It might be a misleading title, but it is an interesting meditation on what war does to its soldiers, especially the ones who survive.

This was different from the usual graphic novels I have read lately. We see a soldier who gets assigned to a odd group, and things only get stranger from there. The story that unfolds is peculiar but shows how awful war can be on a person. Some people will enjoy this graphic novel, but it won’t be for everyone.

I didn't expect to like this tbh, but it wasn't better than expected. Pretty decent historic horror.

This is a really gritty horror graphic novel. It took me some time to understand all the nuances and twists and turns, and I am not sure I understood the ending, but it is a great book.

A young soldier during World War One is assigned to a new battalion called the hounds on a special mission, but he discovers the enemy is entirely not as he expected. He takes on this new assignment with the help of the supernatural but can he survive the horrors of war and the horrors of a new threat?

The artwork is dark and fitting for the story. It is a good one for horror fans.

Copy provided via Netgalley in exchange for an unbiased review.

This is a story of war and its effects on the human mind and sanity. The message is clear and the artwork reflects the harsh reality and chaos that happened to the men and boys during the World Wars.

Yet, there were elements that just didn't make sense. I could understand how the situations could turn the "Hounds" into monsters. But what sort of monsters were they? At first I thought the gas turned them into werewolves. They kind of had that type of look to their facial features. Yet, they could also be described as zombies or mutants. Were the "prisoners" supposed to be zombies or something? They certainly looked dead when they were revealed to Barrow. But, then at nightfall they seemed to be revived and running away. It was hard to tell what was going on in the chase scenes. Then there were the wolves. I got that they didn't like the "Hounds;" they probably could smell or sense the evil on the men. But where did they come from? Why were they added to the story? It just didn't make any sense.

In the end, I could get the message that the story seemed to loosely convey, but the elements were confusing at best. And chaotic at worst. I would have liked to see more of an explanation behind the cult activity, the wolves, and how/why they went from eating the faces off of people to the farmer finding a bunch of...statues....preserved bodies....sleeping...wolves in an old tree.

One of the most compelling ways I've seen the horrors of war depicted, graphic novel is the perfect way to truly capture the emotion and gruesome depravity of humanity. The story shows the dichotomy of throwing yourself to the violence and being changed for the worse, or to choose your humanity and to mourn those lost in the path of violence.

Hound is such an incredibly harrowing and grizzly graphic novel that takes an unflinching look at the cruelties of war and how that changes the hearts of men or how some hold true to who they are.

The art team of Sam Freeman and Rodrigo Vázquez capture the dark nature of “The Hounds” perfectly, leaving nothing to the imagination in how brutal they are. I am always happy to see Justin Birch on the lettering because I know we’re in for a good time.

Overall the story plots along a great pace, and shows that this team knows the meaning of “show don’t tell.”

If you like war stories with a dark and sinister twist, you’ll love Hound

In 2024, Mad Cave is celebrating ten years of quietly putting out comics. This latest slate of books is an eclectic set of distinctive and creator-driven comics. It’s been exciting to read each of these releases, not knowing quite what you are going to get. Even when they are flawed, these books provide a spotlight for creators to express their distinctive voices. The upcoming original graphic novel release, Hound, by writers Sam Freeman and Sam Romesburg and artist Rodrigo Vásquez is no different. A relatively brief novella, this horror-tinged story of war and the dehumanization of violence lays out its story and themes directly, throwing readers into a disorienting and gory nightmare.

I really liked the idea of this story. It was very dark. I liked the art style, which created a moody and scary vibe. The writing was thoughtful. I enjoyed the way it handled war. The only thing I disliked was the pace of the story. It was a bit too fast.

I have so many good things to say about this book. The pacing was perfect, the illustrations were dark and haunting, and the story was absolutely top notch. The brutal reality of horror is depicted so honestly, and that is partnered with the terrifying image of a cult, which together gives this book a lasting effect on the brain.

Hound GN is a classically illustrated graphic novel about war and what it does to its combatants.

Private Barrow is a tosher, who hunts for sellable goods within the London sewers. He is the newest recruit in The Hounds, a special unit in the British army during World War I. The unit is sent into a zone plagued with both mustard gas and German troops. But the worst enemies come from within… 4 stars!

Thanks to Mad Cave Studios and NetGalley for a digital review copy of the book.

Our hero barrow learns the horrors of war. A book that shows how giving in to the darkness turns us to monsters. Yet also shows their is light in the world.

This amazing, dark graphic novel drew me straight in, mesmerized me, then spit me out. War is awful. There is no happiness, no matter if your motives are good. This story is brutal, even though it is short. Thanks to NetGalley for letting me read this

War is terrible, and sometimes what it forces us to become is worse.

I am absolutely in awe of this book. Hound is a short read, and yet it manages to instill something deep within you. If you've ever wondered what lies beyond the eyes of soldiers returned from harrowing combat... this is the book for you. At first I don't think I quite grasped what I was reading - I knew it was another war book, and I knew that it would contain some element of horror. Hound goes beyond both of these things.

There are no real words to sum up how this book made me feel - if anything, it was an experience. There were times where I grimaced and felt ashamed at our MC's ignorance. There were times where I cried after our MC committed a heinous act. There were more times yet where I smiled at how our MC chose to overcome these experiences.

Hound is a graphic novel that draws you in and keeps you there. It's one that will stay with me for a long time, and one that I absolutely cannot recommend enough. All my thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me the opportunity to read this ARC!

Really enjoyed the book from start to finish. Author wrote this with great pace. This book is now one of my top books of the year for sure. Loved every second of this book

Over the past few months, I have begun to look closer at Mad Cave Studios and their output of graphic novels. They are going to be publishing some of my favorite properties soon and I've made an effort to read more books from them and found them to be quite enjoyable. That takes me to Hound, which may very well be the best of the bunch (at least so far). The story was moody and tense. The artwork had a very Eduardo Risso on 100 Bullets kind of feel (not a swipe, just a feeling). It was very exciting to read a graphic novel and not really have any sort of idea where it was headed. Well done to the creative team.

Special Thanks to Mad Cave Studios and Netgalley for the digital ARC. This was given to me for an honest review.

An gorgeous and deeply unsettling mashup that pairs the horrors of war with a bloodthirsty cult patrolling the western front during WWI.

Bloody and brutal, Hound GN is a graphic novel with bite. Putting a horror twist on an already horrible historical moment, it's short but definitely not sweet, bound by the vicious, yet unavoidable, fact that war doesn't always make monsters of men - sometimes, it just unleashes what's already there.

Read this if you like your history AND your graphic novels brutal - both physically and emotionally!

The artwork does a wonderful job of telling the story of William Barrow a young British soldier in Germany during WWI. Barrow's journal is found in a den of large wolf-like creatures by an old man and we experience the story of the events leading to Barrow's death as the old man reads it. What unfolds is a horrific tale of violence and the animalistic side of war and humanity.

The artwork fit the style of the story and had a feeling of movement with the color pallet well suited to the mood. The amount of dialogue and text boxes was appropriate for the story being told.

The only place it falls a little for me is in the explanation of events, the way the climax in action is resolved could use just a single page or two explanation to bring it all together for me.

An extremely dark story about a new soldier arriving to the front during World War I. Due to his experience working in sewers, he's assigned to the Hounds, a group that goes off on its own, always wearing gas masks. He's given an initiation that he must pass in order to stay alive. Things continue to head south from there.

A lot of the story is wordless, trusting the art to tell the story and therein lies the rub. I get why the art is so rough. The problem is it's too rough at times to clearly tell the story and there were multiple times where I was confused about why certain things were happening. There also a large passage that is in untranslated German. If there's anything that takes me out of a comic, it's needing to use Google Translate on my phone in order to read it.