It's the first spinoff from Fables that I read and I really enjoyed it. A detective story with Cinderella in the lead, thrilling to the last page. What makes this even more interesting and great is the fact that not one but 27(!) different artist contributed to the book! So every 4 to 6 spages the pencils and colorings change. And it matches the episodic narration perfectly.

As it works completely fine on its own, you don't have to be familiar with the Fables story at all. But if you are, there some nice hints and mentionings.

this book is so rich with ideas and images I definitely have to read it at least once more. I smiled almost all the way through it. Typical Gaiman style of narration.

I just love Gerard Way's weird stories and Gabriel Bá's art style matches them so perfectly.

well, I'm not an avid Top Cow reader, so this was totally new. Apparently, there is another story about Aphrodite IX taking place before Rebirth. I haven't read that but Rebirth doesn't require any knowledge about the character(s) or the world. Evertything is explained, so no worries.

The setting of the book reminds the science fiction comic reader of today of Saga. Only thing is: Aphrodite was published 2013, so it's not like top cow is jumping on a hype or anything.
Earth was destroyed, but just before everything went to thell, the humans created two ways of surviving. One is bioengineered people (super strenght, longevity) who grew to be very nature-religious and live in a monarchy. The other one is cyborg people, who are ruled by a totalitarian council. Naturally, these two are not getting along. We dive into the story right at the beginning of an open war, and during an attack an ancient facility is discovered with two capsules. One capsule holds Aphrodite IX a being created to infiltrate and kill. The second capsule holds her handler, the one who controls her. Aphrodite ends up with the bioengineered people, the handler with the cyborgs. And then the killing starts...

To be honest, Aphrodite IX Rebirth is not super great. I bought it because I love the artist's other works: Stjepan Sejic (Sunstone, Death Vigil). Thing is, the art shows a lot of semi-naked women. Sometimes it bothered me, but most of the time it didn't. The story itself is violent, fast paced and straight. Not much twists and turns there. So if you're into that sort of science fiction, Aphrodite IX might be for you.

A single mom starts over with her son on a moon planet as the new sheriff. It's really a science fiction western with all the classic western tropes. You have the greedy mine owner, insect like native creatures, the aftermath of a (civil) war, binge drinking doctors, etc etc.

Artist Scott Godlweski and colorist Ron Riley do a damn fine job on the visuals and I like the dialogues and that in the end, not all storylines fulfill the western cliche. Also: woohoo for single mom main character!

Looking forward to reading Volume Two!

nice to see that volume two keeps up the vibe of the first one. I just like this tough science fiction wester stuff! It's still rather dark and uncompromising, so don't expect a new firefly/serenity!

Sherriff Bronson still tries to get the town of copperhead back to order, but then her deputy gets kidnapped and she has to form an unwilling alliance to get him back. we also get a bit more of the greater story arc connected to bronson's backstory.

Quite a few things changed in comparison two volume 1 but I'm still not sure how to feel about this book. Sejic changed his drawing style to the way he's recognized for today in Sunstone etc. Moreover, on the one hand, the outfits for the women are less pin up, but early on there's a nude scene which is rather unnecessary. However, there are also quite a few topless male characters this time.

the story itself in a way zooms out of the conflict between the bioengineered and the cyborg people and reveals a lot about the time before and what's behind Aphrodite's origin. It's not mindblowing stuff but a lot of interesting topics in there. Like in the first volume there's a knowledge base in the back of the book, which is something I like.