My Life Among Humans is a short and somewhat melancholy graphic novel about an alien sent to watch and collect data on humans, observing without being noticed, and how this data collector responds when things go wrong. Jed McGowan has a really interesting art style I haven't seen in a graphic novel before - the characters are very round and seem almost three dimensional in a way that reminded me of the Rolly Polly Ollie show (anyone else?) but with a gloomy color palette. I found this to be so lovely and sweet, with the kind of ending I love that is ambiguous, sad and hopeful at the same time. Highly recommend if you like softer, heartfelt scifi (especially fans of Murderbot!) and are looking to reflect on loneliness, voyeurism, control, connection, and the difference between watching and living your own life. I'd love to read more from McGowan in the future.

My Life Among Humans has a compelling plot, neat art style and relatable characters. I loved this book, it's exactly the kind of "melancholy but hopeful" graphic novel I like to read. The plot moves along at a quick pace, and the art complements and enhances the story. Both humor and heart here!

A very personal reflection of an alien's existence within human society. The main character grows with the story, and is both frightening and sympathetic. A good story for readers of science fiction; maybe not so much the general reading public. Still a good story and interesting artwork.

For such a short read, this was a really interesting book! I love the art style as well. I’d easily read another book about this aliens or the humans in this book. Thanks to netgalley for providing me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was a quick read with a unique story. The art is comforting - reminding me of early 2000s cartoons. I would enjoy reading more stories of this little alien.

The little alien in this story teetered between lovable, and annoying, but in a good way. I was never quite sure which way the story was gonna go, and it kept me engaged and interested the whole time.

This is such a lovely story about an alien being that comes to earth to observe humanity. It manages to do this by spreading spores which embed themselves in people’s bodies. The alien feels all is going well and it can satisfy the demands of his unrelenting supervisor who has the power to kill should the alien fail in its mission.

Unfortunately the spores change human behaviour and soon people in the small town realise they have been invaded. Suddenly the alien realises its life and mission are on the line and so it seeks a way that will save both the mission and save its life.

This is a lovely story with very clear, soothing artwork. It is a great graphic novel because there isn’t too much prose and the pictures also tell the story. It is a lovely feel good story which leaves the reader feeling entertained, happy and hopeful. Very enjoyable.

Copy provided by the publishers via Netgalley in exchange for an unbiased review.

My life as human is a cute scientific fiction graphic novel.
The alien spider was send to Earth to overseer human beings. The plot is simple and the whole story is a quick read,
Just one thing I am a little concern about. As a school librarian, I am not sure about the target readers of this book.
For elementary students, this content is an bit complicated. Fro older students, this content is bit simple. I think the story needs more details. Just my point of view.

My Life Among Humans is a fun little science fiction story about an alien who comes to Earth to observe humans and ends up taking some over. It's a pretty standard science fiction trope, but it's told from the alien's point of view, which adds a new perspective.

The story is fast paced, the art is very cool, and this is an overall fun read.

The art style in this is really interesting and feels almost like a claymation movie. The story is solid, but I wish there had been more insight into the humans. I think having a third-person narrator might have benefited the story in that way, because I found myself wanting to know more than just the alien's perspective. It is a tightly written, quick read, but I don't think I would pick it up for another reading.

A lovely graphic novel that impresses a bit more with the art than the plot, which is nice, but relatively forgettable. Since it is a visual medium though, the wonderful art style still makes this a joyous ride.

My Life Among Humans tells the story of a little computer spider, who has been sent to Earth by the mysterious manager to investigate humans and sent daily reports back. The specimen he's supposed to monitor is called Will and he's your regular nerd, currently in the process of designing his very own video game.

Now the one condition under which the spider alien operates is that he's not supposed to be noticed. Well.

Thankfully, our little alien friend discovers his secret powers in just that moment: he's able to control people! So in order to cover his failure up, he takes over Will's entire family and pretends nothing happened. Unfortunately, the alien doesn't understand everything about how humanity works yet and therefore people soon begin to suspect something is wrong...

It's a story about feelings and what makes humans human, but none of the points made were quite striking enough. The way the story developed just lacked a bit of oomph, you know what I mean? It contains shadows of what makes Pixar and Disney collaborations so emotionally hard-hitting, but then it just lacks that little bit of magic to make you feel truly touched. It's kinda fine, because the art is so pretty – from rendering to colours, this is pure eye candy.

Since it's a pretty quick read, I would totally recommend this if you happen to stumble upon it, but ultimately not much from it really stuck with me.

What a wonderful surprise this was.

I took a chance on this one solely on the cover and I am SO glad I did. This ended up being a very sweet story about a little alien sent to observe humans.
I loved the art style, it had such a great video game/animated movie quality to it. The writing was rather simple, but it let the art work speak for itself which led to a story that made me feel like I'd watched a movie. I've never been so invested in a story less than 100 pages before.
Loved this!

My Life Among Humans is an atmospheric, melancholy, and ultimately hopeful story about a lone alien's misguided search for a connection to humans.

A nameless alien data collector comes to Earth to study humans. Its job is stressful and challenging - it must observe humans from hiding and send regular reports to its manager. A spore-like technology allows it to read the minds of the hosts.

Things get complicated when an alien takes desperate measures to save its life and uses powers it shouldn't possess to control humans. Then, the true struggle begins - the alien tries to keep this secret from its manager, deal with a growing number of distrustful humans, and come to terms with its ethically questionable decisions.

It's a short, charming graphic novel with simple art and a simple story. It reads quickly, hits all the right beats, and keeps the reader entertained. It's not particularly surprising, but I had a good time reading it.

ARC through NetGalley

This is a short comic about a nameless alien sent to spy on and compile data about humanity. They have a strict no interaction rule, which is quickly an issue when the alien is caught by the humans they were watching and accidentally controls their minds to get out of the situation. As things spiral out of control, the little alien will need to set things right. I was not expecting this sort of story, so it caught me off guard. I also was not a fan of the human characters, but they also did not have a lot of characterization, given the length and nature of the story. The art style was a weird, 3D digital style that I wasn't a fan of, but that is a personal preference. Not sure i'd really recommend this for the story, and it's too short to really offer much for readers to get in to.

An alien comes to earth to study and collect data from humans. Forced to observe and watch humans for its manager, it must send regular reports to its manager back at its home planet. Setting up base in a small desert town in North America, the alien takes interest in Will, one of the alien's first assigned human subjects. But when its interest in Will and his family leads to trouble, the alien makes some rash decisions to ensure its survival and keep its mistakes a secret from its manager.

My main issue with this graphic novel is its simplicity; there isn't any particular depth to the plot or its characters. I had no reason to emphasize or care about the characters as the reader is not given any background until the very, very end of this book. I cannot even characterize this graphic novel as being melancholic as apathy felt a more accurate descriptor; I wanted to care but there was nothing more to the alien except its base fear, it was purely reactionary in its actions and decisions. I just did not connect with this story and I went in with such hopes.

A small alien tasked with implanting hosts with spores to transmit data back to his home world lands on Earth and focuses his efforts on an awkward nerd and his family in My Life Among Humans. This is a short graphic novel that tackles some interesting ideas as the alien, initially completely compliant, soon begins to identify with his human specimens and begins to question his place in the universe. What follows is an epic Sci-Fi battle as the alien's "manager" arrives on Earth to confront her insubordinate colleague and his humans.

Pros:
- Main alien character is very cute.
- Human cast is have realized emotions and arcs.
- Entertaining art style.

Cons:
- Back story is thin when you get it but overall, it works in the context of the story.
- Main villain looks like a giant, goofy frog, so it's hard to take it seriously when it appears.

Five stars. Cute, understated art style belies a complex tale of free will and finding your place in the universe.

FFO: E.T., Wall-E, coming of age tales.

**I was given a copy of this book by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. My thanks to Oni Press and Netgalley*

This story is about an alien sent to Earth by his manager to collect data from humans.
This short, 100 paged comic was very quick to read, no time to get bored. This cute story is simple, but effective, an alien sent on Earth to collect data, but ends up caring for his humans. Cute as it is, it's also about the aliens realising what his manager makes him do, her power over him, is wrong.
The only thing I didn't like was the style of the drawing, which is simply a personal opinion.

For a story that recaps the story of an alien possession in a small town, it was quite mellow and sweet! I thought the art was spot-on for the theme and the setting, evoking the indie games the characters in-universe were working on, only about just missing a vintage synth soundtrack. The was representation of the kind that feels very organic and unremarked upon in-universe, which I always appreciate, and I felt that for a story this length - very short and self-contained - the characters were sketched with enough depth and charm. The alien narrator was a loner seeking connection who is stuck with a shitty job and, well, ain’t that easy to relate to.
Thanks to #Netgalley for an arc of this cute graphic novel.

A very interesting sci-fi comic book, from the perspective of the alien and how their action transformed their vision. An unusual tale that raised a lot of interesting points, much more thoughtful than I expected it would be. I really enjoyed the direction it took and the questions it raised.
A lot of new sci-fi is questioning the smaller parts of human life, the social aspects, the emotional aspects, the ethics and more close-to-home little things, rather than the big science questions, the exterior facing or the big sociological movements. I like that a lot.
A very good sci-fi story, with efficient illustrations.

Thanks so much to NetGalley and OniPress for the chance to experience this digital ARC.

Even though this gn is only 100 pages, it was a pretty wild ride. I don’t want to give too much away as i want each reader of this book to go in and come out with their own experiences.

At the end of the day, I ask only a few things from a gn.
1. Underlying themes: this has plenty! Phoooph! Loss, love, families, alienation and loneliness, hope, feminism, respect, boundaries.... and on it goes.
2. Visually pleasing art, inking, colouring, and lettering (not that im fussy...): this book ticked a lot of these boxes for me. The overall colouring hit me in the feels, and while i struggled a bit with the anesthetics of the characters' shapes and features, the overarching story (and the brilliantly desgined aliens) more than made up for this.
3. Plot, right?: This veered for me, sometimes in a slightly vertigo-ish way. Maybe I'm just used to tighter narratives - that's okay, cause it's personal taste.

Overall, i found this dark and charming and redemptive, and a solid 3-star read.