Strong, powerful and entertaining. I loved this dystopian graphic novel and I already want to read the sequel.

Lots of mystery and intrigue in this series.A post apocalyptic future where children have survived in small numbers, adults are gone in huge numbers, and the children are being gathered up for some kind of military purpose.
The story is strong; kept me turning pages to see what was going to happen next. The plot and the world these characters live in is well developed. You end up caring for these orphans and cheering them on as they face unimaginable challenges. I recommend this.

'Orphans Vol. 1' by Roberto Recchioni with art by Emiliano Mammucari is a collection of the first three issues of the series, but each issue is over 100 pages, so this collection weighs in at 352 pages.

An attack from space hits the Earth and leaves behind a group of orphaned children. They become the best hope to strike back against this interstellar enemy. The problem is that the enemy is very stealthy at hiding and attacking, but the Orphans are pretty good at what they do. Each issue starts with more of the attack on Earth, more of the training/breaking of the young recruits, then catches up to the future as this elite team tries to get revenge for Earth.

It's a quick read, but it's a huge graphic novel. The story is compelling and I liked the characters. Don't fall for any particular character, because sacrifices get made along the way. The art is really clean and quite good. The story feels like Starship Troopers, Ender's Game and Halo all mixed together. That means I liked it quite a lot.

I received a review copy of this graphic novel from Lion Forge, Diamond Book Distributors, and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this graphic novel.

the ebook isn't working properly, all the pictures are just static, i don't know how to make this any longer for the limit lmao

(Recieved from NetGalley for an honest review).

First of all, the art is phenomenal! Second, this graphic novel is utterly amazing!

When the world is hit by a beam of light, the prospect of aliens becomes real. Now all the survivors are basically orphans, and these children are the best candidates to be fine-tuned into soldiers. They have nothing more to lose and some may seek revenge against the alien species that took their families from them and destroyed their planet. The aliens are mysterious lifeforms, almost spectral in they cannot bee seen on a general radar and can appear out of nowhere with no notice.

The writing (I think this is a translation from an original language--Italian?) is excellent and the story flows well. The first chapter feels a bit slow, but it's the main setup with the orphaned characters, how the world ended, where the children end up, and what they do to become soldiers. The first chapter has a great cliffhanger ending and the second and third chapters (this volume contains chapters 1-3 at about 100 pages each) are fast-paced and exciting. The image flow is done well and time shifts between past and present are executed with clarity. The last fifty pages (the book is 353 total) feature a whole trough of extras including Q+A with the author/artist, character and technology designs, and cover reveal of the next volume. The character relationships and development are also strong, and I predict they will become even stronger as the story progresses. This is an excellent read for those who love graphic novels and sci-fi with aliens! I can't wait to read the next one!

It's the first one in the series. Can't wait for more to come out. Love how you get to see them as kids and learn how each of them came to be orphans

I read this as an arc from netgally , im loving there wide range of graphic novels . This is definitely a more adult themed graphic novel than previous graphic novels I’ve read today . Well drawn and I loved the development of the characters. Training orphans to become soilders is a pretty unique concept and I like the sci-fi element of the story. Thanks again netgally.

This started out well enough. One fifth of the world is wiped out by something alien, and children are left behind without parents, thus they are orphans, which the army picks up and trains. We follow a group of those children found in Spain, of which one is a) a girl and b) an American. She is the only girl in the group. They are then dumped “Lord of the Flies” style, somewhere that they have to find their way out of, on their own.

That was the start, and for that, I would have given this whole volume four stars. But from there, the kids are put into the military, and it kind of goes downhill from there. Bang bang, shoot shoot, and no more character development. I know, I know, action and adventure graphic novels aren’t about character development, and such, but that is what I read them for. I have never been too interested in the bang bang, hit hit side of comic books and graphic novels.

So, if that is what you enjoy, the action, then this would probably work for you. And who know, perhaps volume two will see more of these characters developed.

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

I wasn't really sure what to expect with this book, but it turned out to be quite the pleasant surprise. The premise is a bit of your typical SF dystopia: aliens wipe out lots of people on Earth, Earth fights back using children that they trained up into soldiers. It's not necessarily the plot or the premise that gets me (although I do tend to enjoy books that remind me a bit of Ender's Game but not written by someone whose personal beliefs are as antithetical to mine as Orson Scott Card), but the way that it's executed. The art is absolutely gorgeous, and the alien enemy in particular is fascinating, both visually and story-wise. I feel like the plot and characters didn't necessarily develop all that much in these first three volumes, but they did a great job in hooking me and raising questions that I really want answers to. On the whole, I thought that this was a really strong start to a story that I most definitely want to continue reading.

This is a scifi/space opera story that features intriguing worldbuilding (and very strange monsters) and themes of war and child soldiers. The artstyle was less...robust than I'd expected from the cover, though I did find the action sequences done very well. My biggest problem were the characters and the dialogue. The former I found rather shallow and the latter often stilted. All in all, it's a very average scifi graphic novel that doesn't breach any new barriers.

ARC provided by NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
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This was a good first volume for what seems to be a sure to be popular series.

The artwork was quite beautiful and appropriately evocative in emotional scenes. The characters were interestingly explored through their actions and reactions to the various situations they faced. Overall, I was quite satisfied with the art.

The story was a bit lacking. I understand that this is the first volume and as such is an introduction. However, I do feel that the aliens could have been explored a bit more in this. This volume focuses more on the main characters backstory and character study interspersed with events occurring in the present. The time switching was handled very well and I enjoyed learning about the characters. However, I think a bit more time should have been spent on the aliens. Moreover, the training of the recruits could have been a bit more unique compared to the obvious influences that inspired this.

Overall, this was an enjoyable read. I'll be continuing the series because this first volume does a good job of keeping the reader engaged and on the edge of their seat.

Overall rating: 3.5 stars
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Short review on Litsy:
ARC provided by NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
I enjoyed this volume. It was a good introduction to the series. The artwork was beautiful and evocative.
The story focused on character development and had little in the way of concrete plot. I wish the following volumes explore the aliens more as I am expecting they well. The ending left me in anticipation of the next volume.
Overall rating: 3.5 stars

Orphans: The Beginning is an interesting scifi comic that revolves around child soldiers. Basically most of the world is in ruins and only so many people are alive still after the the end of the world. We don't really get to see how it happened, but some glimpses are revealed. Scientists and soldiers form an organization that trains kids to be soldiers and teaches them to fight these weird orange looking aliens in order for them to prevent another catastrophe. The story follows a group of kids and shows pieces of their future and how they came to be like they are and how some of them had to sacrifice themselves for the others to survive. So, slightly a Maze Runner type of setting in a way. There are two different timelines, I take it and it was kind of hard to follow them, since they mix without logic. It would've been better to create a more coherent structure, since now some of the happenings feel sporadic and it's hard to pinpoint what is actually happening.

The art looks good, but nothing special. The colors are vivid and dark and perhaps some lighter tones would've made this more refreshing. There's not too much text, which was a good thing, since now there's air in the comic and it eases out the stuffed coloring. Art-wise Orphans works nicely, albeit it could be better, and story-wise there's mostly just the structure problem, so basically this quite a good comic. I'd love to read what happens next, since the mystery is unsolved and hopefully as interesting as it seems to be.

I loved it. It is really amazing story. I love every character and want to know what is gonna happen next. World building is really good. Really looking for the next volume.

Pretty standard sci-fi kids must survive while the adults control them type graphic novel. Will recommend to interested patrons.