Well, this was a first for me. I don't think I've read a comic book since I was a child. I did read it on my small iphone so probably not ideal but I did find it quite interesting and thought provoking. Girl kills herself in the bath so she is naked all the way through... Definitely different on so many levels.

I must say when I received Karmen V1 and realized there would be a naked woman in the entire book - I was taken aback and worried it would be used in a vulgar type of way, and I was pleasantly surprised. Karmen was a beautifully drawn graphic novel centering around suicide and death.I know the novel was translated to English so I am not sure if the translation makes Karmen's take on suicide so blunt and even harsh at times, or if that is just how the angel of death regards suicide as a character. Even so, Karmen V1 is funny, it handles a very serious topic but in an entirely new way and the artistry is absolutely gorgeous. The author definitely did their job, I am wanting to read more!

Overall this was a very entertaining, if somewhat "polarising" graphic novel due to the sensitivity of the subject.
The illustrations and colour scheme are very pleasant to the eye, but I feel as though the detailed background was distracting on pages with a lot of text (for example page 7). The font could've been just a tiny bit larger, too.
The narrative moved slowly in the beginning, but the ending of this volume compensated for that. I would have liked to learn more about Karmen's duties / job, though. I can really see this as some form of serialised, cooler, "Christmas Carol" which would be a really interesting take on that.

This was actually a really nice graphic novel! I was very sceptical over the fact that a male creator has a comic book with a fully naked girl and with a lot of distasteful humour but if you take that away, it's incredible!

I binged this in one sitting and by the end, I was very intrigued by the entire death and (re)incarnation system! The art style is bloody gorgeous and also quite realistic. (One of our protagonists might have been naked the entire time but at least her body was drawn so well!) Karmen herself I didn't have a full opinion of until the very end and yes, I would love to see more of her in volume 2. I'd also love to see more of the still-living humans because I want all the details! So invested!

Karmen is a really disturbing comic in my opinion. I liked it and I can’t wait to read the second part. The art, starting with the cover, is absolutely gorgeous. The theme of this comic is quite dark, it talks about suicide and death, while also talking a bit about introspection and heartbreak. At first, I didn’t like Catalina, the main character, but it changed through the book as she also changed her perception of the world. Karmen is the second main character who is supposed to lead Catalina’s soul to her reincarnation but she is quite a special character and has her own personality. I really enjoyed that character and how she cares about people. The story is not all dark and contains some funny things which makes it easy to read. The main character is naked through the whole story which can be surprising at first but I didn’t really notice it anymore after a few pages. I don’t know if this had a deep meaning but I didn’t really mind it. I would recommend this comic for sure.

I got this on Netgalley in exchange for an honest review!
This is a pretty good graphic novel that really fucks with your mind a little bit. I was really sad for Catalina the whole time!
I really liked the concept of the "angels" taking people over to their next reincarnations, and taking them on a journey. Also the whole hierarchy of the angels and stuff seems really interesting so can't wait to find out more! The art and use of colour in this is also really nice, since I feel like graphic novels like these often avoid watercolours (e.g. light pinks).
I still feel confused about where this story is headed, but excited for future Volumes of this!

Oh man. What a take on this kind of story! This was a bit more graphic than I thought it would be but the art work is splendid and the story is good!

I’m always super happy with reading a graphic novel, and I got exactly what I expected from it. I was able to read this over time and just casually pick it up. If I was not actively reading it, I was not thinking about it. That was my only problem. I don’t know what was missing because the story was truly amazing, but something just felt off for me.

<i>Thank you NetGalley for providing me with an eARC in exchange for an honest review</i>

<b>Trigger Warnings: death, suicide, blood, graphic self harm (+ images of razor blades), nudity</b>

This is a story of death and the life after that. Catalina, a woman who has killed herself over heartbreak, becomes a ghost. She is led through her journey into the afterlife by an angel named Karmen.

I really did not know how to rate this, so I’m going to settle for three stars since that’s the most neutral rating I can give.

The first thing I want to say is that although this graphic novel clearly says it’s about death and suicide, I wish there was an explicit content warning! The illustrations are fantastic...which made the graphic depictions of self harm incredibly detailed and therefore extremely triggering. I can handle reading about suicide related topics, but I definitely wasn’t prepared to see detailed, violent images such a woman slitting her wrists. Of course, there are readers who are okay with seeing this kind of content, but when it comes to such blatantly suicidal imagery, I think it would be beneficial to let readers know what they will be seeing.

Other than that, I‘m not exactly sure how to accurately capture how I felt while reading <i>Karmen</i>. I kept wanting to read on because the art was so intriguing in the kind of way where it’s so disturbing that you can’t look away. However, <b>I just felt terrible the whole time I was reading this.</b> I was promised tenderness and empathy, and even if those elements were occasionally present, I felt overwhelmingly sad and disturbed the whole time. I really wasn’t enjoying what I was reading. There also wasn’t too much of a plot, but perhaps that will be explored in future volumes.

I think at a different point in my life I would have felt more towards <i>Karmen</i>, but for me right now, this was just too desolate and morbid. I would steer clear of recommending this to someone since it is too full of triggering content. This seems more like the kind of work people should find and decide to read by themselves.

Welllllll….that was remarkably depressing as a read but so satisfying too? Really, poignant and gave me a lot to think about. Very quick read but I imagine I’ll be thinking about it for a while. The concept was clear and easy to follow with a good and engaging story. I also really liked the art style. It was simple but effective.

Part 1 of a graphic novel about death (and suicide) in a world where death can be reversable. The main character Catalina kills herself because of heartbreak. That's when she meets her angel Karmen. She leads her on a journey through life but also impossible experiences.

The art style is absolutely amazing! Very realistic and incredibly detailed.
The premise of the story seemed very interesting, but a big chunk of the story was confusing, again.
I think I would probably still read the second volume/ part of this because I want to know what happens next.

3.75/5 stars

The comic is quite an interesting view on the afterlife. It plays with the concepts of existence planes, state of mind (if you can think it, you can do it reminiscent of the Matrix) and death. The lines and colors are very clean and vivid and the design of the "angel" characters is very fresh, nothing I've seen before. Would definitely like to continue with the series.

Exceptional art from Guillem March, who I've only seen in a few Batman issues before. This is a completely different level and shows the years of work behind it. I was a little disappointed with the ending- slightly confused as it rushed to completion but the premise itself was well handled and executed.I look forward to more in the future. Thanks to Europe Comics and Netgalley for the chance to read it

This one was kind of unsettling... But in an interesting, original way, to say the least. I liked the art and the coloring. I would read another volume.

Some pages are a little graphic, don't give it to read to young folks.

Thanks to NetGalley and Europe Comics for this ARC :)

This one is nightmarish for me.
The story, the art,the characters nightmarish. Yes, I said it again.

The story started out somewhat abruptly and it got a bit confusing in between.

The art sequence seems to focus more on unnecessary parts rather than the story or the characters.

It gets gross (yes) and messy at times.

I simply couldn't enjoy the story.
I just couldn't get into it.

I just cannot feel anything for the characters.

The story keeps jumping from one part to another part so abruptly when it's totally unnecessary.

Trigger warnings for suicidal attempts, nudity, violence.


For me, the characters didn't make much of an impact.
And the dialogue bubbles are rather too congested.

I couldn't enjoy this graphic novel at all.

Thank you NetGalley for the copy.

This book takes a look at suicide and death in a stunning way that I often find characteristic of French art and storytelling. We follow our main character Catalina as she commits suicide and is guided by the grim reaper figure of Karmen.

The artwork in this is simply stunning. Admittedly, the cover is what drew me in. Honestly, the majority of the graphic novels I read are middle grade or young adult, so this novel was a bit of a challenge for me. The narrative is at times dark, always stunning, and often bazaar. Another hallmark of French storytelling. Overall, while this was well written, I think the real standout of this novel is the art. I think you could focus on much of the art separated from the text and still get a lot out of it. While the text itself did not deeply speak to me, I do think this is a compelling read to check out for the art alone.

This is a really cool concept for a graphic novel. The story is pretty simple. A woman dies and Karmen gives her time to realize the influence she had on other people and really consider what she wants going forward into the next life. I'm especially intrigued to learn more about the rules that govern this particular vision of the afterlife and the way it functions. Also, Karmen, the angel of death, is an interesting and fun character who I'd love to learn more about. It's definitely a good start to what I hope will be a much longer series.

I'd recommend this for anyone who's interested in graphic novels like Sandman, where things take on a dreamlike quality and the art is rich with color.

The main problem with this Spanish translation is that it is only the first part of a two part story, so we only get the very beginning of what looks as though it could possibly be a very interesting story on suicide and death and dying.

The first volume touches on the idea that when you have not transitioned yet, when you have just died, but have not got on to where ever you go, if a living person touches you, you can see their memories.

And it is through that, that Catalina will learn about her death, and why the suicide was so not worth it.

And nudity. Did I mention the nudity? Europeans have no trouble objectifying women, and drawing them nude through the entire story. As much as I love a nude body, I felt in this case it distracted form the actual story.

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

This was an arc I requested at Netgalley.

When I saw this cover art, I was immediately curious to see what this was about and picked it up to read.

I really loved this dreamy, washed out, (lots of pinks), "retro" kind of art style and also how the faces of each character showed a bit of their personality. I liked the way that the pages visually also created a really dynamic and vivid imagery of what was happening, it all just really flowed naturally.

I really liked the concept of this graphic novel, which is a depiction of what happens after Catalina commits suicide and meets her angel Karmen. And I feel that it's quite well executed. And even though it's a heavy topic that is quite big to tell in quite a short span (108 pages), there's definitely a lot that is being discussed, with some humour and nuance.

I came into the story not really knowing exactly what to expect and even though I was caught by surprise by what was happening on the pages, it was a pleasant surprise. The world-building was done very gradually and there weren't any info dumps, which was nice.
Catalina and Karmen, even though both very morally gray people, were really likeable characters that I felt like I could relate to. Especially since you had a lot of minor characters that were also a bit shady when it comes to having morals. The end really left me on a cliff hanger, that made me want to know more about the world and what happens next.

Now there wasn't really anything that really stood out to me as things that I didn't like. Although sometimes it was a bit hard to see who was speaking, because the text bubbles placed in a way that made it a little bit unordered.

Nonetheless, I'm definitely excited to read a part 2, when it comes out!

I requested this book because I'm always interested in reading portrayals of mental health and the idea that this book centers around an attempted suicide was what initially drew me in. I'm always curious to see if things related to the central issue of mental health are portrayed accurately and sensitively (ie. compassionately). However when I realized that a central character was going to be naked the entire time and that the title character has stilleto heels apparently growing out of her feet, I felt a little unsettled about the objectification of women. The art was beautiful, undoubtedly, but I could really get past this initial gut reaction.