Magical Boy Volume 1: A Graphic Novel

by The Kao, The Kao (Illustrator)

Overview

A breathtakingly imaginative fantasy series starring Max -- a trans high school student who has to save the world as a "Magical Girl" . . . as a boy!

Although he was assigned female at birth, Max is your average trans man trying to get through high school as himself. But on top of classes, crushes, and coming out, Max's life is turned upside down when his mom reveals an eons old family secret: he's descended from a long line of Magical Girls tasked with defending humanity from a dark, ancient evil! With a sassy feline sidekick and loyal gang of friends by his side, can Max take on his destiny, save the world, and become the next Magical Boy? A hilarious and heartfelt riff on the magical girl genre made popular by teen manga series, Magical Boy is a one-of-a-kind fantasy series that comic readers of all ages will love

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781338795462
Publisher:	Scholastic, Inc.
Publication date:	02/01/2022
Sold by:	Scholastic, Inc.
Format:	eBook
Pages:	320
Sales rank:	927,260
File size:	110 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.
Age Range:	12 - 18 Years

About the Author

The Kao is Vincent Kao, an illustrator and comic artist known for his slice-of-life web series, Mondo Mango, and the Prism Award-winning webcomic, Magical Boy - both original series available at Tapas. Vincent graduated from Columbia College in Chicago with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Illustration. He started his career through a series of comic strips surrounding his daily life and since then has freelanced, self-published, as well as collaborated in a few crowdfunded comic anthologies, all under "The Kao" name. To this day, he continues to work on his illustrations and comics in hopes to inspire and bring joy to everyone around him. For more information, please visit www.thekao.net.

Editorial Reviews

12/13/2021

Coming-out stories and the magical girl genre get a fresh twist in the Kao’s heartfelt, rapid-paced fantasy tale of magic, monsters, friendship, and family, adapted from a webcomic. In Chicago, biracial (Japanese and white) Max is a trans boy trying to step into his identity, which involves navigating intolerant classmates and figuring out how to come out to his parents. When he learns on his 16th birthday that his aura-reading powers are the manifestation of a familial bloodline, things feel more complicated—he’s supposed to wield a goddess’s power to fight an incursion of darkness, which involves a transformation that comes with a full outfit, including a frilly dress, makeup, and heels. As Max slowly learns to control his powers, he and his friends must fight off invading monsters bent on devouring humans’ life force and freeing an ancient power of darkness. Though Max experiences deadnaming, forced gender expression, and misgendering, the gendered prophecy’s interplay also allows for a thoughtful exploration of coming out, dysphoria, and exploring sexuality in a new context. Some panels can be difficult to order, but the visual details of Max’s powers and changing appearance subtly develop the story via clean, expressive manga-style art. Ages 12–up. Agent: Liz Parker, Verve Talent & Literary. (Jan.)

Publishers Weekly

Praise for Magical Boy Volume 1

“In this fantastic reimagining of the popular magical girl genre, Kao sticks to classic genre conventions while considering a important question: What happens when a person granted the cosmic powers of a magical girl is actually a trans boy? . . . Using a classic manga art style in full color, Kao keeps the story fun and exciting while tackling real-life issues Max faces.” – Booklist, Starred Review

A Texas Librarian Association Maverick Graphic Novels Reading List Pick

A 2023 American Library Association Rainbow Book List Selection

From the Publisher

2021-09-15
Descendant and heir to Aurora, the fallen Goddess of Light, a transgender boy reluctantly steps into his destiny of fighting monsters and guarding the world from an ancient evil.

Biracial (White and Japanese) Max has two secrets that only his best friend, Jen, knows—his gender identity and his power to see colorful auras of emotion around people. On his 16th birthday, Max decides to come out to his parents as trans, but before he can explain, his mother reveals his magical lineage and insists that he take up the mantle of the Goddess of Light and do his part to protect the world. Monsters that feed on negative energy are already attacking, so Max must quickly embrace his emerging abilities in order to prevent destruction. The plot revolves around the binary of lightness, standing for good, and darkness, representing evil. Max is frequently misgendered and referred to by his deadname, and his powers force him into frilly clothes that cause him dysphoria. Even his father, Kai, who doesn’t aggressively police his gender like his mother, Hikari, is little more than a bystander to the maternal abuse. The manga-style art is intensely expressive, but the page layouts are chaotic and sometimes hard to follow. Jen and Sean (an anime-style delinquent at Max’s school) are the only primary characters depicted with brown skin.

A fast-paced magical story whose protagonist endures intense transphobia. (Graphic fantasy. 12-17)

Kirkus Reviews