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The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy & Goth Girl | Barry Lyga

Rating:

Fanboy’s school life has been less than stellar, especially after the forced move to a new school, where he got off on the wrong foot and never got right. While he had his moments, like The Great Ecuadorian Tortoise Blight, all in all, he could really do without daily interaction with his classmates.

When Mitchell Frampton starts pounding on him daily in gym class, it seems unusually cruel, and yet perfectly normal for his life. The middle-of-the-night IM he receives about it isn’t. Against his better judgement, he agrees to meet the mystery writer, who he realizes must be the black and white blur who’s been watching his gym beatings.

Life gets even stranger, after Donnie and Kyra meet.

She’s moody, she likes graphic novels, but makes fun of the ones he reads, she’s always showing up in a different car and driving recklessly…on top of it all, she’s his first female friend, and only his second friend in town, period. Despite all her quirks, he likes her. Enough to share his work-in-progress, a graphic novel his only prior friend doesn’t even know about.

The more involved Fanboy and Goth girl get, the worse things seem to go. While he’d like to be different, Donnie is still first and foremost a guy. And while Goth girl is different, she’s also first and foremost a person with feelings and sensitivities.

There’s no shortage of tension in this story. But it’s also full of laughs and deep thoughts and great anecdotes. Self-realizations and epiphanies. And while it’s a story about a comic book geek, it’s a story that any book-lover should enjoy. Myself, I’ve never gotten into comics or graphic novels–it’s not a style I can manage to read. But this book was great. I had a blast reading it, and I’ll be looking forward to Lyga’s next work.

Find it in the Catalog

The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy and Goth Girl | Barry Lyga

Fanboy (aka Donnie to his mom) wants three things in this life: a copy of Giant Size X-Men #1; a chance to meet Brian Michael Bendis and show him his own graphic novel, Schemata; and a third thing that he won’t tell anyone, because he’s afraid it won’t happen. Beat up in gym, ignored in school by his best friend, and dealing with his new stepdad and pregnant mom, Fanboy is just waiting to go to the Comic Con where he can finally meet Bendis and show him Schemata (which he just knows Bendis will love).

Enter Kyra, a goth girl with a mysterious past and a totally destructive attitude. The two form an unexpected friendship when she sees him getting pounded on in dodgeball, as the teacher stands oblivious talking to someone else. As the two precariously try to get through the daily grind of high school, they learn that the things that they want aren’t always as important as they’ve thought them to be.

A hilarious story, Fanboy and Goth Girl has a little fan-service in it for all comic book fans, geeks, goths, and those who just feel invisible and overlooked in high school. Full of angst and anxiety and humor, this is definitely one of the best books of 2006. Look for it in October, when it hits the stands (and the library!)