I cannot scream loud enough about this graphic novel. I'm so. It's so. AHHHHH.

The Avant-Guards was absolutely stunning. A diverse cast, with POC, diverse bodies, diverse sexual/romantic orientations and gender identities.
This graphic novel centers on Charlie, a transfer student at Georgia O’Keefe College of Arts and Subtle Dramatics. Lacking friends, she ends up falling for a misfit basketball team with a mixed group of friends. It was wholesome, lovely, and I need the second volume immediately.

Disclaimer: I have voluntarily reviewed this book after receiving a free copy from NetGalley, thank you!

I wasn’t at first interested in The Avant-Guards as I am more into fantasy than contemporary most of the time but this graphic novel bought me with a promise of a diverse cast of characters and a lesbian romance. And it was absolutely worth it.

Charlie is a transfer student in the Georgia O’Keeffe College of Arts and Subtle Dramatic (I actually copied the name from the synopsis because I wasn’t able to remember it). She struggles to find herself between new people, a wide choice of clubs and activities she’s not really interested in and on the campus overall. That is until she’s noticed by a yet-to-be basketball club that needs one more member to become a thing and the very enthusiastic team captain Liv and her band of misfits decide Charlie should be that member.

At first, Charlie is absolutely not amused by the efforts to get her on the team. She had bad experiences with basketball teams in the past and isn’t keen on going back to that life. Slowly, however, Liv’s charm and the work the other members put into convincing her starts paying off and Charlie opens up to her new friends and accepts the place in the club.

The plot of this graphic novel is pulled straight out from a sports anime and I absolutely love that about it. We have an enthusiastic character who is very energetic and passionate about the sport they’re playing, their “partner” who kind of don’t want to join the team at first and is a little grumpy and a band of lovable characters surrounding them. It’s casual and heartwarming and the end left me screaming for more because you just can’t dump all their hopes and dreams into the trash after everything seemed to go so well.

The characters are diverse and each one of them has their own personality and charm. Charlie is a quiet and a bit grumpy lesbian who isn’t sure about her place in the new school. Her bad experiences with basketball prevent her to accept the team’s invitation at first but as she learns more about them she decides to give her a chance. Despite that, her anxiety about games doesn’t go away just like that and she needs support from her friends to overcome those fears. Liv is a black lesbian who’s very passionate about basketball and goes out of her way to make the college team a thing but as it’s an arts college her initiative isn’t really popular. She’s very resourceful and basically organized a whole college basketball league on her own just to make her dream about playing come true. She’s also getting over a break up with another member of the team who seems to think they’d split up on good terms but Liv still seems hurt about it. She’s torn between feelings for the other girl and her growing attraction to Charlie who seems to also be interested in her. Their developing romance is really sweet and full of understanding and makes me so happy for them.

Besides that, there is a trans and bisexual character, a character using they/them pronouns and the team members come in all shapes and sizes, each one of them really amazing and with their own style and personality. Their personalities show especially well when they try to recruit Charlie, each one of them doing something they consider the best way of getting someone on their side. They’re an amazing cast of characters and I would love to see more of them in the next volumes.

The art style is lovely. Everything is in soft, pleasant colors, each character is drawn in a way that makes them diverse and incomparable to the others. The scenes when they play basketball are dynamic and clear. It’s just a graphic novel that’s really pleasant to look at.

Overall, The Avant-Guards is a great graphic novel about friendship and following your dreams. It has a diverse cast of characters and a cute lesbian romance. I’d recommend it for people looking for a pleasant, heartwarming read and also those who love sports anime. I will do my best to get my hands on another volume.

I LOVED this one! Oh my goodness, I want more volumes now! This was a super fun and inclusive graphic novel about females playing college basketball. It's a simple premise, and there's a love story that's quickly involved, but it's all sweet. I really enjoyed the characters, how they're all queer and how their personalities and ethnicities were all mixed. The friendship group reminded me a lot about my own friendship group from uni and how we were always together and sticking by each other's side. Although Charlie's character is a bit sullen at first, I love seeing glimpses of her happy side but also about her past--it seems like something big and bad happened to her that badly affected her trust, and I really can't wait to find out what her reason was for moving schools (I don't believe it's only because of no longer playing basketball?)! Liv's character, while mildly annoying, was also sweet and I loved seeing her vulnerable sides. She's such an exuberant, high energy character that seems confident 100% of the time but it's nice to read from her perspective as well.

I really enjoyed the artwork. The work gave me old(ish) school Archie Comic vibes, also with the text/speech bubbles. I loved the colors that are used in the comic, it lends the story an even happier vibe. I liked that there were some moments with a lot of text, but not too often, and that the text wasn't so squished into speech bubbles that they were illegible. Also, did I mention how much I love the name of the comic and the basketball team? Super cool!

There were four issues in this volume but I just want more now. I can't wait for people to read this one because it is funny, quirky and a little bit romantic! Thanks to NetGalley and BOOM! Studios for the free copy in exchange for an honest review. My review will be posted on my blog closer to pub date.

The cuteness! There are only four issues in this volume, but I'm so invested already. Give me more of these characters, please!

We follow the creation of a new women's basketball club, and all the team members are so interesting! There are a few that haven't been properly introduced yet (I expect this to happen in the next issues) but the ones we know are so charming and lovely! Charlie and Liv are adorable together, and I can't wait to know what's going to happen with them.

If you're into comics of girls being awesome, teamwork and sports... 100% recommended. Also, it features puppies, which is always a plus!

Appealing directly to the teenage crowd, this is a little bit advanced emotionally for my target age range (3rd through 6th grade) although nothing is inherently problematic. There is nothing gratuitous or explicit and the characters are all super sweet and supportive of each other.

The friendships are great, and the excitement with which our main character (Liv) approaches life and love is endearing.

Totally worth it for teens in the mood for a sports themed romance featuring lesbian girls and their diverse friendship circle.

This is EVERYTHING. Everything I tell you.

I need the entire series.

Hilarious, relatable, relevant, sweet.. tons of fun.

Love the diverse cast of characters .. love the jokes, the texting features, the internal monologues.. this is so perfectly done I honestly don’t have the words right now. It’s basketball! It’s art school! It’s super queer and fluid! It’s fun/funny n’ cute. Sigh.

Also the MC is totally my mom. Spunky black girl with her own business card and rows of to do lists I stinkin love Olivia.

I am buying this ASAP and everyone else should too!

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Ugh, its so good. Just too short and I need the next one!! BRAVO to the team who worked on these!! (You’ll get my pun if you read these).

A fun graphic novel about queer team of basketball players (massive plus for BAME and LGBTQA+ representation) ! I enjoyed it although obviously it was really short (volume 1 only) - but I will definitely want to read volume 2, just to find out what happens. The main character Charlie has just transferred to an art college, after promising never to play basketball again. But the captain of The Avnt-Guards is very persistent! I enjoy the banter and dialogue. I admit I am not the biggest fan of this style of artwork, but this is just a personal preference.

The Avant-Guards is such a cute, fluffy graphic novel that follows Charlie who has just transferred to a new college. Charlie struggles at first but finds her feet with the colleges basketball team.

I found the romance between Charlie and Liv to be super cute and fluffy. Not only was the romance and friendship great but the illustrations were absolutely stunning!

It was a super quick read but one that I know I’ll find myself picking up time and time again when I want something quick and cute. I am so excited to read the rest of the series as I think it will be a great one to follow!

UGH, this was too short! And to leave off on a cliffhanger like that?! I'm almost sad I read it as an advance copy, because now I have to wait even longer. Almost. The Avant-Guards, Vol. 1 alternatingly follows Charlie Bravo and Olivia "Liv" Bates as they form their college's first ever sports team. Liv is the brains and main motivation behind the cause. Meanwhile Charlie, a brand new transfer student who's trying to escape painful memories of her old college's basketball team, takes a bit of convincing before she joins.

Overall, this is a great setup to what I think will continue developing into an amazing story. Each of the characters in our main crew has such a distinct personality. On the surface, that seem as if they would clash as a team. Yet, they work together in such an effective way that doesn't feel forced to pull this team together and play their first game. My Virgo self connected a lot to Liv. I love Charlie so much (and wow, was my guess that she's a Scorpio spot-on). Tiffany is hilarious and Nicole must be protected at all costs. But I also really have a soft spot for Jay, because oh my gosh, they're such a sweetheart, and I wish they had more lines.

Honestly, I've never followed basketball or cared about it much, but this cast kept me engaged. So you definitely don't have to love or even know much about the sport to follow the story. It's about so much more than just them playing basketball. Yeah, that's the reason this group of six have come together. But there's already a lot of history between them, and you can tell they have so much more to make.

I also want to make some notes on the representation in The Avant-Guards. There is a developing romance between Charlie and Liv. Unfortunately for Liv, there's some romantic history between her and Nicole, which she's struggling to get over. Another note on Nicole is that she's transgender, as is apparent by the trans flag hanging in her dorm room. Lastly, for queer rep, Jay uses they/them pronouns, although they never say exactly how they identify. Plus, as you can see from the cover, the story shows a lot of casual racial diversity. By this I mean that this diversity is shown pretty obviously, but it's never discussed at any length.

Final Thought: I sincerely hope that if you're looking for a quick, graphic novel to read, you consider picking up The Avant-Guards! It was really an enjoyable book and a great start to the story!

I dont really care about sports, but I love the friendships that are formed when people are on a team together. We get plenty of diversity on the team without it being the focus. I liked that it was just a bunch of girls getting together to play basketball. Since no attention was called to it the different types of diveristy felt very normalized which I really appreciated. We get an interacial sapphic pairing that will probably develop into more of a romance in the next volumes. This volume was more about one of the girls crushing on the other and trying to gather the courage to ask her out. Their personalities seem like total opposites with one of the being bubbly and ambitous while the other was more cynical and reserved, but I think they would be really cute together. The art was pretty good, but I felt like some of the characters faces weren't as good as others. The cliff hanger ending had me turning the pages in disbelief that the comic was over.

Adorable, engaging, fun, and humorous, this comic really is delightful and I'm eager to see where it goes. The art style and palette is warm and welcoming. It's a perfect readalike for fans of the babysitter's club comics who have outgrown them and are interested a bit older fare. It's intentionally and effortlessly diverse; it spotlights sports and competition in radically positive ways. While it's set in college, I could see middle grade and teen readers enjoying the theater and basketball aspects, not to mention the will they/won't they potential romance between Charlie and Liv. I really hope there's more issues collected together so we can add them to our collections!

I loved this tale of an underdog basketball team and the friendships and romances within it. I didn't think I'd be interested in a book about team sports, but The Avant-Guards won me over. The characters and relationships were well written and I was left wanting to read more. The art is great too!

This was so cute. I loved the art style and color scheme. It fits perfectly for the whole story. There were a lot of representations and that was perfect. Thank you for this arc.

this is a graphic novel following Charlie who is a transfer student. she gets approached by a ragtag group of girls asking her to join their basketball team.

when i got approved for this, i was so excited. I've heard so many great things about The Avant-Guards and it did not disappoint. this was such a cute book. i loved the art style and the concept of the story. there was also so much representation it blows my mind and makes my heart so full! we have LGBTQIAP+ rep, we have so many people of color, mute rep, hijabi rep, anxiety rep...

i loved this book. Xx

My only reservation about this book is that Olivia seems more like a child than a college student. All of the other characters seem like college students but she acts like a child and is drawn to look more childlike than the other characters. It was kind of unsettling to me.

Thank you, NetGalley and the publisher for the chance to read this comic!

Rating: 4 stars
Rep: POC, LGBTQ+ and mental illness rep. F/F romance, non-binary side character.
TW: panic attacks

This sports comic was such a quick, easy, feel-good read! It's so effortlessly diverse, with well drawn out characters. The art style and colours were beautiful. I can't wait to read the next volume!

I would 100% recommend this to anyone who loves graphic novels about sports and diverse characters with a very charming storyline.

Avants-Guards is, simply put, everything I look for in a graphic novel. It is funny, beautifully drawn, relatable and actually contained a good story.

In this graphic novel, we follow Charlie, a new student that lost her scholarship in her previous school. She has anxiety and doesn't easily make friends. She is sarcastic, cool and broody. She also is a confirmed Scorpio sun Capricorn moon. The other main character is Olivia. She is the one setting up the girls basketball team. I loved Olivia because I felt connected with her. She is hard-working and knows what she wants and seems confident, but when you look into her head you see that she is totally panicking after that flirty line! The story is told from their perspectives and I actually felt it when the chapters shifted from one main character to the other. The change of mindset and perception of the world was visible and that can be tougher when you are drawing the environment and not describing it through words.

I adore all of the characters in the team. They were are very distinct and I actually cared about them, which already is harder in a graphic novel. You have the coach Ashley, who sings like Beyonce, parties like Rihanna and balls like LeBron. Her own words. You also have Jay. They don't talk much but they have a deep love for puppies. They are also non-binary! I also adored Tiffany, the witch, who definitely does not have any candles in her room. Finally, we have Nicole, the bi cynic, who also happens to be Olivia's ex.

The dialogue was realistic and so were the character dynamics. Nothing felt out of place. It was funny at times but serious when needed. Another thing that needs to be said: it was really diverse and I love it! We have lesbians, a bi character, a non-binary character... and it didn't feel forced at all.

This didn't feel like one big introduction and I'm very grateful. So many first parts don't actually contain a story but feel like one big introduction showing you main characters, side characters, this is the world that we are in and ... if you actually want a story read the sequel! Here, stuff actually happens and we get to know these characters along the way.

The art also stood out. It played a great part in the storytelling and the colours perfectly suited the mood. The characters are drawn in a beautiful style and I didn't confuse them with each other because everybody was so different! Definitely a must-read!

5/5 Stars

This month I decided I wanted to finally delve into the world of graphic novels. They always intrigued me, but I never knew where to start. When I first saw this graphic novel, I knew I had to give this one a try. And needless to say, I ended up loving it!

It’s safe to say that I am a white woman who knows virtually nothing about basketball. So going into this graphic novel I was a bit hesitant. However, from the second I started I knew I would have no issues.

This graphic novel surrounds a rag tag group of college kids trying to form a makeshift basketball team. One of my favorite things about this story is how incredibly diverse it is. Each character has such a distinct personality and interests yet they all blend so nicely together and really do embrace the idea of being a team.

The writing was perfect and really made you feel for these characters in such a short amount of time. The combination of dialogue and the inner feelings of the characters also helped play the fact that everyone is just trying their best, and even if things aren’t perfect, at least you are trying and having fun along the way.

As for the illustrations, they were perfect. The art style and color scheme complimented the story so well. I even found myself laughing at some of the expressions the characters would make. Additionally, I loved how they wrote the passage of time. You could feel the time moving in a way that made you feel like you were apart of the team as well.

Overall, I truly loved this graphic novel. I am honestly sad I have to wait for more! I can’t wait to see what happens next to this lovable team!

What an amazing comic book!!! I NEED MOOOOORE!!

It was such an awesome read. This story is about a newbie called Charlie, who was transferred to this new college, bringing with her a bit of "baggage" from the past, and she couldn't help but get acquainted in the best way possible, with this quicky girl called Olivia, who's persuasive maneuvers, and I'm using euphemism here rsrs, convinced Charlie to become a member of this peculiar non-existed basketball team. It might sound strange, but the plot is super funny and you simply can't put it down.

I loved all the characters. Their relationship dynamics was so on point. All of them have such unique personalities and you can't help but want to be BFFs with everybody. I appreciated so much that I saw so many different people here, such as immigrant descendents, LGBTQ, introverts, punks, it goes on... it's such an inclusive environment and that nowadays is so important. Ash is my favorite so far, and I really wish I could ask him to teach me how to sing like Beyonce, party like Rihanna and ball like Lebron... well, he can scratch the latter, I suck at sports anyway hahahaha!!!

I loved this story so much, it's just so funny and cute, BUT THAT CLIFFHANGER (*BANGS HEAD ON THE WALL)... WHY, WHY, WHY???? I NEED TO KNOW WHAT'S HAPPENING NEXT!!!
Highly, highly recommended it and I can't wait for the next volume!!!

Before I start, I would like to say thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing a copy of the book in exchange for a honest review.

The story follows Charlie Bravo who transfers to the Georgia O’Keeffe College of Arts and Subtle Dramatics. She stumbles across the sign up for the school’s new basketball team who need one more team member before they can officially compete. Liv, the team captain is adamant that she wants Charlie on the team and recruits the other members to help her recruit Charlie.

If you don’t know anything about basketball before reading this book don’t panic. The story focuses more on the friendships between the diverse group of characters.

Artistically I really liked this graphic novel. I liked how the montage was broken up to look different from the normal format of a comic book but I had so much trouble meshing with the story. The characters quickly got on my nerves (especially Liv who was presumptuous and extremely pushy in my eyes). The only character I liked was Tiffany with her coven and her crystals.

I liked how they portrayed a wide range of characters including having the main character suffering from anxiety but I was disappointed with how poorly they put it across. As some who has suffered and is still suffering from anxiety you tend to avoid the situations which cause you to panic. There is no way that she would put herself back into that situation so easily.

I didn’t find myself laughing out loud to the jokes and instead felt like it all fell flat which upset me because after reading the synopsis I really did want to enjoy it.