Oh… what a twist!
Beautifully executed and illustrated.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC of this graphic novel in return for a honest review.

4.25 stars

I was captivated by the amazing artwork. This is a story told mainly through the artwork with not many words. It takes a talented artist to be able to convey a story through art alone and I think it was incredibly well done here. I enjoyed this a lot.

Pub Date: 10/20/26
Thank you to NetGalley and Oni Press for the opportunity to experience this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I was bamboozled! That ending was as cruel as the art was gorgeous.

Thank you to NetGalley and Oni Press for this DRC.

Moon Deer tells the story of a humanoid astronaut deer and his travels through the galaxy.  Every protecting their precious cargo-an egg- and in search of a particular planet to take it to, he is relentlessly pursued by an alien huntress everywhere he goes.  She is desperate to destroy the egg and the fate of universe hangs in the balance.  This sci fi story is light on dialogue making it feel even more action packed and fast paced, it is beautifully drawn and full of original ideas.

#MoonDeer Written & Illustrated by #YoannKavege Wow, what an extraordinary piece of illustrated storytelling. This SF chase journey is stunning & needs to be experienced. Thank you @OniPress & #NetGalley for the opportunity to review the e-ARC. #BookSky

For a mostly silent graphic novel, Moon Deer is remarkably engaging from start to finish.

The artwork is fantastic, relying entirely on visual storytelling to pull you into a high-stakes cosmic pursuit. Little Moon Deer is so adorable and relentless that you instantly become invested in his survival and root for him as he protects his precious cargo while fleeing a relentless pursuer across space.

What makes this book so impressive, though, is how cleverly it plays with your expectations. Because the story is told with almost no text, you're forced to piece together the context purely through action and expression. What seems like a straightforward, charming sci-fi chase quickly reveals itself to be something far deeper—and much darker—than it appears on the surface.

It delivers a wild, mind-bending climax that makes all the build up worth it. A really cool, unique concept executed with great visual flair.

What an excellent find! An absolutely gorgeous graphic novel which is often not afraid to be bleak in tone (or indeed artistically). I blasted through this in one sitting and was absolutely glued to my device. The action is punchy, the periods of quiet melancholy at this dying universe are both eerie and beautiful, and the character design is excellent.

Whilst I'd love to say I'd wish for more, it's so tight and punchy I think it'd take away from the experience. Highly recommended to everyone in the mood for some beautiful science fiction, Kavege's work is fantastic.

Confession: I read this twice though. The first, I blazed through in one sitting - I just had to know what the outcome was and the second I took my time to appreciate the artwork.

Thoughts:

This is a beautifully illustrated graphic novel from start to finish. The artwork is stunning. I don't think a panel was wasted and the author demonstrates skill in presenting the panels in interesting ways. The use of colour to depict different scenes and emotions was very well put together.

What sets this graphic novel apart, is that it's nearly wordless. As a reader you are drawn into the story by the artwork. A Moon Deer carrying a special cargo across the galaxy being chased by a hunter determined to thrawt Moon Deer's mission.

What struck me as clever was the twist at the end and how it was achieved. Because of the (mostly) silence of the story, as a reader we are in charge of how we interpret the panels. We are steered by what seems natural and assumptions are made. As I reached the end, and everything clicked into place, I was awed in how I had been manipulated into thinking a certain way (I had to rewrite this part as I don't want to spoil the discovery for other readers)

The delivery of the ending was quite final and beautiful.

A very interesting story for sure.


My thanks goes to NetGalley and Oni Press for the opportunity to read and review Moon Deer. It was a beautiful read across the galaxy. A great adventure.

5 stars for the art alone.

4 stars for the story because selfishly... I want more. I neeeed more.

Compelling with so little words, this truly is a beautiful yet daunting story about a deer on a mission of all missions, and quoting the synopsis, the last thing standing between life and complete annihilation.

And the ending. Shook.

My husband doesn't read and just about picks up a graphic novel from time to time, and this was fully appreciated in all it's glory!

Thank you🫶

Moon Deer is a short graphic novel, but it hit me so much harder than I expected.

There’s almost zero dialogue, so the story relies completely on the artwork, and it is absolutely stunning. The illustrations just pull you in and carry you page by page, making space feel beautiful, quiet, and intense all at once. I couldn’t put it down.

I was glued to it from the very first page right up to that intense, totally unexpected ending. It’s simple, deeply moving, and such a great read. Highly recommend!

Moon Deer is a stunning graphic novel. It's almost completely wordless, so the artwork has to carry the entire story, and it absolutely does.

We follow a small deer travelling through space with a mysterious egg while being chased by a strange hunter. The story itself is quite simple, but the ruined planets, strange creatures and huge stretches of empty space create a beautiful, melancholic atmosphere. The art is easily the highlight. Some of the pages are genuinely gorgeous.

What surprised me most was the ending. With so little dialogue, you naturally make assumptions about what's happening, and the book quietly encourages you to see things in a particular way. Then the final reveal pulls the rug out from under you. It doesn't feel like a cheap twist either. Once you see it, the earlier pages suddenly look rather different.

It's a short and very easy read, but it's the kind of comic where you probably want to slow down and actually look at the pages rather than rush through it.

Beautiful, atmospheric, and much cleverer than its simple premise suggests. Very good.

This Book was not what i expected! I just saw the Cover and kinda expected something cozy but this was obviously different. I really liked it tho.

The Twist was really suprising and i was a fan of it. Thank you <netgalley for letting me read this :)

I am going to be completely honest and say that the cover dragged me in even before I read the blurb. I saw a cute deer in a space suit and I was sold. What I didn’t expect was such an impactful graphic novel with nearly no text/spoken words. When I say I was blown away by this comic and I have become a massive Kavege fan I am not exaggerating. The artwork is amazing, and of course the deer is adorable, the story is fantastic and told so well with so little dialogue and that twist. Needless to say I am completely in love with this one and will be getting a physical copy because I know I will both re-read this and just enjoy looking at the artwork.

Wow. I thought it was a fun hero's journey, and then that ending really makes you think. Amazing storytelling that will really stick with you. An incredible work of art.

Moon Deer is a strange, gorgeous, and surprisingly moving journey.

The standout feature here is easily the art—every single page is packed with vibrant, surreal, and wonderfully detailed illustrations that pull you straight into its dreamlike universe. The visual storytelling carries a ton of emotional weight, balancing high-stakes cosmic pursuit with moments of quiet charm.

The narrative is intentionally minimalist, letting the imagery do the heavy lifting, which might feel a little abstract if you're looking for a dialogue-heavy plot. But if you appreciate stunning visual craft and imaginative, atmospheric sci-fi, it’s an absolute treat to flip through.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

Moon Deer by Yoann Kavege is a breathtaking, haunting masterpiece of visual misdirection and cosmic tragedy.

​What begins as a charming, mostly wordless sci-fi chase across vibrant alien worlds builds toward one of the most stunning and chilling climaxes I’ve encountered in graphic novels. Kavege subverts classic tropes brilliantly: the dynamic between the determined little deer and the relentless huntress turns reader expectations completely inside out.
​The visual storytelling in the final act is nothing short of extraordinary.

​An unforgettable, thought-provoking work of art. Absolute perfection for fans of atmospheric, philosophical sci-fi.

One long pursuit. Two enemies.

Beautifuly illustrated and designed, this mostly wordless comic is a strange scifi twist on the genre.
I truely enjoyed the art and got swept up in tye action.

The end was quote shocking and made me question the whole story I though I just finished reading.

First the colors, the nearly flat and subtly shaded, the exquisite toning in watercolor or colored pencil or even marker (I have no idea if any of those were actually used, but if not, they were emulated to perfection)--the wonderful, wonderful colors. The strong single-color theming assigned for each of the many locations in the course of the story is perhaps a bit unsubtle, but then again this story takes place almost as much within the minds of the deer and the huntress as it does on the many wonderous and different planets that we see, and the single colors dominating or clashing in each scene help externalize the desperation of the moon deer, the determination of the huntress, and the sorrow, peace, or rage of both.

Second the paneling, the paneling that first surprised me with the clever use of gutter crossing on page 32, then continued to pile up things like the sense of utter peace on page 114 (revisit that page once you have finished the book, it makes my chest tight), the exquisite bit of motionless animation on page 131, and the sound effect that deserves a better name than “sound effect” on page 167. It might have been improved by a few more shots like the deft sense of scale on page 109, but that might be demanding too great a range of abilities. The thing is that in all my time reading comics, I have never before encountered a style that is both perfectly lucid and utterly surprising, but that is what Yoann Kavege has achieved. There are pages that read like conventional comic pages of course, there are echoes both of that old manga convention of a line of narrowing panels to convey the passage of time as well as the carefully packed miniscenes of renaissance altarpieces, and the idea of mini-panels framing motion within a larger image that Kavege uses so often is certainly not new. However, Kavege just keeps on using placements and transitions I’d never seen before, and using them so well they are utterly invisible unless you pay attention.

Last, the story. As I began reading it, my first thought was that it resembled a much more coherent version of Michel Gagné’s The Saga of Rex: cute animals, surreal landscapes, and existential mysteries. Within the first few pages, it has much more emotional weight; we can feel the moon deer’s desperation, a constant sense that the author is absolutely willing to let something terrible happen at any moment. As we go on the scale of emotions only widens and deepens, the moon deer’s love for the egg is beautifully conveyed on the aforementioned page 114 (again, look at that page after you’ve finished the book), the huntress’ bond with the mount three pages later. I will not reveal how it ends, let us just say that I could see the ending coming and I still felt it incredibly powerfully.

A masterwork, that’s all I can say; I wish I had more stars to give this than five.

A mind-bending almost dialogue-free graphic novel with a huge plot twist.

Moon Deer follows the quest of a little deer through space to find a place to release his egg. What is in the egg isn't revealed until the last five pages, and it's quite the twist!

I liked the story and illustrations in this graphic novel. And I also liked the twist at the end. Without dialogue, you assume a certain plot and trajectory are happen (who is the good guy, who is the bad guy). But only by the end does the story itself fully make sense even though the twist is there.

Thank you to Yoann Kavege and Oni Press for this ARC!

4 stars

Recommended for readers who enjoy:
~ massive plot twists
~ graphic novels with minimal dialogue
~ space adventures

Oh my goodness, this was a real surprise! This was such a bizarre story, and the story constantly kept me guessing and engaged. The choice to make this a mostly silent graphic novel was great, I was still very connected with Moon Deer and his mission to protect his egg. The art style was out of this world, I loved it. This story was so haunting and eerie, I felt like I was also being chased and hunted by the a space enemy. If you want something truly unique, with exquisite artwork, and not a happy ending, then this graphic novel is for you.

Thank you NetGalley and Oni Press for the opportunity to read this ARC.

A deer from space, the egg that they’re protecting, and a moose-riding hunter may prove to be the end of the world as we know it.

All right, did I initial pick this book up because of the Sweet Tooth vibes? Yes. Did I read the entire thing in one sitting because it’s just as good? Also yes.

The obvious first place to start is the art. Moon Deer combines full color illustrations with an adorable protagonist and a variety of interesting, complex scenery changes. This is one of those graphic novels where the artistry really pulls the weight of the story simply because there’s very little talking. Little Moon Deer only says about two words, and instead the reader’s brought through the story with their actions and the landscape changes.

I really loved the variety of planets that the illustrator through us to. They were imaginative and different and crossed a wide expanse of color palettes. They were easily the best part of the story, and I can honestly say, that I’d love just diving into them. This novel really captured my love for history and urban exploration. I’d read dossiers on each and every single planet that we just saw little glimpses of.

My only complaint about this book is that it’s too short. It’s an incredibly quick read, and despite the cute title and cover, it’s very much an adult book. The content gets dark quickly and by the end, the cuteness gets striped out to reveal the dark underbelly of the story, so just, you know, be warned I guess. But getting back to the length, it’s definitely one of those stories that the reader’s only privy to a very small part of a much wider narrative, and I’m just greedy for the whole thing.

Despite the length and very little actual speaking, by the end, this is one of those tales that I’ll be thinking about for long after. It's not a five star only because I reserve those for books that I absolutely couldn't live without, so consider this the very highest of four star ratings.

This is a short, but powerful little comic. I think the cover doesn't really give away that this is a dark story and I think you're better going into this blind (of course, if you feel the need to please check content warnings). I found this ending to be powerful and while I suspected where we were going early in the story, I don't think that lessened the impact of the devastation of the end of this story. This will likely be a top favorite for me for 2026.

I really enjoyed the art in this graphic novel.

I loved this one. The art is really good, and the storytelling was done so well, especially considering it was almost all done through the art rather than dialogue. Plus, the reveal makes the lack of dialogue make so much sense. Just everything about this worked so well.

The artwork in this mostly wordless graphic novel was beyond stunning. Who is working on the side of good? Moon Deer or the Hunter? Your perspective will rely strongly on your thoughts about humanity.

It was truly outstanding how much emotion and intent are characterized only by drawings. You’ll see the Hunter chase Moon Deer across multiple different worlds. Once you find out what True Silence means to you, then you’ll know who was the good guy.

I love it that this book has such an ambiguous way of wrapping things up. It never tells you who you should have been rooting for. Instead, it simply tells the story and lets you determine the rest.

Highly recommended for those who like a gray hero/antihero, along with brilliant artwork.

This was pretty great. It has a sort of whimsical Bone feel to it, but it definitely doesn't go where you might think it's gonna go. It's super dark. I wasn't sure that I wanted to read it based on the cover and description, but I saw that a bunch of people seemed to like it and decided to check it out, so I'd definitely say go in pretty blind. It definitely made my reading experience better. This would probably make a pretty solid animated movie. There's a lot of action in this that I'd like to see in motion. Good book!

This was so great. Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC.

A littlr deer, a beloved egg, and a chase across the galaxy. There's very few words in this graphic novel allowing for the art to tell the story. The art is absolutely stunning as well. Like genuinely could not get over the colors and scenery and style choices.

The story itself has a clear flow and rhythm, something you could see set to an orchestral soundtrack. While the end is somewhat predictable, there's a lot to be said by how it gets there and what it has to say.

Definitely give this a go if you like graphic novels.