Failure to Launch

English language

Published 2023 by Iron Circus Comics.

ISBN:: 978-1-63899-123-6

View on OpenLibrary

(1 review)

1 edition

Muse reviewed Failure to Launch by Kel McDonald

Review of 'Failure to Launch' on 'Storygraph'

3 stars

There were a lot of informative stories, and I learned a bit more history thanks to this book, but this is also one of the most disjointed anthologies I've read. That's not to say that any one story is not up to par - they're all enjoyable - but the tone and subject matter felt inconsistent. The cover and opening story make it sound like this will be a collection of failed inventions or ideas attempted before their time - and a far amount of the book is exactly that. But there's also more than one story about religious cults, Y2K retrospectives, and musing about Star Trek. It feels very confused, like the theming wasn't explained in detail to the participants so they accidentally came up with something adjacent to what the anthology promises. Overall, still fantastic art and storytelling, but like some of the inventors in its pages, I'm …

There were a lot of informative stories, and I learned a bit more history thanks to this book, but this is also one of the most disjointed anthologies I've read. That's not to say that any one story is not up to par - they're all enjoyable - but the tone and subject matter felt inconsistent. The cover and opening story make it sound like this will be a collection of failed inventions or ideas attempted before their time - and a far amount of the book is exactly that. But there's also more than one story about religious cults, Y2K retrospectives, and musing about Star Trek. It feels very confused, like the theming wasn't explained in detail to the participants so they accidentally came up with something adjacent to what the anthology promises. Overall, still fantastic art and storytelling, but like some of the inventors in its pages, I'm not sure that Failure To Launch reached the vision it promised.