Unfortunately, this was an interesting premise with poor execution. There is absolutely zero world-building here, which just left me so confused as to why spelling bees could possibly be illegal, why everyone cares about them so much, and why everyone's parents seem to be dead/missing. Combined with an oversaturated art style, I just couldn't get into this.

Thank you to Oni Press and NetGalley for the arc.

This wasn’t for me. I didn’t like the art style - the yellow was too much and I wasn’t overly captivated by the “illegal spelling bee” angle. Seemed like it was trying to hard to be “hip”

Great art design, fresh and exciting and incredibly imaginative. I love the way the author made the words being spelled a massive visual part of the comic, great character design. It's so nice to see character design allowing itself to be creative and angular. The plot was enjoyable but at times a bit heavy handed.

A visually arresting graphic novel about a world where correct spelling and spelling bees have a lot of power. There's quite a lot of characterisation here, for characters that only really appear to be beaten in an illegal spelling bee. Wait, is it an illegal spelling bee? The book starts out with an illegal spelling bee, but are the bee battles after that still the illegal kind? Wait, why are these illegal? What is the deal with spelling in this world anyway? I don't need every aspect of a world explained to me, but I found myself getting needlessly confused here, because I basically didn't understand what the world's rules are.

One aspect is how spelled words are visually represented, which is very physical and agressive. I first interpreted this figuratively, but then later on it seems like these words are literally there, smashing into opponents? Sometimes this way of representing words makes the words hard to read.

I've been reading an ARC of this reprinted version, so this may be corrected in the final version, but I found two of the supposedly correct spelled words that were actually spelled incorrectly ('homogeous', missing an N and 'hyberbole' instead of hyperbole). That feels like a big oversight for a book about spelling.

While I did enjoy the artwork of this graphic novel and the overall idea of secret and illegal spelling bees was fun and intriguing, I did not love the execution and especially the way it was written felt very ... unserious in a way. Maybe I was just not the audience for this or maybe this was just a first attempt for a great storyteller to be.

Webster is already nervous about his first day of high school, but when he gets pulled into an alley version of a spelling bee, his day gets even more stressful. What results is a spelling competition the likes of which haven't been seen before.

This was such an odd choice for a graphic novel. I don't think students will find it engaging, and even as a former English teacher, I struggled with the visual representation of the spelling.

Oh My Heavens, I had so much fun with this graphic novel. As a former Spelling Bee champion it was near and dear to my heart. It's actually what caused me to request it, but reading it was a ludicrous experience in the best way possible. Like a Mix of an episode of Dragon Ball Z, and the educational power of a PBS program. I laughed loudly throughout the entire novel.
Upon starting the story we meet Webster, our main character. He's starting High School and is running late when he stumbles upon an underground spelling bee. Spelling Bee's have gone underground in a royal rumble sort of way due to rumors of the official bee being rigged. The Outlaw King sees something in Webster and starts to train him to take on the official bee.
It is absolutely magnificent and I would consider a must read! The whole time I was reading this I had one thought reoccuring... Did they make this for me?
It was perfect. I hope there's another volume coming.

The art is very fun but the story did not move me. It felt very thin. I liked the premise but it wasn't ever developed beyond the "Saturday Morning" cartoon vibe.

My thanks to NetGalley and Oni Press for an advance copy of this graphic novels that tells of a world where words are power, and that Spelling Bees are not only big business but something that needs to be controlled, and a group of r-e-b-e-l-s that are spelling their best to try and stop it.

I have been reading comics and graphic novels for a long time, starting in the days of my grandmother buying them off the racks in newsstands, going to my drugstore to whip through the spinner looking for new titles, and even now download ebooks to read. I have watched the coming of graphic novels with a lot of hope, and understanding that if at all possible comic book publisher will somehow screw it up. Maybe it is the proliferation of publishers that are making graphic novels the joys that they are know. Different voices, different stories. Tales for all ages, niche stories for others, and stories that are fun. And original. And with a love of words that is rare today. And necessary. And I can't reiterate enough fun. BUZZ! is written by Ananth Hirsh, with illustrations from Tess Stone and tells of a world where words have the power to unite the planet to watch a full-contact spelling bee, and three brave contestants who plan to free the words by winning it all.

Webster and his sister have only each other since the disappearance of their parents years earlier. Their parents ran afoul of those who control the largest most powerful unit of spellers the world of Spelling Bees has seen. Webster's older sister is very protective of Webster, and she should be as Webster has a habit of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Instead of enjoying his first day of high school, Webster finds himself involved in a illegal spelling bee, being chased by the cops, and finding new friends. The Outlaw King as he calls himself has been banned from Spelling Bees but sees in Webster a skill to take on the consortium controlling words. The Bandit Queen, again a nickname is a speller and a thief, and also become a supporter of Webster, who has shown a skill at putting letters together. Dubbed the Golden Kid, Webster enters the Spelling Bee, finding that letters can hurt, evil is all around them, and o a quick wit and a grasp of pronunciation might be only thing keeping them from being erased off the board.

What a great story. This is a reprint, appearing in color, and if anything is even more topical and important in these days of autocorrect and Chat AI. The story is clear, the characters are well written and interesting and most of all the book is fun, and loves language and words in a way that is so rare. One can learn new words, enjoy the art and follow the story, not knowing that one is being taught. The idea is so original, again rare in a world filled with Intellectual Properties. My biggest problem was that I wanted more. The art is fantastic. Bright crisp, shiny clear, with lettering that makes the words seem like characters in the story. The artist takes every idea and make it unique. I really enjoyed just about everything here, and again wanted more.

The story is perfect for any age, in fact I might try my nephews on this. Both are not readers, however they do like to learn, and something like this, with cartoon violence, big colors and fun characters might get their attention. A great gift for any age for readers who life fun stories, learning new things and love language. I hope there is more planned.

i was excited for this because i loved lucky penny so much. a short, silly & fun & a very Okay Sure! experience

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for letting me read an advanced copy of this!

I've been a fan of Hirsh and Stone's work for a while, but never got the chance to read the original version of this from 2013, and got excited when my request to read this got approved. This was a fun read, I wasn't sure what to expect and this surpassed it honestly. the color palette was just as crazy as the plot line of rogue spelling bees.

A nerdy, socially awkward suburban white kid who is under-appreciated in his home has his talent recognized by an old hand who oozes cool and is throw into the midst of a tournament where he keeps on triumphing against the odds-on favorites. It’s a much-trodden story, especially when the third member of the team turns out to be the boy’s cute-girl schoolmate, but two things elevate Ananth Hirsh and Tess Stone’s treatment somewhat above the thousand such stories that have gone before.

First, Hirsh‘s high concept premise for this story, that the tournament is not magic or martial arts but the national spelling bee, is pursued with impressive gusto. Some small worldbuilding touches imply a world where language is taken very, very seriously, but the real highlights are the creative gimmick backstories given to seven of the major characters in this story. From a cultist speller to a wandering immortal speller to a ransom-note writer speller, the amount of material Hirsh milks from this theme is impressive.

Second, Stone’s sharp-angled, aggressively dynamic line work and character designs give everything an energized vibrancy, making every page interesting to look at. The words being spelled blast out and across the panels in an impressive variety of ways (though it is sometimes unclear how diegetic the people having bones broken by consonants is supposed to be), and the rhythm and layouts are generally both lucid and creative.

The new coloring by Fen Garza is as dynamic and fearless as the linework, and is the reason for the republishing of this originally black, white and yellow comic. For the most part, it helps define elements like the speeding giant letters of the spelling match attacks, which in the original edition were often hard to decode. The hyper-saturated palette leans perhaps a little too heavily on yellow/purple contrasts, and is perhaps a bit too eager to color solid yellow any figure experiencing strong emotion or further than middle distance away, but both seem to be a legacy of it’s single-color origin.

Buzz! is a work that mixes cliches on a large scale with interesting details and execution, and certainly deserves to be brought back after ten years of absence.

What a silly and creative concept! I was a spelling bee kid, so this book caught my eye immediately. And oh boy it did not disappoint. The anime-inspired “fight” scenes, the wacky opponents and suave side characters, this story is straight out of a shonen anime. I just wish there was more so that we had more time with the characters, but I understand that a story like this is best when it’s fast-paced! This is a great little book if you ever want a quick read.

Unique premise of literally weaponizing a spelling bee. The premise, the cover art, and my weakness for "masked character(s)" intrigue piqued my interest on this story.

This showdown story takes place in a modern-ish setting and "not everything is as it seems" towards the end. The outlandish sounding premise is taking very seriously among the cast and everyone in it. It could use more worldbuilding and an origin story for this premise. Otherwise, the varied characters, art, and action kept me hooked onto this read.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher(s) for the advanced copy.

I really loved the art but found lots of the actual story confusing & not properly explained as far as backstory of the various characters. I also had major difficulties in reading the text of the art of the spelling bee words which was super annoying. It seemed as though the artist was attempting to be stylized but since this was supposed to be a story about spelling bees I was annoyed to be unable to tell what lots of words were. Not sure that the art alone can propel this title but an interesting concept nonetheless.

Thanks to netgalley and Oni Press for the review copy.

This was a fun and quick story. Elements of it reminded me a bit of the more absurd elements of Scott Pilgrim. This story was very fast-paced, and sadly extremely light on the world building. The majority of focus is on the spelling competition and the backgrounds of the contestants. It focuses for the most part, only on the battle royale spelling bee. This novel isn't deep, it's very light-hearted and silly. The art style I did enjoy but the over use of yellow tones hurt my eyes. This is just a personal issue however!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review!

This was a hilarious romp and I don't know how else to phrase it! A world where spelling bees are so competitive that there are little spelling bee gang battles and an underground secret agency trying to corrupt them??? I loved it! I just had a blast with this one and the illustrations were incredible!

This is an absolute blast of an idea. Think WWF mixed with competitive spelling Bs. What isn’t there to love about this? Absolutely nothing. Loads of chuckles. Does newbie High School Webster have what it takes in this cut throat underground world? Indubitably - 11 letters, means without doubt!! Thank you to ONI Press and NetGalley for the comic ARC. The views expressed are all mine, freely given.

A Wordy Adventure with High Stakes and Hilarious Twists

Buzz! by Ananth Hirsh and Tess Stone delivers a vibrant and unique spin on the traditional high school drama by blending competitive spelling bees with an underground, almost gladiatorial atmosphere. The protagonist, Webster, is thrust into a world where words are literal weapons, and spelling matches are high-stakes battles controlled by shadowy figures like the Outlaw King and the Black Queen. The narrative's absurd premise is matched by its engaging and dynamic artwork, reflecting the chaotic energy of the story. The supporting characters shine, each with their quirky personas and inventive word-related backstories, adding depth to this unconventional coming-of-age tale. Fans of offbeat graphic novels like will find Buzz! an enjoyable read, thanks to its comedic timing, vibrant visuals, and imaginative storytelling. Its exploration of self-discovery amidst absurd challenges leaves readers both entertained and reflective.

The art style and colors in this book are absolutely stunning. The character designs are creative and fun, and I loved the clever touch of naming the main characters Webster and Merrium—like the dictionary. The concept of a world centered around spelling bees and battles using words is so unique and full of potential, but unfortunately, the story didn’t quite live up to it.

The pacing felt chaotic, with little to no world-building or setup to help immerse me in the story. Without a stronger foundation or more information about how this word-based world worked, it was hard to get fully invested. While the visuals were gorgeous, the execution of the story left me wanting more.