“Click click click goes the mouse, tap tap tap goes the keyboard. And everything else disappears.”
A slice-of-life story that turned dark and intriguing quite quick and kinda unexpected (pacing-wise). In a good way. I loved the daily life parts, and I loved the sneaking around, detective-like parts.
(The publisher suggests similar shows being Bojack Horseman, Severance, The Menu, Get Out; I haven’t seen them though, so can’t confirm.)
By the way, don’t be put off by the page count! It’s printed in 1:1 format (18×18 cm) and there’s always 1-3, sometimes 4 panels per page. The artstyle is very stylized, comic format, giving Cartoon Network (Bluey, Peppa Pig, Inside Job) vibes. Definitely cool and cute, but not very detailed, so you’ll get through it pretty quickly. It took me about 6 hours (I’m a slow reader).
I feel like the art would’ve made the experience more “intense”, if the pages were colored. On the other hand, the black & white makes it look “retro”, which fits in some aspects. (Even though it plays in a modern age. Around 2020 I’m guessing?)
Characters:
- Veronika was so similar to me (in many aspects) that I wondered whether the author was spying on me while making this … Creepy, but … well, I could relate to her on many levels.
- Persephone was cool from the beginning, her name suits her well, lol. (Well, only in one aspect actually, but if you get to the point, somewhere in the middle, you’ll know. Maybe. 😉) Although sometimes too cool for my taste, but alright.
- Dave was … idk, meh. I had a weird feeling about him at first, then he grew on me, then he continued to be annoying, and at the end… I don’t know. He’s a good person and I understand & feel for him, but I wouldn’t necessarily want to have him around much, you know? (Basically, went like this: “He’s a nerd. He comes prepared. He’s me. Why did I dislike him?”, 10 pages later: “never mind, that’s why.”)
- I liked Susan, though. She kinda reminds me of the bats from ‘Tom und das Erdbeermarmeladebrot mit Honig’ (german cartoon). Maybe I’m biased cause I just love Kuuru types, but I wouldn’t mind a spin-off with her as the protagonist.
- Jake, Susan’s husband, not so much. Had a bad feeling about him the moment I saw him playing golf in his office. Although I do kinda agree with his views on everyone’s contribution to a goal.
- Jim was nice. Mysterious, but kind. Kind of? There is quite a twist in there that could potentially make him more ‘evil’ than Jake, but … he was kind and nice to the main characters overall, so …
Apropos ending: is there gonna be a sequel? On one hand it’s pretty self-explainable how the story goes/continues. On the other hand, I want more. You could actually make a lengthy series out of this, there’s definitely potential. However, it’s also quite intriguing to leave things ‘open’ and leave the readers – especially fanfiction writers – to their imagination.
Well, definitely recommend The Well!
Representation:
- There’s hetero relationships, it’s overall quite heteronormative, but there’s also a sapphic romance and an openly homosexual character (without homophobia).
- Bi + questioning
- Feministic; the women are independent and most men respect the women (in some ways; the respect isn’t gender-related).
- Protagonist is a coder and not a nerd (yes, these two don’t always go hand in hand!), and coding isn’t portrayed as hacking or as a suspenseful job (actually the opposite lol).
- A visually impaired character, who might be blind, but maybe isn’t? Not sure, but something definitely happened to his eyes (it’s shown later on, but not elaborated how much he can see).
| Criteria | Scores | Our Score |
|---|---|---|
| Art | 1-5 | 4.5 |
| Pacing | 1-5 | 4 |
| Characters | 1-5 | 4.5 |
| Writing Style | 1-5 | 4 |
| Originality | 1-5 | 3.5 |
Finale Grade
A
Thank you to IDW publishing for an e-ARC.
Finished reading: 26th March 2025
~Arden Skye
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Written By: Arden Skye
Favorite game/film/book: doesn’t have one, cause there are too many good ones!
About: generalist, who likes a bit of everything, but especially has a love for magic, queerness and melancholy. When they’re not arting, they’re probably dreaming/reading through another world, or spending time in nature with their dog.
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