Mechaboys

by James Kochalka

Overview

Two lovable dirtbag teens, tired of being bullied, build a robot battle suit to take revenge on their entire high school. But they never expected to become... kind of popular? Experience the thrill of keg parties, gym classes, bear attacks, first kisses, cafeteria trays, and car crashes... but with mechanical enhancement! It’s an action-packed dark-comedy teen-romance for the ages, from Eisner Award-winning cartoonist James Kochalka (American Elf, Superf*ckers).

Product Details

BN ID:	2940153584812
Publisher:	IDW Publishing
Publication date:	03/07/2018
Series:	Mechaboys
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	39 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Mechaboys

Editorial Reviews

02/05/2018
Kochalka delivers another joyously strange, boyish fantasy of a piece with his SuperF*ckers. High school seniors and best friends Zeus and Jamie are working on building a robot suit out of dismantled appliances. Jamie, physically small and naive, spends his free time reading superhero comics. Zeus, sarcastic and beginning to grow a spotty mustache, is the driving force behind their “mecha project.” On their very first test run, Zeus crashes the suit into their gym teacher’s car, accidentally creating the hero-team’s new nemesis. At school, the boys are social outcasts, regularly the target of homoerotic taunts; during one run-in with a bully, Zeus dumps a milk carton over his own head, aiming to puncture the bully’s mood with his wit. This catches the eye of a popular girl who invites him and Jamie to a party in the woods. To which, of course, they bring their mechanized suit, and expected hilarity ensues. The cute, cartoony stylized characters and backgrounds, reduced to their bare essentials, are inked in black and white. Like its protagonists, this book teeters between adolescent and adult storytelling—the high jinks are decidedly teenaged, but the swearing and the creator’s trademark dirty jokes go R-rated. While it presents a shelving challenge, this quirky adventure will surely satisfy Kochalka’s fans. (Mar.)

Publishers Weekly

"Mechaboys feels like the return of an old friend... like the Linklater movie Dazed & Confused mixed with a garage-built robot battle suit. Pure Kochalka magic!" — Atomic Books

"Kochalka includes the standard high-school plot points—party in the woods, gym class rope-climb, an obnoxious bully, secret crushes, crass teenage repartee—but he deftly keeps it cliché-free." — Booklist

"A paean to awkward, high-drama teenage years, Mechaboys gains relevance from its deliberate echoing of school violence, while distancing its plot from the real-world horror of school shootings with its superhero comic book/cartoon elements." — School Library Journal's Good Comics for Kids

"Almost every panel or page could be framed and hung on a wall, or printed on a T-shirt." — Slings & Arrows

"The former cartoonist laureate of Vermont has made a triumphant return with his finest work since Monkey vs. Robot and the original run of SuperF*ckers." — Page 45

From the Publisher