Gear School

Gear School #1

by Adam Gallardo, Nuria Peris (Illustrator)

In the future, Humanity is in a seemingly endless war with an alien race. The struggle is dominated by giant war machines called Gear. Only the best and the brightest are allowed to drive these behemoths. The process of elimination begins in junior high.

Genres: Graphic Novels, Science Fiction, Comics, Young Adult, Manga, Action

96 pages, Paperback

First published November 7, 2007

About the author

Adam Gallardo is a writer who lives and works in Oregon. Mostly known for writing comics (Star Wars: Infinities -- Return of the Jedi, 100 Girls and Gear School volumes one & two), his debut YA novel, Zomburbia, is out now from Kensington. The sequel, Zombified, will be ublished in January 2015.

Reviews

[Lani · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun, quick read, this graphic novel is a short story about a seemingly unqualified pilot trainee who proves herself more than worthy in a futuristic world being terrorized by aliens. The lead character Teresa is a spunky gal much like 100 Girls' Sylvia — the kind of girl I like to read about.

[Leslie · Rating 2 out of 5]

the first of a series (a darkhorse for kids). the second is due in the fall 2010, so i would wait to pick this up until then; sets a lot up and feels over too soon.. nice art, color, etc...

[47Time · Rating 5 out of 5]

The artwork is a bit manga, but still beautiful and in vivid color. And filled to the brim with TnA. Why they would choose to make teenagers so damn sexy is beyond me. It should be illegal. But seriously, the comic looks brilliant. I only wish the story were longer. There is a second volume, though.

Teresa is a first year flight cadet still trying to pass tests until she earns her wings to fly war machines named Gear. Time passes and the cadets are given their first taste of flying a real-life fighter. Their practice gets interrupted by an enemy aircraft that teleports nearby. While everyone is ordered to scrable for safety, Theresa disobeys the order to distract the enemy ship and protect a colleague who is frozen by fear out in the open. Though she is punished for insubordination, her colleagues appreciate her risking her life for a friend.

[Wandering Librarians · Rating 2 out of 5]

Thirteen year old Teresa has entered an elite military school. It is here where the best gather to learn and train to defend Earth against alien invaders in Gears, small air crafts. It is only when there is an actual attack on the school that Teresa can show her quality.

So this was a short book, as in it took me fifteen minutes to read. FIFTEEN MINUTES! Ridiculous short. There was still a lot going on: introduction of the futuristic world, people, current events, you know the usual. It flew by so quickly that I didn't really quite grasp it the first go around. But lets be honest there's not much to pick up on. Private school, young girl must prove she's different from others, save world.

Solid approach. Could be expounded upon, but it's a series so what can we expect? It's not Fables. Here's on little critique. I had a hard time figuring out how old everyone is. Are they all under the age of 18? Teresa does not have the body of any thirteen year olds that I know of, which is exacerbated by the cat suit. Which all the students wear. Not a good look for some of those guys. It's a bit clingy where I would rather it not be. Anyways, I wouldn't call this great but I am intrigued enough to check out the second volume which comes out Sept. 29. So we'll see.

[Stephanie Griffin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lots of action and great artwork! Looking forward to a sequel someday! There is so much else this story could tell.

[Nick Scott Turner · Rating 2 out of 5]

“Gear School” is yet another “Ender’s Game” copycat in which kids are trained at a special school to fight aliens and save humanity. That would be a forgivable offense if there was some reason to care about the characters or an interesting subplot to follow, but “Gear School” has only one dimension and makes no attempts to provide anything more than superficial depth.

[Nick · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story was enjoyable, although it felt like he had watched too many episodes of Evangelion in a row before writing it. The basic concept, that mankind is at war with an alien enemy and that the training for human combatants has to begin early, is a familiar one. In this case, the aliens seem to be able to do whatever the author says, when it's needed, and not a speck more. From what is shown in the first book, I don't know why the aliens haven't won yet, but the action is quick and interesting. The character development looks like it has potential, but this volume is slender, and there isn't room for much. Still, the possibilities are there.
The artwork was a little creepy, and cost the book a full star. The central character and her friends are supposed to be 13. When in normal clothes, she looks at least close to that age. When she's in training uniform, the artists add inches to her bust measurement and draw a skintight outfit which lovingly caresses her anatomy in ways which suggest that she wears no undergarments.
Geez, she's 13 years old, for goodness sake!!! Nuria Peris and Sergio Sandoval are the artists, names to remember if they ever come to trial...

[Travis · Rating 2 out of 5]

The only good thing to be said about this book is that it has decent art and that it is short, and therefore easy to breeze through. The shortness is also a problem though, as it feels like reading only a snippet of a fuller story. In fact, the entire premise of the book-- the summary, that Teresa Gottlieb is a 13-year-old student training to fight a long-lasting war against aliens-- is nowhere explained in the story proper. It isn't hard to make sense of the story, but that's because it is constructed entirely of well-worn tropes and ideas copped from countless manga and anime. The good part though is that it is less creepy to imagine the students as high school to college aged, since they don't look or act like 13-year-olds.

[Carly · Rating 2 out of 5]

reviews elsewhere say Gear School is the stronger of Gallardo's stories (vs. 100 Girls). I disagree. The story here is underdeveloped and totally improbable (ok, plenty of action-adventure-sci-fi for teens is improbable, but this was so much so it distracted me from reading). Also, where the art in 100 Girls was distinctive and edgy, this has a heavy manga influence and features a lot of skintight "uniforms" and over-idealized female bodies. Mostly though, the patchy story just wasn't enough to hook me - characters were barely introduced, and certainly weren't given enough screen time to rouse my interest in their welfare.

[Kathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Teresa is very well developed for a thirteen year old. I would have guessed no one was younger than fifteen, at least. That caveat aside, it was an enjoyable little book, if fairly predictable: young cadet, embarassed in front of her entire class, so has to overcompensate to restore her self respect, new friends, unexpected help, etc.

I did find it just a bit annoying that the ONLY overweight person in the whole book was a snobby girl who was trying to get Teresa to abandon her new friends for people in her own social strata. Heavy equals bad. Bit "heavy" handed don't you think?

But I probably will read the second one.

[Abby · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ugh, I only read this because I am trying to find a decent teen graphic novel to put on the teen SF list. This one didn't make the cut. The plot/concept is thoroughly deriative of a zillion books about space cadets (for something good in this vein check out Ender's Game by Card or Space Cadet by Heinlein). What really creeped me out, however, were the illustrations: all the teens wear uniforms so form-fitting that you can see their ass cracks and none of their eyes have pupils, so the teens all look like weird hyper-sexualized zombies. Ick.

[Robin · Rating 3 out of 5]

After reading "100 Girls" by the same author, I discovered this title and ordered it for the library's collection. It's a slim volume but with wonderful illustrations that will certainly draw in any reader. Teresa is a cadet at Gear School and as the story opens she is failing miserably in her attempts to navigate a flight simulator. According to the back of the book, she is a 13 year old 7th grader but in typical comic book fashion, she looks more like a 22 year old Playboy centerfold. But aside from that, it's a neat little story and I hope there are more to follow.

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

A young girl attends an academy which uses virtual reality to train future fighter pilots.

Barely passing the training, the book's heroine has the opportunity to prove her worth when the enemy attacks the training facility.

A simple, short story with exceptional illustrations.

This full color book should appeal to both manga fans and traditional comic fans.

Learning Curve
Low: Should be good for new readers.

[Mary Lee · Rating 3 out of 5]

2007 Cybils Graphic Novel nominee

[Alan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice, though brief, scifi story. Yes, it takes place in a training academy, but the characters are very engaging, and not irritating as most characters are in these types of tales.

[Timothy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great art, with an interesting premise. Too bad it was so darn short. Will there be a sequel?

[Khris · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was awesome!!!!

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lovely art, but extremely simplistic characterization means I won't be continuing the series.

[Grace · Rating 3 out of 5]

confusing and werid

[Lexia Villa · Rating 5 out of 5]

i love it.It was weird but i love it because the big bug

[Simon · Rating 1 out of 5]

Short. Very short. No attempt at world building. Just a fight scene really.

The Evangelion homage was strong in this one.

[Nomad nimrod · Rating 1 out of 5]

Nothing new.