The story of a young boy, found as a babe, and raised in a village where no one likes him, except Anja, the blacksmith's daughter. When a tiger attacks the village he goes out and kills it. That's when he starts seeing visions of old dark gods that fuel his power and rage. With each issue, the gods whisper in the background that he can't stay here, no one cares for him. They aren't wrong either. The whole thing feels like prologue in a much longer story. One that I don't know we'll ever see considering it's been 4 years since this was released. Still it's enjoyable for what it is.

An absolutely fantastic and unexpected delight. I mean, look at the cover. I was totally expecting medieval death metal. Instead, we get Kriss who is haunted by the loquacious and cryptic ghost of a sabre-cat as he embarks on his hero's journey.
Be Careful. Be Cunning. Be Merciless. Do what is needful.

Excellent writing and artwork. Kriss is the medieval emo hero I never knew I needed.
"Do not despair, child of the North. Your story is not yet at an end."
Damn straight! I immediately went searching for more issues after finishing this. Ted Naifeh, please tell me there is more to come.

Thank you to Netgalley and Oni Press for the reading copy.

Good for fans of medieval times, weird creatures, adventure stories and the supernatural. It will speak to those who have felt like outsiders, or those who feel there is something "more" out there for them to explore.

This was not exactly what I expected from this Graphic Novel. That’s for sure. This is going to be a short & sweet review because I really don’t have that much to say. Quite simply I just found it hard to follow & kinda pointless.

I don’t know if I just simply didn’t get the meaning behind this one but I just felt like it had no real purpose, message or plot to it. It was also super hard to follow and I still have no idea about half the things that happened in the story. According to Goodreads this is not even part of a series, so it isn’t like there is more to come that will explain what exactly was going on in this book.

I did enjoy the art style but that was about all that I can say positive about it. This Graphic Novel wasn’t exactly bad, it just wasn’t for me and left me confused.

I was first attracted to check out Kriss due to the comparison in the marketing to Through the Woods by Emily Carroll which I absolutely adored. If what you loved from Through the Woods was the bold art, fierce to the point of feral, then I think that you will share my fire for this book.

What I Liked About Kriss:
It neither ignores misogyny nor lets it go unchecked by other characters.
Warren Wucinich's art is consistently captivating with a bold graphic style; The color experience varies from limited palette to carnival world of colors to sepia.
More than anything, Kriss absolutely loves its medium. Every page is ecstatic to be a comic and it is a thrill to blaze through.

Thank you very much to Netgalley and the publisher Oni Press for an ARC of this book.k.

In this graphic novel, we meet and follow Kriss who has always been on the outsider. I have mixed feeling about this book there are a few things I liked about it, like the art style. But the story didn't stand out that much for me. I read a lot and this book was nice and fast but it didn't blow me away. Kriss is skinny and pale and no one is nice to him but the blacksmith's daughter, Anja (Who I liked as a character because he didn't care if people thought the was odd she wanted to be friends with him.) There is more going on with Kriss that I'm not going to go in to because of spoilers. But I was a fast read with one of a kind art style.

Yet, another graphic novel that I stumbled across to read and this was also very enjoyable. The premise of it was pretty cool, set in an era very reminiscent of the Vikings it focuses on a young, adopted boy who is an outsider in his small village and believes himself to be the son of a King in the wild North that the land has been at war with. It was an interesting concept and I found that, all in all, I liked the execution.

First of all, the art is AMAZING. I loved the style so much, and I was seriously impressed every time I turned the page. I also liked the story a lot, and found that the art style really brought out a love and curiosity about the characters! I'm particularly intrigued by the four wild Northern warriors that appear in Kriss's dreams! Each of them had super cool designs and I look forward to reading more of this series to find out the role that they play in the future.

As much as the art and characters were cool, I'm wanting a little bit more from the plot in the future if I continue with this series. A lot of this focused on Kriss growing up - it had moments of humour, emotion and glimmers of potential but right now the story was a little on the mundane side of things. It just felt as if Kriss would continually meet an interesting character or potentially head towards an intriguing storyline (e.g. the travelling troupe) and then lose his temper and mess it up, leading him back to square one. I'd like to read more, and I hope that the exposition is over with and we get to see more of the main storyline/some interesting side arcs.

'Kriss: The Gift of Wrath' by Ted Naifeh with art by Warren Wucinich is a story about a young man who doesn't fit in and the help he finds when he needs it.

Kriss doesn't look like the people in his village. He was found when he was a baby, and his pale skin makes him stand out. He also lives with an abusive father figure. The only person who gets him is Anja, the blacksmith's daughter. Together, they discover the mythic figures of Kriss' country. Kriss hears them talk to him, and they help fill him with rage when he needs strength, but that rage has a downside.

I'm a fan of Ted Naifeh's particularly moody stories, and this one was just as good. Warren Wucinich's art is great. I like his goth take on Kriss as well as the design of the ancestors.

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

The story is really interesting until the stuff that happened close to the end. It was too cliche and everything was happening too fast. The thing I liked the most was the Dark king and the 3 warriors but they stopped showing up after they first appeared in the beginning.

As for the artstyle, I don't like this artstyle at all but the backgrounds were nice.

Thank you Netgalley for providing me with the digital version for an honest review.

My thanks to Oni Press for making available a digital edition via NetGalley of ‘Kriss: The Gift of Wrath’ written by Ted Naifeh and illustrated by Warren Wucinich in exchange for an honest review.

Orphaned at a young age, Kriss is a lean, pale, sullen teenager, who is considered an outsider in the small village where he grew up.His only friend is Anja, the blacksmith’s daughter. Kriss is haunted by dim memories of his true father, Erikk Iron Tooth, the king of Darkovia.

When Anja’s mother is killed by a sabercat from the far north, Kriss heads off into the forest to dispatch the beast. It turns out that it is actually a dark spirit from Darkovia come to return Kriss to reclaim his father’s kingdom. He gives Kriss the ‘gift of wrath’, tremendous power that is accompanied by uncontrollable rage.

This graphic novel was light on exposition, high on graphic violence, dark and brooding throughout. Kriss is emo personified.

While the artwork was very striking, I needed more world building to feel engaged.

An enjoyable first volume of a story I'd like to follow. With accessible worldbuilding and dark aesthetic, it reads fast. Additionally, it's thoughtful in its exploration of the toxic masculinity. Well worth a read.

This book was very interesting. I found that I really liked it even though I wasn't always sure what was going on. The only thing that I would have liked was some more insight into Kriss's background. While the story was intriguing, there wasn't much that was explained. I still have no idea who those guys on the wall were or why they were talking to Kriss. I'm hoping that all of that will be explained in a future volume? I did really like the artwork though. I also liked the fact that the times that there were fight scenes they really let the blood fly. It wasn't super gory because of the style but I did appreciate that they weren't afraid of showing some blood. Overall, I feel like this book was pretty good. If you like a book with a dark, brooding viking vibe then this one will be great for you.

3 stars for this dark graphic novel.

I was very confused at the beginning, but as the book went on I got more into the story. It's a story of Kriss finding his destiny, then accepting it and leaving everything he thinks he loves behind. I started really enjoying the graphic novel about halfway though, and will probably read the sequel!

Do you ever read something and feel little to no impact from the story? That’s how I felt about Kriss.

Kriss: The Gift of Wrath is the introductory volume to the Kriss graphic novel series. It is about a young man with a mysterious past who must fight a wild snow cat to save the townspeople and the girl he seemingly loves.

You honestly don’t learn anything about Kriss, the protagonist, in this first installment and that bothered me. He seems to be in love with a girl where he lives and he hates his “father”. His “father” isn’t actually his father. Other than that he fights the snow cat and meets what I interpreted as the gods of his existence. Unfortunately I don’t have a lot to say about the plot because there wasn’t much of one. Kriss is an angry character with a hidden past that we don’t glimpse, I don’t know the direction he is heading. To me he came off as an anti-hero, at first he appeared evil and it weirded me out.

The illustrations by Warren Wucinich were half dark and mysterious and half goofy. There is a character titled “The Lord Protectorate” and the way he was drawn looked comical compared to the rest of the gloomy scenes. It just felt like some of it didn’t fit in and threw me out of the story. Upon further investigation Wucinich illustrated some Invader ZIM graphic novels and I could see the art style hidden within Kriss. To me it felt flippy floppy and didn’t stick with one theme. A project like this should either be dark and gloomy, with the black and white with red contrasts or full color cartoon style like Invader ZIM, not both.

There really wasn’t a lot for me to base this review on because this volume was short and it was the introductory issue, I hope that Kriss improves over time because I see how the character could be compelling with his mysterious past. As of right now Kriss has earned a low 2/5 stars. I liked some of the art and I feel like it has potential, but right now I am not impressed.

Regardless of my opinion on this particular graphic novel I want to extend a huge thank you to NetGalley and Oni Press for giving me the chance to review Kriss.

This is very much only the beginning and yet it is so well concluded. The entire graphic novel sets up Kriss’ ordinary life whilst also being a whole story on its own. A story of his friendships, his desires, and because of this his reluctance to leave them behind and fulfil his true destiny. The story is his battle of trying to fit in where he doesn’t belong in an attempt to avoid the unfamiliar; the extraordinary.

All the characters are so well developed in such a short space of time. The plot is complex and mysterious- clearly there’s a lot to come. The art is beautifully eerie, matching the tone and enriching the story. Highly Recommend.

This interesting comic is like if Norwegian Black Metal and a Renaissance Faire had a baby. So needless to say, it's pretty awesome. I was a little lost at first since they just jumped right into the universe without much setting up, but it all shook out soon enough. I'm looking forward to finding out what happens next!

This was a pretty interesting first instalment and has got me pretty intrigued to continue with the series. This is only a 3 star for me due to the plot being mostly introducing characters and setting up the main story which is common of being the first in a series. I liked kriss as a main character and I think that he is pretty relateable, being a fairly introverted outcast. I didn’t care that much for the other characters especially the love interest but I’m sure we will meet much more interesting characters further along in the series.

Thank you, Netgalley and the publishers for providing me with this ARC.

"Kriss" was a very unique graphic novel compared to others that I have read. It was darker and the art was more severe. There was a great attention to detail, and the color palette used was eye catching.

While I loved the characters, my main problem would be with the plot line itself. It was not very well fleshed out, even though it was fairly long as far as graphic novels go.

I would have preferred a bit more detail about Kriss's history. The ending was also quite underwhelming. I would have liked to see where each character ended up, but I suppose it was left for the next book in the series.

dnf @ 19%

this book isnt bad. lets start there. but i just could not get into it. i didnt really like the plot (or what ive read of it so far) and i didnt like the art style. i was considering keeping it and trying to finish it later but i dont see myself picking it back up...

2.5 stars

At first, I thought I would really like this one. The art is simple but vivid, the story just pushes you straight into the griddy action, and I found myself in love. Then, I kept reading.

This book is about an orphan boy named Kriss, the outsider of a medieval village that no one likes, not even his adopted parents, except the blacksmith’s daughter, Anja. Kriss has known since he came to this village years ago that he is the son of the king of the long ago conquered kingdom of Darkovia (a real original name for a dark magical kingdom, I know). One day, a dark beast from that kingdom attacks Anja’s mother and Kriss goes after it in revenge, armed only with a pitchfork to slay the beast. As dumb as it sounds this scene was probably my favorite from the whole book. Kriss is such a badass. Kriss soon learns however that this beast has come to present him with a gift: his destiny as the prince of Darkovia, Wrath.

Sounds pretty cool, right? Well, this story goes absolutely fucking nowhere.

This first volume is just a sprinkle of revenge stories to show off Kriss’ AWESOME POWERS OF WRATH (™). None of the stories have build up or actual pay off to them. Instead as Kriss grows up and becomes stronger, I’m just left with wanting something more in its development. Speaking of development, there’s none of that in this one in regards to the characters and world building. The world is so generic and the characters are as flat as wet cardboard, especially the love interest Anja. AND THAT ENDING. Ugh.

Still the first 40 pages were good and the beast was a really cool, mysterious character. I would be interested to read the next volume just to see what happens next (and maybe get some more world building, if it’s not too much to ask).