Graphic Novel Review – Space Boy Vol 1 by Stephanie McCranie (4/5 stars)

Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: Science/Graphic Novel
Length: 248 pages
Publisher: Dark Horse Books
Release Date: July 3, 2018
ISBN-13: 978-1506706481
Stand Alone or Series: 1st book in the Spaceboy series
Source: Borrowed from Library
Rating: 4/5 stars

“To Amy, everyone has a flavor. Her mom is the flavor of mint–sharp and bright. Her dad is like hot chocolate–sweet and full of gentle warmth.

Amy lives on a mining colony in out in deep space, but when her dad loses his job the entire family is forced to move back to Earth. Amy says goodbye to her best friend Jemmah and climbs into a cryotube where she will spend the next 30 years frozen in a state of suspended animation, hurtling in a rocket toward her new home. Her life will never be the same, but all she can think about is how when she gets to Earth, Jemmah will have grown up without her.

When Amy arrives on Earth, she feels like an alien in a strange land. The sky is beautiful but gravity is heavy and the people are weird. Stranger still is the boy she meets at her new school–a boy who has no flavor.”

This is the first book in the Spaceboy series and I enjoyed it a lot. I loved the illustration and thought the characters and story were also very intriguing.

When Amy’s dad is laid off from his mining job in a deep space colony, Amy and her family are forced to leave the colony and move back to Earth…which is a 30 year journey. Once back at Earth Amy tries to embrace her new life by trying to ignore her old life and friends (which concerns her mother greatly). She ends up drawn into the mystery around a strange boy at school who grew up in solitude on a space station.

This was very well done. I enjoyed the illustration and the story a lot; it was very easy to follow. The characters were easy to engage with and the world is intriguing. We just start learning about “Space Boy” right before the book ends.

My twelve year old son also read and really loved this book. This is a story both adults and kids will enjoy.

Overall I really liked this and thought it was a great start to this sci-fi graphic novel series. A lot of mysteries are presented but not solved, so I am eager to continue the series to see what happens!