I found Bionic frustrating. The female character so beautifully pictured on the cover seemed to be piloted unerringly by the male gaze, directionless, soulless but for her sexuality and her rage. A character with such good reason for her fury did not need to feel so shallow, but geeky main man Victor had no goals of his own either, and between the two of them an intriguing concept fell flat.

This is the latest graphic novel I’ve read and the reason I wanted to make this blog post. I wont lie when I say I believe Bionic has a lot of potentional, and that for some readers it’ll be a great time.

It’s unfortunately not that for me.

Bionic is set in the near future, and follows Victor as he pines over and hopes to win the affection of the beautiful Patricia. Their lives get rather intense after an accident which leaves her partially robotic.

See. it’s an interesting premise, right?

However, for myself, my favourite element was the art style. It’s different from what I’m usually drawn too in graphic novels. But it really added to Bionic’s atmosphere and setting, it worked so well.

So, if the story didn’t blow me away, why do I think that others will love it? It’s simple, this story reminds me a lot of John Green’s work. It has a lot of similar elements; geeky guy, manic pixie dream girl, unrequited love, and seeking her attention regardless.

Yep, if you love John Green’s writing, but wondered what it’d be like mixed with some science fiction elements, then Bionic is the one is for you!

I don't like starting reviews with "I really wanted to like this, but...." however.... I really wanted to like this, but.
First, the good things: the art was nice, kinda soft, I little blurry around the edges, that pencil-drawn look, y'know? It contrasted nicely with the futuristic setting, all the tech going on. The idea of the story is a nice twist to the "geeky boy wins the heart of the pretty popular girl" trope. This had promise. And yet....
Tropes are fine if they're done well, but it goes overboard here. We have our geek, Victor, who's crushing on pretty, popular, and mostly nice Patty. Through awkward teenage stalking, he finds out she works at a pet adoption agency, and he goes in to see her, pretending to want to adopt a cat. She ends up letting him take home a cyborg cat from her father's company, an experiment she took pity on and swiped (Your foreshadowing alarm should be going off now). A few days later, he sees her get hit by a car and get very seriously injured, and she's taken away and fitted with robotic body parts made by her father's company, making her the first human to get this procedure. When she finally comes back to school, some of her "friends" start bullying her because of her robotic parts. Of course, Victor is nice to her still, and they start a sort of friendship. She treats him like shit, though, alternately coming on to him and ignoring him, while he acts like a doormat. Neither character is likeable, and there's no one for us to root for. Granted, she's got a lot to be upset about (not telling 'cause spoilers, though it's kinda obvious), but dang! And Victor is just annoyingly usable, never really standing up for himself. There are so many questions left unresolved at the end, including ones that don't even get considered in the story- are the robotic parts changing her personality? No one thinks to ask that. I don't know if this meant to be a standalone story, but it really needs a sequel to wrap some things up and hopefully get some character growth, because there wasn't any here. The ending is wishy-washy and abrupt, and doesn't really wrap things up; it feels like a cliffhanger. This was good but not great, and I would read a second volume if Shadmi writes one.

#Bionic #NetGalley

Song of choice: Lemon Demon—The Machine. Because this book is about a machine, but it’s also nothing. It’s pointless time-consumption.
Recommended meal: A can of Bang energy drink, the Black Cherry Vanilla flavor. Cloying, familiar yet artificial, touched with something that tries to be sexy but falls so very far short of its goal. You’ll need the caffeine to get through this text, and the artificial sweetner will remind you that this story of technology is lacking in substance.

Forewarning: this review is based on a digital galley read months ago, so if there’s any details that are incorrect, blame most of my ability to recall details being tied into my access to a computer.

Billed as a “coming-of-age tale for the digital generation” and praised as a romance, Bionic instead betrays a startlingly regressive, outdated and misogynistic mentality by its author, who apparently adapted this story from a shorter comic penned over a decade ago. It sure does feel that old. The story focuses on a stereotypically nerdy young man–looked down upon for his slight build and interest in technology, in spite of the futuristic setting. The only twist seems to be that part of the bullying stems from his working class background and the specifics of his tech interests; still pretty standard stuff that never bothers to deconstruct whether part of the bullying is just that protagonist Victor is a viscerally unlikable person. Everything about him suggests a story that was outmoded by the mid-Nineties: he’s a highly intelligent yet socially awkward heterosexual cisgender white geek of no particular cultural or religious background who is bullied by popular “hot” classmates and struggles to catch the eye of any women. It’s a character trope betrayed by the rise of guys like Victor to positions of power, and one that I personally find distasteful since my own high school bullies included a guy who is now a multi-millionaire in tech.

I wonder if a more likable, relatable, up-to-date protagonist might have made this story more enjoyable; set just a short jump into the potential future, Bionic sees Victor crushing hard on popular and conventionally pretty blonde Patricia. An interaction outside of school foretells some of the plot, when Victor’s stalking of Patricia outside of school at a pet shop leads her to offer him a cyborg pet that is later revealed as a lab test subject for her wealthy father’s robotics company. A gruesome accident leaves Patricia transformed into a sleek and shiny cyborg–and embittered by her new form. She reaches out to Victor as the sole person who seems to still be interested in interacting with her as a human instead of a curiosity, and alternates between seeming to seduce or confide in him, and rejecting him for flings with people more in her original circle. Victor quietly, meekly, yet stubbornly persists in following Patricia even as her behaviors become blatantly self-destructive, her interest in him starting to seem to be more about pissing off her father (who she blames for her accident, going so far as suggesting it was a deliberate act to promote his new tech) than about finding anything attractive about Victor.

A barely-glimpsed side plot establishes that Victor’s dad has been lying about going to work, having recently lost his job; the tension and conflict within Victor’s home life is background static that doesn’t interact with the story at all beyond giving the protagonist another thing to angrily lash out about.

Eventually, Victor himself is injured in an accident after Patricia convinces him to visit one of her father’s factories, setting up a not-so-subtle and miserably blunt reveal at the finale. Patricia is as shallow a character as Victor, if not more so; she seems to exist to serve alternately as a drunken confidant and an object of disinterested lust, and there is no resolution to her suspicions of the cause of her injuries. I struggled to find any suggestion of the “romance” asserted by the creator, publisher, and other reviewers; this is a story about surface obsessions and toxic people being harmful to themselves and each other.

Bionic features an unlikable protagonist, a deuteragonist laden with sexist perspectives, a clumsy story, and a heavy reliance on extremely tired tropes with a slight “twist” that feels more like the turn of a gut punch as a bully grinds his fist into you. Not recommended by any means.

I really Really REALLY wanted to like Bionic, I did, but I am so over the highschool troupe of the "nice guy" being in love with the "popular girl" and maybe if he waits, she'll love him. Bionic is that, except Patty (the popular girl) becomes part cyborg. While I thought the idea behind the novel was interesting, I was not impressed with the execution. I was bored. I didn't even finish the novel fully because of that fact, I'd felt I'd read it before and done better. I won't likely recommend this Graphic Novel.

I will say, the artwork was amazing. I really enjoyed the color pallet and the style. I just wished I'd gotten hooked on the story.

I had high hopes for this graphic novel because it seemed like such a fun and unique concept — a guy's crush gets in a terrible accident and becomes a cyborg? Who doesn't like cyborgs? — but unfortunately, the execution was a terrible failure for me. I didn't enjoy the artwork, the storyline, and ffs, these characters were so unenjoyable! The main character takes the "nice guy" trope to the extreme, his crush goes from being this sweet, quiet girl in the beginning to immediately becoming a raging asshole, and all of the side characters are shallow and/or irritating. I don't think anything about this story worked for me at all and I don't recommend picking it up.

Victor, a geeky teenager in the near future has got a major crush on Patricia, a teen girl who has been bionically rebuilt after a horrible car accident that would have killed her. Patricia has adopted a carpe diem outlook on life now that she’s half machine, and she keeps pushing the limits. Meanwhile, Victor is always there for her, falling a bit more in love each day. Described as a “coming-of-age tale for the digital generation,” this comic follows normal teenagers in extraordinary situations, still just being teenagers.

It’s comforting, I suppose, that even in the future world of cool tech and bionic limbs, teenagers are still the same. Awkward and overly dramatic. There are things I enjoyed about this comic. Most of the artwork is stellar. I’m not a huge fan of Victor’s character overall, either with the way he’s presented in personality or physically drawn, but that’s a personal preference. The craft is present.

I am really really over the whole “nice guy” troupe, though, and Victor’s character was a tad boring to me. I kept yelling at him to snap out of it, but you know, Patricia is super hot, and guy want to have sex with hot teenage girls. That’s another thing that was a little ugh for me. Teenagers and sex and their gross bodies fresh from puberty. No thanks. I could have done without some of those details, but including them made it more realistic I suppose.

I loved the weird storyline, and I loved Patricia’s artwork. I didn’t like her character so much, but again, teenagers. Overall, though, it’s pretty good. It’s out in November if you’re looking for something different to switch up your comic reading.

Interesting 21st century twist on a coming of age story. The relationship between the two main characters was sometimes overly simplified. It seems like the guy is just attracted to her beauty for the most part. However, the novel explores classic teen themes like alienation, friendship, fitting in, power, and love.

Not a boring story. Good twist at the end, but predictable. Lots of confusing behavior if you never read teen materials before.
Nerd boy likes girl, she ends up liking him but hiding it in school. Popular girl falls for nerd, but fights it.

Bionic is a graphic novel which takes place in the near future. Victor is a socially awkward teen who has a crush on Patricia, his wealthy and attractive classmate. One day, Patricia is hit by a car. Thanks to the technology of the company of which her father is the CEO, she is able to be saved thanks to the robotic parts which replace a significant portion of her body (including half her head). Afterward, when she is rejected by her former friends at school, she and Victor grow closer.

I have mixed feelings on the story. The premise is an interesting one (what if the girl of your dreams from high school became a cyborg?), but I question the execution...from what I recall, the robotic parts don't really play a big role in the overall story. It could have played out pretty much the same overall if it were taking place in the present-day real world (no futuristic tech, etc.). On top of that, the ending left me a little cold; without spoiling anything, there's not really any conclusion to anything.

I did not care for the artwork. Maybe it's an acquired taste, but to me it looked unfinished. Many of the characters have a really weird alien look to them.

The characters are intriguing to watch (indeed, they were the main reason I read this in one sitting), but they are also terrible people; however, I believe the reader is supposed to feel this way. Victor comes off as creepy early on in regard to his crush on Patricia and then later really pathetic in his attempts to win her love, even at the expense of his grades and his friendships. Patricia meanwhile seems really sweet early on (before the accident), but is later depicted as abusive and manipulative toward Victor, if not outright sociopathic. It's never made clear as to whether her robotic parts have changed her personality, or if she is simply being revealed for who she was all along (I strongly suspect the latter). It's a toxic relationship that you know will never work.

I requested this book while in the midst of a course on the history of the graphic novel; suffice it to say I’ve read a LOT in the last few weeks. This one wasn’t my favorite, but certainly not bad.

An bunch of awkward depressed teens spinning out of control. The art style make the main character look old rather than depressed.

A beautiful graphic memoir that is informative and necessary for all people to be aware of. I highly recommend this title.

This graphic novel has an interesting premise and some good art. Nothing incredible to me though. I'll look into it.

This is a mixed bag of good and bad for me. There is potential here to explore the concept of body autonomy from a female and male perspective and have the two main characters reckon with their understandings of it in light of Patty's accident. There is also friendships vs love & lust, with the dynamic between Victor and his friends vs his interest in Patty before and after the accident. So much potential - but it is left to teenage drama which is messy and complicated. The illustrations are unique and character design is great, though the popular girls could have had more variety and nuance visually.

Overall, it's a "meh" read for me and inspires me to think of how the story line could have gone in order to create a deeper meaning/story.

Ok, so, the two main characters are just awful people. But they are also teenagers, so being awful is kind of their default setting. Patty is awful because she is almost killed in a terrible accident and then has to cope with all her new bionic body parts. Voctor is awful because he is a horny boy with a savior complex and an extremely unhealthy obsession with a girl who treats him like crap 24/7. Also, both sets of parents and all their friends are also awful.
There is, however an adorable bionic cat.