While I thought the subject itself is worthy of a graphic novel, I wouldn't recommend this book to my elementary school students. I might recommend this to a YA level student. The characters could've been a bit more fleshed out, but I guess it was mostly an action plot. Great for what it is, but just not my school library.

Abel is a French cosplayer, and Comic-Kon is around the corner. His parents don’t get his obsession, and his brother is a jerk, but he and his friends have spent so long on their coxtumes, and they’re ready to have a great time, maybe even winning the costume contest. That is, until a man claiming to have plans for a secret disaster is chased through the con by men in black. Abe and his friends will stand up to the be the heroes they dress as to stop terrorism.

I read this over the course of two nights, and it was the perfect bedtime read. It was exciting enough that I didn’t immediately fall asleep, but not super challenging or deep as to keep me up reading too long. The kids were a lot of fun, and what young person doesn’t want the opportunity to be a hero, even if they can never tell anyone what really happened? Plus, I’m a nerd who has been to a few cons myself, and it’s a good vibe. The art was great, and it was just a fun read.

It’s out now wherever you get your comics if you’re looking for a fun one-shot between issues of longer series.

As a person who grew up competing in costume contests and now helps run a larger one, I REALLY wanted to like this but it just did not do cosplay and the convention scene justice.
The basic idea of cosplayers being creative and quick thinking with tools felt like a good portrayal as well as the dedication to being in character. However, that’s really where I feel the accurate portrayal of cosplay ends. The extremely exclusionary actions from the one dimensional pretty boy bully, to the main trio ostracizing the nerd and objectifying women this felt like an outsiders stereotype of cosplay and convention goers rolled up into one mildly offensive package.
I can say I loved the art style and the main character was at times very charming. For me this doesn’t make up for the tired tropes and stereotypes I found all over this story.
It’s possible I could look past this if the narrative was engaging and felt connected to convention life but even that felt forced and poorly executed.
I truly wish I liked this, I love cosplay and have been going to conventions since I was a baby, but this just wasn’t it.

As a cosplayer and con-goer myself I was really eager to read this!

The art is fantastic and I loved spotting all the different pop culture things hidden in the panels as well as all the different cosplays of the characters. However I feel the story is a bit all over the place. It's definitely an out of left field type plot that I think takes the reader out of it more than one. Its understandable for things to be unrealistic and I get the author wanted to give these hero cosplayers a heroic moment of their own. I do think though that a plot more along the lines of convention sabotage or cosplay contest sabotage would have flowed better and been easier to follow than literal terrorist based government betrayal.

Thanks to Europe Comics and Netgalley for the ARC of this in return for an honest review.

The best I can say for this book is that I loved the art, which was very charming and delightful, and if it had just been a cute iSpy type book of pop culture references, I would have genuinely had a field day with this.

However... the plot for this is wildly lacking. The pacing is off, the narrative is a tired story of geeks being looked down on, and misogyny runs rampant across the whole of the book. The whole thing is confusing, and the characters aren't given enough space for you to really like them or the plots that they have, which is unfortunate for a story that is quite focused on wanting to make you cheer for various characters. The whole thing feels contrived, and in a way that's really not fun.

While I loved the focus on the importance of crafting in cosplay, that entire element quickly fell to the wayside, and instead was subsumed by an action plot that neither tread new ground nor had a deep emotional heart.

So yeah, pretty book! But the writing is def lacking.

The length of this comic really hindered the story. The plot felt derivative and underwhelming whilst the characters were extremely shallow. I get 88 pages isn't a lot to work with but this was not good. This felt very much like a bad fanfic or a self insert narrative that flopped. The friend group had no banter or hint of camaraderie between them, simply a group of dudes who share one similarity and repeat movie lines to each other instead of actually talking. Despite likely being in the group that this comic was supposed to cater to (comic-obsessed, superhero watching, and a pop culture consumer), I found myself mostly cringing while reading this.

A group of friends in France attend a convention and cosplay. They intend to participate in the costume contest, but instead help a man running from men in suits. They soon realize that being a hero isn't as easy as comics and movies make it seem.

Its Comic-Kon in Paris for a group of young teenage boys. Dressed as their favorite characters, they are planning on having a great day until that gets disrupted by a mysterious stranger on the run. He tells them he has government secrets related to an environmental disaster, and they must help him escape.

This was a lot grittier than I expected, especially from the cover. It was an enjoyable read but not super light-hearted.

Thank you to NetGalley and Europe Comics for allowing me early access to review this eARC.

I loved the art style in this graphic novel. I thought it was really well done as it felt unique, but also borrowed classic comic book elements. It naturally features a lot of colors, but was done in a nice way that didn’t feel over saturated. Also, all the pop culture references were awesome that it borrowed from so many fandoms.

However, I thought the pacing was a bit weird at times and it was hard to gauge (at times) what exactly was going on. I don’t know if I liked the “present” vs. “past” that is only like twice and flows a bit awkwardly. I also wasn’t a fan that one of the main characters started pretty gross and misogynistic, but it went away cause a hot (and very badass) girl kicked a bad guys butt…? I mean I guess that’s character growth.

I still had a lot of fun reading it and would definitely recommend for any nerd out there.

I loved this so much it was so fun to read for every geek lover like me. Quick easy read i would love for there to me more of these.

Thank you Netgalley for my ARC! A super cute graphic novel about friendship, good guys, bad guys, and what it really means to be a hero. I knocked off a star because I wanted more character building—I think this easily could have expanded about 35 pages for character background and it would have been even better!

*reviewed from uncorrected eARC*

middlegrade/teen/adult graphic novel - really fun adventure story of what happens when real-life bad guys invade a Comic-Con that is full of cosplayers who take their role-playing really seriously. Lots of pop-culture references if you happen to be knowledgeable, but also just full of funny interactions even if you're not particularly familiar with everything in the canon.

This is probably the best comic I'm going to read all year, and that's not an exaggeration. I absolutely loved this and have never felt so seen.

As someone who loves anime, this was such a welcoming book. It does a great job at capturing what it means to be a stan, fangirl, and fan of media. Even though I've been to conventions before, I was constantly learning about different experiences: those of pros, cosplayers, vloggers, etc. There was a collection of diverse experiences shown through the lens of some great, well-rounded characters. I loved the message of feeling like anyone can be a hero, and anyone can have those heroic qualities to them.

This is probably the best comic I'm going to read all year, and that's not an exaggeration. I absolutely loved this and have never felt so seen.

This book does an AMAZING job of capturing convention life. As a long time participant of anime conventions, it literally made me feel like I was there. I spent a lot of time looking in the backgrounds for characters, getting excited to see some of my favourites, and the little hide and seek in the front of the book was a super fun addition for me because of that.

The book itself is also so accurate. It covers all kinds of convention people from amateur cosplayers to pros, vloggers to every day people. I LOVED that it has different ethnicities, and didn't shy away from crossplay at all, it was wonderful.

The characters are all well written, they all have distinct personalities and their priorities are very clear to see even from the beginning of the comic. Even the character arcs are pretty good for it being so short, especially the main characters. It's a perfect representation of anyone can be the hero even if they don't look it, and just because you look it doesn't mean that you're the hero. I love the message of everyone can be a hero if you do the right thing, and if you're brave.

I have never read a comic about people who love comics, and this is probably the most fun I've ever had reading a comic. Extremely well done!

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

What was supposed to be the day of these kids lives, Comic-con, ends with danger, bombs, shooting, and finding your inner-real-superhero. Because something dangerous is happening and these kids know too much. But who is speaking the truth and who isn't? It was an exciting read for sure and I loved the varied casts of kids. All seemingly outcasts, but during this con united as one. There are lots of moments I was gasping! Gasping that people would go so far and that they would even take down kids to get something they need. Don't care about lives at all.
This was a ride! And the ending was maybe a tad underwhelming (or at least how the kids were treated after everything they went through), but the actual ending made up for it. But I am guessing maybe a second volume? Or something else?
I loved all the references, the costumes, characters who are not cosplaying but look very much like x character. At the end we even get a list of all the references, didn't read that, but I do appreciate it was added.
Love the search/find picture at the end, that was totally fun!
And the art was great~

This graphic novel was a lot of fun! I really like that it captured the fun and complexity of conventions, while experiencing an act of terrorism and trying to save the day.