The version that I downloaded was not clear enough for me to read. I had to wait for the book to come out and check it out from the library to be able to make out the text. I felt like there was so much I was missing out on while reading this because I was confused a lot of the time. I found out this was a graphic adaptation of a short story and I just felt like there was a lot more context in the short story that wasn't included in this version. However, I loved the artwork!

There’s a storm outside Chioma’s family home in Nigeria. And a boy, alone and unnatural, wants to play.

As other reviewers have said, the black and white ARC is so fuzzy that it makes reading very difficult. So I am hoping this is something that is going to be fixed before it’s published.

Okorafor is excellent at portraying Chioma’s confusion and fear. The art is disjointed, chaotic, and stark, highlighting the horror the reader needs to feel. Some of the best backgrounds are in the Nigerian jungle, which even in black and white, feel lush and alive.

And the ending? The ending leaves me with more questions than answers in the best possible way.

"If you see a monster at your doorstep, the wise thing to do is shut the door."

Solid (if ignored) advice from this gorgeous adaptation of Nnedi Okorafor's short story "On the Road." Chioma, a Nigerian-American police officer is visiting her grandmother in her Nigerian village when - after a wild rainstorm - a severely injured boy appears at her door. He touches her, and Chioma begins smelling weird smells, hearing whispers, feels invisible presences, and is being stalked by a herd of lizards. Eventually there is an Evil Dead-style hand situation and an encounter with a "dragon monster Nigerian ancestor made of rolling hot gravel and vines and wood." This story is scary and weird and the illustration style captures the chaos and confusion perfectly, with complicated multi-panels surrounded by brambles and vines and eyes and skulls.

My version was a janky, blurry, black & white PDF, and I'm very much looking forward to reading this again in color, with less squinting.

Age range: high school + mainly for language and the scary factor (though I'll absolutely encourage my 6th grade graphic novel fiend daughter to read it)

Review based on an ARC kindly provided by Abrams ComicArts/Megascope via NetGalley.

I recommend this for anyone looking for a unique story that will stay with you.

I wasn’t sure about this in the first third of the story, but I’m so glad I stuck it out! The beginning was a bit slow, but once the story picked up, it was impossible to put down. This story is beautiful and inspiring albeit a tad confusing. By the end I still had some questions, but I can’t help but feel it’s intended to be that way and I think the story answers enough of those questions to walk away understanding the importance of the story.

I read this as an e-arc version in black and white which made the writing a difficult to read but the finished copy shouldn’t have those problems and I’m sure the artwork will be stunning in the finished version.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for this advance e-copy!

A horror-filled graphic novel adaptation of Nnedi Okorafor's short story, "On the Road," about a Nigerian-American woman who finds herself haunted by some very real terrors on a trip to visit family. In order to survive, she must embrace her heritage and acceptance the strange occurrences happening to her. Vibrant colors and visceral illustrations bring this story to life.

Unfortunately the reader copy that has been provided for me of this book has lettering that is completely illegible throughout most of it and therefore prevent me from being able to give any kind of accurate review of the contents.

⭐️⭐️⭐️

Overall, I really liked this graphic novel! Although, I hope that they change the some of the text in the speech bubbles because I had quite a difficult time reading some of them. Besides that, I really enjoyed it and found the story to be quite engaging and haunting! I hope that this will continue as a series as I’d love to see what’s next in Chioma’s story.

I loved this graphic novel. I've never read the short story, On the Road, which this is adapted from, but it works incredibly well as a graphic novel. The art style did a great job communicating the sense of foreboding that Chioma feels throughout most of the story trying to understand what is happening to and around her.

Thank you, Netgalley, for a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for me honest opinion!

First of all, I hope they change the font before publishing this book!!!! I had the hardest time trying to decipher some of the content in the boxes that were not speech bubbles.
Other than that, I really loved this book! The illustrations were fantastic, the storyline awesome, and the characters interesting! I could absolutely see this being turned into a series with more details about the life in a Nigerian village like the one in the story and about the characters.

A Nigerian-American police detective named Chioma visits her grandmother and grand-auntie in Nigeria. A strange and injured boy invites her to play tag during a rain storm. But it is what happens After the Rain that drives the plot of this multi-layered tale.

First it was the smell. Then the whispers. But when the lizards start staring, Chioma knows she is in for the battle of her life. For her life. With Nigerian spirits she doesn’t even believe in.

After the Rain is a creepy little horror fable. But it is also a parable about different cultures. Chioma quickly learns that competency in Chicago won’t help much in rural Nigeria.

I absolutely adored the artwork. It truly made me feel like I was visiting rural West Africa. And it was an unfamiliar and ultimately terrifying place. The use of unexpected panel shapes and placement keeps the reader off-balance just like Chioma is feeling.

It’s rare that such a complex story is matched with the perfect artwork. After the Rain is sure to please both literary fiction and horror fans. And the art is perfect for this African fable. 5 stars and a favorite!

Thanks to Megascope, Abrams ComicArts and NetGalley for a copy in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you to Netgalley, Megascope Comics, Nnedi Okorafor, and David Brame for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest opinion.

The art in this comic is amazing. The published edition will be full color, but the ARC was black and white. It should be amazing in color!

The story is multilayered with lots to unpack. How do logic and reason fit with other kinds of truth? How do our personal demons help us? Your as lost as the protagonist, and there are no neat answers. But it's the start of a grand adventure.

The big downfall here was the font choice. It was excruciatingly hard to read. I presume that will be fixed before the final publishing, but you may want to check a preview if it is available. This problem was throughout, including credits, story about the publisher, etc

Interesting story. Left some unanswered questions. Curious if there will be more.

Thank you to NetGalley for allowing me to read this book in exchange for my honest review.

TWs: extensive body horror; death/murder; blood/gore

Rep: Nigerian-American MC; Nigerian cast

--

Honestly, I'm...not sure what to say about this book? I just felt unattached to it. I didn't feel like I knew the main character or had a reason to care for her, which isn't necessarily the point in every horror short story, but it felt like the story wanted me to care and I didn't. I also had a sense that I was missing something or not grasping what they wanted me to throughout--maybe that's user error, maybe that's an issue of fleshing out the story or translating it properly into graphic novel form, I'm not sure. (Speaking of graphic novel form, I want to note I haven't read the short story this is adapted from, so I can't comment on how it went from there to here.) The ARC quality was also not great (all b/w and grainy), which might've affected the experience. I will say I liked the unsettling art style and the concept--just wish I'd felt like I got more out of it by the end.

Chioma is a Chicago cop visiting her grandmother and grand aunt in Nigeria. It rains for three days, and a little boy with his scull bashed in stands on the doorstep. Chioma opens the door, and the little boy touches her hand, sizzling her flesh, and declares, “tag, you’re it!” She is it, indeed. The elders all become fearful for Chioma; lizards start stalking her everywhere she goes; shadows eerily creep behind her, just out of sight. Then, one night, Chioma is attacked by supernatural forces and undergoes a transformation unlike anything she could have imagined.

This story definitely has the creepy factor and should not be read if you’re alone, at night, and especially not if it’s raining. While the lack of full explanation at the end will probably dissatisfy readers, the ending forces you to wonder and ponder for days to come. This is based on the short story “On the Road” by Okorafor, and there is no sequel, but perhaps there could be and we can see what happens to Chioma back in Chicago, back in her life as a cop, with what happened to her. Chioma has some real depth to her character that we don’t get until almost the very end, but it’s revelation begs for a reread with that information in mind.

Brame’s illustrations utilize heavy lines and draw extensively on traditional African artistic themes. The digital copy I obtained was in black and white, so I will have to buy the book to appreciate Jennings’ coloring, which will probably be vibrant like his other books are.

I recieved an e-arc from netgalley and the quality it was in was horrible. I couldnt read any of the font so it was hard to understand the story at all and from what I was able to read was confusing because of what I didnt know. This graphic novel wasnt for me sadly.

Very good graphic novel. The main character Chioma is Nigerian-American. She returns back to a village in Nigeria, staying with family, when one child at the door changes her life. Before returning to America, she will experience things beyond this world.

I’ve been admiring Nnedi Okorafor’s works for the past several years. I had the pleasure to see her discuss and read from her work during my time at grad school (American University's Visiting Writers Series). So I got excited when NetGalley approved my request to read the graphic novel After the Rain, an adaptation of her short story, On the Road (from her short story collection, Kabu Kabu). The story follows Chioma, a Nigerian American woman from Chicago who is visiting her grandmother and auntie in a southeast Nigerian village. At the beginning of the story, Chioma encounters a boy at the door. A boy who is supposed to be dead. Afterward, she experiences changes and strange happenings in the house and at the village, leading to her accepting her heritage and forgiving herself.

After reading the graphic novel, I visited the short story again. The graphic novel faithfully adapts the source material. However, the atmospheric art elevates the tension and conflict of the story, providing a different reading experience for me. I enjoyed reading this visual adaptation of On the Road, and I recommend checking it out, especially if you want to see how prose fiction could be translated into comic form.

There were some pages of this digital copy that were quite hard to read and had poor quality, so that took a bit away from my reading experience. However, this book is a fascinating exploration of identity and “home” woven within a jarring magical experience brought vividly to life by the stunning illustrations. I have not read this short story on its own, but I believe that it works extremely well as a graphic novel, and really brings the dramatic essence of the story to life.

I love Nnedi Okorafor so I was excited when I saw a graphic novel adaptation was being made out of one of her short stories. After the Rain is based on her short story "On the Road". The story is set in a small town in Nigeria. Chioma answers a knock at the door to find a boy with a horrible head wound standing outside. From there she becomes haunted be something that she is not quite sure of. Her grandmother and aunt attempt to help her using their customs and knowledge from their heritage.

I had not previously read the short story On the Road so I wasn't sure of the plot line going in. But, I have read a number of other books by Okorafor so know to expect an element of fantasy. Overall, I enjoyed the story and the involvement of Nigerian folklore and superstitions. There were a few issues with the eBook file I was sent that made some parts of the text difficult to read, but overall I was able to follow the story despite not being able to read all of the words.

Based on Nnedi Okorafor's short story "On the Road", this graphic adaptation tells a fantastical and haunting tale set in a small Nigerian town. During a massive storm, Nigerian-American Chioma opens the door to find a boy with a terrible head wound. His touch causes something strange and painful to erupt in Chioma - something that can only be dealt with by embracing her heritage.

I haven't read the short story, but I really enjoyed this dark, fantastical adventure! Nnedi Okorafor is so talented at creating otherworldly stories that tell us so much about the real world. The illustrations in this graphic adaptation are really compelling and add so much nuance to the story. My only complaint is the font, which made it pretty hard for me to read and follow. Fingers crossed the font will change before this is officially published!