Soggy Landing by The Brothers McGovern was alright! I wanted to love this more than I actually did, unfortunately. I am still thankful that I got to read this!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for letting me read an advanced copy of this graphic novel.

I ended up missing the window to download this before the archive date but just recently found it through one of my library apps. I had to reread the synopsis when I realized I didn't understand what was happening. The story just starts in the middle of the fantasy universe and you catch up as they go. I wasn't used to the art style in the beginning but the idea of a dolphin holding a cigarette was funny in contrast to the big message as it went on.

The pacing felt a little off at times but that could be due to my general confusion about what was happening, it just seemed like the lead up to chapter 3 didn't give the reader a whole lot of information expect for a song that was also a flashback about Otso's life. I don't know what I was expecting from this but it was a little underwhelming in execution.

I am left utterly confused as to what was going on in this comic.

The story leaped from one part to the next leaving gaps that I had no idea how to fill in.
Simple & messy art which enforced a gloomy, erratic atmosphere. It had no appeal for me and seemed to add to my confusion.

Some of what I could understand:
● A wizard bear named Otso, does magic with smoke via herb pipe.
● It’s constantly raining at Soggy Landing.
● I assumed a ‘soggy rag’ was a cigarette or joint.
● There was some sort of war.

Then it just ended up tripping me out with drug taking animals, weird blood eating monsters & more magic elements that I didn't understand.
Unfortunately, this was not for me.

This was certainly an interesting read. We see Otso arrive at this place, and things have clearly gotten worse here. They meet up with a few friends, and hope to put a risky plan into motion. At first things are going smooth, but then something unexpected ends up happening. As this graphic novel comes to a close, we see someone in really rough shape.

This sounded great, animal characters, a class war, and an interesting magical system! All things that I normally like. However, this just wasn't executed well. If you read the blurb for this book there is are two groups, The 13 and The Broken Wheel, that are never brought up in the book at all. It seems like that should have been something either taken out of the blurb, or those groups should have been in the story somewhere. Overall, this was just ok. I did like the art style and the concept sounded cool but it just wasn't done that well.

Soggy Landing

I’m not really sure how to write a review/summary/synopsis about this book because I had no idea what was going on most of the time I was reading. What I can tell you is there is a pipe smoking bear, an island that rains all the time and some gore filled gang violence.

The artwork wasn’t my preferred style but did suit the story well as it was quite gloomy and dark.

The story telling itself was the real downfall for Soggy Landing, I felt like I was constantly lost and at some points I felt like I’d missed a prior volume. The turn it took towards the ending was quite dramatic and unexpected. I probably won’t read any further volumes unless I received a review copy.

Thank you to NetGalley and OniPress for providing me with an eARC for review.

Thanks NetGalley and Oni Press for access to this arc.

2/5 stars

This really just left me quite confused, and reading the other reviews I'm glad I'm not the only one. The art style was unique and pretty cool, but also got a little convoluted at times where I felt like I couldn't tell what was going on. It feels like this should be the middle of some sort of series, it definitely needed more world building, or just some sort of explanation as to what was going on.

This is a rather difficult story to follow. It is set in a world where it rains non stop, there are the oppressive rulers of the town and some friends who come together to lead rebellion against the oppression but there is much in the story which should be explained but isn’t. The artwork is ok but sometimes it is actually unclear what is happening. It was all very confusing.

This book didn't make any sense to me. I'm only giving 3 stars because the artwork is nice. It was hard to follow and seemed random. I liked the idea of it but would not have known what was going on if I hadn't previously read a description

Thank you, NetGalley for the gifted copy for review. This is such an atmospheric, magical and unique graphic novel. I would only recommend it for adults though! I did not know about the swear words and all the smoking before I started it.

Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with a free electronic ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Soggy Landing follows Otso, a magical pipe smoking bear, as she journeys to a magical dystopia, where the elite live in luxury, and everyone else lives in a capitalist nightmare. Otso navigates the city and joins with a rebel cell intent on breaking apart the oppressive structures of the island.

I have really mixed feelings about this graphic novel. At first, I was enamoured with the art style, a "wobbly" and cartoonish style that reminded me of the old cartoon Rhubarb and Custard, but obviously a lot more detailed. However, as I read on, the art style and the feeling that everything was constantly in motion left me, at times, completely unaware of what was happening and in what order.

And that really ties in to the next bit... The story of these freedom fighters taking on their fascist oppressors, the striking workers, was a great setting, but the story just wasn't there to back it up. The organisation mentioned in name on the blurb is not mentioned at all, and it really felt like Otso almost fell into the action and just went along with it.

Unfortunately, I won't be looking out for the next part, but I hope the writers can really claw it back because at the heart of this graphic novel is a story that is so relevant to the world we live in.

The concept of Soggy Landing outshines it's actual execution. The art is whimsical, strange, and at times grotesque. It's magical-antifa premise gets weight down my technical political jargon, busy panel setups, and overly fast paced storytelling. I wanted to like this but it felt rushed and sporadic. I think there is a lot to do with this story and it's possible I will check out the next installment if there is one.

To the publisher, I would suggest adding trigger warnings to this story.

.Judging a book by it's cover/description may not have gone in my favor this time - I was not expecting the disturbing imagery that took place in the latter half of the comic. This may be my fault for not correctly interpreting the description of the story, where I thought the elements would have a more whimsical if serious nature.

Please be warned ahead of time for gore/dismemberment and the like. If you're like me and this is a trigger, don't read this.

CONTENT NOTE: gore, slavery, violence, imprisonment, colonization, gratuitous smoking, police violence, death

Soggy Landing is a book that attempts to be anti-fascist in nature while mixing in a dose of smokey magic.

What Worked for Me:
✦ The theme of dealing with fascism and showing multiple cohorts of people coming together despite their differences to fight fascism is always a thing I'll appreciate seeing in comics, and it's something I want more of!
✦ The free-spirited magical aspects of the world were nice. I appreciate when magic rules don't take themselves too seriously and just let us as readers enjoy the show.
✦ I liked the setting of the island and some of the ideas that the creators had for it. I think if the story had been better written, this would have been a fascinating world to explore.

What Didn't Work for Me:
I'll be honest, this book just didn't work for me. I liked the concept and was very excited to see an anti-fascist magical struggle, but I was left feeling instead like I had just left some white dude's smoke-laden loft in Brooklyn after he railed for hours about fighting fascism but didn't do anything to change his own behavior.

✦ The art in this book was muddy, cluttered, and unclear. Values were not well contrasted; the color palette was inconsistent in many places; the expressions were difficult to read; and there was an overall lack of clarity for the majority of the book. The art failed to direct the reader's eye so often. When a comic makes it difficult to read and quickly understand what's happening in each panel, it takes me out of the moment, slows the story down, and frustrates me-- and this book frustrated me a lot!
✦ The way this story was written also frustrated me a great deal. We get a lot of vague worldbuilding without tying it to any action until about page 149 (out of 218 pages). I think showing the way the world is harmed by the forces in power is good, but I also think the creators failed to make the story active enough. The story was a very passive one where things just happened to the characters and the characters didn't do anything proactively until very late in. Maybe they were trying to make a point about this being reflected in real life, but if that were the case, I would expect to see that point being made in the writing and the visuals.
✦ The book opens up with a line, "To those who fight fascism, and to those who fought." However, as I mentioned in the previous point, it doesn't really show us much of any actual fighting of fascism. It shows us a lot of characters being harmed by the powers that be, but it doesn't show them fighting back much.
✦ The book seemed more interested in talking about smoking than anything else. The main character's magical powers are derived from her smoking, and the script is as littered with references about getting a smoke, lighting a smoke, smoking a pipe, and talking about smoking as a street outside a bar in New York is riddled with cigarette butts. It genuinely felt like the creators just wanted to make a book about smoking, thought anti-fascism is kinda cool in a vague way, and wanted to mix in some magic. I didn't enjoy this.
✦ The script also throws in a lot of moments that just don't lead to anything at all in the book. For example, we see a character acting, presumably, as an agent of the state, collecting information that is, again presumably, for use against the anti-fascist movements, but they literally don't show up again in the story after they're collected. They're not shown being given to any authoritarian figure, not shown being used against the protagonist and her friends-- nothing. So we basically spent time watching an irrelevant side character being nosy for no reason for several pages.
This is far from the only example; there are too many times to count where the scenes and panels didn't give us much, if any, new information to carry the story somewhere relevant. I found this to be a really frustrating recurrence.
✦ When the action did finally arrive, the lack of visual clarity and the disjointed storytelling came together in an even more confusing clash that explained very little and provided no satisfaction. The payoff of this book truly was nothing.
Multiple new characters were introduced in the midst of a fray (including a flashback in the middle of the action!!); new magic systems were brought in; and the villains who we were just introduced to turned out to be not the main villains somehow; and in the middle of the action, we're also given five pages of an irrelevant side character set up just to killed. Y'all.
This is probably the best example of how poorly written the script is. This character is made as another representation of the oppressive systems within the world (and our own), but it didn't need its own set up in the midst of the only action we've seen for over 150 pages. There were multiple other side characters introduced in here who could have filled the satisfying moment the creators were going for without having to derail the action.
✦ There were also a lot of song lyrics used to tell the story throughout that I thought just didn't work. They used a lot of words to say the same things over and over without it being interesting.

Overall, this book just wasn't very good. As I mentioned before these bullet points, I felt like I had listened to a white guy drone on and on about how things could really change if people would just DO something about it, but then absolutely nothing happened. I think this book ultimately wanted to be cooler than it was and have a more profound message than it did which was disappointing.

Overall
I give Soggy Landing 1 out of 5 speech bubbles: I didn't like this book, and I don't recommend it. It made a lot of promises that it failed to keep, and I found the visuals and the script both to be confusing and incoherent most of the time.

How to Read It
Soggy Landing comes out August 1st, and you can request that your local library order a copy, check out your local comic book store, or pre-order a copy through Bookshop or Barnes & Noble.

Read This Next
If you liked this, check out Eve TP by Jo Mi-Gyeong, Brittany Peer, Andworld Design, and Victor LaValle; The Tiger's Tongue TP by Diansakhu Banton-Perry, Bex Glendining, Joamette Gil, and Olivia Stephens; Witchy by Ariel Slamet Ries; and Mamo TP by Sas Milledge

If you enjoyed this review, I have a monthly comic review series called More Comics Please! on my website with interior page excerpts and additional information not shared here on NetGalley. You can sign up to receive them in your inbox by subscribing to my newsletter Into the Bramble at jbeoin.com/newsletter.

Soggy Landing is an interesting read set in an incredibly complex world that is beautifully expressed though its illustration. Unfortunately while I loved the drawing style, there were a few other elements of the story that I found lacking.

I believe this novel is the set up for a much larger series which was accomplished at the cost of a coherent story arc within this singular book. I think it's one thing to set up plot threads to be pulled in later volumes, and another to make the entire story loose ends. Some elements are hinted at without being fleshed out like the greenthumb, while others escape mention all together like "the 13" that are mentioned in the book's blurb but are never seen or directly mentioned in the story. I thought for a moment that I was missing part of the book when I got to the end, as there wasn't really a proper resolution.

I was also disconcerted by the tonal shift between chapters. In my opinion the whimsy of a bear who casts spells via smoke from her pipe doesn't mesh well with the graphic dismemberment of characters later on in the story. Early on the audience is set up to expect fantastical interactions set in a seedy environment where a financial shakedown is the most common form of interpersonal violence, so the shift to extreme violence is jarring.

Thank you to NetGalley and the Brothers McGovern for providing me with an ARC of this book in exchange for this review.

My thanks to both NetGalley and the publisher Oni Press for an advance copy of this graphic novel dealing with oppression, the police state, political cults, and the power of smoke and of standing together and against the oppressors.

Once there was an island that was free and welcoming to all. Smoke mages shared hits from their pipes filled with leafy herb, tea was sipped, music was played, and people were free to be who they were. However animals being animals, one group grew angry at the freedom, and seeing money not being monopolized began to form a group of rich concerned citizens to seize power, with the goal of control. Soon the rains came, taxes, fees and city watches controlled and kept the populous in fear. Dungeons began to fill, not with dragons but with those who couldn't pay the taxes, and now served as slaves for profit. Into this comes a bear, a Smoke Mage, with a buzz in the brain that wants freedom for the people, and has all that a female bear will take. Soggy Landing by Ian Densford and the Brothers McGovern is a tale as old as time, about taking back freedom from those who use force and fear, mixed with a few psychedelics.

Otso is a bear who has traveled the seas and the lands, learned about the power of smoke, what it can do for the mind and physically for protection. Otso is also a good person who has come to the island of Soggy Landing to free it from an evil political cult who has seized control of everything, from the media, the government and the police, which probably wasn't that hard. After a day of wandering the city, taxed and robbed equally, Otso meets with old shipmates one of them is a frog Slipper who has been battling to free his people. Soon Otso is part of the cause, and sets out to start a spark that will hopefully lead to a fire of freedom or end in lots of violence.

A graphic novel about fighting tyrants, helping others, the power of drugs, and lots of violence, especially in the last 1/2 of the book. This is a cute animal book, like Richard Scarry, that is suddenly as violent as Frank Miller and Geof Darrow's Hard Boiled, which is a big tonal switch. The story works as both an origin story for Otso, as well as what Otso is fighting for. There are a lot of great ideas, spelling tea leaves to repeat conversations heard in tea houses, and a lot of weird things, that I won't ruin. The art is great especially in the first half. The backgrounds, the buildings the boats, all the characters clean crisp full of details and really very nice, and wonderful for the eye. The last half maybe quarter, suddenly is a different book, with Evil Dead creatures and ultraviolence. The shift is sudden and is not really addressed in the first part of the book, sort of like Redwall throwing in the execution scene of William Wallace from Braveheart.

Not for kids, the drug use and the sudden shift in art might be a little strong, though I hate saying that. The story is still getting set, but what I read was interesting and I would like to know more. And the art really is special especially in the first half. Worth a read for the politics and the cool idea, but might not be for everyone.

When I first heard about "Soggy Landing" I was immediately struck by its unique blend of themes and concepts. The combination of activism and the dystopian world of Soggy Landing certainly piqued my interest. and the exploration of themes such as social inequality, colonialism, and resistance certainly makes this graphic novel feel relevant and socially aware.

However, while the premise and world-building are undoubtedly intriguing, "Soggy Landing" sometimes struggles to strike the right balance between its various elements, making it challenging to fully immerse oneself in the story. The tonal shifts between the serious themes of social injustice and the fantastical elements can be disorienting, leaving the reader uncertain of what to expect next.

Additionally, the sheer number of discoveries and revelations that Otso and Slipper encounter during their journey can be overwhelming. While each turn of events is meant to add depth and complexity to the story, they occasionally hinder the pacing and coherence of the narrative. Some readers might appreciate the constant surprises, but I found it difficult to keep up with the ever-changing landscape of Soggy Landing.

Despite these concerns, "Soggy Landing" remains a commendable attempt at merging social commentary and dystopian fantasy. Its exploration of post-global war communities, power dynamics, and the fight against oppressive forces is thought-provoking and relevant. The artwork, with its attention to detail, beautifully captures the essence of this magical world.

In conclusion, "Soggy Landing" is a rollercoaster ride of mixed emotions. While its wasn't a perfect fit for me it might be for you, if you're open to a surreal and occasionally disorienting reading experience, then this graphic novel might just be the adventure you're looking for.

I received this ARC though Netgalley

The art pulled me in., but the story was a little uneven. I needed a bit more to really feel like I knew what the story was trying to tell me.

I saw this and was immediately intrigued. A city where the rain never stops, class struggles, the characters are animals (idk why, but I'm a sucker for this), magic - sign me up, please!
Unfortunately, Soggy Landing didn't live up to its premise at all. The writing is okay - there was a really cool flashback scene I liked, but I found a lot of the dialogue confusing, probably also due to the sometimes disorienting speech bubble layout. The blurb mentions that Otso joins a group called "The Broken Wheel", a name that is never mentioned in the first volume iirc. It was hard to gain a sense of who the characters were, where their loyalties lay, or what exactly they wanted to do, which meant I had a hard time caring for or being excited by what was happening.
The art...well, there's really no way to sugarcoat it, so I'm just gonna say it: the art is not good. There is no sense of color theory whatsoever, no sense of how light and shadow interact or how to utilize texture. I'm fine with rough or sketchy styles but I personally didn't feel like the artist knew their craft very well here. Some panels looked messy and subsequently the action was hard to follow at times. I absolutely do not want to shit on any artist still learning and finding his footing. Maybe it was just the particular style of this comic book that felt a little off to me but I couldn't get into it for the life of me.

Ultimately, Soggy Landing is a comic book with intriguing ideas that aren't executed all too well. I still have no clue how any of the magic works, how the city operates, what kind of plague is apparently making its rounds, etc. Although I'd like answers to my questions, I don't think I will read any more volumes of Soggy Landing.

- ARC provided by NetGalley -

So... this was really not my thing. I did love the art (at first at least, more on that further down) but I felt the story was oddly told. You learn more about the universe/town/characters reading the summary on the back cover than in the entirety of this book. To me it resulted in a lack of investment or interest for any of them. I even had to go and check if that book was a middle book in a series and if I was missing context, but it didn't even seem that it was.

And then, a bit more than midway through, this graphic novel turned from a dark and rough but still sort of whimsical thing to a complete gory mess, making the story even more complicated to follow. As I was done, I was left with a "what the fuck did I just read" feeling, not really in a pleasant way.

I'm sad to say that this book didn't live up to the expectations the summary had given me.