Graphic Novel Review – Moonhead and the Music Machine by Andrew Rae (4/5 stars)

Reading Level: Older Teen
Genre: Graphic Novel/Contemporary Fantasy
Length: 176 pages
Publisher: Nobrow Press
Release Date: September 5, 2017
ISBN-13: 978-1910620335
Stand Alone or Series: Stand Alone
Source: Copy from Amazon Vine
Rating: 4/5 stars

“Having a moon for a head at high school is a pretty tricky situation. But when the school talent contest is announced, Joey Moonhead spots an opportunity to impress his classmates with a music machine. An imaginative and visually poetic take on the stock American high school drama, this is one graphic novel that’s out of this world!”

I got a copy of this book through the Amazon Vine program to review. I am honestly at a bit of a loss here as to what I thought about this book. It was somewhat entertaining and the illustration is beautifully done. However, I felt like I was missing something.

This is the story of a boy who has a moon for a head. His parents also have moons for heads. This is never explained just accepted. Generally Moonhead is a normal highschool boy, the main difference being he can allow his head to float off and explore distant places. I think this might be a some sort of metaphor for someone who is a dreamer and struggling to fit in…however I am not quite sure.

Moonhead has a lot of issues that high school students have. He is after the hottest girl in the school but doesn’t recognize the good friend his has in his current close friend, he’s made fun of for his head and doesn’t quite fit in, and he finds most school work boring and hard to pay attention to.

He breaks from his norm when he decides to enter a talent competition and make a music machine. From this point the story goes into a whole “remember who your real friends are” kind of theme and a weird side theme where people at school are showing up as weird monsters (again maybe this is supposed to symbolize them showing up to Moonhead how they really are now??…not sure).

The illustration is full color, well done, and easy to follow. There are some interesting additions to backgrounds that you have to look closely to see. For example, in his fantasies about the hot popular girl, the background flowers and vegetation have very suggestive shapes.

I enjoyed the scenes where Moonhead’s head floats off and has adventures the most. The rest is pretty typical coming-of-age fare. In the end I was left a bit confused about what I had read and felt like maybe I missed something. However, I didn’t enjoy the story enough to go back and re-read it and try to figure it out.

Overall this is a creative, fun, and slightly confusing story about a boy with a moon for a head who struggles to fit in at school. It’s kind of interesting and decently done. But I am honestly not sure what/who to recommend this too. If you are looking for a very different coming-of-age story maybe check this out.

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
– You Read How Many Books? Reading Challenge
– New Release Reading Challenge
– Graphic Novel Reading Challenge
– Flights of Fantasy Reading Challenge
– YA Reading Challenge