DeadEndia: The Watcher's Test: Book 1

(Full disclosure: I received a free e-ARC for review through Edelweiss.)

When Barney feels unsupported by parents who claim to be accepting of his gender identity, he runs away from home, landing in Phoenix Park. Created by 'triple threat' Pauline Phoenix* as a celebration of her career in entertainment, Barney's friend Norma hooks him up with a job in her realm - the uber-creepy haunted house attraction Dead End. Turns out that the spooks and specters aren't entirely fabricated in Dead End: it's home to an honest-to-goodness elevator to the other twelve planes** - and a demon ambassador named Courtney to oversee it, to boot. Along with his magical talking dog named Pugsley, Barney, Norma, and their friends/co-workers get into all sorts show more of animated supernatural hijinx.

Each chapter in DEADENDIA features a different story line, with one larger thread tying all the stories together. The craziness kicks off when Temeluchus, the chief angel of torment, possesses Pugsley as part of his plot to take over the world. In capturing him, Norma also traps a small piece of Temeluchus in Pugsley, endowing the loyal pup with strong magic. Then an echo illegally hops the elevator to plane 7 and Barney has to figure out how to send him back before Kushiel, the angelic punisher finds it. (Turns out that Kushiel was actually looking for a time-traveling cowboy, in our first look at the Watcher character.) One domino fells another, until the gang's inevitable Final Showdown with the mysterious Watcher.

Having slept on the Netflix series (DEAD END: PARANORMAL PARK), I wasn't really sure what to expect of DEADENDIA. It seemed like a cute enough concept, and I'm a sucker for both LGBTQ representation and anthropomorphized, talking animals (dogs especially). Turns out that DEADENDIA, while a little silly, is also heartwarming, wholesome entertainment that's brimming with heart and humor. (Not to mention a cast of diverse characters that feels genuine and organic.) The ending had me in tears and yelling at my ipad (if you know, you know) - I really didn't anticipate the FEELINGS this comic would elicit.

I almost don't want to read volume two now that you-know-who is missing, but hey: no one's truly dead when there are ghosties flying about, and wizards who have the power to resurrect them. I can hope.

* Giving strong evil Dolly Parton vibes.

** Planes 1-6 are for the angels; 8-13 belong to the demons; and plane 7 is the "neutral" plane where humans (gross!) and other animals reside. show less

So much fun!! I loved all the characters and the ridiculousness and the queerness and diversity. I will say just about every chapter included a heavy-handed moral about acceptance that maybe didn't have to be there in that way because I feel like it was addressed more deftly in the plot overall, but the hilarity quickly resumed, so it didn't wallow too much. Would 100% read the next installment.

After his delightfully obscene Pantheon, Steele tones things down considerably for a pretty engaging supernatural YA graphic novel.

I liked the diverse cast of characters and several of the episodes collected here, but the overarching story about a mysterious wizard in the future was pretty lame and didn't make a whole lot of sense since it involved time travel paradoxes. Still, the ending got me a little emotional and left me curious as to what happens next.

This is the first graphic novel in the DeadEndia series, from the brief research I did it looks like this was a TV series first. I really enjoyed this graphic novel; I loved the illustration and the story was crazy, bizarre, and engaging. It’s quite different from other graphic novel series I have read and I loved every minute of it.

Barney and Norma both work at Dead End, a haunted house in the Pollywood theme park. It might sound kind of boring but Dead End also contains a dimensional gate that goes both to demonic and angelic realms (it’s complicated). So, aside from keeping Dead End ship shape and running haunted house tours...they also have to fight occasional demons.

This was an incredibly creative and engaging story about a show more group of diverse characters that constantly find themselves involved in bizarre supernatural situations. The illustration is amazing and I loved the coloring. The graphic novel is easy to follow (despite how bizarre the story gets) and I really ended up loving it.

While there are some LBGTQIA elements (one of the main characters is transgender) that really isn’t the focus of the story. The focus of the story is saving the world from DEMONS!!! The book does show how a unique and diverse group of people can work together successfully (and hilariously) to do this.

Overall I absolutely loved this graphic novel and plan on continuing the series. The storyline is bizarre, amazingly creative, and incredibly engaging. I don’t even really know who to recommend this to, just read it! This was a such a fun read and I loved the crazy supernatural elements to the story as well. show less

I checked out this graphic thinking it would be a nice light read for my vacation, but it took me to some weird and dark places. The book is packed with diverse representation, fun story lines, action, and even a little romance. If you have a heart, you'll want some tissues by the end, but just breathe deep and remember: you can make it through this.

What immediately intrigued me was the art style, which reminded me so much of Gravity Falls I had to go look up Hamish Steele, only to find that my instincts were correct and he did, indeed, work on Gravity Falls.

While DeadEndia is not a carbon copy of the show, it shares much of the same DNA: cute, cartoony characters juxtaposed with creepy happenings. In DeadEndia, Barney and Norma work alongside a secret portal to hell, which causes Barney's dog Pugsley to become infected with a demon and, later, his magic. And this, of course, brings about the end of the world.

Cute, sweet, charming, and with great diversity, if not necessarily ground-breaking.

teen/adult graphic adventure (demons, ghosts, talking dogs, apocalyptic battles, humor, with diverse cast/LGBTQ interest)
*reviewed from uncorrected e-galley*

I picked this up because of the art, and was pleasantly surprised by the high-quality storyline and interesting characters. If I could give this 6 stars I probably would.