I really enjoyed reading this story about a young man who stumbles upon a world of cut throat competitive spelling bees. The stakes are very high with cartels, cheating and people who simply disappear. Webster is pulled into this clandestine world and suddenly finds that spelling can be a high risk activity.

It is good fun to read with jazzy artwork that suits the story. Spelling bees will never be the same. Great book to read.

Copy provided via Netgalley in exchange for an unbiased review.

I couldn’t take this book all too serious due to its weird premise, but I had fun reading it nevertheless. I wouldn’t read a sequel of it though.

Adorable story of an unground spelling bee ring. Yes, you read that right. The practices get busted. Those with high spelling skills are monitored, sometimes followed. Webster, who just wants to be left alone, gets recruited. The official battle provides more twists and turns CIA style. Beware the secret Spelluminati. This is not your traditional spelling bee competition. Letters are weapons and can literally take out your opponent. Correct spelling is a matter of life and death.

Appreciate the spotlight on a “nerdy” skill. If you get sucked into the excitement of the battles, you may be able to forgive the lack of character development. While the backstory drives the present action, we don’t know much of the backstory. Perhaps volume two will tell us what really happened to Webster’s parents and why Merriam has a secret identity.

The artwork is stunningly brilliant and bright and drives the story. The limited pallet is reminiscent of a bee. Once you see the pallet genius, you cannot unsee it.

Spelling bees as tournament arc shonen. Ananth Hirsch, Fen Garza and Tess Stone's Buzz! is a gloriously inane premise taken up with utmost seriousness in the service of gloriously pulpy tropey fun. Heartfelt, funny. Featuring trully graphically inventive uses of typography.

<i>***I thank NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an advanced reader copy of this book in return for an honest review*** </i>

as a word nerd, i enjoyed the concept A LOT and need an animation on this right now. the use of classic cartoon clichés and tropes made me feel really nostalgic, reminiscent of <i> kids next door </i>. i feel old.

the art was nice but it could use a bit of editing in terms of organising the panels and making the font a bit more readable. it felt brimming to the top.

overall, i enjoyed it so<3

x

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an e copy!

This is the most silly goofy graphic novel ever, i honestly don’t know what i just read.

We follow Webster who is about to high school but on the way to school he gets dragged into an illegal underground sleeping bee. Why is it illegal? No clue!
When they spell the words, the letters become weapons? Or at least they get thrown around, I DON’T KNOW WHAT IS GOING ON BUT IM HERE FOR IT. There is also a group of people called spelluminati which we delve deeper into, quite fun actually but again i don’t know what’s really happening.
The humor and wordplay was endearing, i really like the yellow, purple and blue color scheme!
I would have enjoyed this book more if we got a little more backstory to both the world and characters, it would really have benefited from being 100pages longer in my opinion.


Apologies for the lack of substance in this review but i am just so confused about everything.
I do recommend giving this a read if the concept of illegal underground spelling bee sounds interesting to you!
Ps, why was the sister serving so hard even from page 1🤭

This is an intriguing twist on a spelling bee—one where words truly have power.

A group of students is determined to take down the corrupt organizers of the competition, but things aren’t looking good for them. Just when it seems like all hope is lost, an unexpected turn of events changes everything, and the new kid ends up winning the whole thing.

It’s a unique and exciting story with plenty of surprises along the way. Definitely worth checking out!

"Webster's first day of high school goes off the rails when he ends up at a back-alley rumble...FOR UNDERGROUND SPELLING! (What??)

He's dubbed the Golden Kid, and from that moment on he's drawn into the world of underground spelling bees, where letters fly like shurikens and defeat is never an option. His talent is recognized by the mysterious and dashing Outlaw King, Khan, and the suave and plucky Black Queen, Bonnie, and they introduce to him the new challenge of no-holds-barred competitive spelling.

First released in 2013 by writer Ananth Hirsh (Lucky Penny) and artist Tess Stone (Not Drunk Enough), this new color edition comes with new cover art, freshly colored interiors (new colors by Fen Garza), and bonus material from the creators. Read and reread the frenetic tale of spelling bee battles, friendship, and the discovery of self-worth! As the Outlaw King says, "Word is bond.""

"I came here to drink milk and kick ass. And I've just finished my milk."

This is one of the most original comic I've read in months. The idea of world where competitive spelling bees are the most watch event and where the words being spelled can cause harm.
The art style is fun, dynamic and very much in the american manga style.
This fast pace book was great and I'd real more.

I really liked the style of this book-- the words and the "competitions". Could have gone for a bit more worldbuilding, but I'm also totally fine with just having a good time and anyone who disagrees just doesn't like fun.

[English is not my native language, sorry if there are mistakes]
Where I am from, spelling bee is not a thing at all. I never heard of it before reading Buzz! and it's still feels strange to me that such a calm atmosphere of competition gets transcribed in a comic with epic words battles. This comic is very cool, with a typical story about a newcomer trying to reach the summit, uncovering a big secret along the way with the help of newly found friends. What makes the real difference is the dynamics of the drawings, the flashy colors and the way it carries us through the spelling duels. I had a lot of fun reading it!
PS. I think there are two drawing mistakes in the spelled words with homogenous missing a 'n' and hyperbole having a 'b' instead of a 'p'.

I never thought I'd see the day where I'd read the words "underground spelling bee" but here we are, and I'm glad that I did.

Thank you to #NetGalley and Oni Press for the review copy of #Buzz. All opinions are my own.

There's something so fun about a graphic novel that doesn't take itself too seriously but also goes all-in for a wild concept. Buzz! builds a world of grammar-police, spelling obsessed populace, and phonics foes through bright yellow hues and whitty comebacks. This was a fun read that reminded me a lot of Scott Pilgrim Vs The World's silly premise.

The characters are unique and perhaps overly original for a story about letter duels. But that's what makes the story enjoyable, and frankly pretty camp.

If you want a quick read where the artists really play around with how many ways they could spell out words through visual means, this is the book for you. A lot of creative liberties were taken but it's fun all the same. Honestly, I wouldn't be upset if a volume 2 of this ever found it's way to my inbox.

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.