This was so cute! The art style is really amazing and the characters were all pretty cool and distinct. Also, there is the start of a cute sapphic relationship and I am invested! Another added bonus is that I love basketball. I am definitely continuing with this graphic novel.

This was such a cute story! This first volume combines the first four issues of this college-set graphic novel series, and while it isn’t exactly the kind of book you would call suspenseful, it still managed to end on a cliffhanger that has me wishing I could read the second volume already!

This series reminded me a bit of Giant Days, mainly because it involves a group of friends coming together in a college setting. This series is a lot more diverse than Giant Days, though – plenty of queerness, plus a character who uses “they” pronouns and one or two characters who I thought might be trans women based on their body designs (but never confirmed, so I might be reading into that). It’s also cute, though – I was a little skeptical at first, but then it got to me and I wanted to join this basketball team full of witches, over-achievers, and snarky misanthropes.

Author Carly Usdin has some other graphic novels, so I definitely need to check out her other work while I wait for the next volume in this fun series.

This ARC was provided for review, but in no way affects the following impartial and unbiased review:
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4*
Pros: Cutest art style and amazing colors. Super fun and great world-building. Incredibly diverse, regarding ethnicities, gender identity and sexual orientations. Features athletic girls of all shapes and sizes. Funny banter and wholesome friendships. Interesting introduction to the story. Loved the basketball focus.
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Cons: For a sports graphic novel, the action scenes are too stilted.

I've been reading graphic novels from Boom Box for awhile now. I love Giant Days, The Backstagers, Lumberjanes and Goldie Vance. All of these books stand out to me because of their diverse representation, strong female characters, and interesting storylines.

The Avant-Guards is no exception! I enjoyed the story, the illustrations and the cast of characters. I can't wait for the next one to come out!

So I absolutely ADORE this graphic novel.
It’s cute, fun and so beautifully illustrated, I need volume 2 in my life immediately.

Just a note: I’m not a sports fan. I have a very specific set of sports that I enjoy and an even smaller amount of sports that I’ll watch. So a graphic novel about sport was a bit of a wildcard for me, but I’m SO glad I read it.

I adore all the teammates and the illustrations really bring their personalities to life.

*I received a free eARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

(eARC received for review from NetGalley) This was so good! I LOVE the representation. The artwork and coloring are fantastic. I definitely will be reading the rest of this series! It was super fun and I’m not a basketball fan.

The Avant-Guards was a wonderful and beautifully illustrated graphic novel.

The novel explores the experience of moving to a new school, making new friends, and getting out of your comfort zone. I loved the plot of this book and how all these creative people came together to make a basketball team.

The characters were so charming and adorable (especially Liv) and I loved how I got to know them quite well in a short amount of time. The representation of the characters was amazing and I really appreciate how much there is now; especially in graphic novels!

Overall, I really loved this story and the characters and I can't wait for Volume 2!

This was a wholesome graphic novel about forming friendships in the most unexpected places. It showed us that you can always fall back into what you love to do, even if you fell out of love with it. I loved that the romance in this was not the main focus of this story, but we still see them clumsily showing that they care. It's such a wholesome read that everyone should read.

This book is fantastic! I adored every second of it and I am beyond excited to read more volumes. There was a lot of representation in this book which was one of the reasons that I loved it so much. The characters were all different races, genders, and sexualities. I really liked that the book - even though it is a sports comic - mostly focused on the friendships and relationships between all of the characters. I would highly, highly recommend this book to any library. I think it will make an excellent addition to any collection.

When Charlie transfers colleges, she doesn’t exactly fit in anywhere until she meets the rag-tag group that makes up the school’s basketball team, The Avant-Guards.

I really enjoy the art and it had a pretty solid story line. Can’t wait to continue on when more are released.

Thank you for providing me this graphic novel!
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I was confused at first because I usually read mangas, but then I got it so no worries. Hehe.
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I love the colors! I love the art of this book. I love the diversity, the drama, and the problems stated in this book. But, this book should be longer. Thank you for writing this book! :)

I can't get this graphic novel to download. I love the cover and I think I would have liked this book alot if it would have downloaded

We have sports. We have college. We have drama (in more ways than one!). We have lesbians. We have non-binary people. We have people of color. We have a fun, relevant graphic novel that I really enjoyed! The artwork was great, the colors popped, and the storyline was topical. I want more!

Awesome stuff!
Charlie transfers to the Georgia O'Keeffe College for Arts and Subtle Dramatics and finds herself quickly bombarded by a colorful group of students who would like to form the school's first basketball team. She used to play at her former school, but fell out because of her panic attacks. Maybe this time she finds the supportive group that can help her overcome them?
So much representation! I loved that aspect. We have anxiety, queer, trans, non-binary, witchy..
The color scheme was unexpected and really fun!

Charlie is a new transfer to the Georgia O'Keefe College of Arts and subtle Dramatics and she is feeling a bit isolated at her new school. She decides she needs to get out more so she goes to see what types of clubs and groups the school has to offer. She is approached by a very enthusiastic Liv and her eclectic friends who are starting a new basketball team.
I loved this book! The characters were diverse fun. We got to know a bit about each character and their unique identities. Charlie was moody and extremely sarcastic while dealing with her social anxieties. Liv was an enthusiastic, dramatic character that I feel in love with.
I enjoyed the fact that this book was so diverse. They had different races, genders, body-type, style and sexuality. But it wasn't preachy! It was just a fun book that reflected the modern world.
It did end on a cliff hanger which was a bummer because I really need the next book to come out soon!

I LOVED this graphic novel! I ate it up sometime in the middle of the night, in one sitting. I love the diversity presented in this story in the ethnicities of the characters as well as the characters' personalities. The representation in this story is so important and is just one story among many more that is diversifying the shelves of readers and reviewers. It felt real. I have read other graphic novels in which the characters feel more like characters in a story rather than real people dealing with real things.
I love the connections that grow throughout the story arc. Although I would've loved for it to be longer, I think the length plays very well with where the story left off. It left off with the suspense and want for more issues in the future. And as always I appreciate the cover images in the back of the novel, beautiful work!
The beginnings of romance in this story make me giddy and excited. I'm so ready to read volume two. I have only positive feed back for this lovely story and I look forward to reading more work from Carly Usdin in the future.

This was too cute. Cute story, cute art. I love the whole weirdo team. I look forward to the next volume, hopefully soon!

This is really cute! <i>The Avant-Guards</i> is about a new, small basketball team created by students at a performing arts college. The team members are a mix of races, body types, genders, and sexualities. There is a developing f/f romance between the two main characters: overachiever Olivia who's still smarting from her last break-up; and transfer student Charlie, who has anxiety and bad past experience with the bball team at her previous school. This comic is fun and pretty low-key for the moment. The art style is nice and vibrant. I really like the characters and the unique setting (there are stage set-pieces on the Avant-Guards' practice court, lol) and I'm excited to see where the story goes! 3.5 stars

Filmmaker Carly Usdin is the driving force behind this graphic novel - composed of the first several issues of the popular comic - that opens with a young woman named Charlie trying to find her way as a new transfer student to the Georgia O'Keeffe College for Arts and Subtle Dramatics. The campus of focused, arts-oriented and creative students is foreign territory to Charlie, a former basketball star in her previous school days now seeking a new career path, and as she finds herself struggling to make friends and make her way, the young woman, quite ironically, runs into a short, cute, very hyperactive African-American girl named Liv. Liv is everything Charlie isn't - outgoing, open, energetic, a true lover of life and all it has to offer. Where the ironic parts comes in? Liv also happens to be the captain of the Avant-Guards, a motley crew of athletes and non-athletes Liv is determined to turn into a crackerjack basketball team so that their school has some representation on the courts. Liv's also determined that the one player they need to make a full team is Charlie, who resists every temptation to join at first - that is in her past - though she soon falls under Liv's perky little spell and reconsiders helping to get the team off the ground. The Avant-Guards Vol. 1 has a lot of positive energy and some terrific LGBT+ representation all across the board, with individual characters you grow to like. My problem with this compilation is simply that not a lot seems to happen, dramatic conflict kept to such a minimum I found myself (a couple times) checking how many pages I had left to read until I was finished. A budding romance toward the end livens things up considerably - as does a seeing the Avant-Guards in action on the court - but overall, while not bad by any means, volume one of this series just feels like a bland prologue whose purpose is to get you to the cliffhanger at the end, setting some real wheels in motion for volume two. 3/5 stars

NOTE: I received a free ARC of this title from NetGalley and the publisher, in exchange for an honest review.

Loved it! Boom is nailing it with casually diverse, girl-friendly comics. I loved the characters in this volume, which mainly serves as an introduction to the new series. I'll definitely be picking up Volume 2! For fans of Hi-Fi Fight Club and Giant Days.