For a more "slice of life" graphic novel, this just wasn't my favorite. I wish the character of Mia was more fleshed out. She seemed very one-note, compared to the side characters. They seemed to have a bit more personality, and truthfully, I was much more interested in them and related better to them.

The concert seemed like it was going to be such a good climax in the story, but I felt that it was just glossed over. I would have liked to see the actual concert more prominent in the story.

All in all, not terrible, but not great. I won't be continuing on the next volume of the series.

A group of junior high kids hang out and play video games. That's about the extent of what story there is. It was a fast, fatuous read.

Not really my cup of tea but the illustrations were fantastic and the story was good but it felt like it was lagging and I found myself skimming panels to get to the good parts. There was some good humor and I liked the bff relationships. Overall I gave this book 2.5 stars
FTC DISCLAIMER: I received this book in exchange for an honest review

'Mia & Co' by Vanyda with art by Nicolas Hitori De is about a teenage girl and her group of male friends.

Mia likes to hang out with boys. They play music and video games. Mia likes this group, but some people think it's odd that she only hangs with boys. Mia prefers to do what the boys do. When her favorite band comes to town, she makes plans to go with one of her friends. Mia seems to have feelings for him, but notices he likes another girl. She doesn't seem to have a problem with that.

I really liked the art in this book. Unfortunately, that's not enough to overcome a story that has no arc to it. There is no character journey or transformation. Everyday life things happen, but nothing else. Perhaps this changes in later volumes, but this one felt a bit disappointing to me.

I received a review copy of this graphic novel from Europe Comics and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this graphic novel.

Thank you, NetGalley for the preview of this graphic novel.

Mia and Co is a slice of life story about Mia and her group of friends. Sadly, nothing much happens in the book at all. I usually enjoy a slice of life fiction but there was nothing happening, nothing pushing the plot forward in this book. It had so much potential to be more.

I received an electronic arc from Netgalley in return for an honest review.

So this about a girl Mia and her group of friends which are all guys. Mia doesn't get on with other girls but she enjoyed playing fighting games with her friends. This graphic novel is about her life.

I really loved this one! The art is fantastic and the characters are all pretty funny. Being a tomboy I really connected to Mia and it shows her dealing with normal, ordinary things in her life which is so cool.

I think a bit more from the guys' point of view would be really good, showing a bit about how they're feeling and such, but it's not necessary :)

It was a little choppy in places but it didn't affect reading and I sometimes read the speech in the wrong order and had to reread it to make it make sense and to understand what was going on between the characters.

Overall I thinks it's really great and I would really recommend it and I'd like to read the rest of the series

This is very much a slice of life story, unfortunately not a lot happens and the blurb's promised tension in the friend group never really happened. The artwork was okay and probably kept me reading, although a couple of the characters looked similar and gave me pause as to who was speaking.
I have to wonder why it's always the fat kid that stress eats and is petrified of everything. Come on, enough with the stereotyping.

Like the other reviewers I loved the artwork, but there was no story. Sure we were introduced to Mia and her friends and she struggles in school, but there was no overall plot that pushed the story in any direction. Things just happen and soon the read becomes boring.

Too facile, too manga-influenced, too plotless, too juvenile, too video game-fixated, too trashy, too bad. It almost appears every second page they forgot to include the dialogue - but that's not all that's amateurish about it.

I love the artwork in this but just couldn't get into the story. I found that it jumped around a lot and the dialogue felt like there were bits missing.

Mia & Co is a slice of life comic about a group of teenagers. There are four friends, Mia and three boys, Gauthier, Louka and Zouzou. They've known each other for an eternity and they do geeky stuff together, like play console games and visit haunted houses etc. At the same time they are growing up and starting to like different things and Mia has a crush of her own and well, Gauthier lands himself a girlfriend. Times are changing and so are the dynamics. I really liked the realistic approach of the comic and how there's no real plot, but just happenings in the teenagers' lives. The friends are all very different, although not all of them got enough stage time, but I do hope it will eventually happen. Mia & Co isn't amazing or earthshaking, but it's very solid and funny even. Vanyda's story structure works well with everything and I'd need to read more to know how everything evolves.

The art is manga-like, but cruder and reminds me of pseudo-manga. Still, Vanyda has her own style with thin line art and simple art that has some edge to it too. The color blends in with the airy art and they compliment one another. The speech bubbles feel a little off and I'm not so sure whether the font is the best possible combination with the lively art. Another interesting French comic this one is and I hope we get more, since comics for teenage girls are scarce. Mia & Co is like Lou! in a sense, but starts straight from teenagers. So, really nice indeed if still somewhat raw.

I absolutely loved the art style of this graphic novel, but I felt it fell into a few stereotypes regarding gender roles. Mia is a 'tomboy' and spends all her time with her guy friends, and as a result ends up being pigeonholed into the 'different to all the other girls' category. This was a shame, as I felt it stunted her character growth slightly. The plot, too, was a little basic, and I ended the volume feeling like not much had happened. So, although the art was brilliant, the story lacked substance and pace.

Inhalt

Mia und ihre Freunde sind so wie jeder andere Teenager auch: Sie wollen einfach nur rumhängen, herumalbern und Videospiele zocken. Zumindest bis die Pubertät voll zuschlägt und auch andere Sachen interessanter werden. Als einziges Mädchen in der Jungsgruppe hat es Mia dabei nicht ganz leicht, und auch ihr bester Freund Gauthier hat mit seinen Hormonen zu kämpfen. Unterdessen sorgen die Austauschschüler für einiges an Wirbel, und die Clique steht vor der Herausforderung, auch in schweren Zeiten zusammenzuhalten …

Meine Bewertung

Das war ja mal nichts – und das im wahrsten Sinne des Wortes. Ich glaube, ich hab noch nie einen dermaßen nichtssagenden und langweiligen Comic wie „Mia & Co“ gelesen, in dem es einfach nicht voranging. Von einem richtigen Plot konnte hier nicht die Rede sein, weshalb ich am Ende auch ziemlich fassungslos dasaß und es fast erneut gelesen hätte, nur um mich zu vergewissern, dass ich nicht etwas Grundlegendes verpasst habe.

In „Mia & Co“ geht es laut Klappentext um Mia und ihre Freunde. So weit so gut. Sie wollen, wie wohl die meisten Teenager, gar nicht viel machen und ihre Zeit gemeinsam genießen. Okay. Und dabei haben sie in meinen Augen einfach keine Persönlichkeit entwickelt. Zouzou hat Angst im Dunkeln, Louka interessieren Mädchen nicht, die für ihn schwärmen, Gauthier steht auf eine Hollywood-Schönheit. Und Mia ist eben mittendrin, kämpft mit ihren Noten und will auf ein Konzert gehen. Das war kein zusammenhängender Plot, den größten Teil des Comics nimmt tatsächlich einfach nur eine Illustration von der spielenden Gruppe nach der anderen ein. Von den Konflikten habe ich gar nichts gespürt, sie waren auf der nächsten Seite schon wieder abgespeist. Und es hat sich einfach so gezogen!

Was ich nicht verstehen kann, ist dieses Ende. Warum musste es unbedingt nach einem derart schwachen Plot so ein Cliffhanger sein, der mit der wenigen Entwicklung, die Mia durchgemacht hat, nicht zusammengepasst hat? Mich hat dieser Comic ehrlich gesagt eher genervt als unterhalten, weil er einfach aufgrund der Charaktere und der fehlenden Story extrem schwach war. Noch dazu war der Stil auch nicht unbedingt mein Liebling und ich habe gar keine emotionale Bindung zu jemandem aufgebaut, geschweige denn an irgendeiner Stelle gelacht oder mitgefühlt.

„Mia & Co“ war für mich leider ein richtiger Reinfall. Lange hatte ich keinen Comic mehr, der mich so überhaupt nicht unterhalten konnte, weshalb ich ihn leider auch nicht weiterempfehlen kann. Auch wenn noch Folgeteile kommen, werde ich diese nicht mehr zur Hand nehmen.

This graphic novel was sweet and charming. It's about Mia and her group of "nerdy" friends. Her parents are bothered by the fact that said friends are all boys, but Mia doesn't really care. But they're all growing up, getting more responsibility and priorities. I would very much like to read the continuation.

That said, it was a bit hard to follow the plot sometimes. You really had to read the pictures, rather than the words, because a lot was happening between the lines.

Lovely illustrations and delightful characters.

/ Denise

Mia & Co #1 is an interesting slice of life kind of story, focusing on a teen girl and her group of friends as they begin those difficult high school and teenage years. Things used to be about hanging out, watching TV and playing video games, but not so much anymore.

Mia's happy for things to continue as they were. Hanging out with her friends, Gauthier, Louka, and Zouzou. Playing video games, spending time at the apartment where Wilfried and his grandfather live, and what new college students they're hosting. Listening to music. So what if Mia doesn't have any friends who are girls? So what if some of the girls in her school find her standoffish, purposely exclude her? Things are fine as they are. Until they change, bit by bit. Until crushes and dating enter the conversation. Until Mia's grades maybe aren't the best. Until they don't all share the same interests. But they're still friends.

I really enjoyed the art and the character design, it's different than both the North American comics and the Japanese manga I've read recently. I like the look of the thin line work on the characters and the backgrounds, the different buildings and cars, the broad smiles and the open grin on Mia's face. All the colours of the characters against all the beige of walls and buildings. And they all have their own style, the boys all different varieties of jeans and hoodies with Mia's leggings, hoodie, and sneakers. It's an art style that I enjoyed page after page.

This was easy-going and fun, exactly what I'd expected when I started reading it. I would definitely recommend this to fans of other slice of life and contemporary comics, stories like Horimiya and Friends with Boys.

I received this book from Netgalley in exchange of an honest review.

I had expectations for this one, the blurb especially seemed to mention something in the way of that Mia's group of friends (all boys) was about to change as they were growing up. I was looking forward to seeing how the group would handle it, if they would fall apart, or not? And also how Mia was going to be changing. Sadly though, I didn't see anything changing about the group or things getting complicated. Or at least, not major things. I saw small things, like Mia suddenly having a different kind of interest in Gauthier (though I have no clue if that was like > love or just a bigger kind of friendship), Mia at times fell a bit out of place in the group (but only a bit, most of the time the guys accepted her fully), the boys getting girl attention (and Mia having to be the messenger). So yeah, a bit of a shame. I was quite curious as I have seen friendships fall apart due to girls and boys mixing up. Boys or girls suddenly falling for their best friend, or that they would rather form a group with other of the same gender. Or that due to bodies changing they will act differently around each other. Not to mention how people outside view having boys as friends. I have had enough boys as friends, nothing more, but for some reason people often assumed we were dating or something else. Um, no. So that is what I kind of expected from this. Seeing a close-knitted friendship change due to people growing up.

In fact I was mostly bored while reading as it was just Mia and her friends playing games, watching movies (from romance to horror), trying to go to a concert, going to school. We see that Mia has trouble at school, not only her grades are pretty terrible, but she also has troubles with connecting with the other girls (to which I could relate oh so much).

I found the boys way more interesting than Mia. Sorry Mia. You are a nice gal, and at times quite fun, but I wouldn't have minded if we had gotten more POV's. Like Zouz, or Garthier's POV.

I did like that Mia found a hobby she wanted to pursue. I would have loved to see that video she made.

The art? Not entirely my favourite. It did remind me a lot of Code Lyoko.

The ending? Eh, not too happy with it. Are cliffhangers really needed? I never like them. Not in books I love (as you always have to wait) nor in books I didn't quite like (as you don't want to continue the series, but yet you do want to know how things continue).

So yeah, not entirely what I was expecting, and it took me hours to get through this. Every time I had a small moment of nothing happening I read a few pages.