Casey, Joe

In their introduction, the creators insist that “This is not a religious story,” and indeed their interests seem to lie more in exploring self-realization and the visual style of pop art comics produced in the mid-1970s. As a result, this volume is both far less sacrilegious than it sounds and nowhere near as subversive as fans of the creators’ previous work might expect or desire

Despite the book's name, there are relatively few scenes of the Bounce in action and little development for his alter ego. Casey's interest clearly lies with Darling, giving him lots of exposition (even for the superhero and sf genres) and cryptic flashbacks, designed slowly to offer the reader insight into his motivations. However, Messina, whose art is superficially reminiscent of Tony Harris (Ex Machina), doesn't distinguish his male characters well enough from one another to make the flashbacks effective. Gore, swearing, drug use, and nudity make this an adult title. Not recommended.

Despite the book's name, there are relatively few scenes of the Bounce in action and little development for his alter ego. Casey's interest clearly lies with Darling, giving him lots of exposition (even for the superhero and sf genres) and cryptic flashbacks, designed slowly to offer the reader insight into his motivations. However, Messina, whose art is superficially reminiscent of Tony Harris (Ex Machina), doesn't distinguish his male characters well enough from one another to make the flashbacks effective. Gore, swearing, drug use, and nudity make this an adult title. Not recommended.

Casey has written a quiet and meditative piece, full of magical realism; aside from a man turning to stone, the story follows a mature development. The black-and-white artwork by Adlard (The Walking Dead) is spare but clean. Recommended for general sf/fiction graphic novels readers.