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Space Boy #17
Stephen McCranie's Space Boy Volume 17
Phantoms of the past and dangers of the future!
Held captive within the First Contact Project, Amy remains haunted by memories of the homecoming dance.
During the day, she and Qiana continue to delve deeper into the mystery of Aleksander Lesnik, until a chance conversation with Dr. Kim leads Amy to a terrible realization.
Back in Kokomo, Amy’s friends continue their search for answers and encounter a group of truth seekers whose leader is dangerously close to uncovering Oliver’s secret.
And deep in space, Oliver rockets ever closer to his goal, but if he’s so far out in the void, will Amy be enough to pull him back to humanity?
A relationship that spans the stars in the new volume of Stephen McCranie’s Space Boy !
Held captive within the First Contact Project, Amy remains haunted by memories of the homecoming dance.
During the day, she and Qiana continue to delve deeper into the mystery of Aleksander Lesnik, until a chance conversation with Dr. Kim leads Amy to a terrible realization.
Back in Kokomo, Amy’s friends continue their search for answers and encounter a group of truth seekers whose leader is dangerously close to uncovering Oliver’s secret.
And deep in space, Oliver rockets ever closer to his goal, but if he’s so far out in the void, will Amy be enough to pull him back to humanity?
A relationship that spans the stars in the new volume of Stephen McCranie’s Space Boy !
256 pages, Paperback
Published November 14, 2023
About the author
Stephen McCranie
41 books304 followersStephen McCranie has been drawing comics since before he could read or write. He graduated from the University of New Mexico with a degree in Fine Arts and currently lives and works out of a small apartment in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
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Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews
January 7, 2024
As always in this character-driven story, everyone sits around talking about how they feel about events, but no one actually does anything.
Mind you, it's all quite pleasant, but I'm really starting to wonder about the viability of this series. Comparing the individual volume statistics on Goodreads and LibraryThing, the ratings are consistently high, but the number of people rating and reviewing them is on a steady and disturbingly steep downward curve. While those numbers are nowhere near what the total sales for the books must be, I would suppose there has to be some sort of correlation in regard to diminishing sales numbers for each book. I comfort myself with the thought that most of the sales are going to kids and teens who cannot be bothered with updating book apps on their phones.
Still, here's hoping the glacial pace of the story stays ahead of the sales curve, because I'd really like to see how this turns out.
Mind you, it's all quite pleasant, but I'm really starting to wonder about the viability of this series. Comparing the individual volume statistics on Goodreads and LibraryThing, the ratings are consistently high, but the number of people rating and reviewing them is on a steady and disturbingly steep downward curve. While those numbers are nowhere near what the total sales for the books must be, I would suppose there has to be some sort of correlation in regard to diminishing sales numbers for each book. I comfort myself with the thought that most of the sales are going to kids and teens who cannot be bothered with updating book apps on their phones.
Still, here's hoping the glacial pace of the story stays ahead of the sales curve, because I'd really like to see how this turns out.
June 6, 2024
“Choose the wrong conspiracy and you might end up being suspicious of all the good things in your life, wondering if they’re actually bad things in disguise. That’s something I don’t want.” Hear hear.
February 4, 2024
More of the same for Space Boy, but you really can't fault the series for that at this point - clearly I'm interested in more of the same if I'm reading volume 17.
Amy struggles with a fresh panic attack when she's trained to use a gun (?!), but her friendship with Qiana reaches new highs. Amy also learns that the Dr. Kim's inventions have been used for ill by the FCP. But there's little forward progress in the Netgear inventor mystery...
Meanwhile, yet another group (the "TSA") are looking into what happened at homecoming. This plotline is kind of exhausting - someone needs to make some progress somewhere.
Even a Space Boy volume where not much happens is still a pretty good Space Boy volume, though.
Amy struggles with a fresh panic attack when she's trained to use a gun (?!), but her friendship with Qiana reaches new highs. Amy also learns that the Dr. Kim's inventions have been used for ill by the FCP. But there's little forward progress in the Netgear inventor mystery...
Meanwhile, yet another group (the "TSA") are looking into what happened at homecoming. This plotline is kind of exhausting - someone needs to make some progress somewhere.
Even a Space Boy volume where not much happens is still a pretty good Space Boy volume, though.
November 17, 2023
I love these characters so I’ll always give this story 5 stars…but I’m really ready for the FCP to be taken down and Amy to be reunited with her friends and family.
September 30, 2024
Stephen McCranie's Space Boy Volume 17 is the last volume of the YA Sci-Fi graphic novel series by Stephen McCranie that I had left on my bookshelf. I think that up to Volume 21 has been released now. Yikes!
(Ed. Note - I apologize in advance if I get any of the character's names incorrect..😁👍)
In Volume 17 we meet a new character, Nolan, who has started up an organization back in Kokomo, The Truth Seekers Anonymous, that wants to break through the fog of Amy's disappearance and discover what really happened. Or is he just trying to make friends? Zeph while having lunch with David discovers that Amy might have been having a close friendship with the 'blond cyborg' aka Oliver and it distresses him very much.
Meanwhile, Amy and Qiana are scheduled for weapons training at FCP HQ and it causes Amy to have flashbacks to when Capt. Saito tried to kill her. Qiana is becoming more and more of a good friend (Qiana is probably my favorite character) and tries to help her get over her panic attacks and nightmares. Amy and Qiana are also continuing to look into the origins of FCP and what happened to Sophi.
Lots going on, as always. Dr. Kim continues to try and construct a new body for Oliver to enter, losing sleep and working non-stop. For a relatively short graphic, so much is going on and it's all interesting and tied together. The characters are wonderful, great personalities and beautifully drawn and colored. I now have to get the next books because I need to find out how it will be resolved (will it ever?) 4.0 stars
(Ed. Note - I apologize in advance if I get any of the character's names incorrect..😁👍)
In Volume 17 we meet a new character, Nolan, who has started up an organization back in Kokomo, The Truth Seekers Anonymous, that wants to break through the fog of Amy's disappearance and discover what really happened. Or is he just trying to make friends? Zeph while having lunch with David discovers that Amy might have been having a close friendship with the 'blond cyborg' aka Oliver and it distresses him very much.
Meanwhile, Amy and Qiana are scheduled for weapons training at FCP HQ and it causes Amy to have flashbacks to when Capt. Saito tried to kill her. Qiana is becoming more and more of a good friend (Qiana is probably my favorite character) and tries to help her get over her panic attacks and nightmares. Amy and Qiana are also continuing to look into the origins of FCP and what happened to Sophi.
Lots going on, as always. Dr. Kim continues to try and construct a new body for Oliver to enter, losing sleep and working non-stop. For a relatively short graphic, so much is going on and it's all interesting and tied together. The characters are wonderful, great personalities and beautifully drawn and colored. I now have to get the next books because I need to find out how it will be resolved (will it ever?) 4.0 stars
December 6, 2023
Continues to be a super fun series! Leaves me hanging every time!
October 6, 2024
sometimes your roommate goes away for the weekend and you r left alone to reread the entirety of a webtoon you’ve been reading since middle school.
shout out to space boy im glad you exist.
shout out to space boy im glad you exist.
July 26, 2024
A good enough book. I want to keep reading it and I don’t feel like I forget that much between volumes (normally forget a lot while waiting). But it doesn’t really go anywhere fast. Just a day or two per volume.
February 2, 2024
I love these characters so much
April 9, 2024
The plot is dwindling, and the art is still ok.
Read
December 22, 20233.5
Amy has feet in parts of this volume! I know that might be a weird way of saying that I'll keep reading Space Boy, but I really need to see what the deal with this choice of illustration is.
Amy has feet in parts of this volume! I know that might be a weird way of saying that I'll keep reading Space Boy, but I really need to see what the deal with this choice of illustration is.
July 1, 2024
Review of volumes 1-17 (webtoon episodes 1-272)
When Amy's father is fired from his space mining job, the family of three heads back to Earth--frozen in suspended animation for the 30-year journey. So she's hit with a quadruple-whammy: new high school, new planet, her best friend back on the asteroid grew up and got married in the meantime, and all her knowledge and pop culture references are 30 years out of date. Amy's making the best of it and slowly starting to feel like she might belong here when she meets a boy who seems empty.
This did not go where I thought it would, in a good way.
The description above fits the first few volumes, which are legitimately interesting by themselves. Amy is a good character, emotionally astute, with a kind of synesthesia that makes people appear to have "flavors," or auras; the space boy of the title catches her attention because unlike literally everyone she's ever met, he appears to have no flavor whatsoever; a person devoid of personality.
Amy's interest in him--not love at first sight, just pure interest and friendship--and her new school friends drive the first part of this series. The extended cast is likable and distinct; the reader really feels for Amy as she joins a friend group but still runs in to reminders that she's not from here: history classes are confusing, the latest wearable tech isn't native (and it's interesting that even as Amy adapts fairly quickly to the tech, she frequently takes it off, whereas the Earth-native characters who grew up with it leave it on), she needs a friend's help when shopping for a dance because everything she likes is decades out of style, and she's still dealing with the grief of uprooting her entire life and moving to a new place. So by itself, this could be (and is) a solid, good story.
But as the books progress, it becomes clear that there's another layer. That flavorless boy has secrets, even as he and Amy become friends, and those secrets aren't just things he can say. There's an entire network of additional characters involved in much bigger things surrounding him, and as Amy gets closer, she's endangering herself and possibly others.
When I read the first volume, picked up on a whim, I thought it was a solid sci-fi-ish high school comic, and got the other books from the library. Six volumes later, I was agog and how much that first impression had been left in the dust for a bigger, deeper story. And 17 volumes in, it's still going strong--with some answers ongoing, but clearly not anywhere close to the final arc. There are so many characters now, yet all of them are easy to keep separate without getting confused, I'm seriously impressed.
When Amy's father is fired from his space mining job, the family of three heads back to Earth--frozen in suspended animation for the 30-year journey. So she's hit with a quadruple-whammy: new high school, new planet, her best friend back on the asteroid grew up and got married in the meantime, and all her knowledge and pop culture references are 30 years out of date. Amy's making the best of it and slowly starting to feel like she might belong here when she meets a boy who seems empty.
This did not go where I thought it would, in a good way.
The description above fits the first few volumes, which are legitimately interesting by themselves. Amy is a good character, emotionally astute, with a kind of synesthesia that makes people appear to have "flavors," or auras; the space boy of the title catches her attention because unlike literally everyone she's ever met, he appears to have no flavor whatsoever; a person devoid of personality.
Amy's interest in him--not love at first sight, just pure interest and friendship--and her new school friends drive the first part of this series. The extended cast is likable and distinct; the reader really feels for Amy as she joins a friend group but still runs in to reminders that she's not from here: history classes are confusing, the latest wearable tech isn't native (and it's interesting that even as Amy adapts fairly quickly to the tech, she frequently takes it off, whereas the Earth-native characters who grew up with it leave it on), she needs a friend's help when shopping for a dance because everything she likes is decades out of style, and she's still dealing with the grief of uprooting her entire life and moving to a new place. So by itself, this could be (and is) a solid, good story.
But as the books progress, it becomes clear that there's another layer. That flavorless boy has secrets, even as he and Amy become friends, and those secrets aren't just things he can say. There's an entire network of additional characters involved in much bigger things surrounding him, and as Amy gets closer, she's endangering herself and possibly others.
When I read the first volume, picked up on a whim, I thought it was a solid sci-fi-ish high school comic, and got the other books from the library. Six volumes later, I was agog and how much that first impression had been left in the dust for a bigger, deeper story. And 17 volumes in, it's still going strong--with some answers ongoing, but clearly not anywhere close to the final arc. There are so many characters now, yet all of them are easy to keep separate without getting confused, I'm seriously impressed.
May 1, 2024
Zeph introduces David to a group of kids at school led by a guy named Nolan who are looking into discrepancies in the official story and what really happened to Amy. David isn't so sure about them, but he's willing to go to a meeting to check them out.
Meanwhile, Amy has started training and being taken to the shooting range has her PTSD flaring up big time. She thought she had got a handle on it, but maybe not. Qiana is there for her, though, and is reveling in Amy calling her a friend.
Dr. Kim is neglecting his robot dog and his own needs to try and finish Oliver's remote body. The time is growing short to when Oliver may need it, but Amy is worried Dr. Kim will burn himself out and not be any good to Oliver.
It is good to catch up with David and Zeph, we haven't seen them for a while. Poor Amy is wrestling with big things, but still manages to make a positive impact on the people around her. She and Qiana also haven't given up on their investigation. We also learn some things about the tracking mechanisms the organization uses on Amy and other recruits and Dr. Kim's involvement in the development. The plot keeps moving, and I keep enjoying each volume (and so do my students...there will be a mad scramble for this once it hits the shelves).
Notes on content:
Language: None
Sexual content: None
Violence: A flashback talks about a man losing his arms. And multiple flashbacks to Amy having a gun pulled on her. Nothing gory depicted on page.
Ethnic diversity: There are Black, White, Asian, and other ethnicities hinted at in skin tones, facial features, and names. But the future cultures are different from current ones in some ways.
LGBTQ+ content: None specified
Other: PTSD realistically represented, forward progress in recovery is hopefully and realistically presented. The Nolan kid has started a conspiracy theory and David points out he's more hungry for attention than wanting to help Amy.
Meanwhile, Amy has started training and being taken to the shooting range has her PTSD flaring up big time. She thought she had got a handle on it, but maybe not. Qiana is there for her, though, and is reveling in Amy calling her a friend.
Dr. Kim is neglecting his robot dog and his own needs to try and finish Oliver's remote body. The time is growing short to when Oliver may need it, but Amy is worried Dr. Kim will burn himself out and not be any good to Oliver.
It is good to catch up with David and Zeph, we haven't seen them for a while. Poor Amy is wrestling with big things, but still manages to make a positive impact on the people around her. She and Qiana also haven't given up on their investigation. We also learn some things about the tracking mechanisms the organization uses on Amy and other recruits and Dr. Kim's involvement in the development. The plot keeps moving, and I keep enjoying each volume (and so do my students...there will be a mad scramble for this once it hits the shelves).
Notes on content:
Language: None
Sexual content: None
Violence: A flashback talks about a man losing his arms. And multiple flashbacks to Amy having a gun pulled on her. Nothing gory depicted on page.
Ethnic diversity: There are Black, White, Asian, and other ethnicities hinted at in skin tones, facial features, and names. But the future cultures are different from current ones in some ways.
LGBTQ+ content: None specified
Other: PTSD realistically represented, forward progress in recovery is hopefully and realistically presented. The Nolan kid has started a conspiracy theory and David points out he's more hungry for attention than wanting to help Amy.
September 18, 2024
Another stellar volume of Space Boy!
I absolutely love Qiana's friendship with Amy. And her words on grief were so powerful.
Qiana: "Progress is not a moment. It's a trajectory.
The healing comes in waves, Amy...
At first, the waves are short, and your invisible wound will flare up all the time.
But that just means you get more practice coping.
And so you get better at it, at coping, at managing the pain...
...and slowly the interval between flare-ups gets longer and longer.
The days between panic attacks stretch into weeks...
...and then one day it's been a year since your last panic attack, but something sparks that old wound and you're back inside it again.
And what are you supposed to think?
That you lost all that progress you made?"
*Wow*
I also really liked the Truth Seekers. They are bonkers (sorry, Maki), but I truly feel like they represent real people and real life. Bonkers people, but real nonetheless. (Sadly.)
I also really liked what David had to say about conspiracy theories.
David: "Thing is, you have to be really careful which story you choose.
Because what you believe about what you don't know will determine how you perceive what you do know.
Chose the wrong conspiracy and you might end up being suspicious of all the good things in your life, wondering if they're actually bad things in disguise."
Lots of other good things in this volume too. We're cracking open Oliver's feelings for Amy & Amy makes Dr. Kim try to take care of himself.
All in all, a great volume for character development.
5 stars.
I absolutely love Qiana's friendship with Amy. And her words on grief were so powerful.
Qiana: "Progress is not a moment. It's a trajectory.
The healing comes in waves, Amy...
At first, the waves are short, and your invisible wound will flare up all the time.
But that just means you get more practice coping.
And so you get better at it, at coping, at managing the pain...
...and slowly the interval between flare-ups gets longer and longer.
The days between panic attacks stretch into weeks...
...and then one day it's been a year since your last panic attack, but something sparks that old wound and you're back inside it again.
And what are you supposed to think?
That you lost all that progress you made?"
*Wow*
I also really liked the Truth Seekers. They are bonkers (sorry, Maki), but I truly feel like they represent real people and real life. Bonkers people, but real nonetheless. (Sadly.)
I also really liked what David had to say about conspiracy theories.
David: "Thing is, you have to be really careful which story you choose.
Because what you believe about what you don't know will determine how you perceive what you do know.
Chose the wrong conspiracy and you might end up being suspicious of all the good things in your life, wondering if they're actually bad things in disguise."
Lots of other good things in this volume too. We're cracking open Oliver's feelings for Amy & Amy makes Dr. Kim try to take care of himself.
All in all, a great volume for character development.
5 stars.
March 22, 2024
the urge to read the rest of the webtoon is so strong but i will wait for the books to come out because i don’t want to finish it all at once. plus i have other books to read. BUT GUYS QIANA IS SO ME YOU DONT GET IT UGHHH AND OLIVER AND AMY LIKE WHAT THE FREAK also one of my favorite things about space boy is that i started this series this year and like individually in the books not much happens but in the grand scheme of things there’s like 50 different plot lines it’s so all over the place and it makes the reading experience so fun lol. okay now i have to wait for my hold to come in at the library to read vol 18 :(
June 11, 2024
David made an astute observation.
“I don’t want evil to be the story I use to explain my life […] Thing is, you have to be really careful which story you choose. Because what you believe about what you don’t know will determine how you perceive what you do know.”
December 28, 2023
Amy is still working with the FCP, against her will, and chatting with Oliver while his body is restored. Quiana is softening toward her. The Wanderer is still trying to get to Amy and is apparently using her as a bridge to get to Oliver. The towns teens are creating a group to try to get answers about homecoming night.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 28, 2023
The saga continues, with Amy finally making a friend, Oliver nearing his goal, and Dr. Kim working to finish a new body for Oliver's consciousness. Meanwhile, Amy's friends are still struggling with her loss and questioning what went down at homecoming.
January 14, 2024
i wish more people knew of this series. so underrated. i prom-posed to my bf using the smiley face that amy draws on oliver. these characters are so well written and I love how the author describes healing from trauma. also the art style makes me so flippin happy
April 24, 2024
Love this series, but I would like to see a little more plot progress at this point. Also haven’t seen how Amy’s family is dealing with her being gone.
Art continues to be excellent and we’re excited to get the next book!
Art continues to be excellent and we’re excited to get the next book!
July 26, 2023
Amy's friends continue investigating the prom incident. Amy and Qiana continue their investigation. Oliver tries to decide how to tell Amy how he feels. Amy takes care of Dr. Kim. #Edelweiss+
November 22, 2023
Adorable, as always.
December 11, 2023
Each volume covers a lot of little things from different perspectives. I love checking in on everyone and seeing how they're doing at the same moments!
January 23, 2024
I binge-read the first 10 and it doesn't seem like much has happened in the most recent few books. Starting to lose interest...
February 8, 2024
Quotes:
"Human's don't know everything, so we create theories about what we don't know. Which I guess makes us all conspiracy theorist in a way.
None of us know what lies out there in the dark, so we tell stories.
The Thing is you have to be really careful which story you choose. Because what you believe about that you don't know will determine how you perceive what you do know."
"Human's don't know everything, so we create theories about what we don't know. Which I guess makes us all conspiracy theorist in a way.
None of us know what lies out there in the dark, so we tell stories.
The Thing is you have to be really careful which story you choose. Because what you believe about that you don't know will determine how you perceive what you do know."
February 20, 2024
I like how philosophical this volume got. It was very thoughtful and inquisitive. I always look forward to the release of the next installment.
May 31, 2024
I don’t get how people read comics. I want the next part 😭 why can’t these be longer
February 20, 2024
Fantastic as always! I especially love the themes of good versus evil and the importance of friendship. My heart is still aching for Oliver and the gang.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 22, 2024
I love these books! I'm so happy my sweet student, Irelynd, loans me her copies!
Fav quotes:
1. Progress is not a moment. It's a trajectory.
2. Shouganai. 🇯🇵
3. ...what you believe about what you don't know will determine how you perceive what you do know.
Fav quotes:
1. Progress is not a moment. It's a trajectory.
2. Shouganai. 🇯🇵
3. ...what you believe about what you don't know will determine how you perceive what you do know.
Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews