Graphic Novel Review: Captive

Captive

Van Ryder Games

Writer: Emmanuel Manuro

Artist: MC

Here at Sequential Planet, we love covering comic books and tabletop games. We rarely get the opportunity to cover both. Graphic Novel Adventures is a line of gamebooks that make the experience of reading a comic much more interactive. Some of the books in the line are targeted at all ages, while books like Captive are for mature audiences.

In Captive, players get to channel their inner Liam Neeson as they control a protagonist rescuing his kidnapped daughter. Players will go from panel to panel, making decisions for their character regarding rooms to explore, items to investigate, and how to dispatch enemies. The journey can end either successfully or in the character’s death. It all depends on the decisions that the player makes.

As a comic book, Captive is a fine mystery. It wouldn’t be the most compelling book as just a graphic novel since there isn’t much depth to the protagonist. In fact, the protagonist doesn’t have too many lines outside of yelling at bad guys “Where is my daughter?!” Despite this, writer Emmanuel Manuro still makes Captive engaging. The limited dialogue by the protagonist combined with the ability to make decisions makes the book feel like a video game. The book has a good atmosphere throughout, with solid tension and a bit of creepiness to it.

The art by MC is solid too, with a gritty style that completely embraces the feel of the journey. The action is easy to follow throughout the panels due to some great sequential work. The characters themselves look fine, though there are a few inconsistencies in facial expressions here and there. It’s nothing that really hurts the experience, though. The game aspect of the book works well thanks to numbers thrown around the panels that indicate what page players should turn to. Fans of Choose Your Own Adventure will feel right at home while reading/playing Captive.

Throughout the game, players will find gradually lose health and time, as indicated on panel. Every decision throughout the book feels like it has some weight, adding to the tension. Losing doesn’t feel too bad though since the game has tons of replayability. The back of the book even has some achievements for players to shoot for on extra readthroughs.

It’s a bit cheesy, but Captive does a solid job at giving players their own little action movie experience. Fans of graphic novels, interactive games, or both will want to check this one out.