Sky Doll, Vol. 1 (v. 1) [Hardcover]

Barbara Canepa (Author), Alessandro Barbucci (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 5, 2008

The internationally acclaimed best-seller is now finally presented in English! Meet Noa, a so-called Sky Doll; a life-like female android without rights, who exists only to serve the State's needs and desires. But when Noa meets two so-called "missionaries" who aid in her escape from her tyrannical master, all hell breaks loose for our cyborg siren as she uncovers clues that she may be much more than just a robotic toy. The first release in a new partnership between Marvel and cutting-edge French publisher Soleil! Collects Sky Doll #1-3.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 144 pages
• Publisher: Marvel (November 5, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0785132368
• ISBN-13: 978-0785132363
• Product Dimensions: 1 x 1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,119,445 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Worth buying for the art alone., September 19, 2009

By 

Mr. J. K. Sommariva - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Sky Doll, Vol. 1 (v. 1) (Hardcover)

This is one of those hard to find Eurpoean comics that I have always wanted to check out, but was always to hard to come by. Especially a version which could be read in English. When I saw that this collection was available, it felt like the wait was finally over.

I am not disapointed with my purchase at all. Sky Doll as a piece of work is worth adding to your collection. This hardcover is really nicely presented. The artwork is reproduced beautifully, and the production values are high in this graphic novel.

For me, this book was worth the purchase just for the artwork alone. I would give it 5 stars if this was just an art review without hesitation. If you love sequential art, and the styles of Disney crossed with the detail of manga art then this is for you. The colour pallettes were also very inspiring.

I had fun with the story, but that wasn't the reason why I made my purchase, so I'll leave that aspect of this book at that.

As for the actual hard cover, I have a couple of very minor comments which I think would have made it even better. This is my wish list:

1 - I wish the artwork was presented in it's original size and format. I would much rather the larger size art on the dimensions of paper it was designed for... Does the English speaking audience really need everything in "comic book size" for it to sell? Having said that, it dosn't look bad the way it is presented. I just couldn't help being made aware of this because of the white spaces at the top and bottom of each page.

2 - I wish the sketchbook section at the back was bigger! You do get a couple of sketches with a very 'press release style' interview. I would have loved this section to be much chunkier.

I'm really glad I bought this despite the wish list, and it is really happy sitting nearby me on the shelf :)

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars ONE GREAT, FUN, BEAUTIFUL PIECE OF WORK, February 15, 2009

By 

DeuceDevil "Deuce" (Nunya, BU) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sky Doll, Vol. 1 (v. 1) (Hardcover)

I'm surprized no one has written on this yet. This is a great graphic novel. Artists Alessandro Barbucci and Barbara Canepa have created a comic book like no other.Former Disney artist from Italy, have taken their craft and made an adult verson of what a Disney cartoon would be like. Whats cool to me is the amount of emotion the characters exspress. The facal exspressions along with the animated gestures are very different from what you would get in a manga or comic. The colors are just beautiful. I can look at the art for hours. If you are into Disney animation and cartoons with feeling then by all means buy this book. It is for adults by the way for nudity.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Enticing series start, March 20, 2009

By 

wiredweird "wiredweird" (Earth, or somewhere nearby) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Sky Doll, Vol. 1 (v. 1) (Hardcover)

This introduction certainly pulled me in. The "Sky Doll," Noa, starts life (if you can call it that) as a life-sized, robotic toy created for the most adult of entertainments. Although engineered for contentment with her lot, something in Noa becomes more than she was built to be. Despite built-in safeguards, her personality begins to emerge. So do the ambitions she wasn't supposed to have, and her first ambiton is to escape.

That launches her into a larger, more complex world than the locked rooms of the harem-for-hire. That world, or rather those worlds, turn out to be theocracies with simmering rivalries - after all, these two opposed sets of tenets can't both be right, can they? Soon, Noa finds herself immersed in the intrigue between them. She also find within herself much more than her design engineers cold ever have put in ...

Despite the adult undercurrent, this collection's skin display remains largely (but not wholly) restrained. Instead, its easter-egg coloring and slightly goofy style disarm the potentially disturbing back-story, and keep this a safe adventure. And, just once in a while, it offers a little more to think about. For example, just how human does a being have to be, to be human enough?

-- wiredweird