Author: Brian Wood
Illustrator: Danijel Žeželj, Dave Stewart
Publisher: Image Comics
Published: January 29th, 2016
Source: NetGalley
A brief synopsis; (Via Goodreads)
Once the world's most famous chef, Gavin Cruikshank's been in a self-imposed exile for years. His little foodie television program has since evolved into STARVE, an arena sport that pits chef against chef for the pleasure of their super-rich patrons. It's a stain on a once-noble profession, and Chef Gavin is ready to go to war to stop it. Two things stand in his way: his arch rival Roman Algiers, and his adult daughter Angie, who probably just wants her dad back and acting normal.
Multiple Eisner Award-nominee Brian Wood released his first series, Channel Zero, to considerable critical acclaim in 1997 and has gone on to create hard-hitting original series such as DMZ, Northlanders, The Couriers, and The Massive. He’s also written some of the biggest titles in pop culture, with work on Star Wars, Conan The Barbarian, Lord Of The Rings and The X-Men. He lives with his wife and two children in Brooklyn, NY
You can find Brian at his website, Goodreads and Twitter.
So, can I start fangirling now? Because-
-Holy shit, plot twist of the century! I wasn't expecting his ex-wife to be that much of a vulture. It was actually a little exciting, and brilliant that it was so early on. (Is that even legally possible *spoiler*; having him declared deceased? I'm intrigued).
I was honestly (pleasantly) surprised by the LGBT aspect of this graphic novel - though I have no idea why, since that's one of the categories I'm interested on in NetGalley.
There's not much I can talk about, in terms of structure for this, I think. Besides not being optimised for laptop reading using Adobe Digital Editions, of course.
The over-voice, and by over voice I mean the occasional lilac (they might be a light orange/pink, I can't discern - Photoshop claims it is #fadec8, which does fall in the orange spectrum) coloured text box that acts as an Gavin Cruikshank's narrative voice, is full of characterisation. It's so easy to imagine a sort of grouchy tone, one that is most definitely weathered. It's a great perspective to go from.
On a whole, the colour scheme of this graphic novel is perpetually dark. Black, yellows and oranges appear to be the primary colours of choice. These add to the atmosphere, giving it that gritty, urban setting.
I felt, however, that it took rather a long time to get into the gist of what exactly 'Starve' was; there was too much build up for this particular aspect, like the shocking revelations came before, which to me was odd.
The character's had so much depth to them; they were far from the two-dimensional drawings that were on the pages.
I'm glad I got to read this; I doubt I would have otherwise! I kind of want to go out and buy it in physical form, now.
"I can trace my family back nine hundred years, Greer, to a muddy Scottish hillside where it always rained and nothing grew. Men lived to be thirty if they were lucky and they were still happier than I was married to you."
"But I won't play the game they want me to play. This is my fucking show."
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