Cover Image: The Stereotypical Freaks

The Stereotypical Freaks

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Member Reviews

*I received this book for free through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*

Nothing special. There was a ton of info dropped all at the same time. The illustrations were not good. It wasn't well put together. The book was more boring than anything.

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Music, friendship, top musical hits? This YA graphic novel has all that wrapped up in a battle of the bands plot. Resonates with readers who had a hard time finding their place in high school.

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Cute graphic novel!
Even thought it was a bit predective as it goes, the characters were so much fun and the art so cute that we just go along with it!
I really enjoyed the read!

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I love graphic novels and I found the plot of this one to be so much fun! I remember being in high school and going to a battle of the bands to cheer on my friends, we all had so much fun being there together! I loved this group of misfit friends and their passion for music!

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This was a fun story that isn't usually in my realm of reading but I am so glad I took a chance on this one. It's a great story for anyone who might feel like they don't fit into the mainstream. It's a great tale of friendship and overcoming obstacles together.

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Thank you to the publisher and to Netgalley for the advance copy of this book!

SOOO CUTE! I loved this book. The art was great. No issues following along in the story. The atmosphere was everything I wanted it to be. I loved the plot and storyline in the book. I loved the characters in this story. It gave me all the feels I was looking for when I started reading this. I highly recommend this author. I loved the writing. I will be looking for other works in the future from this author.

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I didn't know anything about this when I started reading it and I'm glad I enjoyed it quite a lot. It's a fun read but definitely very emotional.

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Love graphic novels and comics for young people, and I loved the premise of this, and the amazing female characters especially. Will definitely recommend and suggest for purchase.

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The Stereotypical Freaks was a great example of a graphic novel and would be a great introduction for future fans of the genre. I'm personally just getting into graphic novels and am encouraging my students to enjoy the genre for appreciation of both art and storytelling.
I think my students, some of whom are learning English as a second language, would really enjoy this story and it would be a hit with kids who think they don't like reading!!

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I received an e-arc from NetGalley in exchange for a honest review.
I was really excited to read this comic, because the synopsis sounded really nice. The plot wasn’t bad, but I was sometimes bored, because it was predictive. It also often felt that the drawings were not completely finished. The comic was certainly okay, but I was a bit disappointed.

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I started out not being a huge fan of this graphic novel as the artwork felt unfinished, possibly due to the lack of colour. This may have been exacerbated by the fact that the cover is in colour so it was somewhat misleading.

However, after the first quarter I realised that there was so much more to this and I loved it. This goes beyond a story of four very different individuals becoming friends through music. It deals with teenage cancer and how teenagers respond to being faced with mortality. It would have been good having some of the characters struggling a bit more with coping. They all showed a very adult sense of maturity and acceptance about it. I'm not sure this respresents reality so some young people may struggle to identify/think they are somehow not responding to cancer properly. Maybe that's just my own take on it having worked with children and teenagers though.

It was a really pleasantly surprising graphic novel and I'll definitely be recommending it in my library.

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Starting out this graphic novel, I figured it would be just another 'start-up band' comic that would lead up to 'the guy gets the girl' cliche. I'm happy to say that it completely beat up my expectations and brought me a tear-jerking, sweet story of friendship.

While Tom and Dan are struggling to form a band, they form unlikely friendships with their two new bandmates: Mark and Jacoby.
Mark and Tom had a previous friendship that has dissolved over the years while Mark became 'popular' and joined the Football Team. While Dan learns of Jacoby while walking to Tom's house and overhearing Jacoby playing the drums.
They eventually join up and learn not only how deep friendships can be, but how well they can play together.

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<I>The Stereotypical Freaks</i> tells a heartwarming, if not sometimes a bit cliche, story about four high schoolers who come together to compete in a Battle of the Bands contest at their school. Tom is the brainy one, Dan is the socially-averse one, Mark is the football jock, and Jacoby is the quiet foreign exchange student with a mysterious secret.

The artwork in this one is mixed: though the motions and facial expressions were solid (and I loved the representation of different body types!), they had a sketchy feel for them that made it feel a bit unpolished. It seemed more reminiscent of preliminary character designs than the final product. Additionally, some of the actions were re-used, making me wonder if the artist got comfortable illustrating certain things and didn't stray outside of his comfort zone too much.

The story can be a bit cliche, as mentioned, but is sweet nonetheless. I would have appreciated more conflict, because it did veer slightly into "cancer kid used as inspiration fodder" at times, but I found myself feeling moved nonetheless by the end. The author wasn't afraid to have a somewhat dark ending and it's the better for it. The "recommended listening" for chapters was brilliant, however, and added to the triumphant feel of the book in general.

All in all, a solid, sweet work for pre-teens and younger teens, though older readers will probably want something with a little bit more of a challenge, story-wise.

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This was really, really good. A book about four teenage boys from very different friend groups coming together to form a band, took a surprisingly serious and heart-wrenching turn. I loved seeing the group come together and become even stronger through hardships. It’s a story that really makes you think about life and our limited time on this earth. I surely didn’t expect to be taking that away from this story, but I’m very glad that I was able to.

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I loved this book. The suggested soundtrack really enhanced the story. Watching these four transcend their stereotypes doing something they love is an inspiration for misfits everywhere.

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I don't really know what to say about this graphic novel, other than that I was mostly bored reading it. The synopsis sounded nice enough, but the story itself didn't pull me in at all. I think the art work is a large factor in that, because due to the lack of colouring, the panels seemed unfinished, and it felt like reading a messy draft.

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I wasn't sure what this was going to be about when I picked it from NetGalley but I'm really glad that I did. This comic is about Tom and Dan. They play music in Tom's basement for fun but Dan wants to add more members to their jam sessions to make a full fledged band. Tom is against that, he just likes to play music for fun. But when the high school that they go to announces a Battle of the Bands, Tom and Dan end up signing up, before they have the other members of their band! Tom is tutoring Mark who they find out also plays the guitar and Dan finds Jocoby who plays the drums. They go through a few different issues (no spoilers!) before they get to the Battle of the Bands but ultimately they become closer as friends. The description of this book says that one of the characters ends up having life changing news and that is very true. I honestly didn't think I would get super attached to these characters in such a short period of time but I really did and I might have teared up at the ending. No spoilers here but it was very sad even if it was very well written. I would recommend this for anyone that is a fan of music (the chapters have a guide as to what you should listen to as you are reading them - pretty interesting!) or a fan of high school drama type comics.

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The Stereotypical Freaks is a bittersweet tale about four high school kids who come together and form a band in order to play in a competition. Interestingly enough, there was a lot of stereotypical character selection, as well as not a lot of talk like you would hear from teens. Sounded more like adults. But it worked. Midway through the story turns on its ear and the entire perspective of the story changes dramatically.
What did not work for me was the black and white. The cover is bold in great color to be sure. But turn the page and everything goes flat. I am sure adding color would be costly, but I think it would be worth it and bring this book up to the next level.

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Stereotypical Freaks tells the story of Tom and Dan, two friends who start a band in order to enter the Battle of the Bands in their high school. They're both generally geeky and intelligent, but lack many friends. Thus, they're two people short of a full band in order to enter the contest. Enter Mark, aka Marcell, Tom's ex-friend and current football star. He joins the band along with Jacoby, a foreign exhange student from Canada who is hiding a secret of his own.

Overall I thought this was a heart-wrenching graphic novel and coming of age story. The band calls themselves The Stereotypical Freaks as that's what high school is all about, finding your group and getting stereotyped based on the one thing everyone knows about you. They're able to put their assumptions about one another aside to move on and come together as a band, until there is a massive emotional plot twist near the end.

I wasn't a big fan of the art, black and white art styles don't appeal to me, but it was well done and represented the characters well. If you're looking for a good emotional tale for someone in the teen to college age range, I think this would be an excellent recommendation.

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The Stereotypical Freaks was a heart warming read about true trfriendship, andand realizing mistakes before it's too late.

I loved the story, and though the graphics weren't all that eye catching, the story more than made up for it.

Though Tom was clearly the protagonist, I think Jacoby played the most important role in the story, and he was my favourite character too!

Overall, The Stereotypical Freaks was a sweet, relatable read (for me) and I enjoyed reading it. (Except when it made me tear up.)

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