Shock City: A Graphic Novel

Shock City #1

by Aaron Alexovich

When shy, anxious Milo rings the doorbell of the forbidden Shock City castle on a dare, he gets more than he bargained for when peppy young monster, Sunny, answers the door and labels herself Milo's new BFF. But when Milo returns to tell Sunny he—and the rest of the town's residents—are moving out of the crumbling Shock City, his monster pal refuses to accept it. She soon convinces Milo to join her on a romp around the city to reverse the damages done, and persuade him and everyone else, to stay. But when Sunny learns that her grandfather, the great Darkness Von Shock, was not the revered benefactor she believed him to be, and is actually the cause of everything bad happening in Shock City, Milo confronts his biggest fears to help Sunny save the town and reverse her family's reputation.

Genres: Middle Grade, Graphic Novels, Comics, Science Fiction, Friendship, Fantasy, Horror

240 pages, Hardcover

First published September 10, 2024

About the author

AARON ALEXOVICH (who is me) was born in Chicago, Illinois, the year Elvis died, but I currently sleep the daylight hours away in Southern California. After neglecting to graduate from the world-famous CALARTS, I took up space in the animation industry for a while, contributing character designs to Nickelodeon’s INVADER ZIM and AVATAR: THE LAST AIRBENDER. I like making comic books way better, though. SERENITY ROSE VOL. 1 was my first published work, but since then I’ve doodled up KIMMIE66 (DC/Minx), CONFESSIONS OF A BLABBERMOUTH (written by Mike and Louise Carey, DC/Minx), SERENITY ROSE VOL. 2, and issue #64 of DC/Vertigo’s 2000 lb. gorilla, FABLES. Among other things. I am the proud owner of two cats, one theremin, a Facebook account and something called “the photic reflex,” which makes me sneeze in bright sunlight.

Reviews

[Krissi · Rating 4 out of 5]

You can definitely tell this is from the same artist as Invader Zim! A cute, quirky, and kind of spooky graphic novel!

[goodreed · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such wild fun! The cover says "ages 8-12," but I, a fully competent and successful adult, was very entertained. Great humor, illustrations, and adventure.

[Nathan Thomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Shock City was delightful. It's certainly written for the age 8-12 range of kids who are into spooky things. Technically it's a sequel to Alexovich's kindergarten age picture book "It's not scary" but you don't need to have read that first.

Alexovich worked on one of the squickier 00's cartoons, Invader Zim, and it shows in his imagery, but he's also pretty good at the Spooky/cute esthetic, and also the "so cute it's actually creepy" aesthetic.

It's about a young boy (Milo) who is somewhat friends with a young Frankensteinian girl (Sunny). After she kidnaps him because she misses him so much (she comes on a little bit too strong) he reveals that he's moving actually, because the whole town has become more and more inhospitable, and the town is kinda done with it. So to keep her "best friend" from moving away, she determines to fix the city herself... With Milo's help of course, because she doesn't really understand what normal people need to live.

And that's the first couple chapters. I was happy with the fact that we see character development from everyone. Sunny learns to calm down a little and let Milo take the lead. Milo learns some courage and confidence, Sunny's parents learn to do a little more for the town, and even some of the bad guys change their ways!

We see zombies, mind control viruses, interdimensional clowns, sentient mold, and more creepy monstrosities everywhere, but they're all dealt with fairly reasonably. Sometimes you just have to talk to them. And sometimes you have to send them back where they came from.

I don't want to spoil any more of it, but I highly recommend this to all ages who are able to handle spooky material.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

Milo doesn’t have any friends, until he takes on a dare to ring the doorbell of Sunny’s house. He thinks he is doing it because everyone else has done so, but is later told no one took the dare.


But Sunny, who has been kept away from humans, because they are dangerous, suddenly falls for Milo and wants to be his best friend. Milo isn’t so sure. Sunny has no filter, and is so excited to have a friend, she wants to take all sorts of risks, and have adventures. Milo just wants to survive.
There is a lot more plot than that, but to go into that would give away what the story is about, int he end. Suffice it to say, Milo survives the friendship with flying colors, as does Sunny.


I love the restlessness of Sunny. Trying to figure out how much she can do without harming Milo. There is a lot of humor, and the pictures are fun as well. Despite there being about monsters, there isn't really anything scary here.


Fun and funny story. Great fun to read.

[Pam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Graphic Novel
So much to like about this book. The humor is perfect for middle grade readers as are the characters and setting. Readers meet Milo as he accepts a dare to ring the doorbell at the town's "haunted" manor. To his surprise, the door opens and he meets Sunny. She is full of energy and thrilled to make a friend. The two appear mismatched but friendship blooms despite Milo's reservations. The two have two work together with help from others to save the city and defeat the evil being seeking to take over the world. Though this is a familiar plot, Alexovich offers a fun take on this with how the spores are introduced to humans. This can easily be a stand alone but I hope the author chooses to bring readers back to see what happens next.

[Marti · Rating 4 out of 5]

When shy Milo gets dared to ring the doorbell of the abandoned lair where an evil scientist used to live, he never expects for someone to answer. And he's even more surprised to find that he has a new bff -whether he wants one or not! And it's a good thing too since the evil scientist's plans are still in motion. Will Milo and his new bff be able to save their town without having their brains eaten by zombies and/or aliens?

If you like fast-paced, crazy, gross, mad-science adventures, then this is the graphic novel for you! (The author was on the Invader Zim design team so if you like that series, then you'll love this!)

52 Book Club Challenge 2026 Prompt 11: Requires Suspension of Disbelief

[Stacey Adams · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sunny Von Shock and Milo become best friends which scares Milo. Sunny is peppy and doesn't think about danger where Milo is always thinking and is always afraid. But Sunny is Milo's biggest supporter and soon he feels a bit more confident. But Milo and everyone else in town is moving away....the danger and freekiness is too strong and residents have had enough. Sunny does not want her best friend to leave. So the two of them realize they are the only ones who can save their town of Shock City and make it safe for everyone. Milo sucks up his courage to help Sunny face evils that are problems for the town.

[Liz · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's Milo's turn to be brave enough to ring Darkness Von Shock's doorbell. It's a rite of passage to go up to the door of the person who ruined Shock City. Someone answers. Sunny Von Shock is Darkness' granddaughter and a little strange, to say the least. She's determined that she and Milo will be friends. All of that is put on hold when Milo explains the whole town is leaving due to all of her family's experiments ruining the town. Can they save the town before moving day tomorrow? The art is perfect for a dystopian monster story. The ending was a little too abrupt for me but easily sets up for a book 2. For fans of monsters, video games, and ready for something a bit darker than Hilo.

[Ellon · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 stars (I really liked it)

The book kind of throws the reader into the story that is already underway and that was a little off putting to me at first but the more I read, the more I got into it. The book was weird but in a quirky, fun way. I could see those who like the Hilo series ( The Boy Who Crashed to Earth ) liking this.

[Saritza · Rating 4 out of 5]

The LOL moments in this book are perfect! They happen right when you need them to as the scary tension rises. It’s a great horror book for any kid like mine who grew up to love horror movies, classic Goosebumps and shows like Invader Zim.

[Christian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely excellent. My girls loved it and it’s basically perfect. Fun drawings, funny dialogue, a really creative spooky story - they need to make this into a movie!

[Penelope Abreu · Rating 4 out of 5]

super cute graphic novel! read for a marketing project in my children’s publishing class

[Annamarie Carlson (she, her)]

This book could have benefited from a little more exposition at the beginning, but I figured out what was going on eventually.

[Reader · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing artwork, and even better story. Hope the author makes more graphic comics

[Zach · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cute, funny, charmingly weird! This book may be aimed at a younger audience, but I'm an adult, and I thoroughly enjoyed it!

[Wyatt · Rating 4 out of 5]

A to be expected result from any member of the Invader Zim creative team. Somehow brings something unique to something I thought was fairly run through. I'd like more of this, thanks.

[Ro · Rating 5 out of 5]

😆😆😆😆🤢