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26th out of 87 books
—
100 voters
Sidescrollers
by
Matthew Loux
Brian, Brad and Matt are best described as lovable perpetual losers. They're good guys who just lack direction and are all too happy to be enjoying that lazy time after high school. Their favorite thing to do in life is to play video games, eat junk food and kick around the suburban town they live in. All of this tranquil laziness is interrupted when Brian, Brad and Matt d...more
Paperback, 216 pages
Published
October 17th 2006
by Oni Press
(first published October 1st 2006)
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I would have been more irritated by this graphic novel if I could have mustered up enough energy out of my boredom. I couldn't even finish it. Sometimes when a thing in gamer culture in sexist, it does it quietly and subtly, as part of the standard landscape, so you almost don't notice, but this was pretty glaring. Homophobic, relying on the standard ploy of emphasizing a bad guy's bad guyness by implying he's gay, along with a few other hateful comments. The characters are mostly identical exce...more
May 30, 2012
Joella www.cinjoella.com
rated it
2 of 5 stars
Shelves:
yalsa-best-of-the-best,
graphic-novel
This was my 20th book for the YALSA Best Books reading challenge.
Three friends go throughout one day in search of food, video games, fun, music, and not being beat-up by the town bully who happens to be the captain of the football team. There are loads of references to things that will touch the hearts of geeks everywhere. The Legend of Zelda, Mario, and Pokemon to name a few. Plus who wouldn't like the story of a bunch of geeks who totally win against the big bad bullies and get the girl?
The id...more
Three friends go throughout one day in search of food, video games, fun, music, and not being beat-up by the town bully who happens to be the captain of the football team. There are loads of references to things that will touch the hearts of geeks everywhere. The Legend of Zelda, Mario, and Pokemon to name a few. Plus who wouldn't like the story of a bunch of geeks who totally win against the big bad bullies and get the girl?
The id...more
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Matthew Loux is going to be a guest at an upcoming comic-themed event I'm programing for the public library I work at, so I wanted to get familiar with some of his work. SideScrollers is a 'one crazy day/night' kind of story, starring a trio of good-hearted but rather aimless guys killing time over the summer before they start college by playing video games, pining after girls they are too shy to hit on, and working at a McDonald's-esque fast food place. When one of the guy's crushes--a new girl...more
Meh, boys behaving badly. Three teens (who apparently just graduated high school) getting into trouble, playing too many video games, and fighting with football players over geeky girls. There are elements of Scott Pilgrim, and very little context. It feels like the adventure in the middle of a larger story about these guys, who they are, where they're headed.
The main notable thing is the illustration style. Loux likes his corners SHARP - everything is spiky. Hardly anything is at a right angle...more
The main notable thing is the illustration style. Loux likes his corners SHARP - everything is spiky. Hardly anything is at a right angle...more
I loved Sidescrollers. I loved the dialogue,the art style, the humor pretty much everything about this book. The plot involves three friends Matt, Brian, and Brad who had just finished the school year a month ago (its uncertain whether they were juniors or seniors in high school). One day they see their coworker Amber, who they invite to a concert. Unfortunately, Amber's boyfriend is Richard otherwise known as Dick. Dick is the school bully and the three graffiti his car in retaliation for an in...more
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I'm definitely not the target audience for this graphic novel (or any YAL graphic novel, for that matter), but I'd like to think I'm still a pretty good judge of quality YAL. The pictures were great--the action sequences were artfully done and fun to follow. I think a teenager might find the jokes in this book funny: the dog who constantly thinks about pooping, the psycho cat who's out to kill Brad, the Spanish-speaking scorpion. I liked that it was about teen slacker video gamers who embrace th...more
This is what Scott Pilgrim would've been like if he wasn't in a band and didn't live in a world with video game elements. That might sound boring at first, but it's equally enjoyable in its own way. Admittedly, I resonated with this graphic novel because a lot of the dialogue and situations reflect my own life and group of friends. While we never had run-ins with a football team, talking about video games, Star Wars, and the like is a daily occurrence.
The plot is loose though, so don't expect de...more
The plot is loose though, so don't expect de...more
Sidescrollers is filled with video game references like Street Fighter, Super Mario, and The Legend of Zelda. The story follows Brian, Brad and Matt on a quest to A) Get some food, B) to get Matt to finally talk to his crush Amber and C) to stand up to a bully who insists on trying to beat them up due to the fact they pulled a prank on.
To me, the story promised to be funny and witty with a great story line. This wasn't the case. True the story has it's funny moments, but it isn't that witty. An...more
To me, the story promised to be funny and witty with a great story line. This wasn't the case. True the story has it's funny moments, but it isn't that witty. An...more
The characters in this book reminded me of the ones from the Clerks movie so long ago, and that's a good thing. Although I had difficulty distinguishing between two of the characters a couple of times, the drawings are well-done. The story is entertaining and highly amusing; I laughed out loud several times. Very recommended!
GENRE: Graphic Novel: Humor, realistic fiction.
SUBJECT/THEMES: Friendship, romance, video game players.
SUMMARY: Sidescrollers relates the mild adventures of a trio of subur...more
GENRE: Graphic Novel: Humor, realistic fiction.
SUBJECT/THEMES: Friendship, romance, video game players.
SUMMARY: Sidescrollers relates the mild adventures of a trio of subur...more
This graphic novel I read as a recomendation from a couple of my friends who aren't avid readers so if they read it I had to. This graphic novel is amazing, the humor and the characters are really relatable to me at least. I could see myself as one character and two of my friends as the other two. It made me think about the summer adventures we had/ could do. The maintheing I liked in this was all the video game references and I ama a avid gamer and I got every single one from Street Fighter to...more
Lovable losers, video game geeks, indie music lovers... that is how most people would describe the main characters, but they are much more than that. They are the heroes taking down the creepy "serial rapist" (well not really but he is a womanizer and only cares about football and bedding the next unsuspecting girl)! Follow them as they try to avoid a beating from Dick and his cronies, win the girl, and make it to the concert they have been planning for months! Great fun read for all but especia...more
Three best friends, guys just graduated from high school, hang out together playing videogames and being their loveable nerd selves. They get in trouble when they graffiti the car of a bruiser football player who's dating a girl that one of them has a crush on. The jock comes after them and all heck breaks loose! Madcap chases through the mall; eavesdropping leads to hijinks leads to fights, but all in good fun and with a happy ending. Has the "F" bomb, but a fun entertaining read. I liked the s...more
The graphic novel Sidescrollers is about a trio of boys that just recently graduated high school and their misadventures in getting back at the bully that tortured them through high school and saving the new girl in town from a devious plan the evil high school jocks have for her. This book keeps up the view of what life is like for teens in this day and age, without dumbing down the language, which I find to be quite entertaining. All in all, I loved this book. Anyone who enjoys video games wil...more
Apr 22, 2008
Becky
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
high school and up; fans of Clerks
Recommended to Becky by:
YALSA's Great GNs of 2008
Shelves:
graphic-novels
This book is a wonderful confection of geekdom. Brian, Brad, and Matt have graduated high school and are whiling away their summer debating the important things in life ("which breakfast cereal character would win in a big and crazy death-match fight?"), when they are propelled into action by Matt's crush Amber being pursued by jock bully Richard. From there, the story becomes one long chase scene, as the boys struggle to stay one step ahead of the angry football team, a troop of scorned Girl Sc...more
Feb 27, 2008
Robin
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommended to Robin by:
Picked it up at the Oni Press booth at New York Comic-Con 2007
Shelves:
great-graphic-novels-for-teens-2008
If you want to talk about funny books, this book is hands down the funniest book I read all last year. Yo uknow it's bad when you give it to all your friends to read and then, as they're flipping pages and giggling, you keep stopping them so you can ask them where they are and relive the joke.
This graphic novel feels a bit like a teen slacker comedy, energized by hilarious dialog, a great trio of friends fighting against an a$$hat of jock to win the love of a girl for one of their crew, and best...more
This graphic novel feels a bit like a teen slacker comedy, energized by hilarious dialog, a great trio of friends fighting against an a$$hat of jock to win the love of a girl for one of their crew, and best...more
Wow, I LOVED this book. It is a hilarious engaging and page turning (and short!) graphic novel about three teen boys who play video games and make Star Wars pop culture references all day. It reminds me of the dearly departed animated Clerks cartoon, as well as fond memories of hanging out with my friends when I was that age. I can see why this got tons of awards and nominations, because the wacky hi jinks are really well written. It was a joy to read and I will be recommending this one a lot!
Very underwhelming. Feels like it's written by a high schooler who's convinced that he's incredibly clever for making not-all-that-obscure gaming references. The story is trite, the characters one-dimensional, the humor lackluster. The art is simple-but-effective, and while it can come across as uninspired at times, at other points it shows some charm. Derivative of Scott Pilgrim (even published by the same company), but doesn't reach even a fraction of its quality. A disappointing effort.
This GN is about three friends who recently graduated and spend most of their free time playing video games. A new girl has moved into town and one of the guys has a crush on her, but she's currently dating a jock - the also recently graduated quarterback. These geeky guys lash out against the jock and then spend the rest of the novel running away from him and his friends. Light, funny, not quite what I expected but amusing.
Oct 27, 2012
Stephen
added it
This was okay. Read a little like geeks slapping themselves on the back for being geeks and laughing at those that laugh at them. That's probably good for teen geeks, but a little overly simplistic in real life - could have used some slightly more nuanced character definition. But that would have made it a different book, and this one is fun enough. The art was pleasing, but wasn't quite up to the big scenes.
Ok so I'm not a teenage video-game loving boy. Why rub it in, this comic?
The humor, the pace of life, the attitude to jocks and chicks was unappealing to me, and I felt guilty for not liking it and that made me like it even less. There was little to connect to. And I really wanted to like the video-game inspired illustration style but it got montonous and even a little sloppy fairly quickly. Ah well, I'm a grump.
The humor, the pace of life, the attitude to jocks and chicks was unappealing to me, and I felt guilty for not liking it and that made me like it even less. There was little to connect to. And I really wanted to like the video-game inspired illustration style but it got montonous and even a little sloppy fairly quickly. Ah well, I'm a grump.
Contains obligatory references to video games, beef jerky, action figures, fast food, and nerd humiliation. Throw in some one-note brainless jocks, girl scouts who beat up one of the boys(not a revelation people, haven't you ever read the back of a box of girl scout cookies?), an bizarre cat fight of good versus evil and the big concert night with the girls of their dreams and sadly just falls flat of interesting.
This is a great book! It was a quick read, and a very good one at that. It was interesting from beginning to end. Even though I'm not a dude I felt like I could relate to the characters. Everyone has a crush right? It was cute and the humor was great, assuming you understand video game references. I'd recommend this book to anyone who enjoys video games and cute love stories. It was great!
A dumb boy book. Three I believe teenagers have misadventures and end up with the girl and a new found appreciation for a cat.
I liked the art.
I originally found out about this book because somebody challenged it and the comic book legal defense fund sent me an email.
It shouldn't be curriculum. At the same time it shouldn't be banned.
I liked the art.
I originally found out about this book because somebody challenged it and the comic book legal defense fund sent me an email.
It shouldn't be curriculum. At the same time it shouldn't be banned.
I want to give it 2 1/2 stars... it was interestingly drawn, humorous at times and fun for the video game references (though some are painfully labored), but the casual homophobia, cardboard characters and heavy reliance on stereotypes really killed this. People think this is one of the best graphic novels for teens? Really?
This really, really reminds me of some of my guy friends from high school and from my 20's. It's endearing, and with the exception of some possible homophobia (why was Dick reading 'Bad Dudes'? Is it because the idea of a closeted gay jock is funny, or is it a comment on the vicious cycle of social oppression?) I'd say that Matthew Loux gets it right.
I can think of a number of teens that would find this right up their alley. I did enjoy the humor, though I suspect an actual young adult reader would find it far more entertaining than I did. Wish there wasn't quite so much swearing in it. See, I am getting old.
So many elements here--post-high-school angst, girl troubles, bully troubles, lack of direction, video-game geekdom, a dog who thinks only of pooping and a cat who may be possessed by the devil. It's quick and fun but not particularly lasting.
Yay! A book where the cover matches the contents!
This is a fun, goofy graphic novel following our three heroes as they bop about, play video games, look for munchies, and try to prank the local jocks without getting beat up.
If there are some girls to scope out too, so much the better.
My 14-year-old son gave it two thumbs up (if that means anything to you).
This is a fun, goofy graphic novel following our three heroes as they bop about, play video games, look for munchies, and try to prank the local jocks without getting beat up.
If there are some girls to scope out too, so much the better.
My 14-year-old son gave it two thumbs up (if that means anything to you).
Like a cross betwixt Clerks and Scott Pilgrim, with loveable slackers and the perpetual battle of good versus not-so-good. I picked it randomly off a library shelf for my bus ride home and I was far from disappointed. Very fun stuff.
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