A review by junibjones
Squad by Maggie Tokuda-Hall

5.0

Maggie Tokuda-Hall gives her readers an epic, supernatural adventure in Squad. Illustrated by Lisa Sterle, the graphic novel follows Becca, a junior just transferring to a new school. Immediately ingratiating herself to Marley—one of the most popular girls in school via tampon, Becca is drawn into her inner circle.

Marley, Ariana and Amanda are the who’s who in Piedmont. Ariana is clearly the alpha of the group and no that isn’t just some weird hyperbole. SURPRISE, Becca’s new besties are werewolves! They go after predatory boys—the ones who lure girls away from parties with the ol’ “wanna see something cool?” No, Chad, we do not want to see your dick so put that shit away.

After becoming a werewolf herself, Becca finds acceptance in a way she’d never felt before. They just went around killing and eating dudes who didn’t take “no” as an answer. The dream, tbh. But Ariana’s rules begin to get a little muddy when they start going for guys who are not objectively the worst. When Becca accidentally murders Ariana’s boyfriend, the FBI gets involved and everything turns to shit.

My god. I read comics and graphic novels quite a bit and Squad held up with some of my favorites. The concept that a group of popular girls happen to be werewolves is great. I loved that you could see each of their internal struggles the farther along the story got. Amanda very clearly is not about the ambiguity Ariana essentially forces on them as their alpha. Going after homeless men was a line that Amanda was not ready to cross.

I had a blast. The art style is great; the plot was great; the lesbians were great; go hunt some predatory assholes and howl at the moon.