For a series about endings, Swan Songs has a fantastic beginning. The art, which features the runup to a nuclear holocaust, is strangely beautiful. And the writing is top notch focusing on a mother-son relationship instead of the end of the world. Read Full Review

Swan Songs #1 sets the tone for a unique emotional journey that hopes to unsettle with the intention of getting at harder but necessary interpretations of our relationship with the end. Theres melancholy and theres pain, confusion and frustration, but also the possibility of hope should the individual find it within him or herself to see certain things all the way to their conclusion. And yet, none of this is telegraphed to the reader. You dont read Swan Songs for answers. You read it for the questions itll make you ask. Whatever answers you find are entirely yours. Read Full Review

Starting with the end of the world as a side story to a mother-son relationship, Swan Song delivers a powerful opening. This series is not for the faint-hearted, as it unearths questions you never knew you should ask. Sorrow and melancholy permeate this issue, yet there lingers a glimmer, albeit a faint glimmer of hope and joy, awaiting those who dare to grasp it, whether it is the reader or the protagonist. If you are looking for an intelligent, thought-provoking read that resonates deeply, look no further. Swan Songs' debut issue sets the stage for a profoundly unique and emotionally charged journey. Read Full Review

Simmonds crafts some beautifully detailed and visually immersive art on every page of this issue. You feel a part of this world through the visuals and the final visual moments of the issue are beautifully bittersweet. Read Full Review

Swan Songs #1is beautifully realized in a painterly style, combining simple writing with an environmentally atmospheric setting to create a comic book that goes above and beyond what its 24 pages should be capable of. Read Full Review

Endings suck, but g-d can they also be life-affirming. Read Full Review

If youre looking for a fun and light-hearted story thatll make you feel good, avoid Swan Songs #1. But if youre looking for a dark tale with an apocalyptic setting, heavily drenched in horror and existential dread, check this book out. Recommended. Read Full Review

While Prince's black humor and idiosyncratic notions are evident, they are applied for different effects than in Ice Cream Man to reveal a sense of tragic optimism where beauty can still be found in even the worst circumstances. Read Full Review

Final Verdict: 8.6. Moody and sublime, this is another strong entry into the haunting anthology genre. Read Full Review

Swan Songs #1 does an incredible job taking you on an emotional journey in an apocalyptic setting. The journey in a hopeless world our lead character takes is one filled with pain and loss that creates an emotional investment in seeing that journey through to the end. Its through experiencing what is ultimately a mother-son story that you're left with a story that stays with you after well after finishing reading Swan Song #1. Read Full Review

Right off the bat I will say this story isnt for everyone. It is an odd mix of bitter-sweet misery with just a dash of knowing what is most important in life and happiness.

As for the story itself, it really is a rather happy take for a situation that is clearly painted as nothing but sadness and suffering. It really is a therapy session in a book in a way. Focus on the small stuff that you can control and bring you worth/satisfaction and ignore the stuff you cant. Help those you can, ignore those you cant. For such a dark book, it presents very positive ideas. The ending is about as sweet as one can be for the end of the world. The art was great for what this issue was trying to convey.

As other mentioned, I wouldnt have minded a page or two more focusing on the mother-son relationship, but all in all, I felt that this was a great fist issue and has left me excited for the rest of the series. more

Another great read from Prince. Can't wait to see what the others are all about. This did a nice job of making you feel a few different things.

W. Maxwell Prince’s ICE CREAM MAN and HAHA are two of my favorite comics of the past few years, so hearing that he was working on another anthology series with Image Comics had me very excited. Learning more about SWAN SONGS along the way, from the concept about one-off stories of all different types of endings to the rotating cast of all-star artists — including Martin Simmonds on the debut issue, only increased my anticipation.

SWAN SONGS #1 quickly raises the stakes with two types of very personal endings that many of us fear — a son watching his elderly mother slowly dying due to illness while while simultaneously dealing with the quickly approaching end of the world due to a nuclear holocaust. The son acts as the narrator throughout the story and most of the emotional weight of the story comes via his inner monologue where he replays conversations between him and his (now dead) therapist. We develop an appreciation for his dedication to his sick mother and witness his devotion to her as he traverses a pre-apocalyptic fallen city to find one last issue of her favorite magazine to read to her before she passes and/or the world ends, whichever might come first.

Prince’s writing is meaty without being heavy. Throughout so much of his work, he’s able to create an emotional connection for readers without ever diving too deeply into any specific character. It’s truly a skill to be able to write anthology stories and quickly establish characters and situations which deliver these types of emotional gut punches. None of his stories tend to have true heroes, the characters are everyday people who could be our neighbors, our family members, or some random stranger we pass by in our daily lives. I think that is what makes his stories even more personal. In any story, I could be the main character.

This isn’t the issue for someone who prefers clean lines or well-defined backgrounds. Simmonds’ artwork is characteristically abstract. It works beautifully in here as we’re witnessing an intensely chaotic environment. There is no longer structure in the world or in our narrator’s life and that is perfectly visualized by Simmonds. I particularly enjoyed the design of the trio of end-times nihilists that appear throughout the story as a foil to our narrator.

I do wish we spent more time with the narrator and his mother as I felt that relationship was slightly underdeveloped, but overall I thought SWAN SONGS #1 was a strong introduction to the new world that Prince is building for this miniseries. He was smart to use this specific story for the debut issue given how consequential the story was and it’ll be interesting to see if the remaining stories can match the same levels.

Rating: 8/10 more