Emo Boy, Volume 1: Nobody Cares about Anything Anyway, So Why Don't We All Just Die? Book

Poor Emo Boy - he's unpopular, unloved and has no family. Not only does he need to deal with things like pondering suicide and questioning his sexual identity, but he's also got these emo super powers that only seem to bring destruction and disaster, causing everyone to hate him more than they already do. His first love suffers a head explosion, the football team wants him dead and he got an F in English. No wonder he's so depressed!

VOYA

High schooler Emo Boy's life is all dark, brooding thoughts, unhappy dreams, lonely days; in short, very emo. He lives with a loving friend's family, but Emo Boy cannot see beyond his own depressing worldview. This great angst gives him "emo powers"-he can kill or destroy things by force of will. This graphic novel's meandering story line concerns Emo Boy having his first kiss, joining a band, trying to fit in at school, attending a concert, and having a showdown with a school jock and the jock's friends. The black-and-white art is the best thing about the book. It is varied stylistically, using occasional manga touches to depict strong emotion. The colors are many shades of gray inks filling in thickly outlined art. All the usual themes of young adult literature are here: the power of music, writing poetry, experiencing a first kiss, and unrequited love. There is even a vaguely encouraging ending. But Emo Boy is a one-trick pony whose singular joke gets quickly tiresome. And the darkness of the humor can be rather intense. Emo Boy's power kills the first girl he ever kisses. Later a suicide is played for a joke (a jock kills himself to one-up Emo Boy who is too inept to commit suicide). This thread is troubling, to say the least. Emo bands are very popular now and the silly, appealing cover might draw some teens, but the monotonous, one (bad) joke story line make this book difficult to recommend.