A simple story of a man going out to find medicine for his wife during a pandemic. No, it's not COVID, but it obviously pulls from that time. Don't expect any answers. It's a snippet of their story so we don't get a lot of worldbuilding, just a snapshot of this one day in their life. The art was a scratchy black and white with an orange wash. It reminded me some of Paul Pope or Jeff Lemire.

My thanks to both NetGalley and the publisher Diamond Book Distributors for an advance copy of this graphic novel set in a possible future that will seem very familiar.

Living in this century especially the last couple of years one can understand why dystopian tales are so popular. Governments can't govern, the people pick political leaders who bask in their ignorance, the police roam the streets like a gang dispensing justice as they see fit, and keeping the populous in their place. The medical system decides care based on the cost to them, not to the cost of a life, and human rights, civil rights, and every other right disappears with barely a person looking up from TikTok videos on their phone. Add in plagues, food shortages, growing corporate power and the inability of anyone to get accountability on anything, if someone were to yell "Big Macs are people", well that's to be expected. Real world events are always the real influencers on art and what people want to see. This explains a lot of stories and television shows, and this particular graphic novel. House on Fire written and illustrated by Matthew Battaglia is a view of the world maybe fifteen or twenty minutes in the future, where everything has failed except one man's responsibility.

The world might be ending. A sickness is covering the land, infecting people with something either old or new. The cities are under lockdown with security check points to enforce the no-go zones, shadows filled with thieves, and a surging black market. The suburbs are having difficulties, but they are surviving, until a woman gets sick, and a man has to journey to the city. The man bribes his way through the checkpoints, makes connection with a medical person possibly, and gets something. And then things start to go very wrong.

The story is familiar and yet told well, and very minimalist. A man is faced with choices and lines that we tries not to cross, and yet he constantly is forced to. Though there is a lot of ambiguity to the story which I liked. This could be anytime, anywhere. Readers don't get a real strong sense of character because of this reason. This is an avatar for readers, what would one do if there was not hope, and really nothing to count on or be sure of anymore. I enjoyed this aspect, that there was a bigger story going on somewhere, but we are just getting a slice, and a slice that is close to what most people would know anyway. The art is good. The use of black and white with orange being the world around is both unique and disquieting. One gets the feeling for the world, the smell, the failure, the death, the lack of hope. The graphic novel is only 100 pages, but the art makes this seem like a saga, as there is such an oppressive claustrophobic feeling to the city. The art really stays with the reader.

Not a happy story, as it should be. This is a story of the end, it's just that the brain hasn't gotten the message yet, and the limbs are still moving in a vague hope that something will change. I enjoyed this a lot. Recommended for fans of the writer/artist Matt Kindt the color palette seems familiar, or Paul Pope like the promotional material cited. Also for readers of The Eternaut, for that same feeling of fighting the inevitable.

Quite visceral dystopian near-future story, which pushes the main character to his very limits, in the end crossing them. The plot, as much as there is, is simple, and seems fitting for the punchy story it tells. It'll be too little for some readers, but it was enough for me.

The art is.. splodgy? It works on some pages, other pages it kind of inadvertantly seems to mangle what it is trying to portray.

Matt Battaglia’s ‘House on Fire’ is the most minimalist kind of graphic novel you could pick up, but it’s also the best kind—the coloring is sharp, the drawings are crisp and clear, and the plot itself is engaging. Through the use of only two or three colors on each page/panel, Battaglia heightens the tension of the dystopic future world he’s created, and, by focusing the story on only a few characters, he allows readers to be drawn in while keeping the action and pacing of the story tight and fast.

The plot is relatively simple—we meet an unnamed man who quickly sets the stage via his surroundings and his mission as it exists in the world of the story: his wife is sick with some kind of breathing ailment, and in order for her to survive, he has to go into an unnamed urban city and retrieve a kind of medicine. They live in the rural part of whatever state this occurs in, and readers follow him as he bribes his way past the checkout at the city's edge and ventures into the untamed wilds that now exist in the urban environment of this future dystopia. We watch as he barters with his medicine dealer and secures the medicine, and we hold our breath as criminals attack him (are they really criminals though?....Battaglia makes you think about who are the actual bad guys and good guys in this story), and his entire mission is put at jeopardy as he tries to fight them off and return home.

Overall, this story has been done many times before—it’s set sometime in the near future when the world has gone belly up, and there’s a bad virus going around that’s slowly killing the population, and/or there’s a new kind of government who is distinctly authoritarian, and they keep power with the help of a ruling military class. You’ve heard that one before, right? But, Battaglia throws in just enough unique plot points, and he makes you read between the lines without shoving information in your face, that you’re kept guessing for parts of the story, and I appreciate an author who can make you think like that versus serving you every last little detail and plot point on a silver platter.

The coloring in this was beautiful too—many of the panels are drenched in shades of orange, white, and black, and the colorization and shading give a gritty, dark feel to the entire story that heightened the anxiety and tension of the graphic novel itself. Even if it was only a hundred or so pages, the pacing created by the detailed and colorful graphics helped move the plot along at a breakneck speed, and I never once felt at ease with the action on the page (in a good way).

The ending is something else too—all I’ll say is that if you’re expecting something happy that ties the entire thing together, look elsewhere.

Pick this title up if you’re looking for a brief but deep graphic novel, one that includes a story that might seem cookie-cutter at first but then forces you to take a step back and consider what you yourself would do in a situation like that of the main character.

Thanks to NetGalley, Living the Line, and Matt Battaglia for the digital ARC of 'House on Fire' in exchange for an honest review.

Three and a half stars for this distinctive graphic novel, which was fine to an extent but not one I would rush to impose on people. In a post-Covid kind of world, a man is posed nastily alongside something like a chemical or power plant, but that's not what his ambitions seem to feature, for he has something else to do – a black market swap in the city most sensible people have abandoned to checkpoints, multiple clearance levels and masked armed guard. It doesn't go off perfectly, but there is certainly reason for hope towards the end – a time for prayer, and then it's the final image, about which – well, who knows? There are open endings and there are dreadfully vague ones, and this is the latter. Before then we had a nigh-wordless, snappy little thing, with strong use of only black and white and terracotta, and no other colours. Yer mainstream generic title this is not, but slapping down the ambiguous right at the end was pretty close to a slap in the face.

Thank you to NetGally with giving me the opportunity to read the eArc. To start i thought that this graphic novel was okay but I don't think that it was for me. The only thing that I though was really well done was the Intriguing elements. Everything else I found to be very middle-road. I didn't think that the character were really fleshed out and we never truly get a back story into their lives which is what I look for in books. We also weren't provided a name with any names and I kinda need a name in order to start forming relationships. I didn't really like the atmosphere in this book. While I post apocalyptic setting we never learn the backstory as to what actually make it post apocalyptic. I need backstory, we were just kinda thrown into the world and being thrown end doesn't really work well for me. The writing was okay i just needed more, this book has a lot of pictures. Didn't really like the plot. I found the plot to be very generic. This book also doesn't have any logic to it. We never learn why the world is as it is. I didn't really enjoy my time wile reading the book. I didn't find it visually appealing. If this graphic novel does end up become a series, I may continue. We just have to see

Thank you so much to NetGalley, Matt Battaglia and the publishers for providing me with an ARC. The fact that I received and ARC does not influence my opinion or review at all. I'm providing the creators with honest feedback.

I really liked this graphic novel. The book reminded me a lot of the pandemic of the recent years. It takes place in the near-future in a dystopian world, which is falling apart. There's not a lot in the story, but I still overall enjoyed it. It was emotional, while still being a quick read. Maybe Battaglia could have given a bit more background on the orange zone.
I read in some reviews that it feels a bit too positive for a dystopian novel, and I do understand where these people are coming from, but I personally quite liked it this way. This feels more like a positive approach on a dystopian novel, something I haven't really seen done before. The most important theme of House on Fire is definitely love, which contrast amazingly with the second most prominent topic: violence.
The same goes for the art-style. First of all, the art is just beautiful, which still remains a very important part in graphic novels. Secondly, the orange (the world) contrasts very well with the black (the protagonist). It gives the book a thriller kind of vibe.

I absolutely graphic novels (such as this one) that make me experience a range of emotions in a small amount of time. The art is beautiful and the contrast between the sharp-orange and the black adds to the protagonist's despair.

I only wish that the dystopian world and the "orange zone" was explored further, maybe through a few additional pages.

[Arc provided by NetGalley for free in exchange for an honest, voluntary review]

A special thank you to NetGalley, the author and the publisher for this book in exchange for a feedback review. All statements and opinions stated in this piece are my own and are based on my reading of this graphic novel.

First a commendation to the creators of this extremely dark take on a dystopian future or is it a nearly present timeline.

This is a take on an arid future envisaged by many doomsday writers with climate changes and lack of control leading to shortages in access to air.
Although I may not share the arid vision leading to doomsday vis a vis climate changes, etc. what is in sync with the current situation worldwide with extremely polluted cities soaked with smog and particulate matters which have made breathing an exercise in futility.
The recent and still ongoing pandemic also laid bare a world that is extremely vulnerable to aerial pathogens and virus. This book is an extension of the pandemic taken to an extreme level where exposure to infected people spreads the infection.

The art restricted to two tones is extremely hard-hitting initially but after a few pages of reading becomes stressful to look at and read. If this was to make the reader suffer some pain in the process living the emotions of the characters of the novel then it works to an extent but despite the short length of the book, after a few pages the arid tones sear into the brain and make reading especially in one continuous sitting like I did a very difficult ask.

The overall feel of the book is depressing but one which reflects strong relationships of love (between the principal characters), sympathy (with a nameless guard at a check-post), greed/gluttony (by the supplier of the required tank) and violence (desperate bravados of infected people lurking in the darkness). The lack of many written words as blurbs helps the tale along giving it an even deeper dark feel as the reader is forced to watch the visual over and over again creating tragic imagery of the world an exact opposite of the colorful world that we are used to.

This elevates the book into positive territory and another appreciation for the team is in order.

The book remains a 3 - 3.5 star for me because of the simplistic story that is predictable to a T and the fact that the story leaves an enormous lot to the imagination of the reader, for me a tad too much.

I will still say this is a decent but dismal book and should come with an advisory for the people with depression and other mental health challenges.

3 Star here is more 3.5 star for me.

the concept of this one really spoke to me, i love a bit of post apocalyptic storytelling. i will say, i’m not sure the art style was really it for me, but after reading the afterword i do really appreciate the craftsmanship that went into it.

A emotional tale of a couple's struggle with a disease during a citywide lockdown. The artwork is two tone and conveys a lot through the brushstrokes. The story is short and packs a punch. What would you be prepared to do for a loved one?

A netgalley ARC for an honest review.

First of all, I would like to thank NetGalley, Diamond Book Distributors, and Mattew Battaglia for this ARC! I feel very honored to read and review this amazing comic.

I have not read a comic in decades and I seriously loved this one. This book takes place in a dystopian setting where the world is falling apart. As much as we see such events take place in books, this comic reminded me so much of the COVID lockdown, wearing masks, and checking temperatures for precautions. Even though the comic book was short, it held a deeper meaning if you looked closely as It shows love and sacrifice. As I kept reading the pages, I felt like I was rewatching the world change which hurts and it helped replay certain memories. It still blows my mind how humans can adapt to changes.

The art in this comic was just outstanding even though it was not very defined and sharp. I loved the orange color in all the art as it kind of helped give that effect of a dystopian world. I was just immersed in the art, especially on page 79.

“It’s been so damn hard, feels like I'm spinning in a wheel"
"We're all twisting in the wind"

This was a great short read but I was left wanting... more. It's definitely something I would recommend for those wanting short psychological/horror reads and I think would be a great intro to graphic novels for some!

One of those near-futures which would once have been dystopian, but now seems comparatively optimistic. The city is locked down, but life goes on in the suburbs; Europe is a bit more wartorn, but only a bit; violence and surveillance have somehow both increased, but society persists. Everything has just steadily carried on getting shittier, in short, but the balloon hasn't gone up. The plot is pretty minimal, one guy trying to make a vaguely illicit trade, and it's decompressed to an extent that might annoy me more if I'd paid for it than it does reading a Netgalley ARC. But Battaglia's art has the grit and oomph to mostly justify that intense concentration on moments; the blurb suggests Paul Pope as a point of comparison, which isn't wrong, but I'm definitely getting a bit of Jeff Lemire in there too.