55 review for IF Anthology: Science Fiction

1. 

   4 out of 5

   Alyssa – Oct 10, 2016

   I've heard about the IF Anthologies on Kickstarter with the 2016 edition and it sounded great, so I thought I'd start by reading the 2015 one. Well, this wasn't quite what I expected. If anything, it felt... cheap. I've got two surprises upon receiving the book to begin with. First the size, I hadn't notice that it wasn't the usual comics size but smaller. Then, that it was written "young adult" on the back. Which leads me to another surprise when reading it: some stories were cute at best, but l I've heard about the IF Anthologies on Kickstarter with the 2016 edition and it sounded great, so I thought I'd start by reading the 2015 one. Well, this wasn't quite what I expected. If anything, it felt... cheap. I've got two surprises upon receiving the book to begin with. First the size, I hadn't notice that it wasn't the usual comics size but smaller. Then, that it was written "young adult" on the back. Which leads me to another surprise when reading it: some stories were cute at best, but like a bit childish (Moon, Big Foot Little Hope, Showdown in Space). The line between sci-fi and fantasy is never really clear, but some of the stories were more fantasy to me than sci-fi (Big Foot Little Hope, The Initiation, or Ticket Home to some extent). The quality of the stories is quite unequal, from script to graphics. A couple looked really great, but some seemed to have been made in a rush. The very restricted number of pages for each story make some of them hard to understand as I believe they'd have been much better with development. Some look a bit muddled, while others are pretty clean. In any case, it's still an enjoyable reading I guess, but it just didn't live up to the high expectations I had from it.

2. 

   5 out of 5

   Cale – Sep 24, 2016

   This is not a particularly polished collection - the ISBN number on the back of the book is incorrect, for example. It's a speculative fiction collection that wanders widely in its interpretation of its topic - are stories about children playing with action figures really sci-fi? What about murderous piles of laundry? There are 15 stories here, and none of them are memorable. Alterna puts out a lot of compilations, and this is one of the lesser ones for overall quality. Moon I think is my favori This is not a particularly polished collection - the ISBN number on the back of the book is incorrect, for example. It's a speculative fiction collection that wanders widely in its interpretation of its topic - are stories about children playing with action figures really sci-fi? What about murderous piles of laundry? There are 15 stories here, and none of them are memorable. Alterna puts out a lot of compilations, and this is one of the lesser ones for overall quality. Moon I think is my favorite, just because it has a nice aesthetic. None of the stories are outright horrible, but really this is just a very forgettable collection.

3. 

   4 out of 5

   Harold Gillespie – Apr 29, 2016

   Extremely dull! I'm reminded of Opus'(Ya know-Bloom County?)review of "Benji gets a hair ball or some such", for the newspaper he was working for at the time. I'll paraphrase it; "horrible, awful, predictable, pointless, foolish, and retarded. Well, not really that bad, but it certainly wasn't good." Sorry guys. Maybe putting "IF" in the junior section would work. If you're an adult familiar with sf...it's money wasted. Extremely dull! I'm reminded of Opus'(Ya know-Bloom County?)review of "Benji gets a hair ball or some such", for the newspaper he was working for at the time. I'll paraphrase it; "horrible, awful, predictable, pointless, foolish, and retarded. Well, not really that bad, but it certainly wasn't good." Sorry guys. Maybe putting "IF" in the junior section would work. If you're an adult familiar with sf...it's money wasted.

4. 

   4 out of 5

   Sharon – Sep 16, 2016

   An enjoyable read with interesting artwork. The stories are all different and imaginative, keeping me interested and thinking of possibilities.

5. 

   5 out of 5

   Carol McCarthy – Dec 25, 2019

   Great stories and art. I look forward to finding more by the artists and publisher.

6. 

   5 out of 5

   Matt Lanka – Feb 23, 2019

   A short collection of YA sci-fi graphic stories. Some are decent, others bland, all very short. It was interesting to read and see art from writers/artists I had never heard of.

7. 

   5 out of 5

   Andy Luke – Oct 24, 2016

   Chunky A5 indy SF comics book of about 50 creators that doesn't really work for me. Many of the illustrators are competent enough, but it's the writing let's it down with a lot of punch-less so-what endings, or pages filled to the brim forcing the renditions to be confusing or ambiguous. One story, Apex War, starts brilliantly, has everything in world building, and peters out into a cliched lot of doldrum trope. Jon Clark's 'Cling' has a beautiful art style, but when it comes to the points of re Chunky A5 indy SF comics book of about 50 creators that doesn't really work for me. Many of the illustrators are competent enough, but it's the writing let's it down with a lot of punch-less so-what endings, or pages filled to the brim forcing the renditions to be confusing or ambiguous. One story, Apex War, starts brilliantly, has everything in world building, and peters out into a cliched lot of doldrum trope. Jon Clark's 'Cling' has a beautiful art style, but when it comes to the points of reveal fails to communicate the horror threat. Yes, most have a little something special in there. Notable exceptions to this gross generalisation include Alex Eckman-Lawn's Asian fantasy, 'Moon'; a Bigfoot story cleverly written by Chas Pangburn and in sync with Mariano Laclaustra's strong clean style; Garrett Sneen's chilling riff on factory design and dark futures, Automata. I probably am being a bit unkind to decent enough offerings like Matchett and Lauer's 2000AD-ish 'Love By Numbers', but there'a lot to wade through. These are talented individuals but the combined result is a book working against itself. 'If' could have worked wonders with some more hands-on editing, and dispensing with 12 pages of promotional puff.

8. 

   5 out of 5

   Tiamatty – Dec 02, 2016

   This was pretty OK. It wasn't as good as I'd hoped. It's an anthology of comics, most of them hero-themed. Some were pretty fun. A couple were really weak. Most were just OK. Most anthologies I back, I love. But this didn't thrill me. The art, for the most part, is good, though again, little of it is really exceptional. In both writing and art, none of the stories really stood out to me in such a way as to make me want to read more by the creators. I enjoyed reading this, but I don't know that I This was pretty OK. It wasn't as good as I'd hoped. It's an anthology of comics, most of them hero-themed. Some were pretty fun. A couple were really weak. Most were just OK. Most anthologies I back, I love. But this didn't thrill me. The art, for the most part, is good, though again, little of it is really exceptional. In both writing and art, none of the stories really stood out to me in such a way as to make me want to read more by the creators. I enjoyed reading this, but I don't know that I'd necessarily recommend it.

9. 

   4 out of 5

   Justin Blair –

10. 

    5 out of 5

    Constructionv4 –

11. 

    5 out of 5

    Carol –

12. 

    5 out of 5

    Midge –

13. 

    4 out of 5

    Janice –

14. 

    5 out of 5

    Richard Gombert –

15. 

    4 out of 5

    Thomas Affinito –

16. 

    4 out of 5

    Edgyfatguy –

17. 

    4 out of 5

    Peter –

18. 

    4 out of 5

    Josh Mitchell –

19. 

    4 out of 5

    Chas! Pangburn – Apr 16, 2018

20. 

    5 out of 5

    Jonathan –

21. 

    4 out of 5

    Charles Eldredge –

22. 

    5 out of 5

    Anders –

23. 

    4 out of 5

    Teresa Groves –

24. 

    5 out of 5

    Jen –

25. 

    5 out of 5

    Lukas Holmes –

26. 

    4 out of 5

    Abby Pechin –

27. 

    5 out of 5

    Lisa –

28. 

    5 out of 5

    Frederick Rotzien –

29. 

    4 out of 5

    Mandy Wultsch –

30. 

    5 out of 5

    Erin –

31. 

    4 out of 5

    Neil Sarver –

32. 

    5 out of 5

    Amy –

33. 

    5 out of 5

    Jackie Morris –

34. 

    5 out of 5

    Brian Mossa –

35. 

    4 out of 5

    Sue –

36. 

    5 out of 5

    Donna Smith –

37. 

    4 out of 5

    Emily –

38. 

    5 out of 5

    Gordon Bingham –

39. 

    4 out of 5

    William Bitner Jr. –

40. 

    5 out of 5

    Dawn Obrien –

41. 

    5 out of 5

    Natalie –

42. 

    4 out of 5

    Nora –

43. 

    5 out of 5

    C.A. Craven –

44. 

    4 out of 5

    Urszula –

45. 

    4 out of 5

    Andrew Parrish –

46. 

    4 out of 5

    Eli –

47. 

    4 out of 5

    Roxanne –

48. 

    5 out of 5

    VeronicaMarie1986 –

49. 

    5 out of 5

    Kevin. McKernan –

50. 

    5 out of 5

    Kathy –

51. 

    4 out of 5

    carla clifton –

52. 

    5 out of 5

    Arnela –

53. 

    5 out of 5

    Pam Mooney –

54. 

    4 out of 5

    Doreen Miller –

55. 

    5 out of 5

    Sharon Good –