Fun little mystery with some romance, some spooks, some emotional growth, and some silliness. Really quick and easy read for anyone who loves mystery and comics!

“Click click click goes the mouse, tap tap tap goes the keyboard. And everything else disappears.” 
 
A slice-of-life story that turned dark and intriguing quite quick and kinda unexpected (pacing-wise). In a good way. I loved the daily life parts, and I loved the sneaking around, detective-like parts. 
(The publisher suggests similar shows being Bojack Horseman, Severance, The Menu, Get Out; I haven’t seen them though, so can’t confirm.) 
 
By the way, don’t be put off by the page count! It’s printed in 1:1 format (18x18 cm) and there’s always 1-3, sometimes 4 panels per page. The artstyle is very stylized, comic format, giving Cartoon Network (Bluey, Peppa Pig, Inside Job) vibes. Definitely cool and cute, but not very detailed, so you’ll get through it pretty quickly. It took me about 6 hours (I’m a slow reader). 
 
I feel like the art would’ve made the experience more “intense”, if the pages were colored. On the other hand, the black & white makes it look “retro”. (Even though it plays in a modern age. Around 2020 I’m guessing?) 
 
Characters: 
• Veronika was so similar to me (in many aspects) that I wondered whether the author was spying on me while making this ... Creepy, but ... well, I could relate to her on many levels. 
• Persephone was cool from the beginning, her name suits her well, lol. (Well, only in one aspect actually, but if you get to the point, somewhere in the middle, you’ll know. Maybe. 😉) Although sometimes too cool for my taste, but alright. 
• Dave was ... idk, meh. I had a weird feeling about him at first, then he grew on me, then he continued to be annoying, and at the end... I don’t know. He’s a good person and I understand & feel for him, but I wouldn’t necessarily want to have him around much, you know? (Basically, went like this: “He’s a nerd. He comes prepared. He’s me. Why did I dislike him?”, 10 pages later: “never mind, that’s why.”) 
• I liked Susan, though. She kinda reminds me of the bats from ‘Tom und das Erdbeermarmeladebrot mit Honig’ (german cartoon). Maybe I’m biased cause I just love Kuuru types, but I wouldn’t mind a spin-off with her as the protagonist. 
• Jake, Susan’s husband, not so much. Had a bad feeling about him the moment I saw him playing golf in his office. Although I do kinda agree with his views on everyone’s contribution to a goal. 
• Jim was nice. Mysterious, but kind. Kind of? There is quite a twist in there that could potentially make him more ‘evil’ than Jake, but ... he was kind and nice to the main characters overall, so ... 
 
Apropos ending: is there gonna be a sequel? On one hand it’s pretty self-explainable how the story goes/continues. On the other hand, I want more. You could actually make a lengthy series out of this, there’s definitely potential. However, it’s also quite intriguing to leave things ‘open’ and leave the readers – especially fanfiction writers – to their imagination. 
 
Well, definitely recommend The Well! 
 
Representation: 
• There’s hetero relationships, it’s overall quite heteronormative, but there’s also a sapphic romance and an openly homosexual character (without homophobia). 
• Bi + questioning 
• Feministic; the women are independent and most men respect the women (in some ways; the respect isn’t gender-related). 
• Protagonist is a coder and not a nerd (yes, these two don’t always go hand in hand!), and coding isn’t portrayed as hacking or as a suspenseful job (actually the opposite lol). 
• A visually impaired character, who might be blind, but maybe isn’t? Not sure, but something definitely happened to his eyes (it’s shown later on, but not elaborated how much he can see).

~

Thank you to IDW publishing for an e-ARC.
 
-26.03.25

Never have I ever known what I was getting into with a Jon Allen comic. The cute character designs lure you in, the relatable newly-adult crisis keeps you hooked, and then creepy stuff starts happening in the basement.

I love Allen’s deceptively simple art, and he’s got some really fun backgrounds in this one. The creeping suspense is a great counterpoint to Veronika’s very real personal problems, and it all comes to a head and wraps up beautifully.

What a delightful, strange graphic novel! The illustrations were easy to follow and text easy to read. I enjoyed the story, too. Would recommend!

I absolutely adored this graphic novel, Veronika was a perfect protagonist who is stuck in a rut and trying to find happiness for herself after leaving her terrible boyfriend and starting a strange new job. Each character within the story has a fleshed-out and unique personality, the main sci-fi plot paired with the background relationships the characters are exploring gives the novel a well-roundedness that many graphic novels can lack. I am also left interested by the openended-ness of the final scene and wanting to learn more about the janitor and monster.

The review is posted to GoodReads and Storygraph and will be posted to Fable when added.

This was a really fascinating story. I really enjoyed the art and the simple design of the panels. The characters had a really interesting design to it. I liked the way they were drawn. The storyline was really compelling. I wanted to know what was going to happen and how things were going to play out. It was really suspenseful. There was a good character arc.

Thanks Netgalley and publisher for this graphic novel.

Honestly enjoyed this novel, so easy to read and we got the ultimate Veronika x Persephone ship so happy out 🏳️‍🌈👩‍❤️‍👩

Thank you Netgalley for giving me the opportunity to read and review this book. The opinions written are completely honest and my own.

The Well is an addictive graffic novel that feels rather relatable for the most part. I'm just glad my bosses were never this troubled, and if they were they kept it for after business hours . I wasn't able to put it down and I have 0 attention span today

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an e copy!

Veronika is tired of her failing rockstar boyfriend and living with her parents, she gets a desk job at a company that makes “energy drinks”
She quickly finds out things at work aren’t as they seem.

Absolutely loveeee veronika’s character! She is trying to get her life together but as we all know, that’s not a simple task. She is shy, charming and just trying her best.

Was honestly nervous when i saw it’s 722pages long but there isn’t a lot of text and the pacing made it fly by! I really love the contrast between the cute animal characters and the darker themes/plot. Really loved the art style but a personal preference is i would have liked it more if it was colors instead of gray scale.


Definitely worth the read if you like graphic novels that combine genres, you get sci-fi, slight horror, mystery, romance and a bit of everything else😂
Loved the lgbtq+ representation <3

3.75☆ rounded up to 4☆

I think that maybe I am too old for this book. It came across as slow well into it. Then again, that could be because I'm closer to my three-quarter life crisis. I can see how this could appeal to a younger crowd. And it did build up nicely. I think I especially liked the end. It is not one I, personally, would read again, but I think younger readers would enjoy it.

The Well wassup such a wild ride. Veronika feels stuck in her life. She has a crappy boyfriend she's been dating since high school, just got a new office job, and moved into her boyfriend's run down apartment while he's on tour. She starts experiencing weird things at her new job office and realizes there's more to this company than anyone knows. From there this becomes a sort of sci fi drama with romance attached and I really enjoyed the ride and the characters.

I received this DRC from NetGalley.

The art in this reminded me of vintage cartoons. It's all in black and white and the elements are rounded and simple. The whole thing is very clear and easy to read. As for the story, I was more interested in the mystery part than the quarter life crisis meandering, but it at least interjected the weird stuff enough to keep my attention. I guess I didn't understand why there needed to be some of that personal drama/ghosting. It was just sad and didn't really add anything. But I did like that the ending added more to the mystery. I'm curious about what the janitor's deal is.

I was a little put off with the number of pages to start, but once I got going, I couldn’t put it down! The characters are simply drawn but really captivating. Their individual unique personalities really work with each other. I thoroughly enjoyed this and would happily read a sequel if one was to happen! Highly recommend if you like animals of indeterminate species, lighthearted spookies, and office mysteries.

Likable and enjoyable characters. Very relatable as well. Easy to keep track of storyline. Some fantasy and (mystery) as well. Art is charming and cute! The last few pages of course was such a cliffhanger!!!!! I want more 😭😭😭

The Well is a charming, slice of life style tale, with well written dialogue, a charming art style and very relatable characters and a sci-fi side (main?) plot about the company they all work for doing nefarious things. I question whether it's a side plot, because it feels like one, but the book takes it's title from here. Honestly, this whole bit always feels like a side track, or a play for humor that doesn't land, and I kind of wish it were lifted from the story all together so we could just spend more time with the characters just living their lives as that's when the book is at it's best.

B plot aside, the low stakes, grounded plotline is more than reason enough to give this a read.

Arc Provided by NetGalley & IDW

2.5

Wonderful art with underwhelming storyline. It started slow but then escalated so quickly towards the end it all felt disjointed.

Veronika is such a great relatable character. she’s not sure where she is heading with her life and just feels stuck. Than we add a helping of sci-fi, creepiness to drag the reader even deeper into the world that she is joining by starting this new job. I enjoyed this book immensely. if you love a creepy story with love a characters make sure to check out this one.

Rating 4.5 stars