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annastarlight's review
2.0
Buzz! features a world where spelling bees are the shit, and there are even underground illegal bees where people face off - sometimes to the death. Webster falls into a bad crowd at the first day at school, and finds himself entering the spelling bee competition.
The art is done in a black and white style with bright yellow splashes. Sometimes the character's shirts are yellow and black striped, bee-style. Spelling bee, bee colours, get it? Get it? The yellow splashes looked okay, but they were too bright and distracting while reading for me.
Though Buzz! is often compared to Scott Pilgrim, I barely saw any resemblance. The spelling bee fighting scenes were cluttered and unclear, the geeky humour absent, and the characters predictable and clichéd. Buzz! doesn't quite hit the mark.
The art is done in a black and white style with bright yellow splashes. Sometimes the character's shirts are yellow and black striped, bee-style. Spelling bee, bee colours, get it? Get it? The yellow splashes looked okay, but they were too bright and distracting while reading for me.
Though Buzz! is often compared to Scott Pilgrim, I barely saw any resemblance. The spelling bee fighting scenes were cluttered and unclear, the geeky humour absent, and the characters predictable and clichéd. Buzz! doesn't quite hit the mark.
alenka's review
4.0
I'm super biased because I've been reading Ananth's webcomic Johnny Wander for years, but this book is really freaking AWESOME. The art is amazing - if you want to see words come alive, you will be very pleased - and the storyline is fun and exciting. It might sound strange to describe a book that is about a spelling bee as "exciting" but Buzz is about EXTREME spelling bee-ing, which is a thing that you probably didn't know you wanted but actually need in your life. The main characters are intriguing cuties, and the teens feel very realistic. Buzz is really fun!!
depleti's review
3.0
Well this was...weird.
I've been a fan of Tessa Stone since her Hanna Is Not A Boy's Name webcomic, and I'm really glad to see her getting professional work. Her art is so lively and energetic and she was a perfect choice to illustrate a story that incorporates words into the panels as art in themselves. The comic was all done in black and white with only yellow fills used indiscriminately and with no consistency, which isn't a bad thing. When I first glanced at the interior I thought it would somehow hurt my eyes or make it difficult to read, but going panel-by-panel isn't a big deal at all. It never bothered me once I actually started to read it.
Going in I had no idea what this was about. When I realized it was about spelling bees, but taken up to an extreme level (to the point there are back-alley spelling bees one could get arrested for), I thought it was cute. But then an astronaut speller turned into a monster with tentacles coming out of his mouth and spoken letters were actually used as weapons and it kinda lost me. There seem to be absolutely no rules to the world and it kind of left me a bit confused. I don't mind weird things but they seemed to just come out of nowhere? No lead up, no gradual introduction, just THERE.
But it was still fun to read, and I hope it leads to more professional opportunities for Tessa Stone.
I've been a fan of Tessa Stone since her Hanna Is Not A Boy's Name webcomic, and I'm really glad to see her getting professional work. Her art is so lively and energetic and she was a perfect choice to illustrate a story that incorporates words into the panels as art in themselves. The comic was all done in black and white with only yellow fills used indiscriminately and with no consistency, which isn't a bad thing. When I first glanced at the interior I thought it would somehow hurt my eyes or make it difficult to read, but going panel-by-panel isn't a big deal at all. It never bothered me once I actually started to read it.
Going in I had no idea what this was about. When I realized it was about spelling bees, but taken up to an extreme level (to the point there are back-alley spelling bees one could get arrested for), I thought it was cute. But then an astronaut speller turned into a monster with tentacles coming out of his mouth and spoken letters were actually used as weapons and it kinda lost me. There seem to be absolutely no rules to the world and it kind of left me a bit confused. I don't mind weird things but they seemed to just come out of nowhere? No lead up, no gradual introduction, just THERE.
But it was still fun to read, and I hope it leads to more professional opportunities for Tessa Stone.
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