"Empty Eyes" by Diego Agrimbau and Juan Manuel Tumburus unfolds on the Eastern Front in 1917, amidst the ruins of the Nurk Orphanage. The devastating scene reveals only three surviving children, forced to take extreme measures to endure. As one orphan rebels against the harsh reality, he discovers unlikely companions in the beautiful Victorian dolls with empty eyes that line the shelves. The graphic novel, with its haunting premise, promises a unique narrative that intertwines survival, companionship, and the eerie beauty of the dolls in a post-devastation world. Agrimbau and Tumburus invite readers into a mysterious and compelling story that explores resilience in the face of tragedy.

The story was direct enough, but I am somewhat confused by the whole point. I guess it's mostly for shock factor and a creepy story for the sake of being creepy. The illustrations and the colouring were amazing, though.

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

A short and creepy graphic novel about 3 kids left alive and alone in a orphanage after a typhus outbreak during World War I. The ends these kids are willing to go to to stay alive is pretty horrific. They are in Europe with only the occasional soldier coming through. This is gross at times but enthralling.

Thank you to the publisher & NetGalley for the eARC.

I really enjoyed this weird twisted tale and the art work was to die for. This is creepy, cute and anxiety inducing in the best way

The pictures look very good with nice colors, but they are also really scary. I really enjoyed reading it, but it's not just entertaining. It's really sad to think about how people have to live in really bad situations. In my viewpoint, the writer did a great job. The story is really disturbing and a few drawings have stayed in my mind because of how intense and violent they are.

Extraordinary and none-more-dark graphic novel, this features two gas-masked siblings discover a Polish soldier somewhere in the snowy winter of WWI. They suggest he have a hot meal and warm bed for the night at the orphanage they live at, whereupon the guy there chops his head off and gets the rest of him into cold storage for future meals. We eventually see the whole place is riddled with corpses, from the siblings' previous room-mates to the lead kid's parents, stuck in the very opposite of a tableau vivant for him to talk to. Oh, and there's a room full of the orphanage's inhabitant's dolls, now damaged and sans eyes, for our guy likes nothing more than removing those…

Now, this isn't excessively gory and blood-filled, but you will find it hard to pitch something blacker than this exploration of the evil and desperation of war. The dead bodies, the robotic, thoughtless meat-hunting, the dolls coming to life – some of it kicks cannibalism right down the pecking order of grimness. This might be riddled with turn-offs for many people, but I thought it was remarkable. We have a wonderful look, with a painterly craft that makes us sure of seeing everything in frame with none of the horror trappings of hiding the truth til the last moment. And we have juvenile characters in the bluntest of situations, but played as human beings and not gormless entities just shoved through the plot by an author solely intent on creeping us out. Indeed, it is not impossible that all three of the kids have our sympathy, at least at some point in this drama.

Pretty it might not be, a joy it remains in search of, but this is masterful stuff.

Reviewed on my blog The Foreboding Home of the Scary Librarian:
http://bewarethescarylibrarian.blogspot.com/2022/12/graphic-content-empty-eyes-written-by.html

This graphic novel tells the story of three children who survived war and are trying to survive in an orphanage. It's very creepy and interesting and the art style does an amazing job at setting the mood for this. Would recommend for the art alone but I also believe the story has interesting developments.

*received for free from netgalley for honest review* Super yikes lmao would love to read more of this for sure!

Empty Eyes follows two siblings who have been living in a ruined orphanage in the middle of a devastating winter and war. They must fight and do horrible things to survive, but perhaps the biggest danger of all is inside the orphanage with them. This was stunning and emotional. The characters were easy to feel sympathy for, and this does of course feature one of my favorite scary tropes: dolls, but in a very unique manner.

Note: I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley. I was not compensated in any other fashion for the review and the opinions reflected below are entirely my own. Special thanks to the publisher and author for providing the copy.

**Thanks to Netgalley for the earc in exchange for an honest review.**

Empty Eyes is a graphic novel set in Europe in 1917 during the First World War. It's about 3 children living in an orphanage, and they will do anything to survive. It was interesting and would read from this author again.

I want to be clear that my opinion remains objective, as always. It is certainly a mailing, but my principle is to remain objective and impartial, out of respect for myself and the publisher. Special thanks to Netgalley for sending this. Now that all this is clear, let’s turn to criticism:)

First of all, why did I ask for this book? I thought, it would be a great read for Halloween and the Halloctober challenge.

It must be said that this book surprised me positively! I really liked the different boards. It must be said that at the moment, I have read many books a bit gory for this period such as Zombie Makeout club. . At first I thought dolls would be the typical cliché, kind of Freedy haha. Animated dolls that are presented to scare you, but it soon turned out that the scariest thing in history didn’t look as scary. Kind of like the LadyDoll comic I loved.

It is true that in films or comics we tend to be placed on the side of the human being, the victim, whereas in this book we are placed on the doll side. Which I confess is refreshing.

This book is very interesting and we have a very good time little flat for the end which is in my opinion much too fast. As you will have understood, the author did well with this book and succeeded his bet.

Empty Eyes is a middle grade horror comic set in Europe in 1917 during the First World War. It centres 3 children living by themselves in an orphanage and they have resorted to cannibalism to stay alive.

Two of the children were orphans from the orphanage and one of the children is the son of the owners of the orphanage. Everyone else who had lived there died from typhus so those three were left alone.

I really liked the art style, I thought it was quite unique and added to the creepiness of the story. It was a bit slow paced so I’d say that it leaned more towards being character driven than being plot driven.

This was a fun, interesting read and I enjoyed it. I think if you like creepy dolls that end up being the good guys, I think you’ll love this. I will say though, there is a scene with pretty graphic child death so definitely be aware of that before going into it.

TWs/CWs - Blood; Body Horror; Cannibalism; Child death; Corpses; Fire/fire injury; Gore; Gun violence; Murder; Plane crash; Smoking; Suicide ideation; War

The concept and plot of this story was very interesting and I really enjoyed it. I also loved the art style of this graphic novel.

I'd like to say thank you to NetGalley for a copy of the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

This graphic novel is the perfect read for Halloween. The story is creepy as hell. It follows an orphan boy and his sister stuck in an orphanage with a cruel and violent other boy.
You should definitely check the content warning, it has: gore, cannibalism, war and violence.
The illustration is beautiful, I really liked the whole style of the graphic novel.
Some parts were a little too bloody for me but overall, I enjoyed the story.
So if you're looking for a scary, creepy story about orphans and dolls, then this one is for you.

War itself is horror. Abandoned children in an orphanage full of dead bodies is horror. Make one of these children kind of crazy and a cannibal, and the stakes are increased. But luckily, they are two children who don’t want to be cannibals and don’t want to live this life. However, it is World War II, and the children must find a way to survive. It turns out that the dead children of the orphanage aren’t really dead. Their spirits have been moved into the dolls with which they used to play. These dolls have empty eye sockets and once full the dolls come back to life. Their doll life is meant to help the children escape and punish the cannibal child whose parents owned the orphanage. This book is spooky, freaky, and horror laden. The illustrations are fantastic. They perfectly fit the mood. They range from being the gray browns that you would expect when speaking of World War II to the bright vivid colors of a children’s playroom overrun in blood. There are lots of trigger warnings in this book, the main one being cannibalism, but there’s also abandonment, death, destruction, a little bit of everything. Wow, it’s sad to think about in broad terms (as I discovered while telling a friend about the story) but it’s a fantastic study in horror that I will be recommending for years to come.

An incredibly creepy story set on the Eastern Front in 1917, between Poland and Russia. Three children are still living in Nurk Orphanage alongside the decomposed bodies of the orphanage owners and several orphans. Illness and disease have taken those lives and now the three children are struggling to survive through unthinkable ways, but are the dead truly dead? This is a horror story and just right for Halloween. The artwork is vibrant and bright which really contrasts with the gory nature of the story. The story has a good pace and a sense of unease which heightens the twists and turns and definitely keeps the reader on edge. If you like horror then this is a good graphic novel to read.

Copy provided in exchange for an unbiased review.

The best Halloween-themed book so far this year is Empty Eyes. It's genuinely unsettling. Has it all: living porcelain dolls, cannibalism, corpses, violence, and gore—but it's so awesomely illustrated and written that it works.

Typhus strikes an orphanage during World War I, but only 3 children make it out alive. While some will go unpunished, others will be punished.

A very interesting and creepy graphic novel! I wasn't sure what to expect as I'd never heard about it before but was pleasantly surprised by the gore and spooky tone. I wish it had been a little longer so the ending could of been expanded or possibly had some flashbacks to when all the children were alive. Otherwise it was a perfect read for October!

A creepy, weird, scary, gory, sad and horrific (I'm using both words here in a good way) tale about siblings trying to survive the last days of a war in an abandoned orphanage. I believe that the authors did a good job in showing how traumatizing and horrible war can be on children. I suggest you pick this comic up, you won't be disappointed! Thank you to Netgalley, Diego Agrimbau, Juan Manuel Tumburús and europecomics for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.