Interesting read! I really liked Amanda and could see her being a hero I would cheer for. I already admire her loyalty and wanting to protect her friends, even though it seems it came at a huge price.

The only thing I didn't super enjoy were the illustrations. In a few of the conversations, the body language didn't seem to transition well from one frame to another. (The poses looked very very similar.) I did however enjoy the diversity of these characters.

*(I received an e-copy from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.)*

This really was not my cup of tea. I spend a lot of time trying to get to the end but I couldn't do it in one sitting. I was reading this like 20x and always stopped in some part being bored. And I loved Harbinger Wars 2! The artwork was really nice, the one I am used to see in comics like this.

This was a DNF for this reader. There was just not enough there to keep my attention. It read like it was supposed to be modern noir, but that was not what I was expecting from the cover. Maybe if I had stuck withit it would have been the cyber punk I was expecting,

I guess since I didn't read any Valiant comics, the story didn't make so much sense in the beggining. Still, when understanding more the story didn't captivated me that much, it seemed some parts were to rushed or all over the place.
I liked the art and the fact is using mainly blue and pink colours, it's different.

I want her superpower!

This is an exciting start to a series which promises to be even more explosive. The story explores the conflict between good and greater good, evil and lesser evil as Livewire tries to save her friends and avoid getting caught by the government.

It's has all the high octane fight scenes and human drama to keep us riveted.

Also highly recommended!

SOUNDTRACK

Victorious
Wolfmother
Victorious

This is book is a solid follow-up to <i>Harbinger Wars 2</i>. As such, it spends a lot of time dealing with Livewire's actions in that book. And I love it for actually dealing with those events and doing so in a way that fits the character. There is some new stuff in this book that deals with Livewire's past as well. I think this is actually a good place for new readers to jump into the character because it addresses both of those aspects without assuming that you know everything about the character.

I really dug the art too. For those that have read <i>Secret Weapons</i>, this is an extension of that miniseries. It brings in many of the same characters and makes good use of them. As much as I enjoyed certain aspects of this book, as a whole it didn't wow me. It spends a lot of time cleaning up a previous story, so it didn't really feel like it's own thing. I'm definitely interested in reading more of Livewire's story though.

'Livewire Vol. 1: Fugitive Vol. 1' by Vita Ayala with art by Raul Allen and Patricia Martin follows the events in Harbinger Wars 2 and that's really where you should start, or this book may not make a ton of sense.

Amanda McKee, aka Livewire, has created a global EMP. Now she is the most wanted person alive. She did what she did to protect the psiots, but some think the cost was too high. When she is captured by a group and beat up, they implant her with a device to take away her powers, but can that really stop Livewire? Now she's on the run and forced to live with what she's done.

It's an interesting beginning, but there a new reader will have a hard time just jumping in at this point. I wasn't that crazy about this character before, but that could make her more interesting going forward. I do wish there had been some callbacks to things from before.

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

The aspect of a superhero per se is that both have elements of morality but also an X-Men aspect of greater-than-thou personification. The aspect here in “Livewire Vol 1: Fugitive” [Vita Ayala/Valiant/112pgs] is a girl who controls all media and electronics from Facebook to satellites. It seems a little too all encompassing a solution. In a previous story, she cut out the power to the entire country causing mass panic, downed airliners and many other problem. She contends that she did it to protect her friends who were being targeted by the government. The progression here involves her trying to reconnect with her family of sorts while still on the lam. Our lead character here comes off both vulnerable but also unprepared at times as she makes leaps of logic. Ultimately the aspect involves a possibility to negate her powers which of course becomes a duel of the fates inevitably. The problem in the texture of the story is the loss of resolution. A lot of perceptions are said and discussed but nothing is necessarily resolved. The lead character’s prowess in fighting can take the place of her powers but it doesn’t explain the discrepancy of the training. Ultimately, the story does not create the true feeling of stakes of what she is fighting for. Even the showdown with her brother, both trained under a fighting master, seems ram shot and not very convincing overall. Unlike “Scarlet” which really had a handle on its protagonist and her reasoning and action, “Livewire” takes a concept and, at least within this volume, does not bring it to actuation.

D

By Tim Wassberg

I feel like my understanding of what was happening in this series was definitely hampered by not having read any Valiant comics about what happens <i> before </i> this comic starts. It's very confusing to begin with because of this, however things are cleared up quite well more towards the end of the comic, though maybe a page at the beginning catching any new readers up on what had previously happened would have helped a lot.

The character of Livewire is quite interesting, though I felt like clearly she was wrong in what she did and I didn't really understand how she couldn't see that, but a part of that comes from a lack of my understanding of the character and how she was raised and the things she's been through, so again, towards the end when we get flashbacks and we see some of that it makes more sense <spoiler> I still felt like I wasn't on her side until she apologised at the end and showed regret for how she acted and the deaths she'd caused, I felt like this kind of character growth was really important for the character moving forward and I think future volumes of this comic will be more enjoyable now that she's truly sorry for what she's done. So this volume wasn't super enjoyable to read but without it the character couldn't really have move forward. </spoiler>

This didn't feel <i>super</i> original to me, just from reading this volume the psiots don't seem very different to mutants and Harada seemed like he was very similar to Magneto, obviously I'm just going off the small amounts of information gleaned from this volume so I can't say that the psiots/harbingers don't have anything unique going for them, it just didn't seem to have much unique from what I saw in this volume.

I quite liked the art, and I've seen some people say they didn't like the colour choices. There's a lot of pinks and blues so sometimes the page looks like it's being lighted by a neon sign but I quite like that look.

Overall, not the easiest introduction into Valiant comics, but quite a good volume.

I highly recommend you read Harbinger Wars 2 and maybe even Secret Weapons before that before venturing into Livewire. Livewire is the main protagonist in Harbinger Wars 2 and this book deals directly with the fallout of that book. In fact that's what these 4 issues are all about. Amanda McKee is now the most wanted person on the planet because of the events in Harbinger Wars 2. This is about Amanda coming to terms with the things she did and how she picks up the pieces now that she's universally hated. Raul Allen's art is pretty good, but I hate his choice of color palettes. Each page only uses muted variations of a single color, usually purple or pink almost as if the only light source in each panel is a neon sign. It makes it really difficult to focus on the art, sometimes completely taking you out of a panel as you try to process what is happening in the action. He did the same thing in Secret Weapons and I hated it there as well.

Oooooh! Ok. I was about halfway through with this graphic before I realized why I had such a strong sense that I had seen all of these characters before. It suddenly dawned on me that this is actually a sequel of sorts to the Secret Weapons series by Eric Heisserer, and also published by Valiant. While it's not absolutely necessary to have read Secret Weapons first, it would definitely help since it provides a huge chunk of back story that you do not get from Livewire on its own.

I received an advanced digital copy of this book from Netgalley.com and the publisher. Thanks to both for the opportunity to read and review.

Livewire has to be one of the more unique superheroes around. The story is fresh with a new introduction to the characters and Livewire's story. Valiant is doing an excellent job in developing stories worth reading.

If you enjoy comics, definitely read this one.

5 out of 5 stars. Highly recommended.

Livewire spins off from the Harbinger series. Amanda McKee, a/k/a Livewire, was one of Toyo Harada’s pupils but developed a rivalry with Pan de Santos. Now she believes Harada was a monster, while Pan considers himself to be Harada’s heir.

Livewire is a psiot who controls gadgets. Like the rest of us, she has been betrayed by the American government. Her fellow psiots seem to think she betrayed them by going overboard in her mission to protect them. Owen and Nikki might be willing to make nice but Avi is pretty pissed. A bunch of other people are pissed that Livewire shut down the power grid. Frankly, that would annoy me too, especially if I was heating a frozen pizza and the power went off before the pizza was hot.

So groups with government contracts are creating tech to control the psiots, including a thingy that gets inserted into Livewire’s neck to block her gadgetry-control power. Then Pan show up for an extended fight scene in which, as is typical of comics, the characters do more chatting than fighting. The fight itself is confusing. One panel has Pan holding a knife; next panel the knife is gone. One panel has Pan drawing a gun; next panel the gun is gone. He even pulls out a cellphone to show Livewire some videos, a fighting tactic that most would view as unproductive. Could we get some clarity here?

Livewire is sort of a one note character, the note being “I feel so guilty but I’ll learn to live with it because I am totally justified when I cause chaos.” The four issues in volume 1 are just too talky-talky, and all the talk doesn’t amount to much. I mean, how many times does she need to say “That’s on me” before the reader says, “Yeah, so what?” Maybe the next volume will get better now that Livewire has resolved her issues with her psiot buddies, but this volume left me wondering whether any aspect of the Harbinger books really needs to be revived.

Valiant has been producing pretty new and exciting comics recently one after another. Livewire Vol 1 perfectly balances the re-introduction of a n already known character along with a new story. Must read-for Valiant fans!

Reading Marvel and DC for years, you get a feel for common superhero tropes. It’s always interesting to see some other publisher putting their own spin on a superhero-themed shared universe. My introduction to Valiant Comics was reading only a handful of their titles, most notably Secret Weapons by Eric Heisserer and Raúl Allén & Patricia Martín. Amongst the eponymous gang from that comic, its leader is Amanda McKee, also known as the technopath codenamed Livewire, who now has her own limited series.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a copy of this title in exchange for my open and honest review.

This is a solid midgrade graphic novel. I wanted to like it, the premise was interesting but the execution of character, dialog, and setting was jumpy and spotty. At places, the pacing of the story seemed over-rushed while in others it crawled by. The graphics felt distracting in oversaturated colors that did nothing to further the plot. In the end, there was little in the way of ending of this particular story arc. It ended up not being the comic for me.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher I was able to read this book in exchange for an honest review.
***
TW: there are scenes of torture/brutal beating, involuntary medical procedure and typical comic book violence

Livewire is an interesting character. Amanda McKee, a WOC, is a psiot who can control electricity. In an event that I feel a little lost on she caused a major blackout to protect other psiots she felt responsible for and caused mass amounts of damage and death with it. She’s been branded as a terrorist and is being hunted down and has been on the run trying to keep her head down and out of trouble.
The interesting thing about Livewire is the crossroads she finds herself at. She knows in protecting her family she did wrong but she also knows she can’t turn herself into the government to atone for her crimes that way because they are the ones that sanctioned the act of her and others like her being hunted down and killed. She wants to make up for it but she also can’t be public because what she did was so public that everyone seems to know who she is and recognize her.
I feel like I’m missing a fair bit of the story since this is only picking up after the blackout occurred and while I find the other members of Livewire’s family interesting and wanting to know more I just feel a general sort of apathy of the conversations between them because I know there is history but that history means nothing to me because I never witnessed any of it other than them meeting Livewire again after what she felt she had to do for her family and none of them really willing to be there in the same room with her. I’m definitely intrigued enough to keep reading Livewire and I’m going to look back and see if I can find the story that has the blackout and hopefully get a bit more answers to what was going on.

Loved it. Loved how they do the flashbacks to let you know what happened before the story opens. Nice eBay read, will be interesting to see wher it goes from here.
#livewirevolume1fugitive#netgalley#indigoemployee

Livewire is a new series from Valiant Entertainment. The focus is on a single psiot and her attempt to save her people while making amends for her past. This psiot is none other than Livewire. She’s gone through so much already by the start of this volume, and that isn’t a pattern that’ll be changing anytime soon for her.
Warnings: Livewire comes up against a lot of different foes during the course of this volume. She’s a woman of color, and despite all the good she’s done, the media had no trouble painting her as a terrorist, and people believed it. She’s captured, treated worse than one would ever like to imagine, and eventually forced into an involuntary medical procedure intended to cut her powers. It’s all highly disturbing.
Livewire Vol. 1 was an interesting read, though I’ll confess that I was confused at times. I loved Livewire’s character and determination, even up against all the odds she was facing. She’s a brilliant lead for the series, and I can’t wait to see where they go with this.
I think I must have missed her introduction in another series – or at least that’s how it felt the whole time I was reading. There was backstory that I felt like I was expected to know or understand, and I got confused at a few different points because of this.
I’m more than a little curious about the other psiots that Livewire has been working so hard to protect. There’s such a major world implied during this story, and I honestly can’t wait to see more of it. What I have seen has proven to be intricate and fascinating.
I love that Livewire accepted that she’s done wrong in her past – that in her attempts to save the people she cared about, she forced other people to pay the price. I love that she’s trying to accept and atone for what she’s done. In many ways that makes her more human than the people that are pursuing her. They certainly don’t seem to have that problem.
I’m going to have to look at all of the other series out by Valiant and see if there are any tie ins for this series. I feel like there has to be something, and I desperately want to know what it is. I hope it’s as interesting as I feel like it should be.
It’ll be interesting to see where they go with this for the next volume. There’s a lot of potential here, and I for one can’t wait to see how they use it.

Livewire Volume 1: Fugitive finds Livewire dealing with blowback from turning off the whole country's power grid and being the most wanted criminal in the country. Seeking to make redemption for the lives lost by her hand, Livewire wants to save her people and make amends with her friends but the road is going to be long and hard. The story is full of action as Livewire takes center stage for a hero finding herself. The art is well drawn but a little dark. The plot line relies heavily on the history of the character but seems promising to build a great story in future installments of Livewire. My voluntary, unbiased review is based upon a review copy from Netgalley.