Cover Image: Area 510

Area 510

Pub Date:   |   Archive Date:

Member Reviews

Area 510 is a short read, however it is fun and action packed. The art of the comic is great , flows nicely and is dynamic, adding to the action and pacing off the story.

Was this review helpful?

This graphic novel was amazing. The tale flowed quickly, and the action never slowed down. It was beautifully designed, with intriguing and complex characters. Everything is a mixture of crime and graphics. Even though I'm not a huge science fiction lover, I did like that portion. I wholeheartedly urge everyone who enjoys science fiction with a thriller element to read this book.

Was this review helpful?

I actually really liked this. A fast read for anyone who just wants to read som action. I may have wanted the ending to be a little more complicated, but it was a pretty fun graphic novel, with aliens, action and unlikely friends.

Thanks for the e-arc!

/ Denise

Was this review helpful?

Looking for a quick read involving a rookie cop on the run? Join rookie Colton Ward and criminal Lucinda Page as they seek to escape aliens hunting for a mysterious object! Will they succeed in escaping to safety or will the aliens hunt them down? A nice quick dash through Oakland streets! Not much character development, but plenty of action!

Thanks Netgalley for the opportunity to read this tale.

Was this review helpful?

'Area 510' by Jay Faerber with art by Justin Greenwood is a breathtaking graphic novel about a night in a young policemen's life that keeps getting worse.

When we meet Rookie officer Ward, he has just apprehended a burglary suspect named Lucinda. His older partner is droning on about things until he is suddenly, violently killed by an invading army of aliens. Soon Ward and Lucinda are on the run for their lives, but can they learn to trust each other?

This read at a quick pace and the art was just great. There are twists and turns galore in the story and I liked the two main characters. The book ends all too soon, leaving me wanting to know what happens next.

Was this review helpful?

Lucinda, a thief for hire, has stolen a mysterious jewel from a museum in Oakland, but has been caught and in the back of a police car with experienced cop Sullivan and rookie Ward. Suddenly they come under attack from a heavily armed, heavily armoured and masked gang who demand the jewel. During the ensuing shoot out Sullivan is killed and Ward and Lucinda, natural enemies but now with a common foe, try to make it, on foot, to the National Guard HQ at the docks. However, they are being tracked by their attackers, who turn out to be aliens. Issues of heroism and trust are tested.
This is a graphic novel, more a short story really, a format with which I have little experience and which I have never reviewed. As a story it is a straightforward chase plot and feel as if it might be a set-up for a longer novel or a serial. The artwork is well executed (there is a little bonus showing stages in production, but I don’t know if that’s just in the reviewer copy) and it does convey the urgency and jeopardy involved in a way that would have taken many words to explain. Stylistically it is fairly modern, I would call it hard-edged-urban. The Author, Jay Faerber is very experienced in this field, as are the Illustrator, Justin Greenwood, the Colorist, Lee Loughridge , and the Letterer Thomas Mauer, so I’m sure it will please fans at the grittier end of the illustrated book genre. I’m erring on the positive side in the rating.

Was this review helpful?

My thanks to both NetGalley and the publisher Oni Press for an advanced copy of this graphic novel featuring cops, robbers, aliens and more.

Alien invasion stories can be fun, especially if they are the kind of aliens who can't be reasoned with and just love to shot lasers. A story featuring one strong person, with a code and a sense of right or wrong in a situation where they are beset on all sides by trouble, those can be good too. Add big explosions, a city on fire, and lots of chaos and companions of dubious morality, that sounds like a great adventure. Area 510 written by Jay Faerber, illustrated by Justin Greenwood with colorist Lee Loughridge and letterer Thomas Mauer, has all these things and more in a short but very explosive graphic adventure.

Ward is a rookie officer, stuck with an old school partner who probably thinks that PC stands for Police Correct in every situation. After capturing a thief who stole of a local a strange artifact from a local museum, they are ambushed by creatures not of this Earth. Ward and the thief, Lucinda are trapped in the midst of an alien invasion in a city that is burning with only one thought. Get to the Oakland Police Department and find help. However the alien attacks that they are fighting off don't seem that random. The aliens seem to be pursuing them for a reason. And when chaos begins not all enemies are alien.

A short graphic adventure that is a mashup of Attack the Block and Assault on Precinct Thirteen, the original Carpenter version. The story is familiar, but handled well, with characters that who are developed well and given quite a bit to work with. Ward is a stickler for rules, processing Lucinda for arrest is almost as important to him as getting to safety, but he learns to adapt as the situation goes from worse, to superbad. Lucinda is a thief, but one who has empathy, and a capacity to handle herself in any situation that comes up. The aliens are just aliens, butchers with lasers, but do their job well, destroying everything they come across. The art is really good, big colors, good rendering of the characters, scary aliens and nice scenes of things exploding. The faces of the characters, especially Ward's are quite well done, and tell a lot about the character without having to use words, showing the character's growth from the beginning to the end. The ending is a little abrupt, I blame the size, but hopefully this is an opening chapter in a larger story, on that I would like to read.

Nice, quick comic story, with a good story and some really nice art. A one-and-done story publishers don't do much of anymore, but I really do hope this is the start of a bigger story. I enjoyed the characters, the action and their interplay.

Was this review helpful?

Review for Area 510
This was fun, well paced read. The characters weren’t fully fleshed out but I got enough information about them to thoroughly enjoy this experience.

The artwork itself felt like a character which I appreciate and the reference made to Independence Day was a nice nod to nostalgia.

Only downfall of this all is it left me wanting more.

#netgalley #area510
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Was this review helpful?

An interesting, if ultimately a little rote, sci-fi adventure through the streets of Oakland during an alien invasion. The panels are pretty dynamic, which is a bonus as the characterization is pretty minimal and the story beats can see from pretty far away. But, it's only about 70 pages of story so how much detail does that length allow the author to provide? In any event, it's a recommend for me as fun, quick read.

Was this review helpful?

This was a fun and brief graphic novel. The art style is fun and while the characters have limited development, they're interesting and compelling for this type of short story. The final act of the story is a little too truncated and I think it could use a few more pages so it doesn't feel like it just ends out of nowhere, but it's enjoyable and quick and would be a good time for fans of graphic novels.

Was this review helpful?

Thank you Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this graphic novel. I am a 68 year old reader and may read these types of fiction with a jaundiced eye. The visuals are eye catching but i found that the transitions from panel to panel were sometimes confusing. Who the aliens were and how they were defeated never came up, which give a sense of incompleteness. This is a short story so alot is necessarily left. to the imagination. a good quick read but no award winner.

Was this review helpful?

I absolutely loved this graphic novel.

Beautifully illustrated with compelling and complicated characters, the storyline moved fast and the action never let up.

Lucinda is my favorite character for reasons that will be immediately understood once you read this graphic novel.

I absolutely recommend this book to anyone who loves science fiction with a thriller twist.

5 Stars 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟

Thank you to Oni Press and NetGalley for providing me with a free advance review copy of this book.

Was this review helpful?

This was an interesting graphic novel. I like the concept and the art, I just wish this story was a little longer.

Without spoiling anything. I am still unsure as to how and why that one action led to that particular ending, did I miss something?

Thank you @OniPress for the advance copy.

Was this review helpful?

This book was given to me in exchange for an honest review

I really liked this graphic novel. It's science fiction and it's a fast paced read. The story follows a rookie cop and a veteran thief who must work together to find safety admist an alien invasion.

The world building is pretty cool and the art style. I loved how the colour came to gether to show the different emotions in each scenes.

I loved this book a lot.

Was this review helpful?

Thank you to Netgalley for allowing me to use this website and thank you to the author and publisher for allowing me to read this book and give an honest review.

This is a apocalypse themed manga book, which is my first so I read it as it seemed interesting and appealing so I read this short manga and actually liked it more then I thought. The main male in this and the main female are very developed characters that stick to there guns and are very fun characters to follow in this setting. The book is quite graphic so I would like to warn others on that fact. I think the art style fun fun colourful, dynamic and stylised which was very interesting to look at and kept me intreasted in the story. The story arc was a little short for me personally and there was a character arc for the main female lead but less in the main male lead.

Was this review helpful?

The illustrations were phenomenal.
Ward and Lucinda were wholesome main characters.
Even though it’s a short graphic novel that follows a simple plot line, it kept wanting me to turn the pages.
My only complaint is that I wish it was a little longer so the story could be fleshed out a little more.
Overall I highly recommend!
Finally, I want to thank #Netgalley and #Onipress for providing me with an arc of #Area510 in exchange for an honest review.

Was this review helpful?

This was a fun and thrilling adventure. The artwork was bold and dynamic, just like the story. My only complaint is that I wish it had been longer to really flesh out the ending.

Was this review helpful?

This book is a fantastic fast read. It is very short, but in the time it has it depicts some wonderful characters with amazing chemistry. I love how the pair work together when it makes sense and butt heads when it makes sense. I love how they challenge each other’s expectations about the way the world works. I especially love how Ward is naïve and goodhearted but also extremely brave. The dramatic timing of this book is just fantastic! My only complaint is that I wanted more of these two.

Was this review helpful?

A very fast paced alien invasion story. Faerber wrote a narrow story amidst a very large alien invasion. The two main characters were well created. Ward the young cop and Lucinda the master thief create a great contrast as they conflict and try to survive the invaders. Justin Greenwood's art was dynamic and great to look at. The alien creatures had a very cool design and were a terrifying threat. I really enjoyed this quick read and recommend it to any sci-fi fans.

Thank you to #NetGalley, and #OniPress for the ARC of Area 510.

Was this review helpful?

This was an enjoyable read — colorful, vivid, and full of action. An entertaining and engaging comics read.

Was this review helpful?