The Matrix Comics

Rating:
Summary: I don't care what anyone says, I enjoyed this work
Review: Being a proud lover of all three "Matrix" films, I naturally loved the "Matrix Comics" as well. In fact anything remotely cyberpunk, such as the books "Neuromancer", "Cryptonomicon", "Darkeye: Cyber Hunter", "Count Zero", etc., is now in my possession. I would advise anyone remotely interested in these types of comics or books to get them and tune into cyberspace like only these bodies of work can do!

Rating:
Summary: I don't care what anyone says, I enjoyed this work
Review: Being a proud lover of all three "Matrix" films, I naturally loved the "Matrix Comics" as well. In fact anything remotely cyberpunk, such as the books "Neuromancer", "Cryptonomicon", "Darkeye: Cyber Hunter", "Count Zero", etc., is now in my possession. I would advise anyone remotely interested in these types of comics or books to get them and tune into cyberspace like only these bodies of work can do!

Rating:
Summary: I may be in the minority here, but...
Review: I absolutely loved this first volume of "The Matrix Comics", just as I loved the movies. It fits in well with the books that I enjoy, such as "Neuromancer", "Mona Lisa Overdrive", "Count Zero", "Snow Crash", "Darkeye: Cyber Hunter", etc. All are worthy of buying and reading and, the books mentioned, would make great graphic novels or comics or, heck, even movies!

Rating:
Summary: More of a curiousity...
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: Animatrix 2.0
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: Very enjoyable
Review: If you liked the Matrix and its sequels, and the Animatrix, you'll enjoy this. There is some clever writing and great art-work. Each story explores a different aspect of the Matrix universe a la the Animatrix. There's a great noir feel to the book as a whole, and find myself returning to it after having initially read it. Very enjoyable.

Rating:
Summary: Some Background might be required...
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent expansion of the Matrix mythology
Review: 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.