2 1/2 Stars. I'm not a big graphic novel person, but I do like to read them on occasion. If I could find more in the F/F category, I would read more of them. When I saw Welcome Back, was about 2 lesbian assassins, I thought yes, this is right up my alley. Unfortunately, this was really just so so in my opinion.

This volume one, includes the first 4 parts of the series. I liked the first issue, but as the series went on, things became more convoluted to me. The story is about people who keep being reborn, to kill each other, then start all over again. One of the issues in this series, is lack of explanation. We don't really know why they keep being reborn, and why they have to kill each other. Some reason about balance was giving, but that was it. I must admit, half the time I really didn't even get what was going on, and what role the people in the background played. We are thrown into a world, were we don't really get what is going on or why.

I mentioned I liked the first issue, but as I read on, I noticed the art, seemed to have changed. I'm guessing a new artist? Which was disappointing as the art in the beginning was much better than at the end. Even the main characters suddenly looked different. I also had a big problem with reading some of the dialogue. The boxes would move all over, and the reading order would change. Too many times I was just guessing what order to read things, and I was wrong plenty of times. I really get frustrated when I don't know what I should be reading next in a graphic novel.

While I liked the theme of lesbian assassins, this just didn't come together for me. This is not a bad graphic novel, I just have too many complaints, to want to read the rest of the series.

An ARC was given to me from Netgalley, for a honest review.

Lover everything about it. I want more!!! Surpassed all expectations. It's beautiful to look at. Part of me wishes I had a physical copy to really examine some of the panels.

Very interesting concept, and well fleshed out as the story progressed throughout this first collection! I'm not usually a fan of this kind of comic art style, but it works very well with the scenes - there's A LOT of violence in this, and the kind of classic American comic style goes hand in hand with it in my opinion.

Refreshing to see two female leads, and even more refreshing to see a complicated romance between them! I'm definitely going to keep on top of this series now, and can't wait to see what direction it's going to go in. I'm not completely sold on the "we MUST fight / caught in a never-ending cycle" concept, but as the story seems well thought out I can only imagine that we're going to delve more deeply into the history of this universe as the series progresses, and tackle the hard questions!

Overall, Welcome Back has a lot of good things going for it. The concept is good - reincarnated assassins that have been fighting the same war for hundreds of lifetimes. I like the art, in general (more on that later). And it kept me interested.

That being said, I had some issues with this graphic novel as well. The illustrator changed rather suddenly and with it so did the main characters', Mali & Tessa, appearances. The dialogue can be abrupt and hard to follow at times. And the characters seem to change opinion or purpose without any real motive or explanation.

The final issue I have had so far is a lack of answers. Tessa was woken up early, while Mali woke up late; why? What is the purpose of the war? Why do soldiers have one target, but the grunts can take out whoever and move up the chain? Where did the romance come in?

As a result between the changes made and the abruptness, Welcome Back has a rather disjointed feel. However, Vol. 1 only encompasses the first four issues of the series. There are four more to go. I am hopeful that maybe by the end, everything is explained.

This has been on my "to read" list for quite some time, and it disappoint. Assassins who fight, kill, and love each other again and again throughout lives and time. Great premise. The characters are imagined and diverse, and the art is great! I look forward to reading more volumes.

This was really good! I'm invested in the main characters and want to read the second volume as soon as possible. I'm hoping some of why this war is being fought, why these people are being reincarnated and "fated" to kill their targets will be answered in the next volume. I really liked the art in the second half of the book but didn't care for it in the first half; Mali is apparently 26, but the art made her look like a teenager. I really liked that the characters that reincarnate are not the same gender, race, etc. every time they come back.

In a nutshell:
What great fun! I really enjoyed reading this and am totally looking forward to where this story can and will go from here.

Story:
Mali and Tessa are two soldiers, bound in an endless war, being born and killed in an endless spiral of hatred and futility. We meet them in 2015 on their colliding trajectories of fate. There really is not much more to say about this premise except that I found it kickass and thought it worked really well for this story. I hope future issues will delve more into this war and what it means and where it can go from here.
The best part of this volume, for me, were hands down the characters. I loved Tessa and Mali and everybody they interacted with. The relationships made sense and worked really well for the story told.

Artwork:
I loved the artwork, especially in the beginning. I think the character look particularly badass in a stylized, over-the-top but still grounded in reality way and I absolutely adored that choice. Even after the chance in artwork, it still looked perfectly fine for me - but it lost a bit of the kick it had in the beginning, particularly when it comes to Mali. My absolute favourite part though was the clever use of colour. The pink and the green used worked brilliantly to make the art pop and to tell the story in a subtle way as well.

____
I recieved an arc of this book curtesy of NetGalley and BOOM! Studios in exchange for an honest review. Thanks for that!

I'm a sucker for a good cover. I know you aren't supposed to judge a book by its cover, but come on, bad cover design means the book will get passed up when it's on the shelf. (8 years as a bookseller, I would know)

The cover delivers and so does the content. I was worried that the "immortals being reincarnated" trope would fall flat here. As much as I love Wicked + Divine, I don't want to read a copy cat. Thankfully, there is nothing copy cat about this title.

The story is compelling enough for the reader to keep turning pages. There is enough exposition and action to keep even the picky reader happy. The art is great and adds to the narrative instead of taking away from it.

My only complaint? The star-crossed lovers thing was a bit too obvious and kinda annoying. (Gay men to lesbian? really? is this fan service?) But hey, I'm all for queer representation in graphic novels. There isn't enough of it. And thankfully it wasn't a big deal. It was just accepted.

People who like Wicked + Divine, Saga, and Capitan Marvel would enjoy this.

I really enjoyed this one - it's not perfect, so let's talk about the negatives first - 1) the art style changes mid-issue, and it can be confusing to figure out at first who everyone is after the change. 2) it can get confusing with a lot of internal monologues.

Now, onto the positives - it's a unique story, the writing is actually really good, and the characters are awesome. There are a lot of interesting details that help with the world building, and it raises a lot of cool questions.

I really liked this one and will definitely continue reading the series.

An interesting premise and great art but I'm still don't 100% understand the concept, the war, the sequels all needs a bit more explaining which I presume will come in future volumes. I am intrigued and would like to see more but only if my confusion is settled quickly!

I loved the artwork and it started strong, unfortunately, it went downhill from there. After a while I was just really bored. This is a very different type of comic than what I've read from Boom in the past. Hopefully it'll improve in the second volume, because the MC was very like-able.

The synopsis of this story sounded more interesting than the actual story. The graphics were nice but a bit too busy at some points. It was a very confusing story and very unnecessarily convoluting.

'Welcome Back, Vol 1: Help, I'm Alive' by Christopher Sebela with art by Jonathan Brandon Sawyer is a trippy graphic novel about past lives, past enemies and moving forward when things seem stuck in the same cycle.

Mali lives an ok life. She's got a roommate, a place to live, a dog, and a boyfriend. She's also got a serial killer for a dad and has to live with that in her past. That's not the only thing in her past. She also finds out she has been living over and over and fighting the same enemy in all of her previous lives. In each life, one prevails in combat, and then commits suicide so that the cycle can start all over again. Mali is just waking up to this fact, but will it be in time?

The story also follows her rival Tessa, and does so in what I thought was a pretty easy way to follow both stories.

It's the kind of in your face story that you just have to read and not ask too many questions, like how can Mali be so good at combat when she doesn't seem to have ever trained? Reincarnated warriors who want things to stop doesn't seem totally new, but I like the way things were handled in this medium. The art is pretty good in this graphic novel. I liked it.

I received a review copy of this graphic novel from BOOM! Studios and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this graphic novel.

* * *
3 / 5

Welcome Back is a graphic novel, the first book comprising of 4 issues. I don't often read graphic novels, but this one was a fun foray into the genre. I was entirely attracted by the plot: Mali and Tessa have lived hundreds of lives and each life they have only one goal: to kill the other. Lifetime after lifetime they have fought, for so long they can't ever remember why, only that they must. But now, Mali is having doubts.

First off, I loved the art style. I thought it looked amazing. But then, halfway through the artist either changed style or the artist changed entirely. I found this quite jarring and although the art was still good, I thought it was a downgrade, which was such a shame. Otherwise the layout was fine and it was easy to read. There's a bunch of really awesome panels where it shows Mali and Tessa as all the people they have been before, and the fighting and action scenes are beautiful.

I did find it a little bit difficult to understand at first. Essentially, Mali and Tessa are sequels, people that reincarnate. When one kills the other, they die straight after and both are reborn. A sequel must be "woken up" in each life in order to remember who they and what their mission is, and whilst Tessa is woken up at five years old and put through intensive training, Mali becomes a young adult before she awakes. She's at a disadvantage, however, because Tessa is already on her trail. I did find the idea really great and engaging, but it did take some time to pick up the gist in the book.

I was also interested in this because it was listed under LGBT+ categories. Mali and Tessa are both gay, but this only comes into play at the end of the book, and I found it a bit abrupt and perhaps a little forced. I would have liked a lot more development, which hopefully will happen in the next volume!

Essentially, Welcome Back is a bit convoluted and difficult to follow, but the art is beautiful and I loved the characters.

I did have a few minor issues with this. The layout can be a bit confusing at times and I think a few times I ended up reading the boxes out of order [There are a LOT of boxes, in a LOT of different colors. It's a bit much, and that's coming from someone who reads a lot of Deadpool]. The art is awesome, but I think they literally changed artists in the middle of an issue, which was a bit jarring.

But the premise was so good [I mean it's basically a soulmate/reincarnation AU but with assassins, what's not to love?] that I still really enjoyed it and will definitely be picking up the next volume when it's available. I love both of the main characters and I hope we will continue to learn more about their past lives. I also love that their reincarnations aren't limited by race, gender, or sexuality but that they are just themselves every time no matter what they look like on the outside. A really great start to what will hopefully be a really cool series!

This is a very violet graphic novel about two people who are fighting each other through-out time. Each time they are reincarnated, they have to go after the other.

And each time, they have to "wake up" to remember their past.

And that is it. This is the story of the most recent waking up, and the character deciding she doesn't want to be an assasine, but how can she stop.

And if you want to find out, you can get this issue. <spoiler>They decide to become lovers instead.</spoiler>

If would rate it lower, as it was a slog to get through, and I'm not into violence, but, hey, some people like that sort of thing, and it is what it says on the tin, so I can't rate it down for being that.

Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.

I have to admit, I'm not fully sold on this concept. It's cool - reincarnated assassins who's sole purpose is to take out their opposing target in a neverending war - but it seems almost aimless at times.

Similarly with the plot of these first four issues. It seems almost light on it - for all the build-up, with Mali waking up, the final battle comes very quickly, and somewhat abruptly. I wouldn't go so far as to say that this could have been expanded to cover the whole arc, but it maybe needed a bit more fleshing out. I'll save any judgement on that until I've read the rest of the issues.

The art was, for the most part, really nice. It changed artist about halfway through, and I didn't like that art quite as much, but it was still good. (And nowhere near as painful as some of the DC/Marvel art I've suffered through.) It did seem as though, when the second artist took over, that Tessa's skin got lightened which wasn't great (I don't know if it was intentional or accidental but still).

Loved this graphic novel. Great story and artwork throughout.