"Romance meets hard-boiled crime" is definitely how I would describe Grand Passion. It's sexy and fun and fast-paced and the art is really cool.

'Grand Passion' by James Robinson with art by Tom Feister is a graphic novel about how love can happen at the weirdest time.

James McNamara is a cop in a small town. He'll never move up in the department because the rest of the cops are related. Mabel is a bank robber about to rob a bank in James' town. When they face each other across the street, It's immediate instant love. Except, he kills her partner so he has to die. And he finds out a secret about his small town police department, so he has to die.

This was a really stupid idea, but I gave it a shot. It's got adult content, and really just deals with love on a very surface, physical level. The art is fine, but the story is just dumb.

I received a review copy of this graphic novel from Dynamite Entertainment, Diamond Book Distributors, and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this graphic novel.

Very enjoyable, although i did see elements from other stories and comics, so it loses a couple of marks for its slight unoriginality.

WARNING: I am not a comic person

Very good art work, silly story of each character "overlooking" major character flaws and then and ending far too timely and tedious for me but after all it is a COMIC so maybe I am wrong

It was like a bad sexual fantasy poorly written and developed.

I haven't read a lot of comic books but I have read many books so I can judge what I like and do not like. And in my honest opinion I didn't like their comic.

Before I get into the why and what I think could be done better in the next volume, if there is one. I want to talk about the graphics. That art itself was done well, up until the ending. I don't know wether the author just got sick of doing it. This comic is spilt into four chapters we will say. The very last chapter looked completely different from the rest. The art seemed rushed and a little sloppy. But the first three were fabulous. So I can't complain to much regrading the art.

The actual plot was crazy. Which I'm guessing was expected. Maybe this type of plot, Insta love, crazy cops, weird main characters is for some people. After reading, I know without a doubt that this type of comic isn't for me. I think if the book had of been longer and the "love" between the characters fleshed out I would have enjoyed it so much more. But then again the characters are suppose to be crazy so there you go.

So what could have been better? I did in all honesty like the art work. The characters were done well and the graphics were fine. My problem was the very last chapter. Everything was sloppy and the art lost it shine. Which to be fair was all I was enjoying about the comic. The relationship, Oh God, yes that could have been handled way better. I don't even know what to say. This took Insta love to a whole new level. I was just like ......okay then.

Overall this comic was not my cup of tea. Maybe I'll check out more of the author's work and maybe I won't. We will see.

Arc provided from Netgally in exchange for an honest review.

Mabel and Steve are a Bonnie and Clyde type pair of thieves, robbing banks all across small towns, somewhere in rural America. After a robbery they make love, covered in their stolen money and plan their next adventure. Mac is a quiet but sturdy cop who's moved to a small town after the death (by cancer) of his wife. He's met with a very cold reception by the other cops, including the captain, though his partner seems moderately friendly and willing to offer advice - usually "give it time."

Their stories intersect when Steve and Mabel rob a bank in the small town where Mac has recently started working. Mac and his partner try to stop the bank robbers. Mac's partner is killed and Mac kills Steve. Mabel draws a bead on Mac, but when they look in each others' eyes there's an inexplicable connection and Mabel turns and makes a getaway.

The connection draws Mac and Mabel together and they both realize that there's something fishy going on with the local cops. Mac starts asking questions around the station which doesn't win him any friends. An unlikely romance brews.

It's hard to tell much of this story without giving the story away and discovering the story as it happens is a great part of the joy in this book.

The first four chapters - which would be the first four comic issues when they were released individually - are fabulous. This is a modern noir story with a whole series of characters just trying to do their own thing and their lives intersect. Author James Robinson lays out a gritty, gripping story that keeps changing, keeping the reader on his/her toes.

Tom Feister's art really helps this story move along and he captures the modern noir look marvelously.

Unfortunately, there are five chapters in this book.

I'm not going to speculate on why Robinson's story changed so much when it got to the last chapter, but know that it does. Characters backtrack or go completely opposite of what they've said in the earlier books, and when questioned about it they simply reply "I've changed my mind."

And any moderately literate reader will spot the ending the moment it begins.

By the time I was into the third portion of this book, I was sure I was going to give this a 4.5 star rating, but the last portion is so bad that this drops down to two stars.

Looking for a good book? <em>Grand Passion</em> is a graphic novel by James Robinson and Tom Feister that really draws the reader in for a great noir story but drops the final portion so poorly that it isn't really worth reading the story.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

Mac is a small town cop. Mabel is a bank robber. They fall in love over a shoot out. Mabel vows revenge. Mac finds himself caught in a local police corruption crossfire. The graphic novel has plenty of violence, romance, and sex. The art is good and the story moves along quickly. Enjoy this noir story

Sex, bullets, and more sex! I'm surprised I enjoyed this one! I don't normally like a plot that revolves around relationships, but here I stand corrected. While I can't really praise this one above enjoying the art, I did read to the end without getting bored, so that's always a plus in my book!

Take one deputy new to a small southern Illinois town who is still trying to get over his wife's death and find his footing in his new job. Add in a pair of bank robbers who hit the small town bank for more money then the bank claims is lost. Cast a shoot out with death on both sides while Cupid makes a hash of things. Add in crooked cops and more shoot-outs and explosions and you get Grand Passion!

I appreciate Netgalley giving me the chance to read this title.

Grand Passion tells the story of Mac (a cop) and Mabel (a bank robber). After Mac kills Mabel's partner, she vows revenge. The problem? The two fell in love at first sight during the shootout that resulted in Mabel's partner's death. Not only that, but Mac is beginning to suspect that his fellow police officers are into some shady dealings. So now Mac and Mabel have to decide where their loyalties lie. The story is pretty predictable and the artwork, though incredibly well done, includes way more nudity than the plot actually calls for.

A cop and a bank robber fall in love at first sight during the middle of a shootout. The nonsense continues from there. Definitely an adults only book.

The Good: Tom Feister's art is quite good.

The Bad: I honestly expect more from James Robinson, he's written so many great comics (JSA, Leave It to Chance, Starman to name a few) that I find it hard to believe he wrote this drivel. We are supposed to believe that these 2 have such great sexual chemistry that they can overlook that one of them is a police robber and the other has robbed dozens of banks and murdered people.

The Ugly: That ending. Oof. That was some grade A Hollywood, wrapped up in a nice neat little bow bullshit.

Grand Passion is the kind of comic you want to like. First off, it’s written by James Robinson. A man who knows about writing action, who’s been trusted by Dark Horse, DC, and Marvel since 1989 to handle big heroes like Batman and Captain America. He’s even created his own action hero, Starman, for the Justice Society of America series. Then we have the artist, Tom Feister, who started his career working with Brian K. Vaughn of notable Saga fame to ink the independent Ex Machina in 2004. Feister has also worked with the big comics publishers, and some others like Lucasfilm and oddly, Microsoft. So you’d think these guys would know what they were doing.

Which is partially why I was surprised when Grand Passion was anything but passionate for me. It’s a spin on a classic premise: a good guy and a bad gal fall in love, and they break the world around them to be together. Robinson said in 2016 when the series came out,that he wanted to do away with classic love tropes and make “something equal parts crazy love, and crazy violent.” It’s a fun idea to twist the tedious “bad guy, good gal” trope, but it’s not enough to convince the reader that these two characters really love each other. That, if it came to it, they would die for each other. They constantly say this aloud to make sure the other person knows, or is it that they want the reader to know?

Another thing that fell a little flat for me was the constant narration. Every scene was narrated by an invisible voice, a character we never got to meet, but was clearly none of the people in the story. Who is the mystery person who knows all these things but was never involved? When I was in high school I got some great advice from a writing teacher. “Never narrate what you can show the reader.” He clarified that this meant you must make your reader feel what the characters are feeling by showing their experiences. Don’t give it all away in one sentence. Yet, our Invisible Friend told us everything, from the beginning.

This narrator tells us how crazy Mabel and Mac were, they tell us how both characters feel, and they tell us how everyone else in town feels about each major scene. Instead of narrating all of this, why not show it? Why not use the opportunity to peek inside the town citizens’ viewpoint? Why not use a moment with Mabel or Mac alone, where they are examining their own feelings? Perhaps that’s part of the “crazy violent” theme that Robinson was talking about. Maybe all of this rushing around headfirst into insane situations involving lots of money, sex, and gunfighting, was exactly how it was supposed to be. That’s very possible.

It did not work as a convincing epic romance for me. It didn’t feel like crazy love, it felt like an intense bond between two people with tendencies towards violence. The “love” is very sex-focused, making it feel more like lust. The crime, the drama in the story were there, but they were devices for the tale of Mac and Mabel. They were not part of the story, truly. This story could take place in another universe where the thing keeping them apart is their families, or a bad guy. It’s about how they want to be together, no matter what the consequences or who dies. But it is not about a grand passion between them.

The art could have saved this flatness, and delivered something dreamy, and loving. But Feister clearly wanted that same feeling that Robinson was going for, “crazy violent”. So he used a lot of tiny panels all in a row, sometimes a dozen of them, to get that tension the reader feels as they move their eyes across the comic in anticipation of the next turn of events in the blatant violence. It’s a clever way to stretch out a two-page scene, I’ll give Feister that. The colors, done by Matt Wilson of Paper Girls and The Wicked + The Divine fame, are dark, sinister, and there is a ton of black. So much black. Sometimes you have to stare at the shadows to figure out what’s going on in a night scene. Even the sex scenes, the height of the characters’ passion, were colored with dark tones and plenty of shadow. Again, perhaps highlighting the crazy violent more than the crazy love.

Love, no matter how dark it can be, has soft moments. There were one or two of these in Grand Passion, and they primarily came from Mac. Those were the moments when the story grabbed me. When I did feel as if Mac might do anything to keep Mabel safe. Mac was a lot softer than Mabel, though she was the criminal so that also may have been on purpose. Maybe it was a product of a lack of female writing for a female character. But Mac made it real in a few scenes. I wanted more of that feeling, because I started to care about the characters more than the action. A great tale of love and lust and crime should have great action, yes. But above all it should connect the reader with the characters, and create an affinity of emotions to make the reader care. Though Grand Passion had a few of those moments, it wasn’t convincing enough. The crazy violence overshadowed the crazy love.

cross posted from my site
https://toastx2.blogspot.com/2017/08/grand-passion-shitstorm-of-sex-and.html

Grand Passion: A shitstorm of sex and bullets

Robinson/Feister's "Grand Passion" is a bit messy, sexy, confused, overbearing, insert ambiguous term here. I liked it/loved it, and while I cannot tell which is most accurate, it definitely landed on the positive end of the spectrum.

Grand Passion (James Robinson, Tom Feister)
120 pages
Dynamite Entertainment
ISBN-13: 978-1524103910


Successful bank robbers, Mabel and Steve are moving from disguise to disguise, bank to bank, state to state. They follow precise plans and processes, back up plans on backup plans all the way to the handgrenades on the car trunk. They seem invincible.

James "Mac" McNamara is a cop. After his wife's death, Mac transfers to the police force of small town nowheresville. He is not well accepted in the good ol boy network.

After a bank heist gunfight leaves a bullet from Mac's gun inside the head of Steve, Mabel makes a promise to exact revenge. The trouble is that during the gunfight that killed Mabel's partner, Mac fell instantly in love with her, and Mabel fell in love with him. Mabel is torn between her feelings of revenge and her desire to settle into the curve of his post-coital arms.

Coming back to town to murder Mac, Mabel is caught in the middle of a crooked police force lynching and has to team with the man she lives to survive. Blood, bullets, and the stink of sweaty sex are in the air, like a fragrant valentines bouquet.



This was a pretty solid read: six original single issues dropped into one graphic novel. The artwork was enjoyable and the story was definitely in an original vein I have not run across before. The break out of how the story is crafted is a real treat. There was a freshness to this 'good loves bad' noir scenario that was appreciated. Narration is performed by the same old man who narrated The Dukes of Hazard, which while nostalgic, I was glad was minimized.

Though not detractors from the story, there are some points which stuck out as less than genuine. No matter how enjoyable this work is, make sure you are wearing your suspension of disbelief goggles while you read this. The sexuality is overt and sometimes feels rushed/ham-fisted, like a high school wet dream. Some scenes feel timed wrong, like Mac and Mabel are in a space/time bubble and the rest of the world is on pause.

I find it fascinating that James is the author and James is Mac's first name.. Was this some form of fantasy brought to comic form? Or does he just like his own name? Nothing wrong with either scenario, just feels a little suspect.

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Disclosure: Cheering up a naked Frenchman by painting a kitten on his belly with toenail polish is a fun pass time for some. For others, we prefer reading. This graphic novel was provided for review purposes by the publisher, the nature of how I received it did not impact my perception of the comic.

Welcome to my other obsession graphic novels and how I love a great story that goes along with the great drawing . Grand Passion is the best of both worlds we have James McNamera who is a cop and then there is Mabel who is a crook. Who knew that they would fall in love even though Mabel says she is going to kill him . Its a romance and a crime novel all rolled up into one 
   This book has it all romance and gun fire . It is your typical noir piece where the good guy falls for the bad girl in this case  They have plenty of action and a lot of romance . The characters were ok they seemed a little flat some times and one sided . But over I did like them especially Mabel she was one that even though she was a crook she did still want to be with James a tough cop . Who has a gruff exterior but does have a heart of gold .  
    I did like this book but it just seemed a little bit off . The illustrations are a little bit one sided . The story will keep you interested there is plenty of gunfights and romance to keep you interested until the end . Over all I did like this graphic novel . Will look for more by this author . 
I was given this book by the publisher and the author via netgalley

Grand Passion doesn’t begin to live up to its title. Instead, it tells a small-scale story that ends up feeling a bit dull.

The main characters are a cop and a bank robber who (we’re told) fall in love at first sight. Really, though, they fall into bed together and then get caught up in a shootout.

Most of the story takes place in a handful of locations over a very short amount of time, and everything wraps up at the end in a neat little bow. Of course, the ending only gives one of the characters what they want. The other has to make do with pretending to be someone else for the rest of their life.

Not only do we not get to know these characters before their story ends, we’re asked to believe that they have such incredible sexual chemistry that they are willing to forgo a lot of baggage to be together. I didn’t believe it for one second.

To top it all off, an unseen character who speaks in a distracting country dialect narrates the entire story. The author lays it on so thick at times that I wasn’t always sure what the narrator was saying.

The art is decent enough, but the story is totally forgettable. Grand Passion is the sort of crime narrative that Ed Brubaker could pull off in his sleep, but the execution here is uninspired.

Well some of this was enjoyable, but too much was stupid. I never fell for the awkwardly-punctuated n'local dialect-speaking narrative; I never for one minute bought the instant love affair between the bank robber and the guy who shot out her partner just as she did his; and when the narrative loses all authorial control I almost gave up. 'All authorial control was lost'? Er, how about her saying she never talked about a certain thing - when we know bloody well she did? That causes all kinds of swings to things, and there had been enough swinging before then already. And then one of them accuses the other of saying something they hadn't - had the authors finished issue five at a rush and completely forgotten issues three and four? Some of this is nicely disposable crime comic, done with glee and high melodrama and fun, but the rest is amateur hour.

I really though I would like this one and it's by far my least favourite graphic novel to date. Not that there's all that many to choose from but still.

Okay let's start from the beginning which was fine, I was interested enough to keep reading until there's the love-at-first-sight moment. Maybe I'm a cynic but I really don't believe in that ideal. So I was really that interested from then on. It only got worse when they did the whole yeah I guess I'm just crazy to be in love with you AFTER ONE LOOK. It's just such an old and over used trope and I really don't like it. If there is any way to put me off something I'm reading or even watching it's the insta-love bullshit. It's not even like there was any dialogue in that first 'meeting', if you can even call it that. I would have been a little less harsh if they had at least spoken to each other and shown that they had chemistry before confessing to themselves that they're in love with a perfect stranger they know literally nothing about except what they do for a living. The cop and robber dynamic could have really worked if the author put in any actual work for this plot. It's really lazy writing to me and I can't look past it. By the end of it I was just glad it was nearly over, I didn't care for any of the characters, wasn't bothered if they lived or died or got a happy ending. I probably would have preferred them to die if I'm honest. The whole plot just needed a lot of work that it never received.

Only got a few pages in. Artwork's ok. Story didn't light my fire.

This is from an advance review copy for which I thank the publisher.

Written by James Robinson, this was an unusual and interesting graphic novel collecting several individual issues into one set. When you request a review copy from Net Galley in response to one of their 'Read Now' offers, you can never be sure if what you're getting is really bad and no one wants to read it, which is why it's being pushed, or if it's a gem which has been sadly overlooked. I've had both kinds and I'm happy to report that this one is most definitely in the latter category. It's a great read from James Robinson, with good art by Tom Feister, and a pair of interesting main characters.

James McNamara is a cop who's just joined a small police force in a small town. He feels very much an outsider since the rest of the force is a close-knit community which has been working together for some time, but as he continues to work there, he starts to get a bit suspicious of this insularity.

Meanwhile, Mabel is a thieving little devil with a high sex drive. She and her partner rob banks using a variety of MOs and disguises, and have so far been unpredictable enough that they've never been caught. They're careful and efficient, and they love to have sex lying on the money they just stole.

Life is great for them until they decide to rob the bank in Mac's town. Something goes slightly wrong, which leads to everything going seriously wrong and Mabel's partner kills Mac's partner, and he in turn shoots her partner. Mabel gets away, but she can't get far away because she had sworn a vow with her partner that if either of them is killed, then the other will seek revenge on the one who dunnit!

That's all well and good in theory, but the one who dunnit was Mac, and Mabel happened to be struck with love at the very sight of him! Yes, all of this story is improbable, so for me this added element wasn't a big deal. I liked it. The question is, why is there a mismatch between what Mabel thinks she took and what the bank says is missing? And what's going to happen when Mabel, intent upon fulfilling her vow to her dead partner, gets Mac handcuffed to his bed one night?

I really enjoyed this story. It was fun, interesting, different, and gorgeously illustrated. I recommend it. And I'll be a little more optimistic next time Net Galley has a 'read now' offer!