Karmen was a comic about death and suicide which had a different feel to it than I thought going in.

While I felt that the beginning of the comic couldn't fold my attention, the characters didn't grab me, and the world was bland, somehow I still got to the end of reading this and loved it. It felt so impactful. Somehow it didn't answer any questions or tell you how to think yet it made to think as a reader, not only about the lives of the people in the comic but also your own.

I was thrown for a loop a few times in the story, and all of them were pleasant surprises. Not to say that all of them were "good" or I was glad that all of them happened, but they were surprises that felt unique and original, and fit this story so well.

There are lots of trigger warnings to go along with this book. The main ones being suicide, self harm, death, car accidents, and abandonment. I also don't recommend this comic to anyone who objectifies or cannot handle the female body, as one of the characters is naked through most of the work, in a completely non-sexual way.

Thanks to Netgalley for providing me this in exchange for an honest review.

5 ⭐ out of 5
Keywords & trigger warning: graphic novel, nudity, mental health issue, explicit depiction of suicide

"Do I really want to stop living? Will my parents cry if I'm no longer in this world?"

Bless you Netgalley for giving me an arc of this comic, it is really beautiful. Karmen Volume 1 tells a story about Catalina, a college student who decided to kill herself because of heart break and met a grim reaper named Karmen. It is a journey of how the self-absorbed Catalina learn to open her eyes and see the consequences of her action, although when she finally understood, it is too late already.

I love everything in this book, from the art to the messages it conveys. The art is pretty. It is detailed and the art style is unique. It accentuate the "odd" feelings in some part of the book. The narration is deep and meaningful. To those who might had any thoughts to stop living, the messages resonate well. It is sensitive and deeply personal. Death is irreversible and we learn it the hard way when we follow Catalina's journey.

>3.5/5<

[ESP]
Angustia, desesperación y soledad se mezclan en una obra impactante y humana. Karmen cuenta la historia de Cata, una joven que se suicida y debe enfrentarse a su decisión, bajo el cuidado de una suerte de ángel bastante peculiar y sarcástica.
Este primer volúmen finaliza con el caso de Cata y asumo que la continuación tratará otro, es una historia que se lee en unas horas y te atrapa bastante.
>>Advertencia: Desnudez, suicidio, menciones de muerte, muertes gráficas, salud mental.

*Pronto reseña completa en el blog

[ENG]
Angst, loneliness and depression are the center of Karmen.
This is the story of Cata, a young woman who takes her own life, and she has to come to terms with all her regrets in life. All of this in company of Karmen, a very sarcastic and peculiar angel.
TW/ Suicide, grapich images of suicide and death, mental health issues, depression, nudity, blood.

*Copy provided in exchange for an honest review*

I loved the art style. the colors and the detailing in the drawings are so, so good. the story itself is also amazing, not only it has a message, but the plot is actually funny at times. i loved Karmen's personality and sarcasm.

I never thought a graphic novel could be the medium to touch on such a sensitive topic with irreverence and humor. Karmen doesn't take itself too seriously, but it seriously takes on a delicate issue.

What a story.

Catalina a.k.a Cata and Xisco have been life long friends, from school mates through young adulthood. Cata lives in Palma with her roommate and anxiously frets about her relationship with Xisco, calling him frequently. Until, one day in an impromptu move driven by her sadness over Xisco, Cata slashes her wrists in the bathtub. This is where the titular character Karmen shows up. Karmen is an angel of death from High. She's decked out in a skeleton unitard and expresses empathy for her cases, including Cata. She guides Cata, forevermore naked, out to the streets to explore the city. Karmen cracks jokes and encourages Cata to explore her memories and feelings.

This story was oddly beautiful, quirky, and darkly clever. A strange combination but it totally works. The overall feel was dreamlike. The artwork was lovely with lots of pastels and detailed scenery and cityscapes. I am eagerly anticipating volume 2.

What to listen to while reading (or taking a break)
Little Bit by Lykke Li
Somebody Else by The 1975
I Can't Make You Love Me by Bonnie Raitt
Hurt by Johnny Cash
Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space by Spiritualized

"Sometimes a dream remains clear and leaves us with a sensation of reality for a few brief seconds after we awake, long enough for the disoriented mind to adapt to its new state of awareness. Then, quickly, the memory of it becomes increasingly indistinct and fragmented, until we have completely forgotten it."
Karmen
Guillem March

First, look at the cover! Its GOREgous! The illustrating inside is equally as beautiful. Karmen comes from High where he assignment is to take your soul and navigate it until it is reincarnated. How cool is that! There are a bunch of rules and she, of course, pushes just about every boundary.

The story was binge worthy. The art, top shelf. I definitely recommend for guys, gals, dudes, witches, and those that especially love karma in action.


Thank you to Guillem March, Europe Comics, and NetGalley for gifting me an audio copy of this book in exchange of an honest review.

Karmen Vol. 1 is the English adaptation of a French Dargaud comic by author Guillem March.

This is a story of a girl’s suicide, of pain, resentment and regrets, and what comes after. Which isn’t what you would have guessed.

No time lost to bring the main character to the point of killing herself (for a man that wasn’t worth it, but I won’t judge). She then gets stuck in ghost form and meets death, or an angel of death. A crazy hysterical and funny one (for us, not for the recently departed). She’s not Neil Gaiman’s Death, for sure (more like Delirium). She doesn’t seem to want to bring her to the light right away, either, but rather letting her have fun in her ghost form. She’s part of some sort of bureaucracy, and seems to viewed as a rebel by her superior. I Wonder why...

Nice use of color palette. Blank backgrounds to focus on characters. Sound effects in line with the crazy character. Harley Quinn would be jealous. Dynamic use of panels, with the main character using lucid dream training to fly, and crossing panels while doing so. She visits beautifully detailed sceneries. The story is more often told with pictures than words. Surreal atmosphere fitting to the story.

No extras in the backpages there. We europeans don’t that much. But, it’s worth it. Can’t wait for the next volume.

Thanks to Europe Comics and Netgalley for the ARC provided in exchange for this unbiased review.

The art. Beautiful. The exploration of suicide. Beautiful. The portrayal of death. Beautiful. I really loved this book and the characters within it, it didn't shy away from graphic scenes yet it did so very graciously and respectfully. However, I would say that some could argue that it does victim shame (ever so slightly) but I feel that it is used as a plot device that allows the author to explore grieving and understanding the impact of suicide on others. Nonetheless, a beautiful story about finally letting yourself fly free and be yourself...even if it means flying naked.

I like Guillem March's art a lot, even if the gratuitous nudity is a gift to his critics and added nothing to the narrative, but the story is no great shakes. Spirits wandering around, no real narrative drive, nothing compelling about any of the characters - weak sauce.

TW: self harm, suicide, blood, death. These are depicted in the graphic novel. Proceed with caution.
*note - this graphic novel contains nudity

This was a really unique graphic novel. It dives into life and death as well of the consequences of how we decide to live our lives. It had an interesting take on suicide. I would like to see the next volume dive more into mental health and make things seem less black and white when it comes to suicide. The art style was beautiful. I would definitely be interested in a second volume.

Rating: 3.5 stars

Thanks #Netgalley for hitting me up with this comic :)

I loved Karmen and read it in one sitting.

Karmen V1 was an interesting, and unique take on death, suicide, and loss. Karmen reminded me of some kind of Grim Reaper character, and her personality spilled out of the pages and left me wanting to see more of Karmen.

The comic follows the "afterlife" of Cata, recently deceased, and how she comes to terms with her death. Karmen is involved with this by helping Cata navigate the sense of loss that she [Cata] has left in her wake.

The art is absolutely gorgeous and some of the panels make you feel as though you are part of the world.

I read this in one hour and I absolutely loved this.
This comic addresses death, suicide, and loss in a way that I have never watched, read or seen before. As much as I enjoyed this book, I felt that Karmen was such as preachy character (which is normal because she more of a grim reaper, or a collector of souls, similar to what is in The Book Thief by Markus Zusak) who made Cata both understand the loss that she has created in the world and how shortsighted and selfish she was for taking her own life. Suicide is a very sensitive topic but at the same time a very important one to have, This book makes me think of a book a read recently "HERE AT DAWN" a particular poem "you matter, you are valuable, your life is not only your gift, but it belongs also to others"
you don't just lose your life, you also steal or deprive millions of people from their gift.

ANYWAYS
Here we see a quick montage of Cata's relationship with Xisco and how they got to a point where he was cheating on her with a friend of theirs and she just felt lost in the relationship. The next thing we know is Karmen (a lady with pink hair and a skeleton customer) walking up the stairs and into a bathroom where we saw Cata had slit her wrist and is in a pool of her own blood. Karmen was very funny and made it easier for Cata to accept the new situation or rather plane that she now was in.
They go on a journey around the city and Cata learns to fly and also accepts the situation and how she had contributed to her depression and social anxiety. A particular line that Karmen said that stuck with me was
"Think about it, there are only advantages (i.e. to being dead) you can't tell anyone what is happening to you (being Cata was a ghost), but that's okay because it turns out that no one is worthy of hearing your secrets anyway" This just made me think about people who bottle things up and don't share their worries (I cannot claim that there are certain people who cannot tell other because they have no one around them who is willing to listen, however, there are many helplines that everyone should be aware is available, don't be alone)

While reliving memories and meeting another person who was not necessarily remarkable but was taking life by the horns and giving it all he can. He ends up dying and that was an eye-opening experience for Cata even though it was too late.

"Your own existence only has any meaning when you're part of other people's lives"

I loved this comic so so much. The art style was so realistic and good (I loved the character design of Karmen!). The story line was interesting and poignant and the book dealt with important matters. I was really impressed. I only wished to know a bit more about what lead Cata to what she’d done and on her relationship with her roommate & best friend.

Pop Karma

This is a little bit "Amelie" as the Angel of Death by way of "Chocolat", but that actually worked surprisingly well. Long story short, Karmen is a psychopomp who does things in her own understated, slightly facetious, playful way when it comes to helping the souls of the dead to move on. Traditionally such spirit-angels are supposed to be non-judgmental and to merely serve as guides. Karmen, though, is neither brisk nor efficient, (which becomes the source of a story cliff hanger at the end of this volume), and she's not above doing some serious judging. At a minimum she takes her own sweet time with her assigned souls and tries to bring them to some realizations about themselves before sending them on to their next cycle.

That sounds heavy, but as I say this whole book has a lively and playful touch. Since the main focus of Karmen's work is a self-absorbed suicide, there is some heavy lifting to be done on the road to enlightenment. But the author keeps things airy and keeps Karmen gentle and sympathetic as she performs her duties. The result is engaging without being pedantic or preachy.

It helps that the art is top notch. The characters are expressive and convincing. But the big show is in the full and double page flashes that are quite striking. Pencils and inks are strong and crisp, with a wide range of muted color setting a perfect mood and atmosphere. There's a lot of flying around for these free spirits, and the artist makes the most of the opportunities that that presents.

The upshot is that this is exactly as described - "a graphic novel about death and suicide... but not in the way you think". That was just fine by me.

(Please note that I received a free advance will-self-destruct-in-x-days Adobe Digital copy of this book without a review requirement, or any influence regarding review content should I choose to post a review. Apart from that I have no connection at all to either the author or the publisher of this book.)

Karmen is an angel, you could maybe call her an angel of death since she shows up right after self-obsessed Catalina commits suicide. She knows how to gently guide individuals from one plane of existence to another and she does it with a sense of humor.

The color palette of this graphic novel has to be my favorite thing at the moment: pink skies and teal shadows, green palms, and pastels galore. The girls are drawn incredibly well with detailed facial features that had me stopping often to marvel at the illustrations. The story itself is awesome, it's not predictable, you feel like you're just going on a ride along with Catalina wondering what's coming next. There are some funny movie references and I personally appreciated the Muppet Christmas Carol one, really cool little cameo there. A solid 5 ⭐'s from me because I could read this over and over, just for the gorgeous artwork. This was only V1 so it does end at a cliffhanger but it's a series you won't want to miss if you enjoy female leads, color stories, and sci-fi stories about death and angels.

Trigger Warning: graphic images of suicide and death.

Big thanks to Europe Comics and NetGalley for providing this reader's copy.

CW/TW: This graphic novels deals with death and suicide and contains some graphic scenes.

In this graphic novel we follow Karmen and Catalina. Catalina committed suicide and Karmen helps Catalina in the what you can call the after life. I didn't really know what to expect going into this one, but it surprised me positively. I would recommend reading this one, but please be aware of it's topic.

The concept of this book is extremely interesting. Imagine “The Christmas Carol” without the whole reliving part. The art style was beautiful, a bit heavy on the nudity for my taste but that’s okay.

To be blunt, the way this book dealt with suicide felt harsh and unsympathetic in my opinion. I def don’t think that that was the intention, I just felt odd vibes.

Overall, it was fast and interesting. I’m curious as to what will happen in the next volumes. There’s a lot of potential for an amazing story.

This graphic novel looks dark at first, but can be quite uplifting and relatable for some. I personally really like the art style of this book, and I like the story so far but thought this plot is moving rather slowly. I'm looking forward to what the next book brings!

Karmen features attractive art, a unique story, and a range of pages with multiple panels in lovely layout. Recommended for older readers as a literary and visual treat.