Customer Reviews

The Matrix Comics, Vol. 1

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Like the "Animatrix" shorts, this book is a clever expansion into the Matrix universe -- 12 comic book stories (well... 11 comic book stories and one prose short story) that tell new tales playing with the toys the Wachowskis created. It's not essential reading for people who are fans of the movies but just want to know what's going on, but most of the stories in this book are clever and inventive in their own right.

Ted McKeever's entry may be the best in the book -- the story of a woman who, when given a choice between a blue pill and a red pill, chose the blue. The Wachowskis chime in with their own story, about the robot B1-66ER, whose murder of its owner sparked the first war between humans and machines -- this story in particular tied in with The Animatrix. Neil Gaiman, one of the best writers on the planet these days, did a short story with a couple of illustrations rather than a comic book story. His tale, about a man forced to live several lives in the Matrix, plays with the nature of time the way the films play with the nature of reality. It's one of the standouts.

A couple of the stories are just so-so -- John Van Fleet and Bill Sienkiwicz, I'm afraid, didn't add too much to the world of the Matrix, but the rest of the stories are fantastic. Recommended for anyone who wants to delve deeper into this still-fascinating world.

Just from looking at a few comments on this book, I can see that many who might be interested in buying this book might need to know a little bit about the collection before they read it, or they might not fully enjoy it.

Many have criticized the book for not expounding on the matrix and instead dwell around the foundation of the first film. This is because many of these stories were started before the first film was even released, to be used as content for the movie's website. This is a collection of many of the older stories, and only a few of the more recent comics. For example, the first story, which tells essentially the same story as "The Second Renaissance, Part 1" from the Animatrix was written well before work on any of the sequels had begun. So keep in mind that this book is primarily works based on the world of the matrix before the sequels. For those of you looking for an expansion on the sequels, you definitely should check out the entire collection for free at thematrix.com. And then look for the other volumes to follow that will collect the rest of the comics, which DO expand on what we saw in Reloaded and Revolutions and the Animatrix.

The art has been attacked as well, which is too bad since the purpose was to get more people into comics who might not normally pick one up. Even if you don't like any type of comics, I would still recommend this. Sure, a panel drawing can't capture the splendor of an elaborately choreographed fight scene, but it's not supposed to. The intention here is to tell a good story. For anyone who enjoys the occasional graphic novel, you'll definitely appreciate the collection of very talented artists and writers assembled.

Overall, I would say that while this collection doesn't collect only the best stories from the series, it does collect many of the better ones, including my 2 favorites, making it an excellent start to the books. Instead, this collection is intentionally varied in it's art and story-telling style, so that there's something here for everyone. So if you liked comics like Star Wars Tales, you'll appreciate the variety to this collection. The two outstanding stories here are "Butterfly" and "There are no Flowers in the Real World". They are not to be missed, whether you enjoyed the sequels or not.

To be honest I think there were as many mediocre stories in this book as great ones, but this is offset by the beautiful artwork and the fact that when all the comics are finally collected, it will be an amazing book collection. Since many of the best stories are still only on the website, I'm looking forward to the subsequent volumes since reading them online just doesn't compare to actually having the book in your hands.

I never read these comics online. I only briefly heard of their existence. I saw this collection at my local comic store and at once picked it up. It plays like a continuation of all the brilliant shorts in the Animatrix video. It consists of 12 shorts that explore different ideas and philosophies of the matrix world. The artwork is beautiful, like all things matrix, only the best are at work here. The stories are compelling and raise some great questions that not even the animatrix touches on. For example in one short a young girl seems to have the ability to change shells in the matrix like the agents. (Huh? thats what I thought too.)I cannot wait for volume two and to one day have them all in this great collection. For matrix junkies who need to have it all, this is a must have. Especially if you dug the stories in the Animatrix DVD.

I found most of the stories in this book to be kind of average. The Neil Gaiman story was pretty good. As for the illustrations that accompanied it, I thought the first illustrations were the best.

Ted McKeever's story is very good because it treats the Matrix like the real world with a character that has great depth for a short piece of fiction. And the art was very original for this story, too.

I also liked "Hunters and Collectors", but I'm a sucker for any loose analogies or retellings of Melville's classic story.

The art, for the most part of this book is great. It's the writing that doesn't perform as well as I expected. Most of the stories don't take any chances or take you to different ground in the Matrix world, with the exception of McKeever & Gaiman's stories.

I'd recommend the book as a curiosity piece to anyone's library.

I was really excited about getting this collection of stories after reading everything in here online but, once I started reading it the pages started falling out. I think I got to the second story. Very disappointing.

I bought this for a friend as a birthday gift, and he absolutely loved it (being a Matrix fan AND an avid comic books reader). The only fault with it, is that the thingy disintegrated after one read. He ended up with a stack of loose pages..

All in all, I think he was happy, since he asked Vol.2 for his next B-day :P

I adore this volume of Matrix Comics. I never read them online, but after seeing all three movies again recently (and Animatrix), these comics are a wonderful supplement to anyone wanting more... or wanting more clarification. The artwork is fantastic and diverse, and the writing is odd and strangely filled with truths as well as more questions on existence. Considering that many of the stories were written before the first Matrix film hit theaters makes these stories more intriguing and creative. I love the artists and writers who signed on to work on this project, and I can't wait to get Volume 2.

My biggest gripe with Volume 1 is that the trade paperback began falling apart on the first reading. Perhaps I was a bit too rough (which I don't think I was), but considering that I owned it for 5 minutes before the pages of the first story began coming loose means it was not properly bound. I'm a little gentle Asian guy, much like the Keymaker (but I'm not that old... yet).

So before I had finished reading the third story, I got frustrated by my slowly-page-flaking book and carefully opened the book wide every two pages to assist in letting the rest of the pages "fall out" with a little help. It took a bit of care and restraint, but I took the whole 160 pages out very carefully over about an hour (while watching TV) and then took it to Kinko's to have it bound with plastic coil. That cost $5, but was worth it to be able to read it in one piece again. Nevertheless, the pages are high-quality and should hold up quite well now.

I highly suggest this trade paperback for anyone who enjoyed the first Matrix film... and perhaps if you didn't like the sequels, then perhaps this trade will help foster your desire to go back and give them another chance with a greater appreciation of the world the Brothers created from the beginning. And be prepared to take your trade to Kinko's for minor repairs (that are well-worth having done).

I love this book, great stories but not as nice as the movies.
And the pages are very loose.
so have to be very carefull.

This is a collection of stories that are split between mind-shattering entertainment and decrepit dullness. Most of the stories contained are stunning examples of smart science-fiction, but then you get a couple of stories that bring the world of the Matrix to the dumbest levels it has ever produced.

Out of the 12 stories presented, 8 of them hold up amazingly well. The best story isn't even a comic. It's an all-text story called "Goliath", and (IMO) its the best story Neil Gaiman has done outside of his Sandman epic. I would say it's as good as the 1st Matrix movie. It's probably worth buying the book for.

Overall, this book is a lot better than the Animatrix, and just as good as Matrix: Reloaded.

writing: [7/10]
art: [7.5/10]

Good stories, excellent artists. If you like good comics and the universe of Matrix, this book is for you.