Fantasy Sports

Sports have been famously hard to adapt in U.S. comics. In that regard, Bosma’s debut graphic novella manages to stand apart, adding some of the action conventions that have made sports manga far more successful. Tough-guy tomb raider Mug and his young, clever apprentice, Wiz-Kid, must take on evil fantasy overlord Steps—not in a sword fight, but in an all-out basketball game. Bosma takes advantage of the fantasy setting and comics’ unlimited visual-effects budget to create a game of basketball more compelling than any NBA broadcast. Even though Bosma, who works in animation (Steven Universe) and illustration, succeeds at breathing new life into a largely lackluster genre, the story takes second place to the fantastic art. His extremely fluid illustrations and lush, soft color palette can’t completely make up for character arcs that don’t have quite enough weight to them. As a visual spectacle, this is a page-turner, but the story misses the three-point shot. (July)