An enjoyable read, not distinct or unique enough to make it stand out as something I'd have to recommend to friends, but enjoyable enough that if I saw Volume 2 out for sale I'd pick it up. There's some solid laughs in there, and the art is fairly solid, tho the character development could use a bit of work. I think the series has great potential tho, and could easily turn into something special ( )

Sadly this book was a choppy execution of mediocre story containing far too much violence and not enough plot development. I fear it is a victim of the comic book culture which spends far too much time recycling itself and not enough time looking for new stories to tell. The basic premise of the story had some promise, but the execution falls back on the violent clichés of the comic book world. Far too often comics attempt to make a story all action and action is great but it can’t be all there is. When this happens (as is the case in this book) stories wind up feeling very abbreviated, choppy, and disjointed. Usually this seems due to either inexperience, rushed work, or too much comic book reading and not enough reading of well written novels and short stories. I get the impression that the problems here are due to the first item on the list. Perhaps if the artist keeps at it they will build those skills and future works will shine. Unfortunately this one didn’t

Innocent is a collection of a webcomic, and it shows. It's not quite polished enough to be great. Not bad, mind you, but not great. The interaction between the two main characters doesn't really seem fleshed out enough. The last story in the book was the best for me - and only the angelic character was involved. The concept itself is novel and fresh, but I felt like were this not self-published online first, a good editor would have been able to help clean this work up considerably. If I met Mr. Granger at a trade show, I'd consider picking up Volume 2, but this won't ever rise up enough on my radar to seek out otherwise. ( )

Shawn Granger, Innocent, vol. 1: I got a review copy of this graphic novel through LibraryThing. Innocent is an avenging angel, aided by his sidekick David, who just likes to hurt things. He punishes various different baddies, from crooked cops to sacrificial cults to the scary neighbor next door. I didn’t really get it—the next-to-last episode, in which Innocent and David travel to France and confront a demon father, was the most engaging, but it was basically a bunch of unpleasant people getting unpleasant comeuppances. Also, I couldn’t tell any of the white cops apart, which made the corruption pretty hard to follow; and I’m not sure whether the last episode’s art was worse when I couldn’t tell the peasants (including the perfectly sphere-breasted ninja woman in their midst) were supposed to be Asian, or when I could. ( )

A so-so black & white fantasy comic. Good premise: avenging angel and his sidekick vanquish demons and murderers. Kind of a light-hearted Spectre -- certainly more lighthearted that the recent DC Comics Tales of the Unexpected version.

Shawn Granger's writing is engaging and the relationship between Innocent and his pal David is charming. The downfall is the very uneven art. Even the best is not ready for prime time. The worst makes use of computerized air-brush effects that are so muddy in reproduction you can't tell what's going on (might have looked good in original but not on relatively lightweight paper). ( )