Welcome Back Vol. 1

I wasn't  sure what to expect from this book. It starts out more like a typical slice-of-life book with the exception that Mali's father is rumored to be a serial killer. Then it brings in an assassin and things quickly spiral into some weird territory. Mali and Tessa are soldiers on opposing sides of a millennia long war and are destined to fight each other forever, being reborn each time one of them dies.I like the story and the set up for the book. The slow progression from Mali's seemingly normal life to this life that is beyond belief is awesome. It lets the reader adjust to this strange world along with Mali. The ending to the book feels right even though the characters are seemingly going in a different direction up to that point. It sets things up nicely for the next arc of the series. I also liked the art a lot. There are some cool scenes that incorporate the idea that these characters have experienced multiple lives.My only real complaint is that there isn't enough explanation about this battle that the girls are involved in. It sets up the structure of the world and the war, but leaves a gap as to why these factions are at war and what it means for the girls. I enjoyed it a lot and would like to see these issues addressed in the next portion of the story.

This is not your standard love story...It’s action packed with teeth and nails. Each page has words of a story that you don’t quite know but in time the pieces fall together, piece by piece. I was quite thrilled to read it and find this brilliant story, it has the lgbtq concept but really it’s just the aspect of two characters destined in a war they over time want nothing to do with, each life they fall more for the other and ant to actually defy the odds and make a life verse keep going with what’s expected of them, to kill the target which they are each other’s target. It’s a mix of tragedy, unrelenting violence, and the courage to make a stance on what you believe yourself to truly be.

I really enjoyed this collected trade and am very much looking forward to Vol. 2 coming out soon (2017) I would have given this 5 Stars but for one thing. They switched artists at the end of Issue 1 from Johnathan Brandon Sawyer to Claire Roe. Nothing against Roe, I just preferred Sawyer's art for this story than hers. I might not even have minded so much if Sawyer had finished Issue 1 and they'd switched artist with Issue 2 - I found it jarring to have those two pages with a new artist at the end of 1 cause she draws the main character of Mazie radically different than Sawyer and was pulled out of the story. That said, the writing is great and keeps you engaged and like I said, I'm buying the next volume as soon as it's available!!

Great dialog, art, pacing, and engaging protagonist

Welcome Back is rough. The first issue is great, with a solid concept and some great action. Mali is an instantly likable character who's easy to relate to, and the art is an awesome shade of ramshackle, creating an almost Tank Girl-esque atmosphere. After that, the book really falls off the rails. As we dive deeper into the concept, details become spare, believability breaks away as a ludicrous number of people turn out to be sequels, and the artist changes mid-issue for the worse. The change is a total departure in style that left characters unrecognizable, and left me confused for several pages before I realized exactly what happened. Around the same time, you start to realize that you are absolutely drowning is poorly placed internal dialogue boxes, scattered all over every page, making things uglier and the action harder to follow. The twist at the end would have been exciting were it not for the constant distractions and pitfalls that made the last three issues of this trade a total drag. The covers are beautiful, and the concepts are totally rad, but I can't imagine myself keeping up with this book.

This is the spoiler free review for Welcome Back volumes 1 and 2. There is no spoiler full review this time due to the length of the books.Welcome Back is a two volume graphic novel series by Christopher Sebela.It’s about an ancient battle that many fight but none can recall why.Mali is the step daughter of a famous serial killer and has been trying to get away from her violent infamy her whole life.That is, until she discovers that violence is her destiny.She is a sequel. A sequel is a soldier. Born over and over again throughout history to find and eliminate another sequel. The two soldiers are tied together by the fates and are destined to find and murder each other over and over again. Kind of like soul mates but with war instead of love.Mali is determined not to kill anyone in this lifetime. She will not play into this game. She will break the cycle even if it means finally losing her life for good.Her sequel counter-part has different plans. She still fully buys into the war and has been training this whole lifetime to find and destroy Mali just so that they can do it all over again in the next life for the rest of eternity.They come face to face at the end of the first volume and without spoiling it too much, hopefully, their trajectory is changed in a way that those monitoring this ancient war never predicted."Not a love story." That's how Welcome Back is described on the back of the first volume.That might give you a hint that it’s actually very much a love story. Just not a traditional one.As with any love story there is drama, fighting, sex, lots of sex, more sex, and problems with family.Although the characters are centuries old assassins there is much to relate to in this book. If you've ever experienced a relationship that started as a powerful passion more than any logical reason to be together you can see how these two are drawn together. It’s more chemical than anything else.There is a humor and sarcasm in the book provided mostly by the character of Mali’s step-father. Mali's step father is also a sequel. One that isn't so good at flying under the radar. His ostentatious murder scenes got him executed as a serial killer.Now he’s been reincarnated as a young girl and runs away to coach Mali. The soul of a murderous adult man in the body of a 10 year old girl provides a levity to balance the violence in this book. Of which there is plenty.The art is vibrant with primary colors but I sometimes found the appearance of Mali to be inconsistent. Confusingly so.Additionally, there were some issues with formatting. Most of the pages read like a normal comic book but the book would randomly have a two page spread that required you to read across the top of two pages before going to the bottom and I got lost every single time that happened.The ending was a little vague to me, almost like they weren’t quite sure how to wrap it up so just left a lot of questions unanswered.Overall I enjoyed the relationships and action in this book and would definitely recommend it.This is a more modern love story, one that involves an ancient war and unexplained magic. But it’s also a encouragement of finding your strength and those that enable you to be the best you can be.Always question authority. Never blindly follow tradition. Find your soul mate.

The idea behind Welcome Back is in itself nothing new. And even though one may not have actually read a property with the concept of "soulmates" who come back time and time again to eventually kill each other, it still sounds vagely familiar. Almost like those cool, thought-out concepts dreamt up with friends way back in the school yard.It also doesn't help, that the story is told rather quickly. There isn't really time to settle or think about the concepts they throw at you, which takes the wind out of the sails that were supposed to carry the dramatic weight. It's all still coherent but just a tad to fast-paced for my taste. Other people may find the high-energy intriguing.What I enjoyed very much was the art style. The initial one reminded me very stongly of Faith Erin Hicks' art, which I personally adore. A pitty then, that they somehow had to change artists mid-chapter, though. In one chapter the style switches every other page, which was a bit distracting. I sometimes also had problems distinguishing whether or not pages were meant to be two-pagers. Most likely due to the nature of TP rather than for bad panel layout, but still worth a mention.All in all I'd still recommend the book - only lightly though. It managed to keep my attention long enough, to make me want to see how this story eventually concludes. Will definitivel keep out for the next one and hope it only gets better from here.