An adventure full of pirates, violence, natives, and fights with a diverse kind of characters who are now waiting to survive the Apocalypse.

This was a pleasant surprise. A great story that mixes dystopian, sci-fi and horror perfectly.

In 2112, the world is in chaos after the apocalypse. A group of indigenous people discover a way to travel through time, and decide to send one of their own to 1492. The aim is to kill the person who they think its responsible for the end of their world, before he discovers America: Christopher Columbus. But killing an historical icon is far from easy, and things go sideways very fast. Will they manage to save their world and not destroy it further?

It's a violent and gory story, and I loved every bit of it. It's well thought of and well executed. There are two timelines in the story, one in the present and one in the past. The switch between them was easy to follow. There are quite a few characters to follow, but they are all unique in their own way.

The drawings are absolutely amazing, and they match the plot perfectly with its colours.

Definitely worth a read!

What an amazing start to this series and I can't wait to see what's in store for our main character.

How will he possibly save the world? I can't wait to find out.

4 stars

I will read anything by Stephen Graham Jones, I was not sure what to expect based on the description. And it did not disappoint. Where were these comics when I was growing up as kid – love seeing people like me and my relatives on the pages of a comic. I cannot wait for the second installment of the series and sending this to my library on the reserve once it is out to purchase.

Earthdivers revisits the great time travel question of: if you could go back in time and kill a historical monster, would you? In 2112 a small group of indigenous people have discovered a cave that allows one to travel back in time, the only requirements is that they do so naked and carrying something created in the time period they wish to visit. One of the their number, Tad, is sent back to kill Columbus and shift the historical narrative to strength the indigenous peoples of the Americas and avoid the industrialized capitalism of the United States that ruined the world.

From the initial chapter, the narratives splits between the present and 1492. Tad is the best chance as he can speak the necessary languages and has been drilled in the events of Columbus's voyage, though he lacks some necessary skills such as knot tying. It is a brutal world, and Tad at first tries to hide before embracing his mission by any means necessary. And the horror is palpable in Davide Gianfelice art with injuries on full display and gallons of blood to make any slasher proud.

While Tad pursues his quest to kill Columbus, those who stayed in 2112 undergo a few different, at times difficult to understand plots. Their main goal is to find a textbook that show that Tad was successful in changing the course of history. While they attempt to complete this, they are beset by another group out in the desert looking for a pair of missing children. Though one of there members has appeared before, but older. It is rather confusing and shows the worst of a time travel story with history appearing fated to happen no matter what, but pieces needing to be in place before then.

While a fantastic premise, it doesn't come together, at least not in these six issues. Perhaps later entries in the series will help explain the 2112 plot(s) better. At worst it will offer more alternate histories to explore.

Earthdivers blew me away. Illustrations and written narratives come together to create a page-turning story that keeps you both on the edge of your seat and wanting more. This time traveling, reimaging of history show expresses both the pitfalls of trying to chance the past with the hope of creating a better future. I can't wait to read the next volume.

The concept for this book by the great Stephen Graham Jones was ingenious, however the execution felt a bit off. The non-linear narrative bogs down the story enough to be distracting while the b plot doesn’t really get to form a unified story with the main narrative arc.

My thanks to both NetGalley and the publisher IDW Publishing for an advance copy of this graphic novel about time travel, genocide, violence, decisions, and changing the world.

Science fiction is full of stories about time travel and the many dangers and disasters that can arise when chrononauts voyage to the past. Don't meet yourself or your ancestors, because things might to boom. Don't kill a butterfly cause again things might go boom. And absolutely, positively don't mess with history by ridding the timeline of a genocidal maniacs because, well no one really knows what might happen. But if fiction is a sign, it will probably be bad. Real bad. Though to a people on a dying Earth, how much worse could life get. Soon they will find out. Earthdivers, Volume 1: Kill Columbus is by best selling writer Stephen Graham Jones and illustrated by Davide Gianfelice is a graphic, in some places very graphic novel about time travel, war crimes, genocide, leaving loved ones, and lots and lots of timey wimey.

The year is 2112, and the Mayan's were right the Earth is dying, though they got the math wrong by about 100 years. Climate, water, food, are pretty well spent, people would fight, but why. a group of indigenous people however have found something momentous. A time tunnel deep in the desert set in a cave. Slowly a plan comes to them. Send someone back in time, to the time of Christopher Columbus and stop the expedition to the New World and wiping out and or enslaving the people who already lived here. Tad, a man with a gift for languages is sent back, and Tad soon finds the stopping Columbus is far harder, far crueler and bloodier than he expected.

The story has a great premise, but is a tad confusing in execution. There are a lot of characters, and with few exceptions none of them are really made clear what their role is in the story. I understand the time travel aspect, but there are characters doing things that might become clear in later volumes, but for now just say things and move on. Also there is no real explanation for the time tunnel, is it one-way, or can one return, how did they figure out how to use it. Again I assume this will be told in later issues. The art is quite good, the boats seem real and lived in, the crews are all different, and the contrast between the dying Earth, and the year of 1492 is really striking. This is a story that might need more volumes to clear up some problems, but in general I liked the idea a lot, and the characters all seemed fresh and interesting.

This is not for kids. This is pretty violent, in words, images and history, so warning given. Stephen Graham Jones is a very good writer as his two best sellers show, but he is also a scary writer, and the art reflects that in many ways. I liked the ideas, and want to see more, along with a little bit more about how time travel works in this universe. Recommended for fans of Stephen Graham Jones, and for people who like scary slasher science fiction stories. And for readers of indigenous stories, stories that comics are very underserved by.

I enjoyed this graphic novel. The idea of time travel and how it affects the world is always an intriguing concept. I found myself cheering on the Native Americans as they tried to travel back in time to kill Colombus.
There are three threads to the story. The time travel one was clear. But the other two were a bit confusing. I am unsure if the readers are just missing something that will come later or missing something that we needed now.

I feel like there is great potential for a top-of-the-line comment within these pages, but through inexperience with the comic book realm, there is a general lack of clarity for sections of this book. The 15th century sections with Tad and his goal to enact vengeance on Columbus in the name of Native American people are lively, grotesque, and overall, pretty fantastic.

On the other hand, the 2112 section is disjointed and fairly confusing. Time travel and a general lack of names can cause some discomfort from scene to scene (especially in regards to the twins) so while I got the general gist of these sections, I do think some improvement could have been made.

Stephen Graham Jones' first comic takes one of the classic time travel plots - kill the man behind the genocide before it can happen - but switches the target, a small group of 22nd century Native Americans sending one of their number back to off Columbus before his ships can land in the New World, an action here presented as dooming not only their people, but ultimately the world (because without the USA, techno-capitalism wouldn't have got to the level it did, been as impervious to restraint as it was - I don't know that it's an unassailable argument, but it's certainly not a ridiculous one). And the story of Tad, the chosen envoy-assassin, trying to overcome his scruples, pass as a sailor, get close enough to do the deed - that's excellent stuff, especially as it seems like events are changing from the version he memorised, that maybe the timeline is trying to protect itself, and then things start getting really weird. But meanwhile, back in the devastated 'present' of 2112 ("The Mayans were only off by a century"), there's another strand of the plot, and here I felt pretty lost. Prose writers' comics debuts can often have a difficulty with getting interiority across, a certain jerkiness and lack of clarity; Tad's narration saves his sections from that, but when we get scenes without similar hand-holding, and with more of an ensemble cast, which have to dig into the specifics of how time travel works in this particular world (a narrative minefield in its own right, of course), I began to stumble. There's still a lot to enjoy in Earthdivers, for one of the grimmer senses of the word, but for the moment, don't expect as smooth a ride as in Jones' books without pictures.

(Netgalley ARC)

(I received this title from the editor and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review)

I was very intrigued by Stephen Graham Jones’ (The Only Good Indians) first dive into comic books. His writing is always very straightforward, and therefore I really wanted to see how this attribute translated into a different media.
The core idea, going back in time to Kill Columbus so the discovery of the Americas never happens and, consequently, neither would any of the awful decisions that would transform the land into an apocalyptic dessert in the year 2112, is a very interesting one.
The person with the task, a linguist no less, could seem like an odd choice in the beginning, but I really liked his evolution and how a mission can change one’s ideals and beliefs. Here there be monsters, indeed.
It in the present time when things get a little bit more confusing, with characters not being who they seem, people coming and going, different missions, different paths to take, but I am of the opinion that this is quite common when dealing with both time-travelling and the first volume of a series, so I suppose the reader will get more clarity once a second volume is out.
To sum up, this is an interesting first contact with a world full of possibilities and characters that will definitely need to evolve in order to achieve their goals, but it is not as exciting as it could have been. But again, this could change once the second volume is out.