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Spyboy #1
Spyboy: Deadly Gourmet Affair
High school student Alex Fleming's normal life of homework, dating, and bullies is turned upside-down when his latent martial arts and technological abilities start to develop, making him the unwitting target of evil-doers.
80 pages, Paperback
First published March 14, 2001
11 people are currently reading
77 people want to read
About the author
Peter David
3,607 books1,369 followersaka David Peters
Peter Allen David, often abbreviated PAD, was an American writer of comic books, novels, television, films, and video games. His notable comic book work includes an award-winning 12-year run on The Incredible Hulk, as well as runs on Aquaman, Young Justice, SpyBoy, Supergirl, Fallen Angel, Spider-Man, Spider-Man 2099, Captain Marvel, and X-Factor.
His Star Trek work included comic books and novels such as the New Frontier book series. His other novels included film adaptations, media tie-ins, and original works, such as the Apropos of Nothing and Knight Life series. His television work includes series such as Babylon 5, Young Justice, Ben 10: Alien Force and Nickelodeon's Space Cases, which he co-created with Bill Mumy.
David often jokingly described his occupation as "Writer of Stuff", and he was noted for his prolific writing, characterized by its mingling of real-world issues with humor and references to popular culture, as well as elements of metafiction and self-reference.
David earned multiple awards for his work, including a 1992 Eisner Award, a 1993 Wizard Fan Award, a 1996 Haxtur Award, a 2007 Julie Award and a 2011 GLAAD Media Award.
Peter Allen David, often abbreviated PAD, was an American writer of comic books, novels, television, films, and video games. His notable comic book work includes an award-winning 12-year run on The Incredible Hulk, as well as runs on Aquaman, Young Justice, SpyBoy, Supergirl, Fallen Angel, Spider-Man, Spider-Man 2099, Captain Marvel, and X-Factor.
His Star Trek work included comic books and novels such as the New Frontier book series. His other novels included film adaptations, media tie-ins, and original works, such as the Apropos of Nothing and Knight Life series. His television work includes series such as Babylon 5, Young Justice, Ben 10: Alien Force and Nickelodeon's Space Cases, which he co-created with Bill Mumy.
David often jokingly described his occupation as "Writer of Stuff", and he was noted for his prolific writing, characterized by its mingling of real-world issues with humor and references to popular culture, as well as elements of metafiction and self-reference.
David earned multiple awards for his work, including a 1992 Eisner Award, a 1993 Wizard Fan Award, a 1996 Haxtur Award, a 2007 Julie Award and a 2011 GLAAD Media Award.
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
January 20, 2022
This was nice quick read, briskly paced and aided by dynamic art. Ultimately, this first volume had nothing much but an underlying mystery, and more questions than answers after introducing the amnesiac high schooler main character who becomes a super skilled spy with a few trigger words.
January 9, 2015
this is very fast pace, there is a lot happening. it escalated very quickly. but over all is was a good book, even though the characters had really outstanding features, and i mean that literally. the art was great but it makes the characters look kind of funky. i think this book is a little better than okay. id recommend this to anyone who likes a combination of fast pace, thriller, and superhero.
WARNING I AM ABOUT TO EXPRESS MY OPINION.
i'm gonna be completely honest, the book would be better if the character Bombshell had less distracting features. i wanted to read it for the action not the insane amount of unnecessary cleavage. the art was amazing but the placement of it was wrong. (no harm intended. its just my opinion).
WARNING I AM ABOUT TO EXPRESS MY OPINION.
i'm gonna be completely honest, the book would be better if the character Bombshell had less distracting features. i wanted to read it for the action not the insane amount of unnecessary cleavage. the art was amazing but the placement of it was wrong. (no harm intended. its just my opinion).
August 25, 2018
Good artwork and witty dialogue, but the fast paced story raises more questions than it answers. This is supposed to be #1 in the series but it felt like a lot was skipped. Might be aimed at younger readers. With Peter David at the helm, I expected a more complete and more sophisticated story.
November 26, 2022
I think this would be more fun if the villains were more wacky, like a Batman '66 thing.
They almost get there with a villain-turned-chef or something, and a lady who called herself Barbie Q, like barbecue, but as far as I can tell the only thing that relates her to a barbecue is that she wears mesh, which sort of looks like a grill(?)
I have some suggestions:
Gatoraid: guy who dumps an entire orange cooler of baby alligators on people.
Rubbery Skeleton: Obsessed with those rubber skeleton toys, he invents a ray that turns peoples' skeletons rubbery.
Meat Lof (there should be an umlaut over the O, but I don't know how to type that, so...fuck it): Beefy fellow, though he's vegan these days, so he will talk about the confusion with his name, but he's kept it because he is MADE of meat and all.
Michael Tyson: This is, in fact, Mike Tyson, but he goes my Michael to throw everyone off the scent.
Pez: He slits throats and then shoves candy blocks in the hole.
They almost get there with a villain-turned-chef or something, and a lady who called herself Barbie Q, like barbecue, but as far as I can tell the only thing that relates her to a barbecue is that she wears mesh, which sort of looks like a grill(?)
I have some suggestions:
Gatoraid: guy who dumps an entire orange cooler of baby alligators on people.
Rubbery Skeleton: Obsessed with those rubber skeleton toys, he invents a ray that turns peoples' skeletons rubbery.
Meat Lof (there should be an umlaut over the O, but I don't know how to type that, so...fuck it): Beefy fellow, though he's vegan these days, so he will talk about the confusion with his name, but he's kept it because he is MADE of meat and all.
Michael Tyson: This is, in fact, Mike Tyson, but he goes my Michael to throw everyone off the scent.
Pez: He slits throats and then shoves candy blocks in the hole.
November 13, 2025
Leído y poseído en la edición de dos números publicada por Norma en el año 2000, que pude leer recién cuando conseguí el primer tomo, después de tener el segundo juntando polvo durante varios meses.
El resultado: valió la pena, pero menos mal que no tenía tantas expectativas puestas en la obra, porque posiblemente me habría decepcionado.
David parece con ganas de ser original y parte con mejores intenciones que resultados. La premisa del pibe normal/espía supersecreto es divertida y dentro de todo creíble, pero no va mucho más allá y a partir del segundo capítulo, se puede prever dónde va a terminar la cosa sin demasiadas sorpresas. A diferencia de otras obras del autor, como la genial X-Factor, acá parece que su intención no es romper el molde, sino manejarse con comodidad dentro de sus límites, con las cosas malas y buenas que esto implica. Seguiría leyendo la serie si hubiera más tomos conseguibles, pero como en castellano sólo se publicó la primera saga y en inglés nunca los vi, tampoco me voy a desesperar por conseguirlos. Eso sí, maldito sea el editor español que decidió cortar la serie después de ese terrible cliffhanger. De no sé porque sé que el protagonista se va a salvar igual, estaría echando humo. En cuanto al dibujo, el -para mí- desconocido Pop Mhan me pareció en principio un buen emulador de la estética manga. Utiliza un par de efectos cinéticos y enfoques típicos de los japoneses y le sale bastante bien. Pero con el correr de las páginas se lo ve por momentos perdido, por momentos desprolijo; a veces un mismo personaje aparece con caras muy distintas entre sí, y eso siempre denota cierto desgano o falta de constancia. Pero en conjunto se defiende y, al igual que David, pasa con más gloria que pena por las ochentipico de páginas de la saga. Con suerte después se pone mejor todavía, pero no creo que me saque la duda muy pronto.
El resultado: valió la pena, pero menos mal que no tenía tantas expectativas puestas en la obra, porque posiblemente me habría decepcionado.
David parece con ganas de ser original y parte con mejores intenciones que resultados. La premisa del pibe normal/espía supersecreto es divertida y dentro de todo creíble, pero no va mucho más allá y a partir del segundo capítulo, se puede prever dónde va a terminar la cosa sin demasiadas sorpresas. A diferencia de otras obras del autor, como la genial X-Factor, acá parece que su intención no es romper el molde, sino manejarse con comodidad dentro de sus límites, con las cosas malas y buenas que esto implica. Seguiría leyendo la serie si hubiera más tomos conseguibles, pero como en castellano sólo se publicó la primera saga y en inglés nunca los vi, tampoco me voy a desesperar por conseguirlos. Eso sí, maldito sea el editor español que decidió cortar la serie después de ese terrible cliffhanger. De no sé porque sé que el protagonista se va a salvar igual, estaría echando humo. En cuanto al dibujo, el -para mí- desconocido Pop Mhan me pareció en principio un buen emulador de la estética manga. Utiliza un par de efectos cinéticos y enfoques típicos de los japoneses y le sale bastante bien. Pero con el correr de las páginas se lo ve por momentos perdido, por momentos desprolijo; a veces un mismo personaje aparece con caras muy distintas entre sí, y eso siempre denota cierto desgano o falta de constancia. Pero en conjunto se defiende y, al igual que David, pasa con más gloria que pena por las ochentipico de páginas de la saga. Con suerte después se pone mejor todavía, pero no creo que me saque la duda muy pronto.
September 20, 2020
I think Peter David had more fun with the villain 'The Gourmet' than anything else. Otherwise, this story of a teen being activated into a Super spy (with very little background provided in this volume), is fairly straightforward; it's got 90's era Wildstorm art (even if it is a Dark Horse title), and our protagonist having what amounts to split personalities is played more for laughs than depth. There are a couple fun moments, and the use of being dipped in hot oil as a threat gets a nice turnaround. Overall, though, it feels a little too hyperkinetic, with the art not quite able to keep up with the pace of the story. And at only three issues, there's not a whole lot beyond plot here. Still, it's fun enough that I'll keep reading, but I wouldn't recommend anyone go out of their way to find it.
May 14, 2020
Short on plot
A nerdy kid that is always getting picked on but is secretly a super spy. Over the top villains with corny names ( to be fair, the good guys have corny names as well). Since the kid is a sleeper agent, he doesn't realize he has all sorts of special skills. When he gets triggered (apparently when someone says Spyboy), he doesn't remember his life. But everyone else knows about him somehow and the bad guys want him to join them.
Plenty of action but almost no character development of explanation for anything. You have to get the next collection to even find out about his origin.
Decent comic book art.
The whole thing reads like it is intended for preteen or early teen readers ( and it isn't giving them much credit in being discerning readers).
A nerdy kid that is always getting picked on but is secretly a super spy. Over the top villains with corny names ( to be fair, the good guys have corny names as well). Since the kid is a sleeper agent, he doesn't realize he has all sorts of special skills. When he gets triggered (apparently when someone says Spyboy), he doesn't remember his life. But everyone else knows about him somehow and the bad guys want him to join them.
Plenty of action but almost no character development of explanation for anything. You have to get the next collection to even find out about his origin.
Decent comic book art.
The whole thing reads like it is intended for preteen or early teen readers ( and it isn't giving them much credit in being discerning readers).
March 21, 2019
Peter David is always entertaining, so I knew this would probably be decent at worst and maybe better. Overall, it felt like a story I'd read before. It's about a teenage spy who doesn't realize what he is, presumably because he was somehow programmed to forget everything so the bad guys couldn't find him. Then the bad guys find him after all and his "powers" kick in and things go from there. The sexy sidekick showing up was a nice touch too. Overall this is some young adult style sci fi action with fitting art from Pop Mhan. Think "Agent Cody Banks" or "Spy Kids" and you sorta get the picture. Not Peter David at his best necessarily, but still fun.
March 5, 2024
What happens when you mix in writing from Peter David (Hulk) and Pop Mhan (Flash, Batgirl) along with Norman Lee??? Give up? SpyBoy, a fun action story that does not take itself too seriously, but is high on action, fun and intrigue! I found this one super super fun....my biggest complaint with the book is that at this point, they should combine the volumes to give us more goodness in one volume...but I absolutely loved the entire adventure in this book. High school student Alex Fleming is about to have his world turned upside down...and to find out that he is a super agent named SpyBoy! I promise you if you like manga, you like spy movies or spy comics....THIS....IS....FOR....YOU!!!
April 9, 2020
A dark horse preview.
Off to a slow start. A character named fleming? A character named bombshell who generates bright lights? A little derivative perhaps. Still the genre is pretty formulaic.
Off to a slow start. A character named fleming? A character named bombshell who generates bright lights? A little derivative perhaps. Still the genre is pretty formulaic.
July 23, 2013
I found this book very confusing and hard to follow. It certainly left a lot of questions for the next book to answer. The names were creative. Bombshell was the girl's name. Spyboy was the name of the main character. The villian who is chef was named Gourmet. If not for all of the cliff hangers, I would not be interested in reading the next book.
August 8, 2025
This was a fast read. One of the creator owned works of Peter David that i think predates Kirkman's Invincible. Is the teen hero with the chip on his shoulders that discovers he is more than he thought, this time, a spy. Pop Mhan work a kind of si called Ameri-manga style of art that work really well in the action scenes, not so with character quieter moments. All in all, a solid start.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 18, 2010
SPY BOY is a great addition to the comic book world. I love the concept of a nerdy boy finding out that he is a sleeper cell spy. There is a lot of room for impovement and development. I am intersted in seeing where the series goes.
January 12, 2013
It helps to read this book as Peter David making fun of all spy film cliches.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews