For fans of Slam! and Giant Days, The Avant-Guards focuses on a cast of characters on a women's college basketball team. Liv is the team captain and has just recruited Charlie to round out the first basketball team their art school has had. Along with Liv and Charlie, are Ashley, Nicole, Jay, and Tiffany. All the girls are vastly different making this an inclusive group of women. This volume collects the first 6 issues and we see the beginnings of the team and the beginnings of a relationship between Liv and Charlie. I look forward to more in the series!

**I received an e-ARC from Netgalley**

This was super cute! I really love the story so far (an art school starting a basketball league is so unique) and the art style and colors were both very pretty. Can’t wait for the next volume!

Boom! consistently publishes fun queer comics for younger readers with great art, and The Avant-Guards is no exception. The story is light and enjoyable about women at an arts college trying to get together a basketball team, but addresses serious issues like anxiety too. There's a sweet lesbian romance between the main characters, and we get to meet each unique member of the team too. The art is gorgeous and full of energy too. This is a great start to a story and I'll be reading the next volume when it comes out.

I read this and I liked what I could read of it because reading it on my phone was hard it is hard to read comics on your phone but I thought this was good and that if you like college and basketball then you will like it too

Loved this! Quirky and fun, it was everything I could've asked for and more. I love the art style and the story itself - each character is fierce and cute and ahhh! Just precious.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher I was able to read this book in exchange for an honest review.
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The colors in this book! So beautiful, so gorgeous.
Avant Guards starts with Charlie transferring to a new school and being drawn in by the charismatic Liv to play basketball on the newly almost ready basketball team. It’s just needing one more thing to be confirmed... another player and Charlie is the right gal for the job. The team is made up of extraordinary and diverse women and Charlie seems to be finding new friends, a new family in them.
I loved this. I love Liv’s energy and commitment to everything she did and Charlie’s wary but hopeful approach to being on the team. I loved the adorable relationship building between the two of them. I can’t wait for the next book, just to see more of them together.

Charlie just transferred schools and while trying to figure out school, a new dorm, and extracurriculars, she is convinced by the charismatic Liv to join the Avant-Guards, a basketball team that is nearly formed. As the team tries to get the logistics together and quickly prepare for their first game, Charlie faces some old anxieties with new, supportive friends.

Carly Usdin of Heavy Metal and Noah Hayes of Goldie Vance are involved, so, of course, it's solid. I love the art. I love the representation. I love the story. So much to love here.

This collected volume isn't out until September, but if you can't wait (and I suggest you don't), you can pick up issues #1-5 now and #6 will be out on June 26th. I am told it will be a 12-issue run, and I can't wait for the rest of this story.

Avant-Guards is a great story about friends and basketball as these girls try to find their place with both, and I look forward to their future endeavors.

A good start with potential for this new LGBTQ graphic novel focused on a newly contrived basketball team. Charlie has transferred into the school and she is 'set upon' by the enthusiastic recruiting of Liv, who is described in the blurb as 'charming' but I just thought she was too full on. The temperature of this graphic novel is a little bit funny and a little bit serious.

I really liked some of the characters that I've met so far, Charlie, Nicole and Jay. As a team working together, I am hoping to see more of what that brings. I must say, that I felt a general disconnection with the story line that seemed to go in strange directions at times with elements that didn't make sense but might, I guess, when the next volume comes out. Seeing as Liv will be a main character, I am going to need some winning over to like her and connect with her. The burgeoning romance seemed to come out of nowhere and again, I will need some more convincing. I have to say the visuals were very appealing and that cover really does draw me in.


I voluntarily read an early copy of this book, thank you BOOM! Studios.

THIS WAS SO GOOD! It's super adorable, super queer, super diverse, and super sweet! There's a character that uses they/them pronouns, most of the cast are POC, and there's a f/f romance brewing. Add this to your TBR immediately!

First, I loved the premise of the book. It sounded pretty interesting and something I would enjoy. I thought it had a lot of potential. I did enjoy the illustrations throughout the book . However, the storyline fell flat for me. I felt like the characters acted pretty immaturely for being in college. I just didn't connect to them in a way I like to.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing a copy of the book to review.

this is SO CUTE!! effortlessly inclusive, beautifully illustrated, queer, and unique. Boom! studios really is doing the most out here in the best way.

The dynamic go-getter Olivia is determined to create a basketball team at her all-female drama school “The Georgia O’Keeffe College of Arts and Subtle Dramatics”. If new transfer student Charlie joins, that will give her enough players to get started. But Charlie’s got some kind of past with the sport — she doesn’t like the team aspect any more — and Liv has a crush on her.

The conflicts are small and predictable in outcome. Of course Charlie is going to wind up joining the team. The appeal is the emotions, such as understanding the feelings of Charlie having trouble finding where she fits in, and the diverse group of characters, particularly the humor of over-enthusiastic Liv. The team also includes Liv’s ex-girlfriend Nicole, who is extremely direct, the wannabe witch Tiffany, and the quiet Jay, who uses “they” pronouns. Usdin’s voices are well-captured, and Hayes does a great job with the various attitudes, body types, action, and personalities, creating a smooth read with a focus on character.

There’s a lot of appeal and a lot to appreciate in seeing such welcoming personalities working to “be a team and have fun!” instead of worrying about competition. I feel for all the team members, and I’m curious to learn more about them. Boom! has been trying a number of misfit sport teen team comics, including Fence and Dodge City. It’s a rich subject matter area, with plenty of opportunity for drama and emotion. The Avant-Guards fits in well.

It was a cute and fun read. This was a light graphic novel that had a diverse cast of characters and a good message about opening up yourself to new people and opportunities. I thought the art style was good and that if you enjoyed Check Please or Fence then you will enjoy this one as well.

A fast paced story, but I was invested. I wish there was more character development spend on the rest of the team, but I am excited to see where this story goes next!

I want to thank Netgalley for providing me with this book in exchange for my honest review.

I really enjoyed this book.
It was such an amazingly cute read I honestly couldn’t get enough.
I love the style and the way the colours flowed together so well to complement the story.
The only thing that threw me was im not a big comic fan but other than that I loved the story.
I look forward to the next instalment
3 stars.

*heart-eyes emoji*

After losing her basketball scholarship at state, Charlie Bravo (yes, she’s heard that one before) is a new transfer at the Georgia O’Keeffe College of Arts and Subtle Dramatics (“where everything is open to interpretation!”). Even though she’s vowed to steer clear of team sports, her stubbornness is no match for Olivia, an adorably plucky overachiever who managed to build a women’s basketball league, herself, from scratch. The only thing standing in Liv’s way is Charlie, by which I mean that the Avant-Guards are short just one player, and Liv has decided that Charlie is that woman.

It doesn’t hurt that Charlie is H-O-T and Liv would like nothing more than to mash their faces together in a very non-platonic way.

Sports are not normally my thing, but I do love a) intrepid heroines; b) storylines that celebrate female friendship and elevate it over rivalry; c) worlds populated by diverse peoples, especially when some of them are queer women of color; d) f/f romances; and e) black girl magic. THE AVANT-GUARDS has all of the above, in spades, as well as hoop-shooting, curvaceous witches; an on-campus coven; a pretty sexy nonbinary character named Jay; and bucket of rainbow confetti.

This is the sweetest, most adorable and wholesome book I’ve read in quite some time, and I mean that in the best way possible. THE AVANT-GUARDS is literally brimming with heart emojis. And the art is just perfect, cute and so very complementary to the story and characters. (You might say it’s an, erm, slam dunk.) Every. Single. Panel. saw me ooh-ing, ahh-ing, and sqee-ing in delight. (And, save for the doggos, I am not the squee-ing type.)

And this was all before the impromptu dog adoption event at half-time in the inaugural game! If I wasn’t already I goner by then.

This arc was provided for an honest review by netgalley.

The avant gardes volume 1 is such a cute, quick and diverse sports graphic novel full of so many diverse characters and Female Same sex sexuality’s which is amazing to see lots more of as we progress further and hopefully to just accept people as they are and not make them feel horrible about themselves.

This story is about 5 friends who need one more recruit to make a all woman basketball team that has never happened before at their college and to try and compete in the tournament. Charlie the main character bumps into this group of friends and from there we see them try and recruit Charlie into the team so they can compete and break boundaries on the sport.

I loved all the drawings and how bright and colourful it was and the writing for the story was really good aswell very modern and fresh.

Overall would definitely recommend to everyone and if your in a reading slump or don’t know what to read pick this up and it’s perfect for this month as it’s pride month

Charlie transfers to Georgia O'Keefe College of Arts and subtle Dramatics, where she is approached by a ragtag group of girls to join their new basketball team.

This was so much fun to read! I've been playing basketball for my entire life so I loved the focus on the team. The characters are amazing and I can't wait to learn more about them in future installments! I like that we actually got to know about each character and their unique personalities in their own panels! Charlie was a great main character, she was extremely moody and sarcastic and I loved every second of it. Liv, the team captain was adorably dorky. Ashley, the head coach was a lot of fun and I'm excited to see more of her joking personality in the future. Tiffany is a proud witch and I loved her so much. Nicole is the resident "bitch" of the team, but you know she is fiercely loyal to those she cares about. ALSO I LOVE THAT ONE IS NAMED JAY AND THEY LOVE PUPPIES BECAUSE HI THAT IS LITERALLY ME! The diversity in this was incredible. Each character had a different race, gender, body-type and style. There were different sexualities displayed and there was even inclusion of a non-binary character which I greatly appreciated! And puppies... there were puppies, so really... you can't go wrong.

I loved the art style and colours they chose for this and the panel layouts were also strategically and artistically done. At one point, the panels created a basketball and I really appreciated the effort that was obviously put into this.

I am beyond excited to see more from these characters!

Thank you NetGalley and Publisher for this early copy!

This was well-written comic with great illustrations. I enjoyed the concept and characters. The only downside is that I felt like it way too short and I did not get to connect with the characters.