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). ( )

Wow... I like the storyline. It's about an angel (?) named Innocent, who goes after supernatural bad guys. He has a side kick named David. It's a compilation of the comics into a novel, which I say is a splendid idea cause I love those kinds of books.

I love the storyline, it's really a page turner for me. There's some Laugh out loud moments for me regardless I shouldn't have cause I am working in a school library.

Great graphics though there are times I can't see where is Innocent's head in the strip. =D Great and catchy cover. Students passing by me while I was reading it actually, stopped and took interests. I can't wait for the Volume 2 ( )

I wanted to like this, but it just didn't work for me. The stories are terribly disjointed and confusing to read, in need of a good rewrite. The interior artwork is pretty rough, but there are a few great moments (the last page of chapter 3 with the hand coming up from the grave was nicely done). I also love the cover which is eye catching, and a good indicator of what's inside. Further development of the characters would do much to improve the quality in future volumes. ( )

A compilation of the webcomic Innocence. An angel and the serial killer who works for him dispense justice, old school (that means "violently"). The artwork changes from story arc to story arc with different levels of quality, but the dialogue is snappy and it's set up for some interesting developments. Not bad. ( )

Firstly let me commend Mr. Granger and the artists on their efforts with this book. The story in and of itself is rather interesting and I think that it has a lot of potential, although as this first installment goes it could use a little more work, the pacing of the stories is very good, they are not overly wordy and the key story points are easily recognized, on the other hand what really bothered me about the dialog was the fact that there was no sense of time. Mr. Granger uses modern language and slang through-out the stories even though at least one was set in the past, as well as in a different country entirely, I also found the art work to be jarring. Instead of it helping to establish the characters and give them some consistency it distracts the reader from the story, for this first *establishing* volume it may have been better to use the same artist throughout. Overall this is a quick read and a promising story. ( )

Innocent Volume 1 collects episodes of a web comic about an angel named Innocent, whose task it is to execute those judged to be wicked. Accompanying the angel is sociopath named David who, by following Innocent, gets to do the killing he enjoys but without the stain on his soul he'dreceive if let loose amongst the general population. A decent premise for a comic, which should promise plenty of action and provide a good basis from which to grow some great characters. Sadly Innocent does not quite live up to this expectation.

The art is varied in styles and quality (each of the 5 chapters being drawn by a different artist), with the pick of the bunch being chapters 3 and 5 and other chapters perhaps letting it down somewhat. Each chapter appears as an entirely self-sufficient episode, without a stronger plot theme really developing. The reader is flashed brief insights into the characters of Innocent and David, but this really only scratches the surface of what could be. There are, encouragingly, hints of othervillainous characters that may yet develop into future themes to span multiple issues. As does the prospect of finding more out about the origins of the relationship between Innocent and David (who at times seems to be a littlesuperfluous).

While chapters 1-4 each end without loose ends, and don't leave the user particularly waiting for the next chapter, it's chapter 5 which shows the most promise and is certainly the collection's saving grace. This chapter takes the reader back a little further into Innocent's pastdropping him in what appears to be feudal Japan, whereas the other chapters generally occur in present-day America and France. This chapter ends on a good cliffhanging note, which leaves the reader with the sense that something is starting to happen which will make Volume 2 far more interesting.

For the faults of chapters 1-4 it's important to remember that this is really just an introduction. It may be worth watching for future volumes to see if the characters and story develop into what they could be. ( )

Angels are kinda cool, I'm not going to argue that, especially when they wield large katanas in leather trench coats and seek to slay all manner of sinners. That is pretty much the premise of 'Innocent', with the added bonus that the featured angle, indeed named Innocent, is accompanied by an incredibly large and ugly homicidal sociopath who has found his proclivities are best fulfilled by helping his celestial buddy punish the wicked. This volume starts in the middle, featuring about half a dozen stories of the unlikely pair hunting down demons, cultists, and a pair of murderous lovers/cops.

Everything about this book is very... independent. King Tractor Press is a small outfit the likes of which are the best bet for beginners in the comic industry to get their start. That being said, the young artists who worked on this book still need some work. The stories were, to me, often contrived and forced, with dialog that was not nearly as witty as it thought it was. The art was of varying quality, but most of it would look more appropriate on a web comic than a book. Much of it was alright, but some was just ungainly and unpleasant.

It is clear that the people who worked on this book are amateurs in the purest sense of the word: people who do something because they love it. Unfortunately, they are just not quite ready to break out in the comic market; they still need polish and technique? I didn't really enjoy 'Innocent' very much, and I doubt I'd seek out future volumes. Still... I may steal David and his wing'd buddy for my D20 Modern campaign. ( )

I received Innocent, Vol 1 as an LT Early Reviewer edition from the March 08 batch. Overall, Innocent is an interesting premise: an angel (Innocent) is sent to Earth to dispatch demons and those whose souls are beyond redemption. He is befriended by a sociopath, David, who aids him in ridding the world of evil. There are 5 chapters in this volume, and for the most part are all unrelated, other than the fact that each chapter deals with Innocent and David hunting down a demon/evildoer and doing away with them.

I would like to see a little more background on Innocent and David's relationship to each other. This was originally published as a web comic, and I feel almost as if I've been dropped into the middle of the story. However, Granger does a good job not letting you feel too left behind in the story. The final chapter (which is Part 1 of a continuation to the next volume) I believe will be telling a little more of Innocent's background, but I'd need to wait until Vol 2 is released to know for sure.

Each chapter is illustrated by a different artist, and while as a whole the art is fluid and readable, there are some instances where I feel had this been published in color as opposed to B&W, it would have been a bit easier to distinguish what was going on on the page. This may also have something to do with the size of the physical book. Published in the very popular manga/digest sized format, sometime I think the type was a little too small and might have benefited better from a physically larger sized printing (more along the lines of a comic TPB).

This is really an interesting take on the avenging angel story, and the only thing that I would like to see in future editions is a more cohesive story line and a little more background offered on the characters and their relationship. ( )

Innocent, an angel living on Earth, and David, a sociopath whose urges have been reined in to only kill those who have been judged, break a swath through the city, killing those whose souls have been lost. The art changes with each numbered book included in this collection, giving some interesting takes on the characters. My favourite, for the dark humour and hint of background for David, is when the two go over to David's mom's house for supper, and the neighbour tries to kill them with a jar of poisoned cookies. :) "Interrogation" was twisty and turny, and "The sword" started off as a typical super hero fight, with all the overblown dialogue that entails, but ended on a more human note.
Some of the stories seemed unrelated, I've gotten used to reading comics with over arching plots. This volume ends on an unresolved note (part 1 of ?) which will have me hunting down volume 2 to see what happens next, but I still feel annoyed, because part of why I like reading collected series is to avoid the cliff hangers. Overall, a decent start to a series, and I'm interested to see what happens next. ( )