I had the feeling I was the head of a comic publisher presented with a collection of projects to greenlight (or not) for publication. As expected, the stories and art are widely varied, which leads to a freshness that helps moving through the anthology much easier. The traditional "don't like a story? turn a few pages" dictum applies.

3.5 Stars (Rounded down to 3)

I love a graphic novel and I love short stories, but I somehow hadn't seen a book that combined the two. What a thoughtful and fun anthology! Variety in this collection was outstanding in every way - art style, story genre, theme, character demographics, etc. While it's always a big gamble to read a selection of different pieces (and of course, I didn't like every one of them), multiple new artists are now on my radar.

My favorite stories were Phantom Limb Ghost Puncher by Greg Pak, Tom Raney, Gina Going, & Simon Bowland, Stranger Than Fiction by Tyler Chin-Tanner, Aysegül Sinav, & Thomas Mauer, Dark, Dark World by Cullen Bunn, Nathan Fox, & Brad Simpson, No Regrets by Jamie Coe, It's About Time by Frederik Hautain, Facundo Percio, Paul Little, & Taylor Esposito, Quin Returns by David Hine & Mark Stafford, and Inside Outside by Karrie Fransman.

I forgot to note content warnings while reading, but I remember a little bit of many things: violence, war, guns, injury, mental health, surgery/illness, death, murder, neglect, and betrayal are all definites.

On of if not the best comic anthology I've read in a long time.

Picked this up at ECCC when I was out scouting for cool anthologies and this "weird sci-fi" collection turned out to be right up my alley. I was maybe expecting something more indie (meaning less polished), but the quality is consistently high and the stories are frequently great. Contributors include Marguerite Bennett, David Hine, Joshua Fialkov, Box Brown, Phil Hester, Cullen Bunn, Ryan Kelly, Fred Van Lente, Adam Egypt Mortimer "and more!"

This anthology is the result of a Kickstarter that I supported--a worthy investment. It collects numerous short stories that cover a broad spectrum of science fiction, revealing just how diverse the genre is and should be. As with any anthology, there will be hits and misses, but this time, even with the stories that didn't speak to me as much as the others, I was so impressed by the creativity and honesty that went into their telling and illustration. It seems that it is the mandate of the collection that each story end with a cliffhanger or a big reveal that gives the sense of vastness and wonder--a frontier yet to be explored if we dare.