Outre is a free anthology that tackles a theme with each issue. The theme for this third issue is Xenophobia which as the inner cover states is an umbrella term for fears of all shapes and sizes. For the most part the stories all dealt with the fear of different people and while each one tackled it differently, they were all still pretty close to one another. The first story had an interesting twist as it dealt with a large body of men protesting. They’re protesting another group of men that have come in and started taking their women and jobs and such. The obvious parallel is foreigners, but there is a twist to the story. I won’t say what it was, but it was clever. Overall there wasn’t a strong resolution to the story which was kind of disappointing.

Another story dealt with a small Georgian town that had an American teacher coming to teach the students. One local is convinced that the dude is going to look like James Dean and seduce the female students. There’s a twist again of course. This story had a rewarding resolution, but it’s build up made the ending predictable.

Honestly the other stories didn’t really grab me enough to talk about. One was Frankenstein inspired and offered little else to the story.

The writing was okay for the most part. Nothing caught my attention though and I think that was because each story was trying for a twist ending.

The art was really good for each story. In particular the first two tales had solid art that fit the stories. With the second story the artist definitely saved the day since the entire story happens in one room.

Outre isn’t the best anthology I’ve read, but it’s certainly not the worst. It’s free so you should definitely check it out for yourself, but personally it never grabbed me. Especially with the subject of Xenophobia, I think there could have been a better variety of stories and subjects tackled.

Score: 3/5

Writers: Various Artists: Various Publisher: Outre Press Price: Free Website