Book Review: The Backstagers #1

Book: The Backstagers #1 by James Tynion IV with illustrations by Rian Sygh, color by Walter Baiamonte and letters by Jim Campbell

Cover Art by Veronica Fish

Edition: Single Print Issue

Description:

James Tynion IV teams up with artist Rian Sygh 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!


Rating: 5 stars

Review:

In this cute and fun first issue of The Backstagers, Jory who is new to St. Genesius, an all-boys private high school, is not looking forward to finding an extracurricular activity. Since his mother will be working late she wanted him to find something to do after school.

He's very nervous and reluctant to do anything besides hide out in the bushes. However, there is one club that he was interested in, the Drama Club. But going to the auditorium didn't make him feel like he belonged. He was ignored by his classmates and then slightly embarrassed by the stars of the club for not showing enough enthusiasm for the school's upcoming production.

Although, Jory didn't know it at the time but he was going to be in for an amazing adventure, when the stars of the club, twins Kevin and Blake McQueen asked him to go backstage to get a prop.

As Jory goes backstage, he immediately finds himself helping Sasha, Aziz, Hunter and Beckett as they deal with a magical pest problem. From that short amount of time he spent with the guys backstage Jory saw how fun and cool they were. He also realized that he didn't fit in with the snooty actors and decided to become part of the stage crew.

I adore this first issue, Jory didn't seem to be enjoying his time at his new school. And if it wasn't for his mother making him join an after school program he would have never met his new friends. From reading this, you get a sense that Aziz, Hunter, Sasha, Beckett and Jory don't exactly fit in at school but they found a place where they can be themselves as Backstagers. I like that each of the five guys have different personalities yet share this love of set building.

I also like that this has a magical/fantasy aspect because there is so much that goes on behind the scenes that no one sees. It feels like the perfect way to add a little magic to the book.

The writing for this was fun and exciting and the illustrations compliment it very well. The illustrations have a very animated/cartoony feel that reminds me of Steven Universe and other similarly drawn cartoons. I'm really looking forward to reading the second issue it looks like the fun and weirdness are just beginning.