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The Backstagers #1 (of 8) Kindle & comiXology

by James Tynion (Author), Rian Sygh (Artist) Format: Kindle Edition

4.3 36 ratings

Part of: The Backstagers

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James Tynion IV (Batman Eternal, The Woods) teams up with artist Rian Sygh (Munchkin, Stolen Forest) for an incredible yet earnest story about finding a place to fit in when you’re kinda an outcast. When Jory transfers to the private, all-boys school St. Genesius, he figures joining the stage crew would involve a lot of just fetching props and getting splinters. To his pleasant surprise, he discovers there’s a door backstage that leads to different worlds, and all of the stagehands know about it! All the world’s a stage...but what happens behind the curtain is pure magic!

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B01IC4YOLQ
Publisher ‏ : ‎ BOOM! - BOOM! Box (August 17, 2016)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ August 17, 2016
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 60953 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Not enabled
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
Print length ‏ : ‎ 24 pages

Best Sellers Rank: #2,601,960 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #957 in 45-Minute LGBTQ+ Short Reads
- #1,362 in LGBTQ+ Graphic Novels (Books)
- #5,341 in Humorous Graphic Novels (Books)

Customer Reviews:
4.3 36 ratings

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4.3 out of 5

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Kacy Earnest

A fun take on technicians

Reviewed in the United States on August 11, 2017

Verified Purchase

This comic deals with issues larger than it's pages can contain- loneliness, anxiety, and the separation between actors and technicians. As a theater technician, I appreciated the humor and wonderful artwork! Sometimes back stage/ under the trap doors really can feel like a fantasy land!

Helpful

Arlene A.

That's was pretty cute.

Reviewed in the United States on January 31, 2017

Verified Purchase

Being Prop Master in my college days this brought back some really fun memories of that time. I enjoyed the art style, the bright colors, and the characters. Joey was cute as the main character, wanting to fit in at his new all boys school (which I enjoyed) And instead of being an actor, he finds his way back stage and on an adventure with the rest of the backstagers. I liked it a lot. I can see some real potential there.

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Kindle Customer

Every Lumberjanes fan should read this like right now!

Reviewed in the United States on August 17, 2016

Verified Purchase

I've been really excited about reading this comic since seeing a promo for it in the end of another comic, and it did NOT disappoint! Every page was beautiful, funny, and heartwarming and the characters are instantly lovable. I can't wait to read the next installment!

5 people found this helpful

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Marianne (Boricuan Bookworms)

A Story About Fitting In <3

Reviewed in the United States on January 29, 2017

I think The Backstagers is going to be one of those comics that completely change the game in terms of LGBTQIAP+ representation. I’m not saying other comics don’t have great representation, but I’m saying that I’m loving the representation here, and the fact that it has an openly bisexual writer and an openly trans artist is even better.

What I liked:

- Our protagonist, Jory. I could relate so well to Jory in his struggle to fit in to a new school, especially an all-boys school in which he feels he doesn’t have a place among his peers. I immediately took to him and l loved seeing the way his expressions were so open and honest; you could really see how Jory felt in each panel. Also, how cool is it that our protagonist is black? I loved that. I feel like there isn’t enough representation of PoC in literature, so this was amazing.

- The art. Gosh, the way this was drawn was so incredible. I didn’t find it difficult to follow the story at all, which is sometimes a problem that I encounter when reading comic books. Also, every character’s emotion was easy to read, and I could almost see the way they moved around the spaces they inhabited.

- The story is funny and endearing. At its heart, it’s about finding a group of people to fit in with, but it’s also about solving a certain dilemma while getting to know this new group of people.

- The Backstagers themselves were such a great group that I’m excited to know more of them in future issues. There’s Sasha, Aziz, Hunter, and Beckett. I can’t choose a favorite between them, because they all had something different that made them unique. I think I really liked Hunter in this comic though, because he’s flirtatious and funny. He was also drawn as fat, so seeing an underrepresented body in fiction and not be fat-shamed was nice to see.

My only strife with this comic is the fact that it was so short and I don’t have the next copy with me GAH! I really want to read what happens next but at the same time I feel like I might wait until the collection is out so I don’t have to wait in between issues.

But, overall, I really enjoyed reading this comic and I cannot wait to see more of The Backstagers.

A copy of this book was provided by the publisher via Netgalley. This in no way influenced my review.

Helpful

Sofia Zuluaga

This has fantastical elements in a contemporary setting, an incredible art style and a diverse cast of characters.

Reviewed in the United States on February 19, 2017

The Backstagers is a short and cute graphic novel about finding people to fit in with. It has a diverse cast of characters that includes a lot of POC's, also an underrepresented body type, and it seems like there's gonna be characters that belong to the LGBTQ+ community, which makes this graphic novel so important in terms of representation.

There is a bit of a mystery that's introduced in this first issue about rooms and creatures and it seems like it's gonna be expanding through all the issues of this graphic novel. The mystery and the fantastical elements are definitely what make this graphic novel interesting and intriguing.

Also, it's worth-noting that this has a really cool art style that goes really well with the story and manages to convey this different sense of space that's portrait in it. There's room that shouldn't be there and corridors that move and that sort of thing, but it's never confusing because the art style is really clear and shows those elements really well.

Overall, the first issue of The Backstagers is definitely a strong one, it manages to intrigue the reader by introducing fantastical elements in a contemporary setting and it has an incredible art style. More important, it does a great job in terms of diversity by including different types of minorities.

Helpful

H. DeFilippis

Drama club seems easy enough, except that it's headed by two twins ...

Reviewed in the United States on February 15, 2017

This was far funnier than I imagined it would be when I first imagined the description.

The story starts with Jory who is faced with an admittedly unenviable task: he has to find some kind of club to join at his new school. Drama club seems easy enough, except that it's headed by two twins that are, shall we say, a bit full of themselves? Being sent on an errand by them, however, is the best thing that could happen to Jory because it leads him to the Backstagers.

He discovers that not only are they a pretty cool group of people, ranging from a handsome & flirtatious handyman, a somewhat power mad electrician, and a younger boy whose purpose isn't quite clear yet, plus the "sensible" one in the group, but that their backstage area contains a door to alternate worlds that only they know about.

Since this is only issue one there's not much revealed at this point. We get brief intros to the main cast, but it's more than enough to get a feel for them and keep me interested. We also get a glimpse of one of the alternate worlds that is now home to some odd little creatures. Are they dangerous? Who knows, but they sure are hella adorable!

The art is a huge asset here. It somewhat reminded me of the style seen in the Steven Universe show, especially when focused on the youngest member of the Backstagers. It flows nicely with the craziness of the story and I imagine that it will go well once the Drama Club and the Backstagers actually get around to putting on a play. I can't wait to get to issue #2!

I received a copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

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