Review: Little Monsters #1

April 26, 2022

By Dustin Cabeal

The concept of eternal children playing capture the flag and tag like the lost boys from Peter Pan is short-lived in this first issue of Little Monsters. It shouldn’t take more than the cover and a few lines of dialogue to figure out that our band of children are all vampires. And though some of them were growing bored of playing childish games, that concept of an empty city inhabited by children playing childish games for hours on end was more intriguing that the rest of the issue.

With DESCENDER's conclusion... so begins an all-new fantasy series—ASCENDER

July 6, 2018

Press Release

From the powerhouse creative team behind the bestselling, award-winning DESCENDER—Jeff Lemire (GIDEON FALLS, ROYAL CITY) and Dustin Nguyen (Batman: Little Gotham)—launches an all new series set in the same universe, ASCENDER. The DESCENDER story’s not over and this new ongoing series is set to recapture fans’ hearts and imaginations in 2019.

Review: Descender #31

June 27, 2018

By Ben Snyder

Descender has come a very far ways from where it started. At first, the series was quiet, beautiful, almost meditative on the existence of A.I and the repercussions of its abuse. For a while, I thought that’s how the story would stay, but as the story unfolded it was clear that Jeff Lemire and Dustin Nguyen were telling a sprawling and expansive space epic something on a massive scale. While it hasn’t hit the highs its creators have set out for it; Descender has been a success for most of its issue. Descender #31 is no exception, providing a bombastic and explosive entry before the series finale. It’s not perfect, but it’s good enough.

Review: Descender #29

April 18, 2018

By Ben Snyder

Often times Descender has felt plodding and been too wrapped up in it’s own convoluted mythos for it’s own good. But Descender #29 is a desperately needed change of pace. As Jeff Lemire and Dustin Nguyen begin ramping up to this heavily anticipated endgame, the script and plot both begin to feel much faster and carry a greater sense of urgency. This is also one of the first issues of Descender where I didn’t feel as lost or bored at certain points as I felt in prior issues. It is fitting that with only a couple of issues left, Descender is pumping out some of the best issues since it’s beginning.

Review: Descender #28

March 21, 2018

By Ben Snyder

Descender #28 succeeds for many reasons that the previous issue failed. It feels relevant to the overall story, it’s story is interesting if a bit tedious in the beginning, we finally learn what exactly a “Descender” is, and it features Dustin Nguyen’s stellar art. Descender #28 still isn’t a perfect issue as many of the pitfalls of the story are still present, but it is still a marked improvement over the previous entries.

Review: Descender #27

February 21, 2018

By Ben Snyder

Descender #27 takes place 4,000 years before the events of the main story and while that fact alone may seem like the beginnings of an entry brimming with filler and unnecessary material and for the most part it is, but writer Jeff Lemire and artist Dustin Nguyen do enough to craft interesting enough characters to guide us through their exploration of the Harvesters and their creators.

Review: Descender #26

November 15, 2017

By Ben Snyder

Picking up immediately after issue #25, Descender #26 concludes the “Rise of the Robots” event arc. Unfortunately, the conclusion isn’t that satisfying because this issue actually really doesn’t even feel like a conclusion to but more so an introduction to a new arc. Every character is left on the precipice of a major story path, and it feels like a cheap, unnecessary cliffhanger. Despite this, issue #26 is still a worthy entry into the Descender story.

Review: Descender #25

October 25, 2017

By Ben Snyder

In Descender #25, Jeff Lemire delivers a satisfying penultimate issue to the Rise of The Robots arc. While the arc has been good so far, delivering shocking character developments and an entry into the Driller Saga, in issue #25 Lemire seems to finally begin setting up an arc that feels like it’s been in the makings for a while now- Tim-21 acknowledging his Jedi/chosen one powers.

Review: Descender #24

September 20, 2017

By Ben Snyder

In Descender #24, we catch up with a seemingly forgotten friend in Driller. It’s a true shame that issues like this don’t come more often, because in these quieter, smaller character driven issues Jeff Lemire’s skills as a writer prevail, shedding light and humanity on what could be a simplistic robotic character.

Review: Descender #22

July 19, 2017

By Ben Snyder

With Telsa drowning, Andy and crew engaged in a heated space fight with the Hardwire fleet, and Tim-21 held hostage by the Hardwire Descender #22 begins the much-publicized “Rise of the Robots” arc. Dustin Nguyen continues to deliver some of the best and unique visuals in any book right now and Jeff Lemire’s plot doesn’t deviate too much and delivers a straightforward and surprising set-up issue.

Review: Black Hammer Giant-Sized Annual #1

January 19, 2017

By Chris Tresson

I was very much looking forward to reviewing this book. As I'm probably not going to get another shot at reviewing any Black Hammer for Comic Bastards (Laramie Martinez has reviewed the series for CB thus far and I don't see him giving it up anytime soon!) I thought I'd take a shot at this giant-sized annual... This is my review of the Black Hammer Giant-Sized Annual, in stores this week from Dark Horse Comics.

Review: Descender #16

October 26, 2016

By Robert Larson

I’ve done nothing but complain about Descender’s current story arc. It’s been nothing but a cheap stalling tactic; half of the stories we’ve seen have been things we’ve already known, making this nothing more than repetition. So it was with not inconsiderable dread that I picked up this latest issue, only to be pleasantly surprised by the story that I got. If it didn’t resolve the broader issue that this has just been a six-month way to put off telling what happened to Tim, at least this given issue managed to tell a good story that is actually relevant to the broader plot. Warning: I will be discussing spoilers in this review.

Review: Descender #15

September 28, 2016

By Robert Larson

Well, Descender picks up a little bit with this issue, though it’s not exactly by much. All it does is manage to avoid retreading familiar ground in the never-ending series of flashbacks postponing the revelation of Tim’s fate. Is it interesting? Not particularly, because what we some of what we could have easily guessed, and the other piece is somewhat interesting but ultimately rushed, so it doesn’t come with a whole lot of emotional payoff. Business as usual? I suppose, but that’s not a good thing for this book. At least we might finally be done with this flashback horse-hockey and get back to advancing the narrative. Warning: I will be discussing spoilers.

Review: Descender #14

August 17, 2016

I can’t tell if this is a good turning point for Descender. The past few issues have nothing but a stall job, the equivalent of a guy who comes out during the climax of a murder scene in a play and tap dances on stage. It’s been back story we’ve already known about, stretched out far longer than it needed to be, just when the story was heating up. And that’s the first half of this particular issue, which had me just about ready to be done with this whole story arc. But then, there’s a little bit at the end that makes me hopeful we can finally get back on track. We see the day of the accident at the mining colony: how Andy was saved while his family was left behind. We then see bits and pieces of Bandit’s life until the day Tim-21 came back online, and how Bandit was involved in that. We then see Andy with the group of survivors trying to avoid the Gnishys, and how they plan to use Bandit to find Tim.

The first half, the Bandit storyline, is pointless. Bandit can sort of capture some audience investment by being a dog (except that he’s not like a dog), but that investment can only go so far with a protagonist who has no words and thoughts. The fact that he’s rehashing what is basically familiar, the disaster at the mining colony, doesn’t leave much to be interested in either. We get a hint of that with Andy’s mother, but we lose it because we’re separated from her after she saves Andy, and we don’t see what happens to the rest of the colony. It makes for such quick reading that you might be done with it in under two minutes.

However, the link between Bandit and Tim suddenly brings us back to the main part of the story. We have a way to join the two storylines and get things moving again. This might bring the book to #12, where there was a lot of momentum in the story and things seemed to be going somewhere. We’ve got the ancient robot to look for, the fallout of Tim-22’s betrayal, and the question of what will happen when Andy finally tracks down his long-lost robot. Who knows, maybe some of this back story will become relevant?

As this is the penultimate issue of the arc, it should be the penultimate back story issue. The promo materials for next time promise “revelations” about a main character’s sins, so that might make for better reading. If nothing else, this arc will be over and we can get back to business.

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Descender #14 Writer: Jeff Lemire Artist: Dustin Nguyen Publisher: Image Comics Price: $2.99 Format: Ongoing; Print/Digital

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