First a big thank you to NetGalley, the Author, the Artist and the Publisher for this ARC.

This one confused me at first. The NetGalley APP has you reading it backwards.
So I didn't understand why I couldn't understand the way the dialogue was flowing, until I realized, then I had to scroll to the "last" page and start my way from there back to the "first" page. 🙈

Our main character is an "Indigo Child", which makes her special, she can talk to or understand nature, sometimes she reads peoples thoughts, and she kinda has the power to see more and understand more than most people, a little like seeing in the future. We have aliens, people who believe in the super natural, lizard like aliens who want to take over the universe and then an alien organization who has a peace treaty which can only be signed by a "Indigo child" from earth.

This was a lot and not enough.
I still had questions at the end and felt like it could have been a lot more, or that the story could have developed differently and more explored.

The art was gorgeous tho....

Thank you NetGalley, Mad Cave Studios, and Nakama Press for this arc

2/5 stars

This started as an interesting concept but quickly got so convoluted and confusing, as well as a bit too out there (even for me, and that's saying something lol I love aliens). Using the concept of indigo children in conjunction with autism is a really harmful practise, and it doesn't sit right with me. And bringing reptilians into this was just so weird?? The art is stunning, and that's the only reason it got 2 stars.

The only reason this comic gets 3 stars from me is because it’s pretty to look at. The writing was not good and it suffers from the combination of too many ideas taking place at once without giving each concept the time to marinate and be read as fully actualized. It also suffers from being way too broad in scale.

The reading experience is a lot of confusion. I couldn’t tell what was actually going on more than half the time. A story that is too convoluted to understand makes for a bad reading experience and unfortunately this comic suffers for it.

Brilliant art, but the story , writing and pace are a mess. I found it difficult to keep up with how much of what was going on tied together as one scene constantly jumped to another, the dialogue was unnatural and nearly halfway through I just didn't care about any of the characters.

It's very possible much of this is down to much being lost in translation, but with the art being the only thing I could hang onto I just couldn't finish the book.

ARC provided by NetGalley

Going into this book I didn't really know much about "indigo children" and had to do more research after finishing my read. As an autistic person myself, I really do not feel comfortable with the way that this book perpetuates that ableist concept, even if it's in a way that is supposed to be supernatural fantasy. I think nowadays there are a lot of media that portrays autistic characters with powers in relationship with their disability that show how it is not necessary to still build upon ableist concepts to make a good story with neurodivergent characters.

As for the book, I often found myself confused because the story beats were so quick and there was so little character and world building. I understand there was only so much the author could include but also think this is a story that really needed a better foundation to build upon and the lack of it impacted my interest in the story a lot. The art was good, I liked the older anime's look of it and I think it manages to partially fill some of the gaps that the dialogue and narration fail to explore more, just not enough.

Thanks to NetGalley and Nakama Press for e-ARC.

(For context, I read the story in English. I believe the original is in Cantonese.)
First off, the story is beautifully illustrated. They are interesting and engaging, which is what originally drew me in.
However, I felt it went downhill from there. While the illustrations were beautiful, they were low-res compared to the high quality translated text put in awkwardly large speech bubbles.
In terms of writing, the pacing was rapid fire, throwing lots of exposition onto the reader and lots of action which all happened in a blur. The (translated) dialogue was awkward, and overall the book wasn’t for me.
Thank you to NetGalley and Nakama Press for proving me this e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Ella is a reporter for an occult magazine, living what appears to be a normal life. She’s not the best at getting along with people, but she has the special ability to sometimes know what other people are thinking. She also possesses an extreme sensibility which enables her to communicate with plants and animals. One day, Ella learns of the strange death of her college professor and beloved mentor, who seems to have committed suicide by starving to death. Instinct draws Ella to investigate the real cause of the professor's death, which gradually unfolds a series of mysterious incidents which surpass Ella’s wildest imagination. 
The art work here is absolutely gorgeous. It is easy to see the amount of work and love that went into creating this graphic novel. As the artist explains in the prolog he was given limited space to tell his story. Unfortuanately this is what causes the novel to suffer. The story seems rushed and incomplete, as well as some stumbles in the flow. Maybe the issue is translating this into English something was lost. I dunno just that it felt like I was stumbling through it.

If you are good at reading Manga in it's proper form you may follow the stry better than I could. Either way, because of the art its worth you taking a look.
Expected publishing date; May 20, 2025

Published date April 1, 2025
Thanks to @netgalley and Mad Cave Studios/Nakama Press for the opportunity to read this eArc in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion.

Ella Summer is just a reporter for an occultist magazine with some heightened abilities nothing more, nothing less…or is she?
I enjoyed the plot and artwork of the comic there were pages that seemed rushed or simply ideas not fully fleshed out but that’s understandable given there was a limited amount of pages. Yet the story was not only intriguing but an adventure worth reading. I left the story considering humanity carefully.

Let’s start with what works here - the art is tremendous. There are so many details to get lost in and so many evocative panels that I enjoyed my time with. The writing, on the other hand, suffers greatly from something being lost in translation - the dialogue is too often stilted and unnatural, and tends towards exhausting exposition dumps instead of letting things emerge more naturally. The cosmic horror story lurking in the margins is compelling, but the conspiracy sci-fi occult direction this takes was ultimately not for me… a shame, because I think there are some really cool ideas here that don’t congeal into a truly compelling or worthwhile story.

Thanks to NetGalley and Nakama Press for the eARC.

Una reportera descubre que es la clave del destino no solo de la humanidad, sino también de la Tierra y del universo entero. Ella es reportera de una revista ocultista y lleva una vida aparentemente normal. No es muy buena relacionándose con la gente, pero tiene la habilidad especial de, a veces, saber lo que piensan los demás. Además, posee una sensibilidad extrema que le permite comunicarse con plantas y animales. Un día, Ella se entera de la extraña muerte de su profesor y mentor, quien parece haberse suicidado. Su instinto la lleva a investigar la causa de la muerte, lo que gradualmente desata una serie de misteriosos incidentes que superan su imaginación.

Siento que la estructura y desarrollo de la trama no fueron en nada satisfactorios. Fue una mezcla de ideas que no lograron convivir en armonía. Me entristece mucho que no me haya gustado más ya que tenía muchas esperanzas por el blurb.

2.5/5⭐

Gorgeous art, but massive fail. I wanted to like this one. I don't know if it was the over abundance of scifi stuff crammed into the book, bad translation, or a runaway plot, but this was a mess. This book heavily relies on exposition and the readers just trust whatever the characters are saying.

A confusing mess.

In Indigo, reporter Ella Summers investigates the strange death of her old professor and stumbles into a tangled web of alien conspiracies, psychic powers, and a mysterious galactic treaty. She may just be the key to saving Earth—and the universe.

The premise had so much potential, and the art is genuinely beautiful. But the story was confusing and rushed. New characters and concepts are introduced with little context, and significant plot points fly by so fast they barely land. I often felt like I’d missed a previous volume.

Ella’s powers and backstory are mentioned but never developed, and the story leans heavily on the “Indigo Child” and “Chosen One” tropes without explaining or grounding them. It reads like multiple ideas jammed into one volume, without enough space for anything to fully unfold.

Sadly, despite the striking art, this was more frustrating than fun.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The premise and initial set-up of this were masterful. I was hooked until the 50% mark.I lost interest in the conclusion and story after that. Overall, it has beautiful artwork and a compelling main character.

Indigo is my first read from this author/illustrator and if I were judging just off of illustrations, this is a 5/5 stars. Wow, I loved all of the art and especially the colorful pieces.

That said, the plot to this graphic novel is unorganized and confusing. Several times while reading I had trouble connecting what was going on, at one point a person explodes with no warning, some seem to shoot lasers, creatures appear from nowhere, and the protagonist is an indigo child (?).

The protagonist of this story is Ella Summers, a reporter investigating some otherworldly going-ons. This happens to take place in space but also all of the legends she was investigating turn out to be said creatures following her. The pace in this graphic novel is fast but because action scenes and story points happen quickly without us digesting what happened, it felt a little too rushed. I think the dialogue exposition missed an opportunity to make sure the reader understood the message instead of continuously introducing ideas. This graphic novel is a good read for the vibes and visuals.

Thank you to Mad Cave Studios, Nakama Press, and NetGalley for the opportunity to review this graphic novel.

A pretentious sci-fi yarn that desperately wants to be Arthur C. Clarke, but fails because of unbelievable plotting and ridiculous heavy-handed dialogue. It doesn't help that the author has written several (!) overly earnest author's notes in the back, explaining what he was trying to do.

There's some nice art, but this is a stinker, I'm afraid.

Indigo moves at a breakneck pace, cramming in exposition after exposition of conspiracy theories without a coherent thread to tie them together. The story feels jumbled and confusing, more like an abstract fever dream than a structured narrative. Someone described it as a story that makes sense while you're dreaming but falls apart the moment you wake up, and I couldn't agree more. It jumps erratically from one idea to the next, making it difficult to follow or invest in.

The only truly redeeming quality is the art, which is undeniably striking. The visuals are compelling and well-crafted, but they ultimately feel wasted on a story that lacks clarity or direction. Indigo reads more like an experimental project for an art class than a fully realized, publishable work. If you're here for the story, you'll likely walk away frustrated—but if you're just here for the visuals, you might find something to appreciate.

2.5 stars rounded up

Even the nice art couldn't save this mess.

This sounded like it was right up my alley. Sci-fi crime thriller? Sign me up. I couldn't say no to that gorgeous cover either.

But the more I read, the more idiotic this turned out to be. It felt like a ten volume series squeezed into one volume. There were so many ideas, and definitely not enough time and space for everything to play out in a remotely decent manner. It desperately needed a developmental editor.

You've got:

❗ indigo children
❗ Chosen One
❗ terrible dialogue ("Ella Summer" is repeated like fifty times)
❗ lizard people (?????)
❗ aliens on Earth
❗ aliens in space
❗ some kind of space-Earth alien treaty

This entire thing ended up feeling like one of those conspiracy theories about lizard people/aliens from outer space hiding on Earth as sleeper agents for some future alien invasion mashed with a story about some pretty blonde young woman as the Chosen One. Why was she the Chosen One when the other Chosen Ones were actual historical figures? Who knows.

Although I did like the author's note on using Cantonese vs. Mandarin. But that's just a me thing.

Thank you to Nakama Press and NetGalley for this arc.

Sadly I found this confusing, but the art was gorgeous! Felt like it started in the middle, and didn't give enough context

The art was nice, but it feels like 10 volumes were made into one.
It ended up feeling like a conspiracy theory about lizard people/aliens from outer space hiding on Earth for some future alien invasion mashed with a story about some pretty blonde as the Chosen One. Why was she the Chosen One when the others were actual historical figures? Who knows. Maybe, somehow she is related to one of them but it's not mentioned (which would have been great).
It felt rushed.

Yikes.
This is a religious manifesto thinly veiled as a story. The authors are just info-dumping their belief in aliens and indigo children and pretending there is a plot. The 'storytelling' is jumpy and chaotic with almost zero follow through. They introduce a mysterious death and then never explain it. This book feels like when you have a dream that makes sense while you're dreaming, but later when you try to explain it you realize it was really just a nonsensical string of images strung together. I'm sure this book makes sense to the authors, but they never connect any of the dots for their readers.
Single star for decent artwork.