Ascender, Vols. 3 and 4, offer the action-packed conclusion of Lemire and Nguyen’s series that started with Descender in 2015 (reviewed for NFNT here) and continued with the first two volumes of Ascender (reviewed for NFNT here). As this is the end of the series, there are some minor spoilers contained in the review.
In Vol. 3: The Digital Mage, we pick up from the action in the second volume that left us stranded on an island in the middle of the Sampson Sea with Mila, Telsa, and Helda struggling to get a pre-war ship ready for takeoff. Mizard the Wizard and Driller the Robot arrive and help take care of a horde of vampires sent by Mother’s forces. The group break free and set out for Ghost Planet to find someone who can fix Bandit and retrieve the information they need to hopefully find Tim-21, who we haven’t seen since he was taken away at the end of Descender. Meanwhile, Mother is trying to find the Source of all Magic, which might also have something to do with Tim-21.
Vol 4: Star Seed brings all of the characters from both series together at last, and couples the storylines of Descender with its giant planet-destroying robots, and Ascender with its magic and ghouls, into a satisfying, if not slightly rushed, conclusion. The story built Mila up as the all-powerful young heroine we see often in fantasy stories, but Lemire still has some twists left at the very end of the series as the mechanical and magical forces square off for the ultimate showdown.
If fans were looking for more clarification about life after the second Descender invasion, the conclusion to the series offers sparse detail. Lemire gives us just enough to understand how magic became rampant in the universe after the disappearance of everything mechanical, but the power structure with Mother and some of the other planets’ rulers is still somewhat elusive. But, I found that it wasn’t as needed as I originally thought when starting down this journey withAscender. While the final fight of the entire series was over a little too quickly for my tastes, I wasn’t dissatisfied with the overall story or its conclusion.
Dustin Nguyen’s art is still as alluring as it was at the beginning of this journey, and his play with colors in these last two volumes was especially beautiful. Andy has an extremely well illustrated scene as he deals with his grief in volume three, where all the color is blanched from panels he’s in, but fades back into the panels of action happening concurrently with his scenes. Nguyen gives planets their own color palettes that immediately help distinguish settings and moods from one another. The most desolate looking of places turns out to be the most hopeful, and there are glimmers of color that bely the grimness of the world. These masterful touches and the stunning watercolors make this one of my favorite illustrated works.
Image rates this entire series for Mature. Most of that seems to come from Descender, where there is a lot of bloody violence (you see someone’s arm be sawn off), and one sex scene (we’re there for Mila’s conception). In Ascender, there is still some bloody violence and bad guys dying on the page, but it’s protracted compared to some of the scenes in Descender. There is a bit of mature language throughout both parts of the series, and ultimately I would recommend keeping the series together in an adult graphic novel section.
This beautiful adventure story has plenty of lovable characters and a few that readers will be surprisingly fond of by the end. If readers are looking for a series that blends sci-fi and fantasy well, the entirety of Descender and Ascender are worth discovering.
Ascender, Vols. 3-4 By Jeff Lemire Art by Dustin Nguyen Image, 2021 ISBN: 9781534319226 Vol. 3: The Digital Mage ISBN: 9781534317260 Vol 4: Star Seed ISBN: 9781534319226
Ascender follows ten years after the events that ended Descender, and for the sake of minimal spoilers, I will have to be brief here. The story follows Mila, daughter of Andy, on the planet Sampson. Somewhere in the ten years between the two series, the magic that is introduced in the middle of the Descender series becomes the strong force that rules the galaxy.
In The HauntedGalaxy, we learn there is a sinister group of vampiric beings ruling the galaxy, headed by a force-of-nature of a woman named Mother. Mother has generations of magical power behind her, and uses that power often. Robots are 100% forbidden, and if any of Mother’s spells are tripped by the use of technology, Mother’s minions immediately descend on the perpetrator, and the result is most likely death. The robotic dog, Bandit, who used to belong to TIM-21 and Andy in Descender, shows up on Sampson and trips all of those spells. Bandit has some information about TIM-21, but first, Mila and her dad must run from Mother’s forces and keep Bandit safe.
In The Dead Sea, Andy and Mila are separated as Andy is captured by Mother’s forces and sent to become food at a Vamp Camp. Mother arrives in the nick of time to “save” him, but only because she wants to use him as part of her tracking spell to find Mila and Bandit. Meanwhile, Andy’s old friend, Captain Telsa, and Helda take Mila to an island where they have hidden their spaceship. An attack on Mother’s coven forces her back to her lair, where she discovers all of the mothers, the source of her power, is gone. She is visited by her former self, and we see the terrible things she endured and performed to become Mother.
This version of the universe is just as intriguing as the science-fiction-laden world in Descender. Ascender will intertwine sci-fi and fantasy into a fascinating adventure for our girl Mila. There was a lot of backstory given in the second volume, but it wasn’t overwhelming. I feel like Mother has a lot more dimension now, and I really need to see what happens to her, as the second volume, The Dead Sea, left her in a bit of a pickle. At the end of volume one, I really didn’t have any sympathy for her despite having hints that she had a hard life. Most of what happened after that second battle at the end of the Descender series is still a mystery, but volume two does give some really interesting tidbits that will hopefully continue throughout the Ascender series. A parallel between the two portions of the series is the reader knowing so much more than the characters, and Lemire builds on this frustration with every issue.
Dustin Nguyen’s beautiful and ephemeral watercolors once again build a vivid galaxy. He previously won Eisner awards in 2016 and 2019 for Best Painter/Multimedia Artist for his work on Descender. In Ascender, each area of the galaxy has its own color palette—Mother’s lair is predominantly haunting reds, while Sampson is full of vibrant blues, greens, and purples. What brought me into this series originally was the beautiful cover of The Haunted Galaxy, before I even knew Descender existed.
Image rates this as a Mature title, but the only thing in volumes one and two elevating its rating is language. In Descender, there is an adult scene and a bit of gore, so I am curious to see if Lemire adds any of those elements into Ascender.
Ascender Vol. 1: The Haunted Galaxy By Jeff Lemire Art by Dusting Nguyen ISBN: 9781534313484
Ascender Vol. 2: The Dead Sea By Jeff Lemire Art by Dusting Nguyen ISBN: 9781534315938
Image Comics, 2020 Publisher Age Rating: Mature Series Reading Order: https://www.goodreads.com/series/262414-ascender (Wikipedia or Goodreads)
Browse for more like this title NFNT Age Recommendation: Older Teen (16-18), Adult (18+) Character Traits: Lesbian
Vampire comics aren’t hard to find, but they are not all created equal. Marvel and DC will occasionally throw out the idea “what if your favorite character was a vampire/had to fight vampires” and those books don’t always land because the conceit doesn’t hold up in the existing worlds. Little Monsters, on the other hand, has created its own mythos. While some parts of the world are immediately recognizable, it has its own ideas and plenty of intrigue. The irony is that the real success here was when the creators humanized the vampires and gave us reasons to empathize with the characters we meet. The book starts slowly, drawing you in with a quiet, deliberate introduction to the characters and the city they inhabit. It builds in tension and is very measured in pace until something eventually gives, then it’s a faster, jarring experience driving towards a cliffhanger ending.
Romie, Yui, Lucas, the twins Ronnie & Raymond, Billy, Bats and Vickie emerge at night into the abandoned city that is all theirs. It is a black and white world with only the smallest touches of color, mostly provided by the drawings Romie leaves scattered around the city. They have been here, on their own, at least over a hundred years, as best as they can remember, living on rats and whatever else they can find. They play the same games, have the same arguments, read the same books and live the same day over and over. We meet them the day everything changes, as Billy happens upon a human man trapped under some rubble. This is the first regular person they have seen in centuries and while they were told never to feed on people, Billy cannot help himself. This incident will shake their world and bring everything they thought they knew in question.
Romie is the oldest of them all and theirs is the first backstory we see from The Black Forest in 1763. Romie leaves their dying parent to cut firewood, but when they return a vampire has drained the man dead. “I’m sorry,” the vampire tells Romie. “I have been traveling a very long time and I—I was so hungry. I thought he was alone. But now you are alone. Yes? Well, you need not be. You need never be alone ever again.” This type of introduction will happen again in Orange County, 2029 to Billy, Nebraska, 1933 to the twins, and Hiroshima, 1945 to Yui. They are children found alone after a misfortune befell their parents/caretakers and this mysterious figure offers them to never be alone or hungry again.
When we meet the children, they have been living without “the elders” (who we don’t meet in this volume) for several hundred years. They were told to stay in the city for their safty and that the elders would come back for them. Now that a human has wondered into their midst, the kids no longer know what to believe. Billy thinks it is time to leave and hunt more of the humans because after his first meal he realizes they have been lied to. It is the best he has ever felt and the world itself feels different. Yui, Lucas and Romie do not want to leave and they don’t want to eat people. It goes against everything they’ve been told. Romie found a young girl who followed her father (who Billy and the others have killed) and is now trying to hide her from Billy and his faction. The point of no return is when Billy and company find the human camp and in the ensuing fight lose one of the twins. This volume ends with so much unanswered and so much at stake that I’m already frustrated I have to wait for the next volume.
If you have read the series Descender or its follow up Ascender, then you already know how captivating the creative team of Jeff Lemire and Dustin Nguyen are. Little Monsters is a distinctly different book than those, but it contains all of the hallmarks of this creative team that made their previous series so enjoyable. Nguyen is one of the most striking and unmistakable artists working today. While this book might not show off his effortless use of watercolors as it is so stark, his approach to layout and building rising action are second to none. The publisher rates this comic Mature and as it is about vampires, the blood won’t surprise you. However, there is very little in the way of bad language and nothing sexual so I would make the argument that older teens can enjoy this macabre story as well. I also wouldn’t label this has a Horror genre book, although there is plenty of suspense. The fact is that they are children in every sense except that they are now ageless. There is a lot left to explore in the next volume and as this is an ongoing monthly comic, libraries picking it up should keep an out for future installments. I enjoyed this as much as anything I have read this year and very much look forward to seeing what is next!
Little Monsters Vol. 01 By Jeff Lemire Art by Dustin Nguyen Image, 2022 ISBN: 9781534323186
Publisher Age Rating: M
NFNT Age Recommendation: Adult (18+), Older Teen (16-18)
Young Robot boy TIM-21 and his companions struggle to stay alive in a universe where all androids have been outlawed and bounty hunters lurk on every planet. Written by award-winning creator, Jeff Lemire, Descender is a rip-roaring and heart-felt cosmic odyssey. Lemire pits humanity against machine, and world against world, to create a sprawling epic.
(Publisher Description)
Descender By Jeff Lemire Art by Dustin Nguyen ISBN: 9781632154262 Image Comics, 2015 NFNT Age Recommendation: Adult (18+)
From this description, it’s going to sound like Image Comics is letting Jeff Lemire do whatever the heck he wants, but hear me out.
In Family Tree, Meg, a young girl, is slowly transforming into a tree. Her single mother, Loretta, is trying desperately to figure out what’s wrong with her, while also dealing with Meg’s brother acting up again. When they decide to take Meg to the doctor, they are met by a group of violent people who want to kill them. Luckily, grandpa Judd comes to rescue them, slinging shotguns and bowling people over like an action-movie star. They get to a doctor in Manhattan and Judd reveals a little more about what happened to Loretta’s husband—Judd’s son—who she thought had abandoned the family.
I have come to have an appreciation for Lemire this year over titles like Royal City and Descender/Ascender, so I’m willing to go along with him on this Groot journey. Judd is a really interesting character, and I feel Loretta’s frustration as she’s just trying to keep her family together.
Volume 1 collects only the first four issues of this story, so there’s not as much time to really get into the details of what’s happening. Nevertheless, I am intrigued and want to know why this family keeps sprouting into trees, and how this may spiral into other events. Overall, the story is gritty and interesting. The illustration team has done a great job creating a world whimsical enough to support tree-people, but gritty enough to ground characters like Judd. There is an emphasis on earth tones to connect the storyline to what is happening with Meg, but almost every page has one pop of color to create balance and draw attention.
This title might appeal to fans of Jeff Lemire from his independent titles, though not necessarily from his DC and Marvel writings. Give to fans of Royal City, Gideon Falls, or Joe Hill’s Locke & Key. Image rates this as Teen+. There is a lot of language, some drug use and discussion, and violence—not super gory, but enough to keep it out of junior high libraries.
Family Tree, Vol. 1: Sapling By Jeff Lemire Art by Eric Gapstur, Phil Hester, and Ryan Cody ISBN: 9781534316492 Image Comics, 2020 Publisher Age Rating: Teen Plus Series Reading Order: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/49050410-family-tree-vol-1?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=rlY332knKL&rank=1 (Wikipedia or Goodreads)
Browse for more like this title NFNT Age Recommendation: Older Teen (16-18), Adult (18+) Character Traits:
Ascender, Vols. 3 and 4, offer the action-packed conclusion of Lemire and Nguyen’s series that started with Descender in 2015 (reviewed for NFNT here) and continued with the first two volumes of Ascender (reviewed for NFNT here). As this is the end of the series, there are some minor spoilers contained in the review.
Ascender follows ten years after the events that ended Descender, and for the sake of minimal spoilers, I will have to be brief here. The story follows Mila, daughter of Andy, on the planet Sampson. Somewhere in the ten years between the two series, the magic that is introduced in the middle of the Descender series becomes the strong force that rules the galaxy.
Vampire comics aren’t hard to find, but they are not all created equal. Marvel and DC will occasionally throw out the idea “what if your favorite character was a vampire/had to fight vampires” and those books don’t always land because the conceit doesn’t hold up in the existing worlds. Little Monsters, on the other hand, has created its own mythos. While some parts of the world are immediately recognizable, it has its own ideas and plenty of intrigue. The irony is that the real success here was when the creators humanized the vampires and gave us reasons to empathize with the characters we meet. The book starts slowly, drawing you in with a quiet, deliberate introduction to the characters and the city they inhabit. It builds in tension and is very measured in pace until something eventually gives, then it’s a faster, jarring experience driving towards a cliffhanger ending.
From this description, it’s going to sound like Image Comics is letting Jeff Lemire do whatever the heck he wants, but hear me out.
