A beautifully constructed but deeply cynical book. I’ll likely be pondering it for quite some time, hard to say I enjoyed it but it certainly glad to have experienced it

Spectators was interesting. Some of the content may be triggering for people, but the social commentary was thought provoking. The book is beautifully illustrated and adapted surprisingly well to the online format in a way many graphic novels do not.

The kind of bonkers ideas you come to expect from a Brian K. Vaughn book filled with sex and violence and also fascinating concepts and interesting commentary on the world that we live in now through the prism of supernatural science fiction. It doesn't quite reach the highest levels of some of his past work, but it's pretty darn good.

Special Thanks to Image Comics and Netgalley for the digital ARC. This was given to me for an honest review.

Honestly speaking, I didn't feel that much of the gratuitous nudity and sex was necessary - if only because I personally felt it detracts from the story and the message. As someone who deals in bookselling and acquisition, I know that many of the people that pick this up will either look at it for the graphic scenes and ignore all else or see the graphic scenes and put it down because they are uncomfortable. Personally, I like Brian K Vaughan's work, so it wasn't a surprise that I was still able to enjoy it. Of course, I am also not a prudish person, so that helps. Still, in my line of work, the layman's opinion something I have to consider.

Spectators is an adult graphic novel about two ghosts, or “spectators.” Stuck in the limbo between life and death, these spectators spend their time observing humans at the end of the world.

This novel explores sex and violence, two things it can be hard to look away from. This story feels like a realistic version of what our world could look like in the not so distant future. While mass shootings and world wars take over, people are still obsessed with media and technology. The spectators, a voyeuristic woman and an old cowboy, see humanity shift through the years and as the end of the world seems truly near, they get down to what it means to be human and have desire in a world set on destruction.

This graphic novel is NFSW, there is lots of nudity, sex, and violence. With that content warning out of the way, I really enjoyed this story. I loved the idea of ghosts in a futuristic setting. Instead of ghosts that haunt a story, it was interesting to follow two characters who died long ago, but are just floating around watching humans live across time. This story was unlike anything I have read before. I was deeply sad when I got to the end. This was such an interesting, albeit scary/sad world. Vaughan’s characters and storytelling never disappoint and Henrichon’s illustrations are incredible!

Brian K. Vaughan is an American comic book and television writer, best known for the comic book series Y: The Last Man, Ex Machina, Runaways, Pride of Baghdad, Saga, and Paper Girls. His newest book, Spectators, is a violent, sexual exploration at a voyeurism set against an apocalyptic nightmare.
A woman is murdered in a movie theater in present day. Her murderer is playing an online game, in which participants attempt to kill the most people at once. After she’s murdered, she becomes a ghost, and haunts the city. Years later, the city, indeed the world, has descended into a pleasure-driven chaos. Deadly fight clubs, mechanically aided pornography, and public orgies are the rule of the day, and Vaughan pulls no punches in presenting this lawlessness to us. The woman’s ghost eventually meets another ghost, one much older than she, but with a shared interest in voyeurism. The rest of the novel proceeds through the final days of the world as observed by these two ghosts, who are on the hunt for one last voyeuristic thrill before humanity dies.
The book is as intense as the description implies. Niko Henrichon’s rich, colorful illustrations are as blood-stained and pornographically salacious as the plot demands. While some readers might be put off by such graphic displays, the whole plot of the book and the moral queries it asks necessitate violence and sex to such magnitude. The book is designed both to thrill and disgust readers in equal measures, and forces them to question the direction of their own gaze.
Spectators is a bizarre sci-fi horror graphic novel. Set in a near-future society that has descended into a madness of violent power and sexual pleasure, the two protagonists seem a rational, even sane, counterpart, despite being specters. The rich art of Henrichon coupled with Vaughan’s sense of tension driving the story create a compelling tale. Adult fans (this book is DEFINITELY 18+ Only!) of body horror, sexual horror, and apocalyptic horror will thoroughly enjoy this morally introspective graphic novel.

Thank you to NetGalley and Publishers for this ARC.

This had an interesting concept with a lot of sex and violence.

More than that is this what we as humans (especially now more than ever) to be Spectators! A political and philosophical look into darkest human exploration and the need to spectate.

As a fan of Brian K. Vaughan's, I was sure I would be in for a treat.....and boy was I ever! Sexy, shocking, propulsive, and as addictive as your favorite snack. A must read for BKV fans and anyone who loves a great graphic novel.

Just higher than 2.5 stars, so I'm going with 3. I've read Vaughan's work before, but this was actually more interesting than the previous stuff I've read. There is a very good point to this story, even though I really never cared for the characters. Interesting take on what people's ghosts look like, and fantastic art.

My thanks to NetGalley and Image Comics for an advance copy of this graphic novel that pulls out all the stops in its portrayal of why people like to watch, why people need to experience life through the actions of others, something that make up the lives and after lives of many.

Two genres in books that escaped me completely were romance and true crime. One I didn't believe in and one I didn't care anything about. I had read some books on mob, and famous assassinations, and even collections on crime Ian Fleming, Alfred Hitchcock books and some other titles. However the true crime moniker, the Ann Rule, the Joe Olsen books were of no interest. When I started in bookstores at the ripe old age of 16, I was stunned to see entire sections on True Crime. And honestly they all seemed the same to me, just like romance. As I have become older I am not as judgemental about books as I used to be. True Crime though, is something that I don't get. The books, the numerous podcasts, heck entire streaming services showing documentaries. I don't know if these are signs of the times, or the times have become what we watch. I know there are fans, enough to take true crime cruises, and it is big money. Living vicariously through the lives of the dead, and their murderer is big money, with a fan base that rivals Star Wars. A fan base that might keep watching, even past their own death. Spectators is a graphic novel written by Brian K Vaughan and illustrated by Niko Henrichon which looks at the human love for sex and violence, and how this has shaped us, and how many can't let go, even if given the chance.

Val is waiting for her date in a movie theater sometime after COVID. The theater is pretty empty, and will be even emptier when her date bails on her. Val settles back to relax in her own way, when the sounds of gunfire is heard. A shooter has decided to beat the number of people shot in the Las Vegas shooting and has worked his way through the building, finally killing Val. Val becomes a phantom, meeting other phantoms, many who spend their time watching others. Val is told that anytime she wants she can go to Paradise, or some place different, but Val chooses to wait. Years pass, and New York is a technopolis filled with violence, and/or sex. Val is still a phantom, drawn to extremes in everything. Val meets Sam, a cowboy of a sort, who looks at the world differently, but has his own set of hangups. The two wander the world, watching and talking, as things so from worse, to armageddon-ish.

A dark book that is loaded with everything to titillate the readers, and yet the book asks a lot of questions. Why are readers reading this? Why are we drawn to bad things. What does this mean for us, and what will it lead to. The book is pretty explicit, and yet it really does show how desensitized we have become to many things. Some of the stuff I read I thought about how I hadn't seen that in the real world yet, and wonder when I will. Working retail does that to a person. What I enjoyed were the quiet moments, the talks that Sam and Val had, trying to make sense of the insanity they found themselves in, and realizing it might be more about them then they think. The art is excellent. I can' imagine how long it took to create this book, for Henrichon is an incredibly detailed artist. Numerous pages stand-out, gross, wrong, and yet oddly beautiful. A true melding of art and story.

Not for everyone. Though the questions that Vaughan asks should be. There is a lot here, pages, content, and what it asks of us as readers, and as humans. Another solid work from a team I would wait a long time to see more of.

A woman from the present, the victim of a terrible cinema massacre, enters the afterlife and meets a gun-toting man from the past as they watch all the terrible things happening to the world in the future.
This is provocative, explicitly sexy, and incredibly violent. It examines human voyeurism in a thought-provoking way that made for compelling reading.
Loved the story and loved the art.

Around the present day, a woman bored at the movie theater is murdered by a mad gunman. Years later she is still hanging around New York as a ghost, when she meets another ghost dressed as a cowboy who has been on the other side for decades longer. The two of them decide to travel together to see what they can observe as conditions in the human world deteriorate dramatically.

Brian K. Vaughn and Niko Henrichon have collaborated to create an interesting look at the voyeuristic relationship we have with sex and violence. The centerpiece of the book is the conversations that the pair of ghosts have about their desires, their old lives, the things they have seen since their deaths, and the meaning of it all. But these conversations all take place over Henrichon's gorgeous art, which makes great use of contrasting color and black-and-white imagery. The book is about sex, so there is obviously a lot of it depicted in the book, but for very good reason as the reader is asked why we may want to watch just as much as the central spectating ghosts in the story. A sweet love story full of sex and violence at the end of the world.

Thank you to Image Comics and NetGalley for a copy of Spectators in exchange for an honest review.

Spectators is an interesting mix of smut and extreme situations, in a big way, it's a good story presented in an even better artistic quality.
Thanks to NetGalley and publisher for this advanced reader's copy.

Perfect and everything i expected i had wanted to read this for years so jumped on the chance to pick this up and honored to have been given the chance by netgalley

This one is a bit of a mixed bag. The artwork is stunning throughout, and Vaughan obviously knows how to write a hook, but this did occasionally drag into monologuing and stating the subtext. Still, there are numerous arresting moments in both the story and art, and I will be picking up a copy for myself (though not the school library) when this is available.

This was very depressing. The violence was a lot. I liked the themes that were briefly discussed but overall this just felt grim.

This wasn’t for me. It is a story about ghosts who float around watching people live, watching them having sex, murdering others etc and the ghosts remember their own lives. They watch the human experience in all its beauty and ugliness. It has pornographic scenes, so it is a mix of porn and sci fi. I have to be honest I don’t think I really got this story. The artwork was good but I don’t really think I understood the novel. Oh well, can’t win them all.

OH FFS, I got so wrapped up in the fact that this was glitching in the reader, I didn't realize which Brian it was! I was like "This is really far from Powers" and now that I'm writing this up...okay, okay, I got it now. BKV, not BMB.

This book is alternately horny and horrific, using that juxtaposition to highlight the strangeness that is life. Our main character dies in a mass shooting and becomes a ghost, someone who watches Manhattan like her own private, pornographic television show.

It's fascinating how much this touches on: from film to orgies to murder to what shapes people and what gets them off.

This is an interesting concept, but I didn’t love it. It’s a bit darker than what I typically prefer to read. I definitely think it will resonate with many readers, but it was not for me.

a full circle reader moment as one of my first ever comic books was The Runaways by Brian K Vaughan and it is an honor to be an adult reading his newest graphic novel for adults
100 years in the future, NYC is haunted by ghosts
a voyeuristic woman named Val, who died in present day time, follows live souls as the indulge in the explicit joys of humanity in its darkest moment
meeting a mysterious gun man named Sam, they journey together bearing witness to the decay of humanity and its relentlessness to find solace in obsession, the fine line of watching people live vs living, sexually explicit and gorgeous in this violently beautiful story with a bittersweet ending that will stay with you for a long time