Author: Steve Niles

Review – The October Faction, vol 3

Posted March 28, 2024 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Review – The October Faction, vol 3

The October Faction

by Steve Niles, Damien Worm

Genres: Fantasy, Graphic Novels
Pages: 139
Series: The October Faction #3
Rating: two-stars
Synopsis:

Merle Cope and his frightful family have been destroyed and Fred Allan has been rescued. Now that the kids have proven themselves, the whole Allan family is back in business, ready to take on the monstrous, paranormal, and downright strange.

I’m still not really sure what to say about Steve Niles’ The October Faction — it just doesn’t get beyond “okay” for me, yet it is a little bit addictive to keep on steamrolling through the volumes. The fast pace helps: I raced through the second, third and fourth volume, reading them pretty much back to back.

There is a little bit of a development with a certain relationship here, which is kinda cute and makes a lot of sense — though there’s been a lot of rushing with the character development, this didn’t come as a surprise.

And again, the art is kinda growing on me. It makes perfect sense for the story, at any rate.

Rating: 2/5

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Review – The October Faction, vol 2

Posted March 11, 2024 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Review – The October Faction, vol 2

The October Faction

by Steve Niles, Damien Worm

Genres: Fantasy, Graphic Novels
Pages: 140
Series: The October Faction #2
Rating: two-stars
Synopsis:

The Allan family has inducted Dante, a.k.a. Robot Face, into the fold and Geoff and Vivian have begun their training in the family business; monster hunting. All looks well for the Allans, but Sheriff Chambers is slowly catching on to their occult activities. Collects issues #7-12.

I’m kinda hanging in there with The October Faction by Steve Niles et al. This second volume didn’t really assuage my fears about how rushed the first volume felt, or add a lot to the character development, so in a way it’s not really what I’m looking for.

That said, now that I’m used to the artwork it does seem to fit with the story so well it feels wrong to complain. Though sometimes it is so dark and stylised that it’s not 100% clear what’s happening, in places.

All the same, clearly something’s got me curious enough to keep going with reading these. There’s something just compelling enough about the art and the characters, and wondering what bananas thing is going to happen next.

Rating: 2/5

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Review – The October Faction, vol 1

Posted February 25, 2024 by Nicky in Reviews / 4 Comments

Review – The October Faction, vol 1

The October Faction

by Steve Niles, Damien Worm

Genres: Fantasy, Graphic Novels
Pages: 152
Series: The October Faction #1
Rating: two-stars
Synopsis:

The October Faction details the adventures of retired monster-hunter Frederick Allan and his family... which include a thrill-killer, a witch, and a warlock. Because sometimes crazy is the glue that binds a family together.

Volume 1 of Steve Niles’ The October Faction was a bit of a mixed bag for me. I wasn’t a huge fan of the art style, though it felt like it was all going for a very Addams family aesthetic and was very successful at that. The setup is fairly straightfoward: ghosts and monsters exist, the main guy used to hunt them, now he’s tried to settle down… but his family want to hunt, and monsters are still interested in them.

There was enough here to keep my interest, and I’ll probably read the next volume, but at the same time… I wasn’t entirely impressed either? It felt very introductory, so maybe reading more will help with that — though there was one development at the end that felt naively and over-swiftly done, so my interest also somewhat depends on whether that gets handled in an interesting way, or whether it’s just to be taken at face-value.

So all in all… it was enough to make me a little curious, but I’m not sold on it yet, I guess?

Rating: 2/5

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