A disgraced journalist is contacted for an exclusive story about children on remote European island, and since she’s unlikely to get a job soon, she accepts and becomes embroiled in a world where the children have invented a killer app, literally, an app that renders people around 40 “obsolote” by killing them.

I enjoyed this one. The art was killer good, excuse the pun, and the story called back many of my favorite things from childhood, including The Twilight Zone and Logan’s Run. It reminded me of a modernized “Children of the Corn” meets “It’s a Good Life.” There were plenty of notable philosophical references, and the story moved very quickly, so no chance for a lull. There are some twists and turns, which kept it interesting, and I’m a huge nerd for sci-fi horror that has deep roots.

It’s out at the end of this month, so if you’re wishing for fall at the beginning of summer like me, it’s sure to put you in a creepy mood. Plus, we’re all basically living in an episode of Black Mirror in 2020 anyway, may as well lean into it. Can’t say I’d be too surprised if this story started happening in smalltown America next week. JK, well. Maybe.

What drew me to the graphic novel first of was the front cover, it was somewhat creepy but in a good way, drawing me in. The story itself reminded me of children of the Corn by Stephen King, with other interesting references added also. For some, it shows what is possible and what can be done with a simple mobile phone, to the point where they are not just controlling their own lives but the lives of those around them.

The art is very well drawn and was helped by the colouring. The way the artist drew the expressions on the characters faces was intriguing and unusual. So was the attention to detail. I enjoyed the use of wide panels and close up on eyes expressing a lot. I enjoyed reading this graphic novel a lot and would like to see how the story continues.

3 Stars (I received an e-arc from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review)

First of all this cover could give anyone nightmares, though to be fair the entire content of this story is incredibly creepy. The main character's past is alluded to but we don't really find out what happened to get her exiled. But then she gets an offer to do a story which includes going to a faraway secluded island to learn about these children. When she gets there, it seems there are very few adults living there. Basically the children are running and watching everything that goes on in town, and technology has replaced vocal communication. This story was creepy and a little insane, though at times definitely reflects the way technology has taken over our lives.

From the publisher;
A disgraced journalist is called to cover a mysterious story on an isolated European island. As she investigates, she discovers that children have taken control via weird technology linked to their smartphones and are somehow killing off all adults by their 40th birthdays.
~~~~
Such a simple explanation of a very complicated, but compelling story. It’s like a mashup of Stephen King’s “Children of the Corn, Cell Logan’s Run and Soilent Green. Basically a book nerds idea of the perfect comic.

The story is creepy because it seems like such a possibility when the kids today can do things with their phones most of us older folks can’t do on a desktop or even understand what the hell they are talking about.
It could be the future...our future. So very easily.

I enjoyed the ride and would like to see how the story turns out, even though I may find the ending uncomfortable. The art is very well done. Evgeniy Bornyakov captured the vapid smile and stare of the adults as well as the very creepy grin of the kids. Made the story just that more believable and strange.

Kudos to Klickenstein, Bornyakov, Affe, and Bowland. This series should be a hit!

I received this book free from Diamond Book Distributors, and Netgalley for my honest, unbiased review.

The idea was original and created a creepy image of our present social media addicted society and where it may lead. However, there was no likeable character, and the story didn't have an agreeable flow to it - it felt rather repetitive, even clumsy at times and I just did not 'get into it'. The illustrations however where really good, with much detail on faces' expressions, especially the adults' creepy grins. Overall an entertaining but unmemorable diversion squeezed in between other reads - not more but not less either.

The book has a great premise but comes up short in the end. A little Children of the Corn, a little Logan’s Run, and a little Wicker Man did not a good overall story make. I thought it was a decent read but not a title I will be purchasing for my library. The artwork is well done though.

★★

I had been in the mood to read a graphic novel for a while and this cover immediately caught my eye. When I saw from some reviews that it was set in Estonia (where I happen to be from), I knew I had to read it. Oooooooh boy.

The gist of the story is that an American journalist goes to investigate an Estonian island where the children have basically taken over all parts of life with their new-fangled technology and adults who reach the age of 40 immediately end up six feet under.

With all due respect I'm pretty sure the author picked a random lesser-known European country, picked a random island in it and then let their imagination run free. The choice of Muhu for a setting honestly baffles me. In the book it's supposed to be "isolated" from the world when in fact it is literally connected to Saaremaa (the biggest Estonian island) by a sea road and is how people get from the mainland to Saaremaa. That's not to mention all the other creative liberties that were taken with the setting and logistics (Muhu travel bureau??).

And my favourite part of all was of course that all the "Estonian" that was spoken was so painfully obviously the word for word result of machine translating English words and phrases to Estonian and most of the time made zero grammatical sense. I'm not sure if my favourite example was "ei küsimus mida" or "raisatakse" to mean "wasted".

On top of all this, the story had a decently intriguing concept but a pretty obvious conclusion and way too much of the protagonist getting drunk/high and having really long monologues about her past and her ideals, which rarely fit into the plot. There were also too many references to pop culture and celebrities that were barely related to anything.

To end on a positive note, I loved the art style and I'm definitely interested in reading more graphic novels by the same artist. I also still enjoyed the general spooky atmosphere and the idea, I would just love a better execution.

Please get an Estonian to proof read your text next time, we do exist.

Lyla Wilton is a disgraced journalist. Once the talk of the newspapers for her acumen, a single quote misconstrued sent her tumbling. That’s when she gets called out to a tiny, remote island in Estonia. By the children. They have taken over everything. All of the adults in the town wear nightmarish, fake smiles and praise the children without reason or end. No, it’s not brainwashing. It’s straight fear. The children created a smartphone app that can kill anyone over the age of 40. They want Layla to write an expose on all the terrible things she has done and use it to spread their app. Oh, and it apparently can control minds, too.

And that’s the plot. It’s all laid out in the first issue, pretty plain as day. Nothing really left as twists. You know from the first few pages she is never getting off this island alive, and everything is doomed. What I really want to point out, though, is the artist. Evegny Bornyakov did all the lineart for this comic, and it’s brilliant. Grotesque and distorted in moments of emotional tension, cold and detached at others. He’s got a great visual language that makes this comic a pleasure, and a horror, to look at. I want to see more of his work on other titles.

Just like what others on here said, only the front and back covers were in the file. I'll update rating once this gets fixed.

**Updated! I was finally able to get the full book [May 15, 2020]

I bump my rating up 1 star mainly just for the artwork. I LOVE the style of the comic. It adds to the creepiness of the story and the characters. I liked the commentary on technology being an obsession and taking over our lives but that's about it. The start of the book was interesting but the further along I got, the more bored and convoluted the story got. The ending seemed abrupt and certain actions by main characters was random at times. There was a plot twist I found amusing but overall, the story was just "meh" to me.

Again, I loved the artwork!

2/5

I decided to read this title despite it's low rating from other reviewers, but unfortunately I have to agree that it contains a fairly vapid narrative. I do commend the author on clearly being well read. Our protagonist's perspective is backed by the work of multiple other creatives she mentions to create context around her beliefs.

Unfortunately that's as far as this story's wisdom extends. I did not feel it was thought-provoking, although it was clearly attempting to be. There's much that can to be said about the pitfalls of growing up online and believing youth is the primary marker of worth, but I don't feel this story explored those ideas with enough substance for me to take it seriously.

It also concerns me to see digital communication demonized. Yes, many children need to branch out their methods of socialization, but there are those who require digital means to communicate. I doubt the author thought about this very deeply, but using the concept that some of the antagonist children have only ever communicated through texting to horrify readers dehumanizes people with communication and speech disorders who are unable to communicate otherwise. Research on children who seem "addicted" to technology has also indicated that they are often struggling with other issues in their life. For example, many players of the popular game Minecraft, which is mentioned in this title, are young people with autism and ADHD who struggle to build more "acceptable" social connections with peers. It is dangerously ignorant to decide "overuse" of digital communication and online entertainment is corrupt on it's own, without considering the underlying reasons why modern children may behave this way.

Technology is a tool. Unfortunately, we are all living in a time where digital technology is a relatively new tool, and novel methods of utilizing it are developed so quickly that every intersection of how they can be used and abused is almost impossible for any one person or community to comprehend. I think commentary of the damages technology can create are interesting and ask us to question our own understanding and acceptance of the world around us, but this book's narrative failed to convince me its ideas contained necessary depth.

Thank you NetGalley for letting me read this one early!

I enjoyed this, it kind of seems like a modern update for The Children of the Corn. The whole story had an excellent creepy vibe, and the art style really helped with that.

If you enjoy reading about creepy children and cult like worlds, I would highly recommend this one.

You Are Obsolete is a graphic novel created and written by Mathew Klickstein, with Evgeniy Borniakov on art.

An award winning journalist, disgraced because of an out of context citation that went viral, is summoned to report on children from a small Estonian island. What she discovers there might be the answer to what the next 3.0 generation will be up to, and that might not please everyone.

This is a story inspired by many works, referenced in the text itself. Among them, the Twilight Zone, Logan’s Run and the Wicker Man seem to stand out (even if I don’t agree with the « old good one » footnote - the Nicolas Cage starring remake had its own crazy qualities). The main child antagonist gives a nice Wednesday Addams vibe, as well. But, as it’s not referenced, I wonder if that was intentional or not.

The art is detailed and lively, helped by perfectly adequate coloring. The style on faces and expressions is unusual and refreshing. So is the attention put into clothing and fashion choices. There is a nice use of wide panels, and close up on eyes expressing a lot. The « digital » lettering used for the protagonist narration typeface is distracting, however. Especially for a story which, among other things, reflects on the faults of our digital age and pushes the concept of programmed obsolescence. The ending isn’t as satisfying as I would have liked, but I guess it’s difficult to end such a story if you don’t have Rod Serling or’Jordan Peele handy to give you a closing monologue.

This volume collecting the series offers an original foreword, clean cover art, and variant covers, some by the great Francesco Francavilla. The final cover is also way better than the one displayed on the galley advance review copy.

Thanks to Aftershock Comics, Diamond Distributors and Netgalley for the ARC provided in exchange for this unbiased review.

A journalist is called to an island to cover a mysterious story. As she investigates, she learns that children are in charge and somehow kill people who are over 40. Overall, this graphic novel was not what I was expecting. I liked that it commented on the use of technology these days and how it can come to harm us in the future. Also, the art style was perfect for the plot and atmosphere. However, my opinion, in fact, is an unpopular one. I felt like it was rushed and that it need a bit more. I wanted to know how and why, which we possibly learn in future volumes. But, for me, I didn’t particularly enjoy the plot and how the reporter just was fine with it.

Oh no, I wanted to like this one. The first chapter is enticing, sets up an interesting mystery, with timely themes of control by social media, social shaming. The art is a lovely combination of weird and interesting.

And then the rest of the book happens, and it falls on its arse. The art remains wonderful, but the story whiffs it bigly. It's clunkily plotted (with at least one unconvincing macguffin), which is especially painful because the whole thing is almost entirely plotdriven, as opposed to character driven. Characters make nonsensical decisions to help the plot forward, not to help themselves. Information is being held back by characters not out of character-related reasons (anger, shame, etc.), but because the author wants a reveal (which is then predictable anyway). Themes are overexplained, instead of leaving it to the reader to pick up on them his- or herself. A characters suddenly has a plot-crucial skill, which is explained away in one sentence (more or less "I picked up a thing or two when I was younger..") - and I'm still not entirely sure what he or she actually did with said skill. The main character takes hallucinogenic drugs, not because it seems logical or appropriate within her situation or following her character, but because everyone likes a hallucinogenic drug sequence, right? (Actually, I really do, but it has to be earned.) The ending is sudden, there's another weird choice made, another unearned, unconvincing leap of logic.

My guess is the author is going for a The Wicker Man-like atmosphere, where reality and dream logic seem to intertwine, which would fit the story well. But you have to carefully build up the weirdness, slowly pull the reader into that world, slowly make the illogical and the weird acceptable.

The social critique attempted here fell flat for me. The regular name dropping and the rushed pace made for a convoluted story,

This comic had me gripped and I NEED to read the other books in this series.

Whilst the story did feel a little rushed, I thought the art style fit the themes so well and overall I would highly recommend this comic.

You are obsolete felt like it gathered parts of lord of the flies and turned it into another spin off novel, although it did it pretty well. I liked the concept of the book as well as the art. You are obsolete was definitely an enticing and creepy read.

Oh, the irony. I couldn't open this title, aside from the first two pages. The premise sounds intresting though.

This thing is a masterpiece and I really enjoyed, but really freaking scary and weird. I felt like I was in a world surrounded only with psychopaths (and you can easily tell this from the cover).

This novel is one of the best I’ve read this year! The characters are so dynamic yet relatable. I loved the flow of the story. It held my attention the whole time.