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TWO COMPLETE STORIES AT LESS THAN HALF THE PRICE OF TWO COMICS! Two full-length stories in one double-length flip book! First, a desperate monk pits a band of savage Vikings against a pack of rabid vampires in a frantic attempt to protect an exceptionally precious child. In the second story, a woman trapped on a space station overrun by aliens must chose whether to save the second seat on her two-person escape pod for her aloof but heroic husband or for her passionate, forbidden lover.
Love Stories (To Die For) #1 is an interesting but odd mix that's certainly worth a look. Highly recommended. Read Full Review
Manning has made his hay in the short story realm, with books like Nightmare World made up entirely of 8-page stories, each with different artists and of vastly different tones, but given the fact that he had through-lines connecting all of those stories to a greater whole, he proved that you don't have to sacrifice the long arc to keep with self-contained short stories. He has an impressively economical way of getting into your gut and finding buttons to press to get your attention and twist your feelings around. Love Stories (To Die For) is the perfect vehicle for his brand of writing. I'm very much looking forward to more of it. Read Full Review
As I mentioned earlier, despite its being enumerated #1, no other issues of Love Stories (to Die For) have been published since September 2013. Its a shame, too, because these one-off yarns are incredibly fun to read. Hopefully Manning and co. will put out more in the future. Until then, if you havent read this, you might do well to rectify that. Read Full Review
Frankly, this story is pretty flippin' sweet. It has a compelling premise, and our macho man is well rendered. He's in love, thinks she's still in love with him, and his not knowing is endearing and sad at the same time. The twist at the end pulls things to another level as well. Read Full Review
A surprisingly strong book, and we hope to see more of this from Image. Read Full Review
A twin billing of twisted tales that would have been at home in a Warren Publication make this a book worth looking for if you're fan of old Creepy magazines. Read Full Review
Both stories were lettered by Jim Reddington, and I recognize that letterers often go unsung in reviews. That being said, lettering is one aspect of comics that is absolutely essential, and when it's pulled off correctly, should never be overly noticeable in its own right. The book's lettering transitions in style across the two stories, but in both instances, the fonts are distractingly bad. Written text is there to immerse you in a story, never to pull you out of it. Unfortunately, that's precisely what happens in Love Stories (to Die For). Read Full Review
Overall, there isn't too much to write home about in this collection, and much less to die for, but it's worth a look for Gieni's art. Or if you just feel like getting a bit depressed about love in general, but then, you don't need a comic book to do that. Read Full Review
Unfortunately, because the stories are so short, its almost impossible to invest any real feelings toward the characters when the narratives are as condensed as they are. And while still cheaper than the price of two comic books, $5 might be a bit too steep for this particular product. Overall, Id recommend Symptom of the Universe for both script and art, but “Bloodlust: Deceiver of the Gods” doesnt cut it (regardless of the Vampires vs. Vikings subject matter). Read Full Review
As much it pains me to say for the folks that tried their best to bring a different type of comic to readers, I cannot recommend this book for there are many things to go against it as I stated above. Read Full Review
I found myself having to use the press release as a guide to the motivations of this book. The first story was intended to be about 'honor' and 'justice', but while both of those words are spoken a lot in dialogue and is the main motivation of the lead character Skullsplitter I never found the kernel of the story that made it 'about' honor, and certainly nothing that suggested it said anything about love. The second story is built on a premise of twisted love, a quite good one at that, but ends up feeling like a surface feature of the story, with an ending that relies on a more nuanced and capable approach to creating connections with characters. Read Full Review
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