REVIEW: Piecemeal

Rating if the Book Were a Movie: R

Creative Team:

Writer: Cullen Bunn
Artist: Szymon Kudranski
Colors: Szymon Kudranski
Letters: Marshall Dillon
Cover: Szymon Kudranski 
Editors: Joe Pruett, Mike Marts, and Christina Harrington 
Publisher: Aftershock 

Ratings:

Artwork: .75 Stars (From the cover to the last page the artwork is intense. It’s very detailed. No punches were pulled and in the case of a few panels it’s not for the faint of heart.)

Story: .75 Stars (I really liked how the setting was delivered to us. The kids smoking and talking about life after high school graduation while getting ready to check out the local haunted house… That could be anywhere. It reminded me of the last time my circle of friends was together.)

Dialogue: .75 Stars (We get a lot of information from the kids’ conversations. It tells people who these characters are while moving the story along.)

Mechanics: .75 Stars (The story is easy to fall into and moves at a steady clip. The character development is terrific. We all knew these people when we were in high school. I did have to reread a couple pages to make sure I understood what had taken place which broke up the flow a little bit.)

Editing: 1 Star (The lettering is an easy to read font and color. The editor’s notes/narrative fill in most of the blanks when the dialogue doesn’t answer the question.)

About the Book:

It’s late spring, 1989. Jamie and his friends are talking about life after high school when they decide to go check out a haunted house. Urban legend says that a serial killer took his victims there; but proof was never found. Jamie stumbles upon something that should not have been disturbed. Now he and his friends are paying for it in “Piecemeal”.

Reviewer’s Notes:

For a guy that says he doesn’t particularly care for horror stories, I’ve noticed that I seem to be reading and writing about a lot of horror stories. I didn’t know “Piecemeal” would fall into that genre. I knew that Cullen Bunn was the author. After reading his work on “Star Wars: Darth Maul” I was eager to read more of his work. This was vastly different from being in a galaxy far, far away.

Mind you it was a good different. The story is powerful and entertaining. If I were to describe it I’d say it’s comparable to “The Goonies” meets “Nightmare on Elm Street” with a splash of “The X-Files”. The plot twist on how Jamie is connected to everything is a pleasant surprise.

This book had a $6.99 cover price when it came out. For my fellow geeks on a budget I can appreciate shying away from an unknown title at that price. Let me tell you that you will get your money’s worth. The artwork is incredible. The story is exceptional. Best of all, it’s a one shot. You’re not looking at $30 or more to get the entire story!

I bought this book the day it came out. That was five months ago. Every time it floated to the top of my reading stack something else came out that pushed it back down. It became a “whenever I get around to it” book. Oops. If you haven’t already, you should have “Piecemeal” move to the top of your reading stack. You’ll be glad you did.