Free ARC from Netgalley.

The time of the Giants-that-were (humans) is over. Now, the Hamster Aquatic Mercenaries tries to survive in a strange world.

Decent new graphic novel series. Reminds me a lot of of Mouse Guard, with added human technology. Lots of action, which means it's not particularly for me. Good artwork.

As a result of my various committee appointments and commitments I am unable to disclose my personal thoughts on this title at this time. Please see my star rating for a general overview of how I felt about this title. Additionally, you may check my GoodReads for additional information on what thoughts I’m able to share publicly. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to read this and any other titles you are in charge of.

Thank you NetGalley for giving me access to read this book. I enjoyed it immensely. The Underfoot is a cute story about hamsters who have survived the end of humankind (giants as they call us). Now they must survive on their own and help other animals with their troubles in an changing world.

I will divided this review in pro and cons.

Pros
- The artwork is amazing and very cute. One of the reasons why I requested this comic book was because of the artwork on the cover and it delivered. I love the artwork in this book. The hamsters look really cute and exactly as I would have expected. The graphic of the artwork is very realistic sometimes and leaves not much to the imagination. Which is a good thing and a bad thing. I will explain that later in the cons.
- The story is a rescue mission and it’s very well written. It’s not to complex and even though there is a sequel this could be read as an standalone. The mission is a standard mission where things go wrong before they succeed. It sometimes felt a little predictable but not in a bad way. It was still very entertaining and I enjoyed it a lot. The stakes are high for the characters and the battles they face are very violent and exciting. The tensions is high at some points.
- The characters are great and the two main characters, two little pups, Mac and Ruby, they both have a great developed in there story. And they are extremely brave since they need to go on this very dangerous mission with the adults, without completing their training. I really loved their friendship that grew during this story. It was so deep and full of love and loyalty.
The other characters where great as well and the friendships ins this book are beautifully written.
Cons
- My only con I have against this book is the audience for what it is written for. The audience for the comic book is middle grade. But personally I find it way to graphic for middle grade and especially the violent scenes. There is one scene for example. (It’s early in the beginning so it won’t spoil anything) In this scene a snakes head explodes, Not only is this very drawn in a lot of details. But the pups are all covered in blood, flesh and brains form the snake. Which is also very detailed. I personally feel that an eight year old is a little to young for these type of scenes and drawings. It made it more fun for me as an adult reader, but I highly recommend parents to check this comic first before they let their children read it. Not every child can see this amount of detailed violence and stomach it without having nightmares.

To get to the conclusion I really enjoyed the characters and the artwork and I can’t wait to read the sequel. Which I am currently reading and loving as well.

Honestly such a good and lighthearted graphic novel! I love the idea of having animals who were genetically modified by humans before humans went extinct. I am SUPER thrilled to continue with the second volume of the series.

An exciting (and cute) story of a tactical mercenary group of hamsters going on a mission to destroy a beaver’s dam. There are plenty of dangerous creatures out there that would be glad on snack on the hamsters. But that isn’t the only danger they face, the beavers are determined to keep their dam in place and have joined forces with fearsome foes to stop the hamsters at all cost.

This is a post-apocalyptic Rats of NIMH with an even more intriguing backstory and interesting abilities. The characters and illustrations are good. I really enjoyed this one. There is a lot to potential for future storylines because this has a rich world to be explored. I just hope that these creatures never meet the Giants-That-Were; I think they would be horrified at the truth of them.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for a free copy of the ARC in return for an honest review.

This first volume in the series is interesting and gives me Redwall or the Littles vibes. The setting and plot were interesting!

I really enjoyed reading this. I love anamorphic characters and this book has a good mix of characters. The Underfoot Volume 1 was a great read. It’s a fun adventure story where a group of hamsters go on an adventure to help save other animals.

We get to follow along with two pups, Ruby and Mac, who are going on their first adventure with a group of veteran hamsters.

The artwork is great. Some of the characters look like Disney characters and others look more grisly and more war torn.

The fights between animals starts off tame and then becomes increasingly more violent with each passing frame. I was surprised by the blood and violence. The artwork is awesome and full of great action and touching moments as well.

The best part of this book is seeing the young pups, Ruby and Mac grow and have heroic moments of their own.

I look forward to reading volume 2!

Stay awesome and keep reading!

It has been untold years since the Giants-That-Were disappeared, leaving behind the animals forever changed by their strange science. Now, granted the gifts of intelligence and self-awareness, the valiant Hamster Aquatic Mercenaries struggle to keep their horde alive in the dangerous new world.

Its a big, big world, especially if you're 2 inches tall! The artwork is amazing, and the story line was pretty cute! Def want to read more!

I am so amazed by this post-human universe, where hamsters live with technology and have a super elite group for the difficult jobs to to. The group around the elite group H.A.M. is fun, diverse and entertaining, especially grouped together with some youngsters, who are not grown up yet but want to be desperately be part of the group not fully capable yet. But they have a mission to solve and the time is ticking.
The story is so entertaining, exiting and heartwarming. I love all the different characters and how they interact with each other. Friendship, bravery and lots aof surprises along the way – the comic has everything you wish for pared with amazing illustration style and yes, cute, feisty and brave Hamsters. Cannot wait to read more.

The Mighty Deep is the first volume in a graphic novel series by Ben Fisher, Emily Whitten, and Michelle Nguyen. Released 23rd April 2019 by Oni Press, it's 160 pages and available in paperback and ebook/comiXology formats.

This is a very well plotted, character driven epic quest adventure with beautifully rendered illustrations. The setting is fantasy post-apocalypse Earth and the characters are anthropomorphic animals. Ostensibly aimed at middle grade readers, I found the charming and engaging story worked well for all ages. I enjoyed it a lot.

Four stars. It would make a great selection for comics readers, fans of fantasy and anthropomorphic animal stories. It's a quick and enjoyable read.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

The ARC of this book was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I picked this one up simply because Oni Press always does well. I was a little slow to get into it because the theme of warrior hamsters was hard for me to wrap my head around, but after that- I was blown away. The story was incredible- I felt a connection to each of the characters from the shy to the brave to the ones experiencing loss- every reader will find a character to identify with in this story. I first thought this would focus more on Ruby and her timid-ness and overcoming that obstacle, but it turned into so much more and we actually got to know the other characters in depth as well as Ruby. I think one issue books run into with trying to captivate an audience is they get too specific with their main characters and isolate readers who don't connect with those characters. Underfoot did an excellent job at just the opposite, each character got the same amount of "page time" that they all felt like main characters on their own (with Ruby just being our first point of view) and with their diverse styles and backgrounds I'm sure every reader will find themselves reflected in a character.

My only issue with the book are the characterizations are sometimes hard to distinguish between which character is which- I understand they are hamsters and there's only so much distinctions between them, but sometimes I got confused. And there were also just sooo many characters right from the start I found that contributed to me not being able to keep up with them all as easily. My only other issue is that the mission to destroy the dam and why it needed to be destroyed really wasn't made clear enough early on. I didn't realize that the dam being created was also going to flood the burrow until after the scene with the badgers talking about the water receding. If I had known the hamsters motivations earlier the story would have been even better.

The cover and title attracted me the most, and I was excited to read the graphic novel. But I found this book very rushed in with too many characters. The story does get better, and gradually I could distinguish the hamsters, but this book is not the one that I would recommend to everyone. There are a lot of dark moments in the book, and of course, graphic representation of the same makes it scary for young readers.
I wouldn't recommend this book to children below 10 years of age as it is definitely not for sensitive readers.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC.

I wanted to love this book. I really really did. The concept was amazing, the artwork was great. I loved seeing the different breeds of hamsters.

But...

The story felt a bit ..... disjointed. I also wasn’t 100% sure what was going on the whole time. I feel like there were too many characters, and not enough time to get to know them individually. And then new characters were thrown into the mix without much introduction.

The story felt a little rushed, maybe this didn’t help with feeling a little disjointed and confusing. I really feel like this book could have done with being longer, or split into several volumes (yes I am aware there is a volume 2).

In short, the artwork and concept were amazing, but the storytelling fell a little flat.

Very cute and colourful illustrations, but not something I'm quite in the mood for right now so I'm setting it aside for the time being. I'll definitely return to this at a later date, however, so it's not a DNF. Just a, 'not for now'.

This was such a fun read! I was immediately drawn in by the artistic style and I loved where this story was going! Definitely a fun read for kids but also one that adults like me (who want to relive their youth ehem ehem) will enjoy!

I loved this graphic novel. The illustrations are amazing and fit the storyline perfectly. Looks like I'm going to have another graphic novel series to collect.

Omg I loved this cute, adventure-filled graphic novel sooo much!!! This was so entertaining, I could definitely see myself buying this especially for my 8 year old nephew. As a 40 year old woman I did not expect to tear up while reading a children’s graphic novel, but I did at least once. I loved this and will definitely read more of The Underfoot and H.A.M.

Mercenary hamster?!?! Say no more you have piqued my interest. I got The rescuers vibes big time just reading the the synopsis, and those vibes held true.

This was a post apocalyptic setting where all humans are gone and all That remains are decendents from lab test animals!! So when a beaver Dam is threatening to flood the homes for the badger they hire the Hamster Aquitic Mercenaries to take out the problem! Such an interesting concept and was well done. Each of the hamsters had such vivid personalities that made the whole read much more dynamic. Though that being said there was a LOT of them and it was sort of jaring at first trying to figure everything out. The character bios spread throughout really helped. Great introduction to the would and will be picking up the sequel.

The Underfoot is an exciting adventure series with likeable animal characters. I enjoyed the way the author/artist team built this fantasy world, and I was reminded of stories of my childhood. This is a book I would love to share with students at the upper elementary/middle grades setting, and I enjoyed this book as an adult comics fan, as well. I'm very much looking forward to reading volume 2!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this complimentary eARC. I love this graphic novel. It's a post-apocalyptic tale about genetically modified hamsters and how they survive in a grim world. The hamsters are so flipping cute! The illustrations reminded me of <i>The Secret of NIMH</i> I would recommend this graphic novel for tweens because of the gruesome action sequences.,