Double The Odd: In Odd We Trust & Odd Is On Our Side

Odd Thomas Graphic Novel #1-2

by Dean R. Koontz, Queenie Chan, Fred Van Lente

Graphic Novel, 2 volume omnibus edition.

Genres: Graphic Novels

384 pages, Hardcover

Published January 1, 2010

About the author

Librarian's Note: This author writes under the name Dean R. Koontz and Dean Koontz. As both names appear on his works, both should be kept.

Acknowledged as "America's most popular suspense novelist" (Rolling Stone) and as one of today's most celebrated and successful writers, Dean Ray Koontz has earned the devotion of millions of readers around the world and the praise of critics everywhere for tales of character, mystery, and adventure that strike to the core of what it means to be human.

Known Pseudonyms:
Leigh Nichols,
Brian Coffey,
David Axton,
Owen West,
Deanna Dwyer
Aaron Wolfe.
K.R. Dwyer
John Hill
Richard Paige
Anthony North

Reviews

[Jonathan Echevarria · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am enjoying this series and looking forward to the next one. It is a shame they never made this into a television series. It would make a great original series on Shudder , Amazon Prime, Netflix or Hulu. I hope that if they do decide to go in that direction that they keep it rated R so it doesn’t flop. I wouldn’t want it to come off like some lame Supernatual rip off.

My one major nitpick for this series in the main novels so far is that it has somewhat religious over tones. I am neither Catholic or Christian which I feel like is a part of the story. It isn’t that I can’t enjoy it because I am not religious. (I still like the series a lot.) But I feel like I am not able to fully resonate to the main protagonist completely which sucks. Not sure if it because the author is Catholic, I am just grateful it is done subtly and that the author doesn’t beat the reader over the head with it.

If you didn’t already know this a omnibus that collects the first two Odd Thomas graphic novels. It is a shame it didn’t collect the third and final graphic novel. I still need to get that separately.

[Pamela Rabon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Change of pace. Not really my style of reading, but stories were good.

[Cornerofmadness · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is two graphic novels in one, hence the name. It includes In Odd We Trust & Odd is On Our Side. Odd Thomas is a creation of Dean Koontz (and a character I truly enjoy) though I suspect the stories here belong wholly to Van Lente with Mr. Koontz offering up suggestions as he did with Queenie Chan’s manga-styled art.

Both stories are prequels to the first Odd Thomas novels when Odd and his girlfriend, Stormy, are just out of school. In the longer < i>In Odd We Trust, Odd is busy with his job as a fry cook with superb pancake-making skills and I’m not exactly sure what Stormy is doing other than being Odd’s butt-kicking soul mate. A young boy has been murdered and it was Stormy’s friend and orphanage-mate, Sherry, was the nanny. She’s being stalked and fears her stalker has killed the boy and will kill the little girl she’s still babysitting.

Chief Porter, knowing he can count on Odd, is letting the young man and Stormy investigate. Odd is just that, odd. He can see ghosts but they do not speak. He can also function as a psychic bloodhound. Stormy is the heat-packing muscle. They need to solve the case before Sherry and another child end up dead.

In Odd is On Our Side, it’s Halloween and Odd has a bad feeling that something absolutely horrible is going to go wrong in Pico Mundo. Several years back on Halloween something did go horribly wrong, an irate man poisoned children, killing one and thus ending the house-to-house trick or treating. They only go to certified businesses now and have a big party afterward. But when they start the investigation, the worst crime they find are high school seniors stealing pumpkins for the traditional pumpkin roll. Are Odd’s psychic senses on the fritz or is the ghost of Elvis telling Odd that something dire is afoot? We get to meet Odd’s author friend, Ozzie.

Overall, they’re enjoyable stories. Some of it is weak, like in the first one, Chief Porter refuses to pony up some cops to look for a child killer because they’re on parade duty (really? A parade outranks a child murderer?). The notes claim Van Lente only adapted the script but I’m skeptical of that, I admit it. I’m not a huge fan of Queenie Chan’s art but I knew that going in, having read other things by her. Her Odd isn’t my vision of him but nor is he Mr. Koontz but he was happy with it so… Odd is cute at least. Stormy I disliked the looks of very much so. She looks like an empty-headed black haired Barbie. I think part of it is the attempt to make her lips full and lipstick-enhanced. That just never seems to work well. The other side note here is this is hard covered and expensive. I got it at Half-price book store which wasn’t so bad. Also it’s only put out by Science Fiction Book Club as the two book omnibus (or was. I know you can get the single stories elsewhere)

[Jason · Rating 4 out of 5]

Being a fan of Dean Koontz's Odd Thomas character, getting this book from the Science Fiction Book Club was a no-brainer. This was my first foray into graphic novels, so didn't know exactly what to expect. The stories have less depth than the novels, but then they are that, stories. Looking at it like a couple of short stories about Odd Thomas puts the book in the right perspective. There were also some artist notes on the drawing process and getting the characters drawn correctly. Those were a lot of fun, a kind of behind the scenes featurette, that gave a glimpse of the book's process. All in all, I enjoyed reading the book. If you are an Odd Thomas fan, give this a read.

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book was awesome mystery and action.