A very interesting book covering past history of the German reich .I would thoroughly recommend this book to anyone interested in past history.The author has a real grasp of his subject. An enjoyable read.

One of those boorishly earnest history hack-n-slash comics, that got very dull even before some witch character turned it into Braveheart-meets-Cthulhu. Really not my thing.

I'm not a fan of comics but I like this one A LOT! Maybe it was because I always love history so I knew about what time period this story was inspired on. Maybe it was because I love horror stories (although I never read them in October). I love your comic book and I hope you make more.

First of all I want to thank netgalley for providing me with this graphic novel.

When a Roman general, manipulated by a necromancer, decides to awaken an ancient plague, enemy clans must join forces to save the world as they know it.

Scotland, 2nd century AD. The Roman conquest stopped at Antonine's wall; beyond it lay the lands of the Gaels, and even further north, the wild hills of the Pictish people. When a Roman general, manipulated by a necromancer, decides to awaken an ancient plague and unleash it on the north, Cormak Mac Fianna, the last king of the Picts, unites his tribes to fight. But compared with the unstoppable Shadows from the ancient island of Thule, their power pales and yesterday's enemies must join forces.

The story begins with a Roman woman starting her carriage from an attack, believing that she had managed to save herself and her unborn baby, she is stabbed by the corpse of one of her soldiers who swore to protect her, for things in life the baby manages to born and is raised by the enemy tribes of the Romans, growing up all his life without knowing who his real parents are.
Meanwhile, the Roman people prepare for war with the help of a witch, but not everyone trusts her. and it is that she has her own agenda.

At some point they will all find themselves in a war beyond anything known to man.

The story starts out very strong, it doesn't come to blunts, and as it progresses it shows us that it is not a soft story, on the contrary it even has a bit of gore, it shows a lot and I like it, it goes along with the story.
I recommend it, yes, but not to read in one sitting, read it calmly, give yourself your time.

I give it 4.5 out of 5 stars

Shadows of Thule was unfortunately a very dull read. The art has some insanely good graphic detail in certain sections and panels, but there wasn’t anything that struck me as being super memorable. I didn’t have as hard of a time with the plot as some other early reviewers seem to have been, but it didn’t keep me interested.
I most likely would not have finished Shadows of Thule if it wasn’t a graphic novel (which means it was a fairly short read with my pacing).

First and foremost, the art and illustrations in this book were absolutely stunning. The amount of detail in them were well thought out and very purposefully placed. They added to the story that the author was already trying to tell, which I found extremely helpful to the plot of the book.

The story itself for the most part, was interesting and I was more interested in the lore of the book over anything else. This is a book that is extremely graphic and the art definitely depicts that with some extreme accuracies within the gore and bloodshed. It's slightly tricky to follow despite being set as a graphic novel but overall it was interesting to read.

Thank you netGalley for providing me with an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I had higher expectations for this based on the blurb. The artwork was solid, but tended to get distracting toward the end as the portal was breached and mayhem ensued. I hoped for a stronger storyline, considering all of the plot points, but it never seemed to gel.

<blockquote>He often told me that handling and bending steel, wasn't nearly as taxing as trying to reason with men...</blockquote>
I Received this Graphic Novel ARC in exchange for an honest review, Thanks to the creative team, and NetGalley, and Humanoids for giving me this opportunity.
This will come out 15 Aug 2023, Tune in, if you are looking forward to a nightmarish fantasy twist on history, that bets humanity against one of our ancestors worst fears.

Me and Humanoids we are tight, even though my first ever review with them, i thought the art was not unique at all, and couldn't care less for it except the covers, and they kept accepting my requests, and to be honest, reading a few of the negative reviews (all of them) i thought this was going to turn out horrible, i was sadly prepared to give this 1 or 2 stars, specially if that no plot claim turned out to be true.
Gladly though, this is the first time i am happy, that many readers still don't know what the fuck does a plot even mean, because we have one and it's a great one here.

<blockquote>Plot is the sequence of connected events that make up a narrative in a novel. Generally, a plot in fiction builds up to a climax and ends in a resolution at the finish of the story. </blockquote>
The essay also says, that there needs to be a causality, an event happening, and the subsequent event is caused by it, a sequence of events and causality, it's not even hidden here, everything that was happening caused something else to happen, nothing was put in this graphic novel as a fan service, or as a filler, everything turned out to lead to something else, that eventually lead to the climax of the story.

Now enough of that, this was actually approved for me 3 weeks ago, when i stopped reading and took a hiatus of 2 weeks, so actual reading time of this is more like 3 days.
Why the minus star? Those were the ugliest looking babies + Kids i ever saw drawn, the kids had faces fit for adults, they were big and rough, my skin is more delicate than the kids depicted here i swear.

Saying that, this is one of the most detailed and busy art panels i ever saw since Berserk the manga, and Gantz, and probably I am A hero, and that's really rare, western action comics, are not known for details, and busy panels, that you can take a few minutes just going over everyone's expression, and who they are fighting and which body part they just pierced... with their weapon of course, it's rare to the point i thought it doesn't exist, the shadows of Thule, really delivers that and it was a pleasant surprise for me, that i noticed in the very first pages of the ambush.

This was a fantasy historical story, that involved the Picts, the Romans, the Gaels, i didn't really like the first 40 pages, because the story was wide open at that part, you really did not know if there was a plot, or if anything was connected at all, but we are judging an entire novel, not the opening sequence, that in a very short time, unfolded to reveal an intricate story, The Magic aspect of the story was among the best i have ever read, i was blown away by such nightmarish beauty, In the minds of past denizens of our world, they feared Magic because they thought it had that kind of power, the power to open up a gate between our world, and some hideous monstrosity of a world that could engulf and overwhelm us, Nowadays dumb people fear science instead...

<blockquote>Don't let your lust for revenge blind you, that is the surest way to lose oneself.</blockquote>
This felt to me, like a nightmare story, right out of the world of Berserk By Kentaru Miura, with very unique monstrosities, and with an actual ending, and organized struggle.

As usual with ARCs that has not been released yet, i can't reveal anything that happened in the story, because i would honestly feel like i don't want to read a novel for a long while, if i read a review that told me everything that will happen in it, so i write to intrigue, critique, and shower the creative team with praise, you never know what i ll do.

Kull The Conqueror meets Lovecraftian Horrors in this beautifully drawn graphic novel set in the days of the Roman occupation in the British Isles.

The Shadows of Thule written by Patrick Mallet, with art by Lionel Marty is a story featuring Gauls, Picts, Romans, magic, giants, and eldritch beasts that lay beyond the stones, waiting for their chance to destroy everything. The setting is Scotland, and the time is the second century AD. Rumors of a creature imprisoned by magic begin to grow. Stories from long in the past, are slowly coming true, even as they're ignored by both Kings and druids. Enemies are forced to start to look at each other as allies, gathering their forces in order to stop a force that even the most powerful of giants struggled to defeat. A threat that could bring the end to everything. Seals are shattered, sides are drawn, the old generation gives way to the new and must put their differences aside lest it lead to the end of an Empire, or even the entire world.

This story reminds me of the old Seventies Robert E. Howard comics, sprinkled with some history and Lovecraftian horror to bring out both Mallet's and Marty's vision. Given that I just started reading them this year, this GN feels like it was written for me. The story while confusing due to some historical events which I had no knowledge of, was still as compelling as all of those old Sword and Sorcery comics from the seventies. The art makes it so that I'm easily transported to the carefully crafted world that Mallet and Marty have created. My only question would be why do most of the secondary character look the same? When I read the seventies comics and see the same problem, I unconsciously put it down to an effect of the times. But reading this I don't know if it was Marty paying homage to those old comics from where the team got their inspiration, or if it's his style. But other than that nitpick, this is a beautifully drawn original graphic novel that both Patrick Mallet and Lionel Marty should be proud of.

Thank you to NetGalley and Humanoids Inc. for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

4 stars out of 5.

From the description, I thought this sounded like an interesting concept - the setting takes place in Scotland during the time of Roman occupation. An ancient evil has long since been banished from this world, but dark forces are seeking to release it back into this plane.

Regretfully, the storytelling/dialogue did not hold up to my expectations. I felt the back-and-forth between characters was choppy and stilted. Everything seemed to plod along in a predictable manner and there was nothing new or refreshing about the story.

The graphics were alright (certainly better than the text), but I do feel there is still room for improvement here as well. Many of the characters look very similar (most of the men are depicted with the stereotypical square jaw and hulking forms, while the women are in robes and have large breasts), which makes it difficult to differentiate between the characters. I do think the depiction of the monsters was good.

All this being said, I would not continue reading this series in the future.

My thanks to both NetGalley and the publisher Humanoids Inc for an advance copy of this graphic novel set in the days of the Roman occupation of the British Isles and the ancient evil that lay hidden away.

The place is Scotland, and the time is the second century AD. Rumors of a creature imprisoned by magic begin to grow. Stories from long in the past, ignored by Kings, pshawed by druids, are slowly coming true. Enemies begin to look at each other as allies, gathering forces to stop a force that even the most powerful of giants were once hard pressed to beat. All to defeat a threat that could be the end of all, even the Roman invaders. As stones are shattered, sides are drawn, the old give way to the young and put aside differences that might lead to the end of an Empire, or even the entire world. The Shadows of Thule written by Patrick Mallet, with art by Lionel Marty is a story featuring Gauls, Picts, Romans, magic, giants, and eldritch beasts that lay beyond the stones, waiting for their chance to destroy everything.

A woman rides in a military convoy of Romans, assured that she will see her husband, and give birth by his side. The woman is wrong, and her death by magical creature will set off a long standing plan to destroy an empire. The mother dead, a baby boy is found living, brought home to leave with his new people, but never feeling one of the them. Years later another boy makes a deal with the Gauls for his sister, telling them that soon the tribes who fight among each other so much will find cause to join together. A story that stays with the Gaul King. A wizard kidnapped and killed by the Romans is brought back to life by a sorceress who is far older than people think, seeking revenge for her people's destruction. The wizard tells of the creature behind the stones, and that blood is needed to bring it back. And blood it shall have. Soon these forces all will meet, in blood, friendship, betrayal, and fear for what lies beyond the stones.

Not a story for all readers, this is more a throwback to seventies European comics, Conan-like stories. In fact the main King looks a lot like Conan, especially when he enters a sort of berserker-mode. The story is a little complicated, especially if one is not familiar with early Scottish and English history. And the Picts and Gauls do look a lot alike so that can be a little hard to figue out who is who. The best description really is Conan meets Lovecraft, with a lot mo history. The art is sword and sorcery style, big men, lots of blood, comely women in a lot of robes and lots of blood again. Lots of beheadings, arrows to the head, slashing. The backgrounds are good, the characters are consistent, and the creatures from beyond are quite grotesque and other worldly.

For fans of early fantasy stories, and for fans of European comics. Conan fans might want more Conan-like moments, but the story is close enough to a Robert E. Howard story that a lot of fans might enjoy it.

This was really a stinker. I guess the art was serviceable in that it got the basics of human anatomy down, but it was big-bosomed ladies and mighty-thewed squared-jawed expressionless swordsmen all the way down. The monster was cool. Not much in the way of plot.

Story was hard for me to follow but the art is doing a lot of heavy lifting here. It looks so good and all the action is very well done. The blood is almost coming off the page. It hurts me to do it with how much I love this art but the story is what is holding it back.