This was a really great way to start a series! I loved the introduction we were given to all the characters, I loved the diversity we were given, and I loved the blossoming dynamic between Olivia and Charlie. I think Olivia is such a sweet and relatable character and anyone who is bossy, over-bearing, micro-manages and refers to kisses as "smooches" is close to my heart. This was such a cute and quirky beginning and I can already tell it will be such a fun ride.

I have been trying to beef up my sports related book knowledge for reader’s advisory, (it’s not my favorite subject, personally) and The Avant-Guards is a graphic novel that I not only think YA basketball fans will enjoy, but one that I also really liked.

The art was colorful and fun – I was drawn to this ARC initially on the cover art – and definitely enhanced the interactions and emotions expressed between the characters. I would say that this is definitely a character-driven set of stories. Charlie walks right into a group of lovably quirky friends on her first day at a new college, and even though they can be eccentric and pushy, I loved all of them by the end of the volume.

This is a great suggestion for readers interested in diverse reads.

This is definitely one I will be buying for my school library.

While it appeals less to my own personal tastes I know it will be a big hit with teenagers.

There is great representation of different cultures, races, sexualities and personalities that will appeal to young people.

The illustrations are clean, colourful and engaging. I would have liked deeper character development and maybe a bit more attention to Charlie's backstory and her anxiety. However, this may come in future volumes of this series.

Thanks to Boom! Box and Netgalley for this advanced copy.

I’ve been hovering between ‘will I or won’t I?’ since I first saw this graphic novel listed on NetGalley. I loved the blurb but sports and I don’t mix so well, unless movie marathons or TV series hurdles somehow became Olympic events while I was busy binge watching.

I saw some early reviews of this Volume that told me I didn’t have to adore basketball to fall in love with this story so I finally decided to give it a go and, great news! Those reviewers were right! You don’t need to know anything about basketball to appreciate this graphic novel.

Charlie has recently transferred to Georgia O’Keeffe College of Arts and Subtle Dramatics and is not interested in playing basketball, not even after meeting the rest of the potential team: Liv, Ashley, Tiffany, Nicole, and Jay. Liv is persistent though. She and the rest of the Avant-Guards wear Charlie down and she finally agrees to join the team, just in time for their first game.

This story has great diversity, with POC, LGBTQIAP+ and mental health all represented, which I appreciated. Although basketball brings the characters together, the focus is on friendship and having fun.

I loved Noah Hayes’ illustrations. They brought the personalities of each of the characters to life and drew me into the story. I don’t usually mention the colours used in graphic novels separately but I wanted to acknowledge Rebecca Nalty, who coloured this graphic novel, as it was the colours on this cover that initially caught my eye and made me want to read the blurb.

I really like the entire team and want to get to know them all better. While it was Liv’s enthusiasm that hooked me initially, the positivity, diversity and snippets of banter between the friends were what made me want to join their team. I’ll definitely be continuing to read this series. I’m even looking forward to the potential romance, despite being a fairly staunch romantiphobe.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and BOOM! Box, an imprint of BOOM! Studios, for the opportunity to read this graphic novel. I’m rounding up from 4.5 stars.

*Received via NetGalley for review*

A serviceable graphic novel about a transfer student rediscovering her love of basketball and making friends. I had a slight issue with the characters looking too young for college, but they're well drawn and colored.

I got to read a digital advanced copy of Avant-Guards Vol. 1 through NetGalley, and it is exactly the light-hearted summer read I was looking for!

Avant-Guards Vol. 1 is the start of a hilarious comic series, following the highs and lows of a art school’s brand-new basketball team! The characters struggle to amass enough players to begin their team, and if they can’t recruit Charlie (The schools newest loner) then they won’t be able to join the league. Charlie has her own reasons not for joining, however fun and interesting her prospective teammates seem.

Carly Usdin created a really compelling story about a group of diverse and personable teens in Avant-Guards. Her art is stunning, and shows the characters emotion so clearly. I cannot wait to read future issues of Avant-Guards!

Avant-Guards Vol. 1 will be released on September 3rd from Boom studios!

My Recommendation-
I would recommend this book for fans of Lumberjanes, The Backstagers, and for people who enjoy reading Webcomics. It’s a quick read, and perfect for people who don’t have a lot of time to dedicate to a huge novel

This was a nice comic about a newly formed and diverse basketball team with a cute developing f/f romance. I really like the art and it made the story easy and relaxing to follow. There's also not a lot of basketball talk and the focus is more on the characters and friendships, at least so far, which I personally really liked (confession: I kind of...don't like basketball lmao).

If I have the chance I'm going to check out the next volume whenever it comes out and if you like light-hearted queer comics that display a variety of genders, races and sexualities (and if you like sport comics) this is definitely something you need to check out!

Once again, Boom! Box studios bringing us the best graphic novels!
Everything about this is perfect. The art is perfect, it's just so much fun to read and look at. The story is really enjoyable, I'm looking so forward to finding out what happens in the next book. The characters are diverse and real, real people with real differences.
If you like Lumberjanes, Giant Days, those sorts of graphic novels, then you will love Avant-Guards.

Thank you to Netgalley and BOOM! Box who gave me an ARC in return for an honest review.

This is a really fun graphic novel perfect for those who love the genre I like to call "Gay Sports" which has really become popular later and includes books like the All For The Series, Check Please and animes such as Haikyuu (I know not technically gay but you do get a lot of gay subtext there!)

I really love how diverse the cast of this comic is both. With people of different races, sexualities and even someone who uses they/them pronouns.

This looks like it can grow to be a very funny light read however I do feel like the plot has been rushed at some points and also that we don't know very much about the characters and I hope this is something the author will delve into in later updates!

I thought this was a super cute story; girls with dreams of sports in an artsy school, and LGBTQ+ themes.

3.5 stars⭐


This book is about:

Charlie who transfers to a new college and is convinced to join the school's (terrible) basketball team by the team captain Liv and the rest of her crew. Thorough it, she makes new friends and although she's decided to leave hardcore competition behind her back, Charlie realises that maybe going back to her passion is just what she needs.


Pros:

There is such a diverse cast of characters: there are individuals of different races, sexualities and a character who uses they/them pronouns.

I particularly liked Olivia/Liv: she is funny and made me laugh a few times and I love how determined she is to convince Charlie to join her team.

The artwork is also really pretty and reminded me of an old cartoon I used to watch when I was little.


Cons:

I would like to have had more background information on all of the characters, especially Charlie, because I feel that there is a lot we aren't told regarding her past experiences at her previous college.

In addition, I believe that the storyline is really just starting, although that is probably due to the fact that it is a very short graphic novel and the first volume in a series.


Final thoughts:

Overall, I really enjoyed my time reading The Avant-Guards, Vol. 1 and, in my opinion, it has lots of potential so I can't wait to see what the authors do in the next volumes!

Reviewing graphic novels/comics (especially just one volume) is harder for me, because there's less to go off, but I do know that I really loved this! It basically follows our main character Charlie who's just transferred to an artsy school and gets whisked up into this squad trying to form the first basketball team, The Avant-Guards.
It's full of diversity, which made me so happy--of the main characters, only one is white/looks white-passing. There are also a lot of queer characters: two trans characters from my memory (one uses a binder), one character who uses they/them pronouns, and several girls who like girls. A minor character also wears a hijab, and there are a variety of body types involved.
The art style was so beautiful and clean, and I loved when they'd have a cool patterned background with snippets of characters on top, almost like a scrapbook. The coloring (of scenes and general backgrounds) was so bright and pretty without being too much.
The storyline itself was fun, not mind-blowing but still very solid and enjoyable. And that ending, aah, I wasn't ready for a cliffhanger! So excited to read more.

AVANT GUARDS is incredible!

✨ sapphic relationship
✨ non-binary character
✨ trans character
✨ mostly poc
✨ college sports & magic

Comes out September 3rd @boomstudios 🏳️‍🌈

A fun first volume featuring a cast of female and non-binary characters as they come together to form a college basketball team. I rarely come across or read books featuring women and girls in sports so this was a nice change of pace from the various books I have read with male athletes. The cast is a diverse lot in many different ways but I couldn't help but feel that this was more due to deliberately making them very diverse for the sake of representation than as a result of a natural development process of these characters. This is not necessarily a terrible thing depending on how you look at it; in a lot of ways writers in 2010s are playing catch up with trying to represent multiple ethnicities, sexualities, etc. I just hope future volumes will flesh out the cast a lot more as right now a couple of them feel flat and uninteresting.

This book was super cute, but I felt like the story jumped around a lot. There wasn't enough backstory for the characters to become attached to them and they felt disjointed. I still really enjoyed the book overall and I will likely pick up future additions to the story, but I hope they have a better flow than this one.

HELLO I'M LEA AND I HAVE FALLEN IN LOVE WITH A NEW GRAPHIC NOVEL SERIES!!!!

This is such a fantastic graphic novel, featuring an amazing cast of diverse character. We have several queer characters, one character uses they/them pronouns: There's also so many characters of colour.

I am usually not one to go for stories about sports but the art just makes even that aspect so much fun for me! And honestly the goofy characters alone are just 100% worth it. Not only are they very diverse when it comes to marginalization, it's also such a diverse group of styles and personalities. It's always so fun to me to see a group of people hanging out together and bonding over a thing that you would normally not really expect.

On top of all the good things, there is a f/f romance that is slooowly developing and I cannot wait to see where this goes in future installments.

I just loved this so very much and I'd highly recommend it for fans of graphic novels like GIANT DAYS and LUMBERJANES. I see even more potential for where this is gonna go!

Content warning: panic attacks (it’s mentioned that one of the characters has had them before!)

Thank you to NetGalley for allowing me to read this in exchange for a honest review!

I really enjoyed this! The characters were well written and it’s such a fun storyline that you can’t help but get sucked in. I know little to nothing about basketball and found this was easy to understand even with the amount of knowledge I have when it comes to the sport.

However, that cliffhanger is something I wasn’t prepared for and now I’m really curious to see how the story will continue on!

This was such a fun read! I've been in the mood for cute, LGBTQ+ graphic novels recently and this totally hit the spot! But now I need the other volumes!
There was so much representation in this graphic novel, my heart is so happy. For a fairly short read they packed plenty in, romantic angst, past relationships, jealousy, friendship, loyalty, all the feelings!
The colours in this novel worked so well, it's like a slightly muted colouring but it's so soothing to look at.
I'm a decent sports fan and I loved that this is the story of gathering together an all girls basketball team. Go girls! I would definitely recommend!

I absolutely love Carly Usdin and have been following The Avant-Guards through Hoopla but they were missing issues 3 and 4. I couldn't wait to continue and I'm glad I didn't. The Avant-Guards are a diverse group of girls, a witch and a theatre geek*to name a few. It tackles a whole lot of issues with the backdrop being college basketball. I love that this is about women's basketball because it doesn't get the attention or recognition it deserves. Usdin has brought charming characters to yet another comic. It also has casual queer characters and relationships on-page and I adore it. Pick this one up if you haven't yet.

*I received a complimentary copy of this book from Boom! Box through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.*

VERY excited for Volume 2! I loved the storytelling, the characters and, the artwork was gorgeous! It will be interesting to see where the story goes and how the characters continue to develop. A must add to collections, most definitely!