, their friend Noah has been infected. Rather than leaving him behind they risk everything to help Noah escape.

I was clutching my head over their selfish decision to seek a way out of the quarantined area with Noah. Sure kids let’s just infect everyone shall we?

Quite a lot of teen angst going on with the main characters and plenty of the kind of violence one would expect from this kind of end-of-the-world scenario. It has many of the same tropes as seen in zombie apocalypse situations though without anybody sensible in charge. It did feel as though the containment for the area infected had come into place a bit too quickly.

While most of it was fairly standard, the final panels suggested an intriguing new development in the story and a great cliffhanger leading into the next volume.

I thought the art was good and loved the sketchbook included at the end, especially the evolution of Noah. I will certainly look out for further volumes mainly based on those final panels.

I really liked this. The artwork is good but it is the story that won me over. I am not usually a fan of monsters, viruses and people running scared and that is exactly what happens in this story.

A group of Canadian school kids are visiting Louisiana but when they emerge with their teacher from the Bayou they find a virus has broken out which turns people into monsters. The kids refuse to leave their infected school mate behind and so the adventure begins as they get caught up in the lockdown of Louisiana. Then begin their fight for survival against street gangs, civilians and the monsters themselves and they fight to protect both themselves and their infected freind.

Good story, good pace and since this is only volume 1 it will be great to see what happens next especially since this one ends on a cliffhanger!

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

Enjoyed but was missing the wow. It was well paced, structured with an interesting storyline. Will feature on my bookedupgirl blog in the coming weeks!