A huge thank you to Image for allowing me to read this E-arc! Two Graves was immediately an appealing read. The art set the mood perfectly, with muted tones during darker parts if the story, but with vibrant colors at other points. I appreciate the way the characters were all drawn. The fire/smoke-obscured face of Death was an interesting feature for a character so mercurial, and I liked that Emilia was not portrayed as a typical comic book heroin, but as a far more natural human being. I also really enjoyed the Columbarium portions, each had an interesting story, and honestly these were my favorite portion of the book. The main story was interesting, but a little hard for me to follow. I felt at times like the tension between characters alluded to some shared past that I, as the reader, was not privy to, but it's a testament to the storytelling because I did still feel that tension while reading. The cover art and the special features at the end were awesome to get a glimpse into how the story came into being, and I look forward to reading the next volume!

This story and art was very dark and eerie which I love! However the story alone left me with a lot of questions. I couldn’t see the Persephone connection beyond the pomegranate references. There were also these random pages filled with text that didn’t seem to fit the story?

Stunning art and compelling characters, it gave me Neil Gaiman vibes. It left me feeling like I wanted more, but also content with the resolution.

2.5, rounded up. This might be a case of poor marketing, but the Persephone-Hades connection is tenuous to me. Also, while the art is beautiful and eerie, the plot is confusing and tough to follow (though I enjoyed the vignettes I was able to understand). This might have to do with the asides from different authors interspersed throughout the issue--I particularly enjoyed N. K. Jemison's contribution--which didn't make sense to me. I don't think I'll pick up the next volume, but it was fun to try something new.

I was very much looking forward to this, but I felt it was bland and not at all cohesive. Sometimes books are too avante garde to carry plot and I felt that this was one of those. Hugely disappointed.

This was a very unique take on the Hades and Persephone myth. The relationship between Death and Emilia is intriguing along with the bits of new information that you learn along their road trip.

This is my first graphic novel I have read from these collaborating authors and artists. This is a bit dark, and I wasn't sure how I felt about it. This is the first issue and I see there are more, It;s a bit interesting and I don't know how else to describe it.

Doyle and Wu paint an ensnaring picture with Valentine’s potent prose. A road trip between Death and the woman he stole, a pilgrimage to deposit ashes in the ocean, leads to a game of cat and mouse where who is the cat is unclear and ever-changing. Two Graves Volume 1: Wish You Were Here paints a complex and thoughtful picture of death and love that is difficult to ignore and is not banished from one’s mind easily. Perfect for fans of Neil Gaiman and V.E. Schwab, this graphic novel will make you contemplate your own relationship with the unstoppable forces of both death and love, of the end and of the beginning.

I don't know what was wrong with the e-copy I got but it kept crashing down my reader... so I physically wasn't able to finish reading this comic. This is the first time this happens to me, very frustrating. The story seemed very interesting, if a little heavy handed,

This is described as a modern take on Hades-Persephone, though this feels like a loose interpretation of the story itself. However, it is flooded with subtle and not so subtle imagery related to the two.

The art style is so unique and it wasn't until I read the authors notes at the end that it realized all the nuance in the styles in terms of colors when certain characters are the focus or all the ghost towns in America.

Overall a really cool Gothic Americana story!

This story was an interesting concept which comes together towards the end. Initially I felt a little lost as to what was happening but the more I read on the more it became clear why the story intentionally begins this way. The reader is a spectator to what transpires between Death and Emilia.

With the beautiful illustrations the story was told in a way that sticks. There were several lines that stuck with me as the dialogue really helped elevate the story.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review!

I really want to like this more than I do. The character designs are interesting, and so is what little we see of the world. But the plot... I was left in a perpetual state of confusion almost the entire time I was reading this comic. I slightly understood by the very end of the book, but I was lost during the majority of it. It was like I started in the middle of a book, and then finished in the middle as well. It seemed like there was all this prior information I should have known, but had no way of knowing. If there was just a slight bit of explanation of what was going on, I would have liked this more. Also, the plot blurb says "A contemporary interpretation of the Persephone myth". Huh? This entire comic was nothing like the Persephone myth, except her name being mentioned off and on. The art styles were good, but why does it flip-flop between two art styles for the entire comic? I like both of the styles, they were very nicely done. But the constant switching between them kept throwing me off. I felt like I was being forcibly reset every time it switched. Also, why have several pages of walls of text at the end of every chapter? I'm sure this was probably meant to be a style choice, but I personally disliked it. I've said it before, but one of the big things you learn with comic (manga/graphic novel/etc.) making is to NOT inundate the reader with walls of text. Little jarring to have several pages chock full of paragraphs of text between every single chapter. Sadly, this was a miss for me.

The artwork of this is truly amazing. I sometimes got lost with the story but otherwise I really liked it. Some lines really hit deep and I couldn’t stop reading it. I really liked the stories sprinkled in as well. I would read more from these authors.

Thanks to NetGalley and the Publisher for the arc.

This is a wonderful story. The artwork is amazing, too! I didn't know what to expect with this graphic novel, but I am glad I was able to spend some time with it. It's a kind of love story with some horror type scenes.

Thank you #NetGalley for letting me read and review #TwoGraves

It's been a while since I picked up a legit comic tpb, and this one was a good time! Mysterious, beautifully drawn, and in places non-chronological, which is always great. It's got a quiet feeling to it; there are little bursts of conflict and action, but it's more about the two main characters, what's happening to them, and the ways they play off each other. It's artistically really quiet too, a lot of interesting "camera" angles and beautiful colors, stunning landscapes, subtle facial expressions and body language. It all has a certain stillness to it, which I thought was really lovely for a comic about death on multiple levels, though that same quality did make the few action scenes feel a little stifled and stiff to me.

But I don't think this story is really about the action, or at least not in this volume! It's about Emilia, an almost-dead (or perhaps extra-dead) young woman grieving her mother and determined to get her mother's ashes to the Atlantic, and about death in the form of a man whose face and head are veiled in smoke, who delayed taking Emilia and now may have delayed too long. The slow reveal of what's actually happening between them, both emotionally and metaphysically, is really compelling; I'll be looking forward to the next volume to see what happens next.

Have you ever felt like you walked in on the middle of a conversation and are desperately trying to get up to speed? This is what Two Graves felt like. Now, I get it. I know that stories aren't supposed to info vomit everything at you on page 1, but jeez, this book just left you waiting for the pieces to connect and questions to be answered that just never are. I find this super troubling in the comics format because of its serialized nature. You leave too much out on issue 1, no one is going to pick up issue 2. And, yeah, you can argue that more questions will be answered in the next issue or volume, but it's asking a lot of a reader to invest that amount of time and money.
I think the concept is cool but just was not executed well.

(3.5 stars)

The artwork in this is beautiful and it is very similar to the sandman which I think is why I enjoyed it so much! I’m not 100% sure where the story is going to go but I’m definitely here for it and can’t wait to read the other volumes when they are released!

Thank you to netgalley, publisher and authors for a copy of the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was not for me unfortunately I was confused in places and wasn’t a fan of the writing style. The illustrations were cool though.

I have mixed feelings about this book. I read the first two issues and just could not get into the story. I had to leave it and go read something else, but came back and finished it. In my opinion, the last four issues of this volume were better than the first, at least they got me more interested in the story and main characters. By the end of the sixth issue, the end of this volume, I was even piqued to know what was next for the two main characters. I am also left wondering about the title, "Two Graves" always brings to my mind the Confucius quote about revenge ('Before you embark on a journey of revenge, dig two graves.'), but that may just be me...
The art was quite good and both Ming Doyle and Annie Wu blended their work together well. The bonus content contributed by other authors was a bit distracting, though I liked a few of the essays, they broke up the story a bit more than I would have wanted. And midway through, I skipped over and then came back to them after finishing the comic story.
In the end, I would say that the book improved as it went along and although it was not my favorite comic/ graphic novel featuring death (Neil Gaiman stole that spot a long time ago), I did find the story interesting.
I received advanced digital access to this book thru NetGalley (for which I want to thank NetGalley and the publisher, Image Comics) for an honest review. The opinion expressed here is my own.

This book will be a hit for people who love mythology. It is a great read and will be thoroughly enjoyed.

Two Graves is a dark, contemporary interpretation of the Persephone myth
first volume in an ongoing series.

Story:

This had soooo much potential! I am down with anything that involves death and a potential love interest. In the beginning, we were just thrown into the deep end and left figuring out what the heck is going on. I love the fact it was Death and this girl (who is pretty much immortal), "Going on a Road trip" and on the run from some underworld Corpo people. I just feel like there was so much missing. There were flashbacks, but they felt very brief. Like I said, It was easy for me to follow. I just wish that there was more "in-depth" storytelling. I do also wish there was romance build up between Death and Emilia. It felt very brief and just thrown in there for the sake of having some romantic vibes. I honestly thought they were platonic. I was just was left with so many questions. After finishing, I was just left with the words "That’s it?" IDK, I was hoping for more.

Illustration: The best part, for me, was the artwork. It was beautifully drawn and colorized. You can visually see the emotions. Death was so cool looking.