Joyride Vol. 1 (1)

Really love the story, really love the fact that it's having fun, and really love the issues that it tackles while it's having fun. (I feel like there aren't enough contemporary books out there decrying fascism, and this one certainly does that.)The writing, the story, and the ART -- it's all there. A FUN space opera. The world needs this. Go buy it.

Fun,fast,colorful,and out of this world great story for someone looking for a short comic

Awesome fun filled and laced with heart...it was a Joyride!

I saw this one at the local library and was grabbed by the awesome artwork. I check it out and during my read found plenty to love.Mileage Is Gonna VaryFirst of all, this is really hard graphic novel to pin down in terms of what it actually is or what it's really about, so I'm pretty sure there's going to be a lot of disagreement about what genre this is, to say nothing of the quality. There's references to a dystopian regime, suppression of freedom of espression, and oppression or even execution of non-conformity, but then there's kids acting...well, like kids. There's goofy, zany flavor of alien encounters and ridiculous chases and escapes that would feel at home in Farscape or Firefly, but everything has a a layer of silliness and a jarring half-recognition of what is going on that may either instantly turn you off or help to remind you not to take ANYTHING in this story too seriously.The artworkEveryone has said it, but I'll say it too: the artwork is wonderful. If I had to describe it I'd say it's like some of the best work to come out of Aspen Comics that didn't have Michael Turner doing the drawing. Nowhere do you get the insane gorgeous visuals of a true master like Michael Turner himself, but Marcus To was one of Turner's proteges and you can see the influence. It's basically the best of Indie comics art style because it's got that great scratchy style but it's still solid and draws you in. Anyway I love it.The storyThe story is ridiculous. A shy loser and his insane hyper friend girl decide to take off for the stars, get double-crossed, and steal a spaceship (that's not really giving anything away). They are pursued and then joined by a driven teen law enforcement agent (seeing the Farscape similarities yet?), and hilarity ensures as they bungle their way through chases and escapes, and are pursued, attacked, double-crossed, and joined by an increasingly wacky cast of characters.Elements of StyleThis book is dripping with style, and that's both a great thing and a terrible thing. You see, the style of the book is very disjointed, to the point where I had to re-read sections multiple times both to figure out what was going and to make sure I didn't miss something. I found repeatedly that no, I didn't miss anything, the style of cuts from panel to panel is just...jerky. One minute you are talking to someone and the next they are tossed out the airlock. Wait...what? It all makes sense in the end (sort-of) but both the action and story is told in a cliff-notes kind-of-way with lots of silly one-liners designed to sound "cool".Do you like kids trying to be be cool? If not, you might hate this book. Personally I found a layer of sincerity and character development underneath the facade that was quite compelling. I can also relate to a character that everyone treats as expendable including his best friend (maybe that isn't a good thing?). At any rate, I'm still a teen at heart, so I found much to love here.Also, if like me you like your comics full of adventure but lacking in swearing and blood and guts, this one is refreshingly clean (so far). Recommended.

Disclaimer: I received a free ecopy via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.Well that was a blast. Joyride is a seriously fun, action packed space adventure. Earth made contact with alien races and is now ruled by a dictatorship that restricts anyone from leaving the planet. With this premise, the book could have gone really dark and turned into a dystopian story. Instead, everything about it is bright and energetic. There are conflicts to keep things interesting though.I love the characters. From the rebellious Uma to the hitchhiker Kolstak. Every one of them adds personality to the book. There is enough variety to keep me engaged and prevent things from becoming flat. The development of the characters individually and as a whole over the course of the story is great too. Despite some differences, it sort of makes sense that they would keep travelling together.But the stand out portion of this book is the art. I really like the style for the characters. Most of them are little more than kids and the art captures that. Their expressions are detailed and support the text. The colors do a lot to create the tone of the book. I think the panel work is awesome too. They do a lot to draw the eye down the page, so even if they are used in an unusual way I didn't feel confused as to where I should be looking or reading next. Then there are the scenes that juxtapose two characters. These go a long way to show how the characters are similar and different without spelling things out. I liked this one so much I went out and bought a physical copy. Can't wait to read volume 2!

What makes you pick up a graphic novel? For me, it's always the art. I can grow to love a story even if it's not my prefered genre if the art is great enough. Joyride accomplished just that but just barely.I’m not a huge fan of sci-fi in general; space just doesn’t cut it for me I guess. So when I got approved for this I was intrigued but a bit biased.The art is definitely neat. I loved the character designs very much even if they weren’t the flashiest out there. The line-art was clean, the colors muted but pleasing. I did think the character’s facial expressions were a bit stiff and they could have been drawn in a more expressive way to accurately convey their emotions. While the art was nice, it wasn’t...unique. I felt like I had seen the style before and nothing stood out to me.What I did not like about this graphic novel was the distinct lack of world-building. I’m still not sure what the whole plot is really about; I’m guessing it’ll be developed more in the next volumes. The dialogue also didn’t help in contributing much to the plotline. It was wasted a lot in chessy lines which I guess gae some personality to the characters but just served to make me cringe.There needs to be a lot more character development for me to feel something for these characters. Even the villains are far too vague and out of reach that I don’t find myself rooting for the heroes. And some of the secondary characters seem completely pointless.I can definitely say this series has potential but there’s a lot of work to be done both with the art and the writing

The story is nice but is a bit... soft when it comes to it, I suppose is cos is still the first volume. I'm looking forward to the 2nd one.Also, the comic came perfectly fine, no damage, and also fast.

Joyride is a masterfully structured and beautifully executed comic. A fun antidote to its overly serious peers, but don't make the mistake of thinking it doesn't have depth. It has everything.