What do you think?
Rate this book
A Brave is Brave #1-6
Junior Braves of the Apocalypse Volume 1
The young Junior Braves of Tribe 65 had typical suburban lives filled with video games, smartphones, and doting parents. Returning from a week-long camping trip full of character building and life experiences, they expected to fall back into their comfortable routines. But the home they knew is no longer what it was.
With the onset of a mutant apocalypse, the world has become a destroyed wasteland. Their friends and neighbors in their sleepy Pacific Northwest community have been transformed into hideous, bloodthirsty zombies! The survivors who are left, from former teachers to security guards, have been driven mad or have fallen prey to the worst of humanity's selfish impulses.
Worst of all, there is no sign of what happened to their parents!
These plucky kids must use all their scouting talents, combined smarts, and teamwork to search for their families, protect each other, and survive the end of the world!
Junior Braves of the Apocalypse is a new young adult series of grim survival, zombies, and other horrors no merit badge can prepare you for!
With the onset of a mutant apocalypse, the world has become a destroyed wasteland. Their friends and neighbors in their sleepy Pacific Northwest community have been transformed into hideous, bloodthirsty zombies! The survivors who are left, from former teachers to security guards, have been driven mad or have fallen prey to the worst of humanity's selfish impulses.
Worst of all, there is no sign of what happened to their parents!
These plucky kids must use all their scouting talents, combined smarts, and teamwork to search for their families, protect each other, and survive the end of the world!
Junior Braves of the Apocalypse is a new young adult series of grim survival, zombies, and other horrors no merit badge can prepare you for!
216 pages, Hardcover
First published July 8, 2015
7 people are currently reading
111 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 58 reviews
October 10, 2023
It is so hard to do 'fresh' material on anything zombie - but this book does a fantastic job of placing you with a 'Boy Scout' like group that returns from a trip to the wilderness to discover there is nothing left - but zombies! Fantastic take on the emergence of new power structures that would evolve if this were ever to really happen.
March 3, 2019
This book was fun. A troop of Boy Scouts go on a week long camping trip and return home to find everyone missing and the town overrun with mutants. Now they must use their skills to stay alive and figure out what happened to their families. The concept was great. The art was disappointing. The characters were drawn in a style that didn't make them distinctive. At times I couldn't tell who the character even was.
April 27, 2018
I received an ARC copy of this book from NetGalley
This is more of a 2.5 but I'm rounding it up to 3 stars because it's really not a bad book, it's more of a case of 'it's not you it's me'. I'm not the biggest fan of zombie stuff to start with so an author has to do something really out of the box with it to impress me and this story pretty much just fell into all the familiar 'horrible people you meet trying to survive the zombie apocalypse' tropes that we've seen a million times before [cannibals, trigger-happy rednecks, etc]. It was slightly interesting to see the story told from a younger point of view, but really the only kid I even liked was Johnny and overall it wasn't enough to make me want to continue with this series in the future. Also the entire book is in black and white which I really don't care for. It also makes it kind of hard for me personally to tell some characters apart since for me hair / clothing color is a large part of that. If you just REALLY love zombie stuff then you will probably like this, but I was just kind of meh over it.
This is more of a 2.5 but I'm rounding it up to 3 stars because it's really not a bad book, it's more of a case of 'it's not you it's me'. I'm not the biggest fan of zombie stuff to start with so an author has to do something really out of the box with it to impress me and this story pretty much just fell into all the familiar 'horrible people you meet trying to survive the zombie apocalypse' tropes that we've seen a million times before [cannibals, trigger-happy rednecks, etc]. It was slightly interesting to see the story told from a younger point of view, but really the only kid I even liked was Johnny and overall it wasn't enough to make me want to continue with this series in the future. Also the entire book is in black and white which I really don't care for. It also makes it kind of hard for me personally to tell some characters apart since for me hair / clothing color is a large part of that. If you just REALLY love zombie stuff then you will probably like this, but I was just kind of meh over it.
November 3, 2019
This book is both fun and heart wrenching (blame the mother in me). I love how snarky the boys are, how confident they are in the skills they have. Not to mention how hilarious it is, all the adults are either complete idiots or just barely functioning, kinda like real life lol. The downers: It’s heartbreaking when you realize some of the boys will never see their parents again, we lose a couple boys on the road, and we still don’t know what happened (again, adults = idiots or psychotic). I’m glad we got padre back but again, sad times for the poor kid who was snatched. I can’t wait for vol. 2, my soul needs to know how this all started and what the heck happened to their parents!?!? Definitely want to add this one to our collection.
November 14, 2015
Confession: I cannot get enough of zombie apocalypse stories! Using the same setting as a backdrop, I love seeing how authors handle different people in the situation. Junior Braves doesn't add anything new to this setting (Zombies. Got it.), but the group of protagonists is new enough to keep my interest.
The only thing that bugged me regards the artistic style, where I feel the characters did not keep their appearance static enough between panels. This led to some difficulty discerning one character from the next at certain points
The only thing that bugged me regards the artistic style, where I feel the characters did not keep their appearance static enough between panels. This led to some difficulty discerning one character from the next at certain points
January 25, 2016
OK, tis true, this doesen't really break any new ground in the zombie arena. What this book does have is a group of Junior Braves just back from camping who are ready to partake in some serious survival wheter they know it or not. A little dicey of a pick to book talk to middle school as the leftover adults are a bunch of lowest common denominator types who are very violent and drink up a storm. Let's just say that the authors left out women for a reason in those chapters, and the reason was to keep it pg-13.
January 18, 2016
I think I would have found this format more original if I hadn't read The Lumberjanes this year. I kept thinking that this was The Lumberjanes for boys...with zombies. Actually, I might like to see The Lumberjanes with zombies. That would be pretty sweet! Anyway, fine story, but I got a little lost in the illustrations. And the green, black, and white coloring just didn't do it for me. Not really sure why. All said and done though, I can think of several kids who would really dig it.
January 31, 2017
A fun zombie romp of a graphic novel where a troop of "Junior Braves" come back from a no contact week in the woods to...the end? With no real idea what is going on, but a destroyed town and no way to find their parents the Junior Braves and their assistant troop leader are forced to rely on each other as they deal with the last survivors left behind after evacuation and try to figure out what is going on.
I enjoyed it as a quick fun read, but I am zed biased :)
Enjoy!
I enjoyed it as a quick fun read, but I am zed biased :)
Enjoy!
December 9, 2019
A pretty good start to what looks to be a really interesting series developing. Looking forward to more.
December 14, 2015
Splendid! I loved this. Have someone who isn't quite ready to take on "The Walking Dead"? This is the junior version. A true horror story for kids, light on the graphic scenes, mild on cuss words, but otherwise real-life teen talk and situations and not for the sensitive. I really enjoyed it! A scouting group goes out for a week's camp and comes back to find their town gone, trashed, to put it plainly the Zombie Apocalypse has arrived. It's a motley group of boys we start off with, none of them seeming to be protagonist material, but the rather scary-looking non-talking kid quickly comes out of the shadows and proves to be Johnny, a Native-American, who first shows some metal within the group. But before the story is over everyone has shown their strengths whether that be intellectual, physical or know-how. This is one group of kids zombies do not want to mess with and they have a leader who knows how to manage group dynamics. There is humour to lighten up the tension, but the book is not pure comedy by any means, character comes first and a typical zombie/virus plot comes second. This one is a keeper for my shelf and I'll be looking to see what's up with volume two right away.
March 31, 2018
Basically, zombies and boy scouts. As one other reviewer said, Lumberjanes for Boys, with zombies thrown in.
If you like zombies, you'll like this. If you are like me, and just want them to end, the zombies, I mean, then you will be looking for something, anything to follow in the story.
What I did like about it, was how the boy who was Native American was just disgusted with the "Junior Braves" atmosphere of the whole thing.
And it was sort of cute how they used their boy scout like training to get through the hazards that came up with the zombies.
But, that is it. Zombies and more zombies.
Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.
If you like zombies, you'll like this. If you are like me, and just want them to end, the zombies, I mean, then you will be looking for something, anything to follow in the story.
What I did like about it, was how the boy who was Native American was just disgusted with the "Junior Braves" atmosphere of the whole thing.
And it was sort of cute how they used their boy scout like training to get through the hazards that came up with the zombies.
But, that is it. Zombies and more zombies.
Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.
February 7, 2016
Fairly realistically gritty but still on an upper elementary/middle school level. The use of green helps since blood is not too obvious. Deals with issues of what being a man is and how to survive in a world like this. Scouting tips and morals are put to the test as is both Padre’s and Buddy’s view of what is best for the braves. And of course, what is actually means to be brave.
4 stars
4 stars
February 21, 2016
This was a great addition to the zombie apocalypse genre. I loved how Troop 65, despite fighting zombies and humans for their survival, still had distinct personalities and back stories. I'll definitely read book 2.
May 7, 2016
Zombies arise after troop 65 of the junior braves come back from a week long camping trip. In search of their parents, the kids must fight to survive. Good start to a promising new series of graphic novels. (camping and troop tips thrown in for some fun too).
November 15, 2019
I ran into this crew at the 2018 OComicCon and thought their graphic novel looked fun. I’ve been in Scouts a long time and I like most zombie stories, so this book fit. Also, I’m pretty picky about what comics I read. Most of them I just can’t get interested in. This one is fun!
June 13, 2015
A fun alternative to "The Walking Dead" for reluctant male readers.
August 25, 2015
Great graphic novel. Aside from a few swears and of course a bit of violence when killing the zombies, it is a great pick for middle school kids.
January 12, 2016
lurved it! art was a little muddy in some of the fight panels. will continue
January 12, 2016
I really enjoyed this book it was a fun read! I was a little bit sad that no girls showed up to save them (that would've been awesome!) but that's ok!
April 10, 2016
Pretty great fun.
October 21, 2022
'Red Dawn' meets 'The Walking Dead', in this graphic novel where a group of boy scouts has to survive the zombie apocalypse.
The art is pretty fitting to the general mood and story, though I have to say it is a little bit tricky at times to tell apart the different characters, specially at the beginning and until you get familiarized with all the kids.
The Goonies' dynamics are pretty fun, and endearing at times, but don't get me wrong: with zombies in the picture, and the few adults still around being in the maniac/jerk side, this definitely is not a children's graphic novel.
3.5, with an extra half point added for the great Boy Scouts' appendixes.
The art is pretty fitting to the general mood and story, though I have to say it is a little bit tricky at times to tell apart the different characters, specially at the beginning and until you get familiarized with all the kids.
The Goonies' dynamics are pretty fun, and endearing at times, but don't get me wrong: with zombies in the picture, and the few adults still around being in the maniac/jerk side, this definitely is not a children's graphic novel.
3.5, with an extra half point added for the great Boy Scouts' appendixes.
April 7, 2018
After a good start, this book got beaten by it's clichés. They are scouts who have to survive in a zombie world. We see everything that any book about zombie offer. It isn't bad, it had humor and action, and everything work alright, but the lack of originality just make it look bad. There is so much zombie stuff in the last decade that the subject is really hard to push and go in something new with it.
February 16, 2016
The Junior Braves of Tribe 65 are off on a camping trip, where they will put all of their survival skills to the test. But, nothing could possibly prepare them for what they face upon their return to their hometown: everyone they love is gone, and instead, the streets are filled with mutant zombies. Things quickly get scary when they get separated from their tribe leader. And, everyone else they encounter in the town–those who aren’t zombies, anyway–seems to either be crazy or completely lost to their baser impulses. If the boys are ever going to figure out what happened to their town and their families, they’re going to have to stick together and use everything they know.
The first book of "Junior Braves of the Apocalypse" is all kinds of fun. The zombiepocalypse theme isn’t particularly new or flashy, but watching these kids (and their leaders) try to deal with the remainder of humanity is thoroughly engaging. The artwork, with its gruesome depictions of the zombies and sparse colors, really helps to tell a story that, in general, is told with minimal words. Readers will be anxiously awaiting the second book in this new series!
Originally written for San Francisco Book Review.
The first book of "Junior Braves of the Apocalypse" is all kinds of fun. The zombiepocalypse theme isn’t particularly new or flashy, but watching these kids (and their leaders) try to deal with the remainder of humanity is thoroughly engaging. The artwork, with its gruesome depictions of the zombies and sparse colors, really helps to tell a story that, in general, is told with minimal words. Readers will be anxiously awaiting the second book in this new series!
Originally written for San Francisco Book Review.
September 30, 2016
The book Junior Brave of the Apocalypse is a Dystopian, adventure, written by Greg Smith. When the Junior braves go on a campout to what they think will be fun and have lots of adventure. They are in for a suprise when their troop leader brings them to a restricted area. At first it is all fine and everyone is having fun but as the days go by. Suspicious things start to happen like bomber planes flying around constantly and no sight of others. When they leave the area the true suprise comes. Cars are left abandend on the highway with cracks on the ground. The troop leader takes them back to the chapel were they are supposed to meat their parents. Instead no one is their. When they head into the chapel they here weird growls. The scouts know one thing is for sure. They are in the middle of a zombie apocalypse. Will they survive read this amazing book to find out.
This book is amazing! It is filled with lots of intense and suspenceful events. You are never expect what happens next and this book will make you want to read more. When I read this book I read a little bit and got so drawed into it that I ended up finishing the book. That is how good it was. This book in my opinion is a must read.
This book is amazing! It is filled with lots of intense and suspenceful events. You are never expect what happens next and this book will make you want to read more. When I read this book I read a little bit and got so drawed into it that I ended up finishing the book. That is how good it was. This book in my opinion is a must read.
November 18, 2016
Junior Braves of the Apocalypse was an amazing book full of funny, three dimensional characters that almost anyone could relate to. The boys of tribe 65 think they will be going on a regular camp out with their tribe. On their seventh day they go back to their town to find everyone has abandoned it! They go around even more until they find zombies so they take refuge in an old church. Soon after Dylan, one of the tribe members and their leader both go missing. On their quest to find them they get kidnapped by the people that took refuge in the school. they later escaped because they realized they were going to run tests on them. They explore through the rest of the town until they find the abandoned grocery store. they meet up with more survivors. They learn of where their friends might be so they leave the grocery store and find their friend. I really liked this book and I would recommend it to anyone who just wants to read a good book.
Read
December 2, 2015I thought this was going to be some kind of Lumberjanes for boys (based on the cover), but it went in a totally different direction. I like the pacing and the solutions the boys find to problems seem to be appropriate for their age and possible abilities. There's a real sense of dread throughout, but it doesn't get too gory or edgy, which makes this a GREAT post-apocalyptic book for upper elementary and junior high readers.
August 6, 2017
A Junior Braves scouting troop returns from a camping trip to find their town destroyed and filled with zombies and they struggle to survive. The characters are interesting with hints at backstories that we want to hear more about. At times I was a little confused on which character was which. I'm definitely interested in reading a second book and finding out more about the adventures and dangers the Junior Braves will face.
December 10, 2019
I read the FCBD release for this a couple years ago and was interested in seeing how it panned out. While I think the creators did a good job, it wasn't quite what I was hoping for. I haven't decided if I'm interested in picking up volume two. Maybe. There is some good potential and the characters are interesting, but the secondary characters and antagonists are fairly single dimensional. I'm probably just expecting a bit too much.
January 14, 2019
it was amazing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
November 26, 2018
I think that the book was honestly a great book. Not going to lie though, there were some dull moments and it felt like the story was going all over the place at times. I feel like the characters were pretty good too. I did not like how they handled certain situations though. It's like they did what the reader expected at times. Other than that the story was fairly well.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 58 reviews