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geekwayne's review
3.0
Buzz! imagines a world where spelling bees are big sport and sometimes held in back alleys as clandestine combat. Words are spelled as weapons. Webster finds himself drawn into this world, and goes from being a neophyte to a master speller and a contender on a larger scale.
Webster lives with his sister raising him. His sister knows the world of the spelling bees, but she wants Webster to have nothing to do with them. One day on the way to school, Webster finds himself pulled into an alley spelling bee with strange characters. He wins a match and is then pursued to compete in a larger competition. There are costumed characters, a shadowy group called the Spelluminati. The spelling bees feel like fighting matches.
It’s kind of a fun spin on making scholastics fun. The words are presented in their pronunciation form, then the letters are blasted out to knock out opponents. The art is minimal color, but striking in tone. The characters are fun and there is an interesting twist on the end. I enjoyed it.
I was given a review copy of this graphic novel by Diamond Book Distributors and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for letting me review this graphic novel.
Webster lives with his sister raising him. His sister knows the world of the spelling bees, but she wants Webster to have nothing to do with them. One day on the way to school, Webster finds himself pulled into an alley spelling bee with strange characters. He wins a match and is then pursued to compete in a larger competition. There are costumed characters, a shadowy group called the Spelluminati. The spelling bees feel like fighting matches.
It’s kind of a fun spin on making scholastics fun. The words are presented in their pronunciation form, then the letters are blasted out to knock out opponents. The art is minimal color, but striking in tone. The characters are fun and there is an interesting twist on the end. I enjoyed it.
I was given a review copy of this graphic novel by Diamond Book Distributors and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for letting me review this graphic novel.
moonpie's review
3.0
Birdie loved BUZZ! and thought I should read it and I totally get why she loved it. It's got a cool concept—spelling bees are big competitions with correctly spelled words becoming physical weapons, I think? The world is sort of THERE, and you have to figure a lot of it out yourself without enough clues to feel like you fully comprehend it; maybe it needed a Star Wars scroll at the beginning. Without context, the big reveals were just more clues to add to the puzzle, not Jaw-Dropping Moments.
I loved the artwork and strict color palette. Little word jokes brought me joy even though I didn't always understand what was happening.
Like I said, I get why Birdie loved BUZZ! and I LOVE that she enjoyed a book like this enough to recommend it, even if it wasn't totally my jam.
Irrelevant note: "Weirdo" was misspelled in a book that's literally about a world that values correctly spelled words—as someone who enjoys spotting random typos in published works, I could not have asked for more.
I loved the artwork and strict color palette. Little word jokes brought me joy even though I didn't always understand what was happening.
Like I said, I get why Birdie loved BUZZ! and I LOVE that she enjoyed a book like this enough to recommend it, even if it wasn't totally my jam.
Irrelevant note: "Weirdo" was misspelled in a book that's literally about a world that values correctly spelled words—as someone who enjoys spotting random typos in published works, I could not have asked for more.
panelparty's review
3.0
Read for the IRCB Recommended Reading Challenge 2018.
As a former spelling bee champ, I wanted SO badly to like this book. I love the concept - the spelling bee circuit also has a seedy underbelly of underground bees, cool codenames, and oh yeah - when you spell stuff out in a bee you can end up giving damage (as many other reviewers said, this reminded me of manga-type action and it was neat). With all that going for it, I still found myself having to push to keep reading - the story felt somewhat disjointed and at times too rushed.
The layout of the pages was sometimes confusing and I found myself re-reading dialogue multiple times like, "Did that character really say that? I thought that was the other guy's thing...?" but I enjoyed the art style, all black and white with pops of yellow.
Recommended if you are interested in Scrabble cults, dorky codenames, and beating the shit out of an immortal being with your knowledge of Hawaiian fish.
As a former spelling bee champ, I wanted SO badly to like this book. I love the concept - the spelling bee circuit also has a seedy underbelly of underground bees, cool codenames, and oh yeah - when you spell stuff out in a bee you can end up giving damage (as many other reviewers said, this reminded me of manga-type action and it was neat). With all that going for it, I still found myself having to push to keep reading - the story felt somewhat disjointed and at times too rushed.
The layout of the pages was sometimes confusing and I found myself re-reading dialogue multiple times like, "Did that character really say that? I thought that was the other guy's thing...?" but I enjoyed the art style, all black and white with pops of yellow.
Recommended if you are interested in Scrabble cults, dorky codenames, and beating the shit out of an immortal being with your knowledge of Hawaiian fish.
iffer's review
4.0
This is a fun, funny graphic novel in which spelling bees are portrayed like a shonen fighting series. It's entertaining to note the words that come up, and which are used as "weapons," and I like the angular, expressive black and white art that uses yellow as an accent color.
carroq's review
4.0
I liked this book quite a bit. Spelling bees have become huge. Like insanely popular for some reason. It even leads to underground spelling bee competitions. And everyone has a style of spelling that lets them attack their opponent. The premise makes me feel like this could have been a manga. And the art leans that way too, but it is not quite as stylized as most manga tend to be.
The story is pretty straight forward. Webster is a young man who is just entering high school, he has been studying like mad, and he happens to run across an illegal bee that jumpstarts the whole book. The characters he meets there shape how he approaches the rest of the challenges in the book. Of course, they have their own motives and hope that Webster can help them achieve their goals. There is even a group of people out to oppose them. They aren't necessarily bad guys or villains though. It takes on sort of a heist style feeling as Webster and his friends try to take down the group known as the Spelluminati.
Where the book really stood out to me is in the art. The use of color is fantastic. The art is mostly black and white with patches of yellow thrown in to accentuate the characters or events. This really sticks with the whole bee theme going on in the book. The style of the art is cartoonish. It works well with the story and lets the spelling bee moments become a bit more interesting as you see the character spelling the words and shaping the world around them. This was actually quite a bit different in tone and story than I was expecting and the book is better for it.
The story is pretty straight forward. Webster is a young man who is just entering high school, he has been studying like mad, and he happens to run across an illegal bee that jumpstarts the whole book. The characters he meets there shape how he approaches the rest of the challenges in the book. Of course, they have their own motives and hope that Webster can help them achieve their goals. There is even a group of people out to oppose them. They aren't necessarily bad guys or villains though. It takes on sort of a heist style feeling as Webster and his friends try to take down the group known as the Spelluminati.
Where the book really stood out to me is in the art. The use of color is fantastic. The art is mostly black and white with patches of yellow thrown in to accentuate the characters or events. This really sticks with the whole bee theme going on in the book. The style of the art is cartoonish. It works well with the story and lets the spelling bee moments become a bit more interesting as you see the character spelling the words and shaping the world around them. This was actually quite a bit different in tone and story than I was expecting and the book is better for it.
codeimagine's review
3.0
Underground spelling bee? What? Its pretty interesting considering its in similar style of Scott Pilgrim.
bookdingo's review
4.0
This is a graphic novel with all these fun little things involving word obsession. The sibling protags are named Merriam and Webster, the police are called the Buzz (it's a spelling bee thing), and *snort*.
The most epic spelling bee related violence you'll ever read!
The most epic spelling bee related violence you'll ever read!
venerablemonster's review
4.0
Much more than I expected on levels of art. After all, it's about spelling bees, right? This was a quick and energetic romp that I thoroughly enjoyed.
rainbowbookworm's review
5.0
This may very well be my favorite graphic novel. I think real-life spelling bees are pretty badass, but this takes it to another level.