A Review of The Avant-Guards #1 Brings Sports, Comics, and Friendship Together

Writer: Carly Usdin / Artist: Noah Hayes, Rebecca Nalty / Boom! Studios I know we’ve talked about this before, but I don’t care much for “sports.” I do care a lot about sports pop culture media. So when I saw The Avant-Guards #1 I felt my eyes widen, and I immediately grabbed the wonderfully retro cover illustrated by Noah Hayes and colored by Rebecca Nalty. What followed in the next 20 pages was a delightful opening that started Carly Usdin’s character study of the principle lead: Charlie Bravo (and yes, they’ve heard the 10-4 joke before).

Set in the Georgia O’Keeffe College of Arts and Subtle Dramatics, The Avant-Guards #1 starts predictably at the first day of school with Charlie as your not-exactly-happy-go-lucky transfer student. Rocking dog tags and a green army jacket, Charlie has your typical aloofness about her–whether it’s interacting with overtly peppy students or getting frustrated at her sister. At the expected Student Activities Fair, Charlie breezes by everyone until a rogue basketball stops her in her tracks, and she meets the Avant-Guards’ team captain, Olivia, who also happens to be in desperate need of one more player for their club. The writing is sharp and incredibly accurate to my experiences: the awkward stammers, the over eagerness, the sheer incredulity. Usdin fires off dialog at a quick tempo that keeps the story moving but also knows when let to Hayes and Nalty do the heavy lifting. There is a six-page sequence where Hayes and Nalty get to shine….