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The Empty Man #1-6

The Empty Man

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The Empty Man made me do it

It's been one year since the first reported case of the Empty Man disease, and no drug has been able to slow its progress. The cause is unknown, and the symptoms include fits of rage, hideous hallucinations, suicidal dementia, followed by death, or a near lifeless, "empty" state of catatonia. As cults rise nationwide, the FBI and CDC enter a joint investigation of the Empty Man, hoping to piece together clues to stop the cult and uncover a cure. THE EMPTY MAN is a dystopic version of the world we know, where a terrifying disease has taken on almost deific connotations.

Writer Cullen Bunn has skyrocketed to comics fame in a very short period of time, thanks to a variety of titles including his Supernatural Western epic THE SIXTH GUN, and tackling some of comics' most popular antiheroes such as MAGNETO and SINESTRO. Vanesa R. Del Rey's art has been met with rapturous acclaim, including a Russ Manning nomination for her work on HIT.

160 pages, Paperback

First published July 7, 2015

About the author

Cullen Bunn

2,000 books983 followers
Cullen grew up in rural North Carolina, but now lives in the St. Louis area with his wife Cindy and his son Jackson. His noir/horror comic (and first collaboration with Brian Hurtt), The Damned, was published in 2007 by Oni Press. The follow-up, The Damned: Prodigal Sons, was released in 2008. In addition to The Sixth Gun, his current projects include Crooked Hills, a middle reader horror prose series from Evileye Books; The Tooth, an original graphic novel from Oni Press; and various work for Marvel and DC. Somewhere along the way, Cullen founded Undaunted Press and edited the critically acclaimed small press horror magazine, Whispers from the Shattered Forum.

All writers must pay their dues, and Cullen has worked various odd jobs, including Alien Autopsy Specialist, Rodeo Clown, Professional Wrestler Manager, and Sasquatch Wrangler.

And, yes, he has fought for his life against mountain lions and he did perform on stage as the World's Youngest Hypnotist. Buy him a drink sometime, and he'll tell you all about it.

Visit his website at www.cullenbunn.com.

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5 stars
88 (11%)
4 stars
228 (28%)
3 stars
340 (43%)
2 stars
117 (14%)
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16 (2%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 103 reviews
Profile Image for La loca de los libros .
389 reviews294 followers
September 16, 2022
Hoy les traigo una novela gráfica de la que desconocía su existencia, fue a raíz de ver una película titulada The empty man que vi que estaba basada en ella. La película me resultó muy inquietante, en el inicio sobre todo. Desprendía un halo de angustia, de no saber qué está pasando.
Estos elementos en mi opinión han sabido llevarlos mejor en la película, donde todo queda algo mejor explicado aunque sigue siendo algo confuso, sí he visto una visión diferente en esta novela gráfica, más tétrica, donde no escatiman en criaturas y dibujos sangrientos.
Pero a pesar de ser una historia con mucho potencial siento que hay elementos que se quedan en el aire y el cierre deja muchas incógnitas, no sé si realmente habrá más partes o simplemente lo han planteado así.

👌A lo largo de seis capítulos y un regalo final con imágenes de cubiertas alternativas, iremos descubriendo lo que se esconde tras esta extraña enfermedad que trasforma a la gente y que se está expandiendo a pasos agigantados. Monstruos, conspiraciones, predicadores siniestros, un terror con un toque muy diferente a lo que he tenido ocasión de leer.
Me ha gustado y sorprendido, es muy original, pero como dije el final es inconcluso y me ha dejado con muchas preguntas sin resolver.

👤 "El hombre vacío me obligó a hacerlo."

📚 https://www.facebook.com/LaLocadelosL... 📚
Profile Image for Chad.
9,158 reviews1,002 followers
September 14, 2018
This was terrible. A lot of it had to do with the ruddy, rudimentary art. I often couldn't tell what was going on. Del Rey definitely did a poor job of portraying Bunn's story. That being said, the story itself isn't that great either. It's confusing and vague with not very well thought out concepts. The book also ends in the middle of the story. Given this has been out for 3 years, I doubt Bunn ever bothers to return and finish this. Sixth Gun, The Damned, and Harrow County are all fantastic, but this is just shit. What a disappointment!
Profile Image for Vinton Bayne.
1,381 reviews30 followers
January 2, 2015
This series reads like a lost episode of the x-files. Everything is here, the radical fundamentalist preacher, paranormal activity, psychics, possible scientific/medical explanations and the couple of suits there to investigate.
The story itself ranged from cheesy to intriguing, it kept me interested and pulled off a pretty decent ending that makes you want to come back.
The art was interesting and at times fit the feel of the book really well, but at other times it was distracting and hard to make out what I was looking at.
A solid story for x-files fans, but it could have been more original.
Profile Image for Eddie B..
859 reviews2,450 followers
November 19, 2022
After watching "The Autopsy" from "Guillermo del Toro's Cabinet of Curiosities", I followed the trails that led me to "The Empty Man". The resemblance was there, but one might also find some good art and clever writing here. At least if one was a little sick.
Profile Image for Michelle Morrell.
1,074 reviews107 followers
April 23, 2021
I just watched the movie The Empty Man, and in an effort to dig through the massive "WTF did I just watch?" aspect, I found the comic it's apparently from. I say apparently because the movie and the comic have the most bare connection, and even that's a stretch. So anyway, I read this.
Profile Image for Shannon.
3,104 reviews2,530 followers
February 12, 2023
2.5

Well, hey. It's not the worst Bunn I've read so it at least has that going for it.

And they even made it into a movie! He must have the best networking skills.
Profile Image for Craig.
2,517 reviews28 followers
December 9, 2017
I was disappointed. The story wasn't very clear or well-developed, and the muddy artwork throughout really didn't help matters. I thought Vanesa Del Rey was an up-and-coming artist? This has none of the magic Bunn brought to The Sixth Gun or Harrow County.
Profile Image for Torie.
274 reviews29 followers
June 20, 2016
The Empty Man's story centers on a plague that mysteriously causes bouts of rage, murder, and suicides across the world. The premise, itself, is interesting, but the writing combined with the gorgeous, but gritty art is what really makes this atmospheric piece memorable. The art kind of reminded me of the art featured in American Vampire except the colors in this one are more reminiscent of a film noir. It's super moody and dark, making it all the more immersive to read.

I enjoyed the writing, the story, and the strangeness of it all, but felt that the end was rushed and left me wanting. Overall, though, it was a good read. I just wish it had a little more build up at the end--more of the tension that was present through the beginning and middle of the story. It felt like it kind of petered out at the end.
Profile Image for RandomReader.
218 reviews
November 19, 2022
Written in a cinematographic way. I liked the story and the art though it was a little weird to my taste, but the ending was kind of sudden.
274 reviews
January 29, 2021
This is a rough go. I like The Sixth Gun a lot, so I thought this might be good as well, but this story feels rushed and not fleshed out. It feels like it starts too late in the story without enough background then you are always unclear about what is going on. Like demons and monsters appear and people seem kind of nonplussed? Is that a regular thing in the world if The Empt Man? I couldn’t tell. This is not helped by an art style that can be confusing at best, there are certain panels that I just could not figure out what was going on. Just confusing and disappointing all around.

The movie based on this is surprisingly good and almost completely different, watch that instead.
Profile Image for Alan.
1,351 reviews89 followers
January 26, 2021
I read this because I just saw the movie (loosely, verrry loosely) based on the title. I'm glad they pretty much just took the concept of The Empty Man and wrote an entirely different story for the film, because that story was excellent. As for the graphic novel, it's good, not great. You're pretty much thrown into the tale in the midst of the story, and while you don't learn everything, it's actually a pretty simple, straightforward idea, kind of like a drawn out X-File. The artwork is a bit too dark and abstract, but it certainly is a pure horror comic.
Profile Image for Jack.
591 reviews3 followers
June 19, 2021
Some of the imagery is spooky, and the idea of a thought-virus is freaky. The problem is mostly that this feels unfinished. Given that it ends on a cliffhanger, that’s probably the case.
This recycles a lot of ideas and imagery from other, better stuff, but it could have worked if it was fleshed out better. Alas, it’s not. I’m guessing the movie will be better.
Profile Image for Nuno Ferreira.
Author 13 books84 followers
January 5, 2019
O Homem Vazio foi um dos lançamentos de fim-de-ano que mais me entusiasmaram. A premissa de uma doença altamente contagiosa que se difunde na eclosão de uma seita é, no mínimo, interessante. Infelizmente, o comic não correspondeu às expectativas. A história é mesmo interessante, uma mistura pouco discreta entre o policial e o sobrenatural, mas isso não é o suficiente para oferecer uma experiência de leitura que possamos dizer convincente.

Para além da explicação do plot ser para lá de atabalhoada, a arte de Vanesa R. Del Rey não me cativou a 100%. Confesso que me desiludiu, mas essa percepção acabou se esbater durante a leitura. A coloração de Michael Garland, que realça os rosas e os liláses, acaba por compensar os traços faciais pouco convincentes e um trabalho global algo pobre da artista cubana. Mesmo assim, a trama é estranha e intrigante o quanto baste para que o livro acabe por revelar algum interesse.

Um ano após o primeiro caso confirmado do Homem Vazio, uma estranha epidemia de que não se conhece cura, todas as tentativas de a debelar ou mitigar foram condenadas ao fracasso. Ninguém sabe o que causou a doença, apenas que os infectados apresentam sintomas como delírios febris, acessos de raiva ou tendências suicidas que tanto os conduzem à morte como ao estado vegetativo, a que lhe valeu a nomenclatura. Para piorar as investigações, começam a surgir sinais de uma seita homicida que vê esta estranha doença como uma manifestação divina.

A narrativa acompanha a agente Jensen do FBI e um membro do CDC, Langford, que investigam o culto ao Homem Vazio e tentam perceber os contornos da misteriosa epidemia. Com um pregador louco e fundamentalista, um rol de possibilidades a envolver explicações psíquicas, científicas e médicas e alguma atividade paranormal, a trama oferece uma aura X-Files a quem a lê.

Cullen Bunn volta a não me encher as medidas com O Homem Vazio. Apesar de reconhecer qualidade no seu trabalho, nomeadamente com Harrow County ou Deadpool, é um autor que não entra, definitivamente, no lote de argumentistas de comic que mais me agradam. Também não foi este o livro dele que menos me agradou, mas infelizmente a arte de Del Rey não lhe oferece ajuda.

Pouco criativa na apresentação dos factos, visualmente confusa e com um desenvolvimento pouco consistente, O Homem Vazio é uma história de teor noir que tem na premissa a sua maior virtude. E é exatamente o tipo de narrativa e o mistério que o envolve o que mais me cativou neste álbum, bem como a fisionomia inusitada das manifestações da doença. À publicação da G Floy Studio resta dar-lhe mérito em tratar-se de uma edição auto-conclusiva.

http://noticiasdezallar.wordpress.com
Profile Image for Jamie Henderson.
55 reviews6 followers
October 1, 2018
In The Empty Man, an FBI agent and a CDC investigator are partners investigating a mysterious and gruesome series of suicides that have one thing in common — they all seem to have been told to do it by the Empty Man. This is an excellent hook for a horror series and the en medias res beginning of issue 1 sucks the reader right into this six-issue graphic novel.

The series does a great job of setting up the mysterious compulsions of the suicides and the unique and horrific methods each one picks. The reader is given just enough examples without the narrative devolving into just a Faces of Death style series of examples. However, it falls down a bit on the characterization of our two detectives. We get indication that they’ve been working together for a while and we get a bit of nice, human, interaction between them. Bunn seems to be going for a hard boiled feel in his investigators; but, just misses the mark by not making them quite stereotypical enough or quiet individual enough.

The art from Vanessa Del Rey, on the other hand, is pitch perfect for the kind of crime noir feel in both palette choice and the choice of going for more angular sketches rather than detailed verisimilitude. She introduces some style, especially in the paneling, which successfully ties the issues and the unfolding story together.

The writing itself does not quite tie together. Initially, Bunn draws us further and further in with an escalating sense of chaos. Are the Watchers merely lonely people who want to be part of something or are they being purposefully pulled in by the Empty Man? Is the Empty Man a supernatural entity or is an alien invasion involved? As things get more chaotic it becomes harder and harder to look away. Art and writing work well to give the reader an increasing feeling of spiraling into madness.

Until, somewhat abruptly, they don’t. Many reviewers have complained about the lack of an ending. It’s true that issue 6 leaves the field wide open for a lot of things to possibly come next. However, one of the big problems with the series is that it introduces a lot of wild possibilities only to eventually tell us exactly what the Empty Man is and what we should think about it. This weakens the ending to a point where the open-ended conclusion leaves the reader feeling like Bunn may have just run out of space, rather than planning to leave us dying to know what comes next.

Even considering the unsatisfying ending, this is an excellent horror comic with a lot of great elements and a great example of the art complementing the story.
Profile Image for Quentin Wallace.
Author 34 books177 followers
October 23, 2022
From reading other reviews, it looks like most readers were as confused as I was. There's a "disease" going around, that causes people to see strange things and commit terribly violent acts. No one is sure how the disease spreads, or what causes it. We find out it's somehow linked to a catatonic man and his sister, but even then things are vague. Then monsters start to show up. And we find out there's another world. I realize this review seems disjointed, and it's because the story felt the same way.

Things were still creepy and if you just read in the moment and not try to analyze what's happening, it's okay. But I like to have more of an understanding of why things are happening, so this wasn't really my type of read. However, I will read the sequels in a hopeful attempt that it clears things up a little, as this sort of ends in the middle of the story.
Profile Image for Regalia_Lenzi.
362 reviews
June 15, 2024
Całkiem dobre rysunki - nie pokazują dobitnie tej masakry, ale też nie są na tyle rozmyte, żebym nie wiedziała, na co patrzę.

No, rozwój sekty - a później kościoła - wokół dziwnego wydarzenia, nic nowego. Działania terrorystycznej tej zbiorowości to również nic nowego. Ale sposób podania historii jest bardzo zjadliwy i człowiek czyta z wypiekami. Trochę szkoda mi zakończenia, bo jestem ciekawa, co TAM jest i chciałabym trochę odpowiedzi.
Profile Image for Joycelyn.
272 reviews
January 15, 2024
I wasn't sure about the book in the beginning but then when things got going, it started moving and I was INVESTED!!!! My goodness, religion can be a cult. And greed, absolute greed!! Excited for the next installment because I need to know what happened to the kids!! And the entire thing!
Profile Image for James.
3,708 reviews
April 5, 2021
Mental power gone insane. It is some sort of living thing that will sense danger and it takes measures to defend itself.
Profile Image for Andrew Shaffer.
Author 44 books1,485 followers
July 8, 2021
Some interesting concepts, but it comes nowhere close to an ending with the final issue. 🙀
Profile Image for Andy Herrera.
44 reviews1 follower
April 9, 2021
Reliably creepy and cool artwork, but I wish the main story felt less like a knockoff procedural. Excited to see what the movie does with the material
Profile Image for Noelle Kovatch.
110 reviews1 follower
July 30, 2022
A great concept with lots of good horror. But with no follow up the ending becomes rather meaningless. And its way too short this story has so many awesome plot points that would be so much better with more development.

Otherwise it's really incredible
Profile Image for Michael.
Author 36 books21 followers
June 13, 2021
An interesting premise and amazing artwork draw you in to the world of the Empty Man. People are killing, people are dying, people are changing. Is it the work of a disease? A cult? An invasion of some type? This creepy story and equally dark visuals will keep you up at night, either reading or staring into the gloom, trying to avoid the nightmares which await you.
Profile Image for Fernando.
Author 27 books12 followers
May 19, 2021
Novela gráfica inspiración de la película de culto homónima del 2020 aunque, salvo algunas referencias claras, el largometraje no tiene nada que ver con esta historia. Me ha emocionado y horrorizado, a partes iguales, transmite el desconcierto y la angustia con muchísima potencia en un dibujo que juega al esbozo.

Aún así, culpa mía sin duda o del momento que atravieso, no consigo sacarle todo el jugo filosófico al concepto del "Hombre Vacío" una suerte de anti deidad que necesita, precisamente, de un recipiente para extender su influencia por nuestra realidad mediante ondas de pensamiento que, concretamente en el cómic, se consideran un virus que afecta en gran medida a aquella parte de la población con cierta capacidad extrasensorial.

Historia con escenario y situaciones de novela negra en las que el horror irrumpe no sólo en forma de amenaza sobrenatural sino también en el trato psicológico de los afectos, las enfermedades (concebidas incluso como una maldición) y las herencias familiares.

Porque todo eso también nos llena y nos vacía. Nos hace ver el mundo de una forma intransferible, tan personal que sólo existe la verdad propia, el mundo personal: la incapacidad positiva de comprendernos como seres y entre nosotros.

Estupendo trabajo de edición de Editorial Hidra.
Profile Image for Rick Urban.
306 reviews54 followers
May 6, 2021
I read this after seeing the fantastic movie, and I have to say, the filmmakers really did make a silk purse out of a sows ear. The graphic novel has a plot that is not terribly original, the characters are threadbare, the resolution is non-existent, and the art is murky and dark (an overdone style that sacrifices clarity and precision for a mood of nihilistic chaos). Skip this book (and I assume, its sequels, and watch the superior-in-every-way film that's only remotely based on this source material.
Profile Image for Michael Quinn.
75 reviews5 followers
August 19, 2021
The movie was vastly better. Both have some of the same creepy ideas and confusing ending, but while the film's resolution was intriguing, the comic felt like a massive cop-out. And the art was rather weak as well, often being hard to parse out.
Profile Image for Matt.
1,254 reviews10 followers
December 29, 2018
Another weird horror story from Bunn... the story reminded me more of The Leftovers, in a way. Del Rey's art is growing on me. Looking forward to the next volume.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 103 reviews

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