The Backstagers, Vol. 2: The Show Must Go On

The Backstagers #2

by James Tynion IV, Rian Sygh (illustrator)

All the world's a stage . . . but what happens behind the curtain is pure magic—literally!

Jory and the rest of the Backstagers have one goal this semester: to put on the best show their town’s ever seen. But best laid plans aren’t easy to achieve when there’s an entire magical world that lives beyond the curtain! When one of the actors suddenly goes missing, the Backstagers must band together to save their comrade and maintain the natural balance of . . . theater. 

James Tynion IV (Detective Comics, The Woods) and artist Rian Sygh (Munchkin, Stolen Forest) explore what it means to be an outcast looking to find one’s place in an earnest story of friendship and self-expression.

Genres: Graphic Novels, Fantasy, Comics, Young Adult, LGBT, Queer, Fiction

112 pages, Paperback

First published February 13, 2018

About the author

Prior to his first professional work, Tynion was a student of Scott Snyder's at Sarah Lawrence College. A few years later, he worked as for Vertigo as Fables editor Shelly Bond's intern. In late 2011, with DC deciding to give Batman (written by Snyder) a back up feature, Tynion was brought in by request of Snyder to script the back ups he had plotted. Tynion would later do the same with the Batman Annual #1, which was also co-plotted by Snyder. Beginning in September 2012, with DC's 0 issue month for the New 52, Tynion will be writing Talon, with art by Guillem March. In early 2013 it was announced that he'd take over writing duties for Red Hood and the Outlaws in April.

Tynion is also currently one of the writers in a rotating team in the weekly Batman Eternal series.

Reviews

[Chelsea (chelseadolling reads)]

Seriously y’all these are adorable and I’m obsessed. It’s like Lumberjanes but indoors lmao

[Alison]

OMG I LOVE THESE LITTLE NERDY BACKSTAGERS SO MUCH THEY ARE MY HEART AND JOY OK
also this has ROMANCE and yes there are m/m romances!!!!!!!! and it is hecka cute

[destiny ♡ howling libraries]

Volume 1 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Volume 2 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Volume 3 ⭐⭐⭐💫

This volume was absolutely adorable - maybe 10% less adorable than Volume 1, but still totally precious. I did think the plot got a bit messy at one point, but it was all wrapped up well in the end (and I cried a little over the twist at the end). I really loved when we got to meet the girls' school's version of the Backstagers crew and how they were all semi-mirrored characters of our main cast.

I love this series and these characters. ♥

✨ Representation: multiple BIPOC characters, most (possibly all?) primary characters are queer, plus-size love interest

✨ Content warnings for: mentions of a dead teen, grief

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[Mir]

Stage Crew saves the world!
Well, the theater world, anyway. Plus maybe some actors lives.

This had a number of surprisingly touching scenes.
The backstory with Tommy and Elliot was really sad!

I'm slightly confused because this says Vol. 2 but The Backstagers and the Theater of the Ancients is also listed as Vol. 2? This seems to pick up right after the play they were working on in 1, but now Jory and Hunter are in a relationship, so either I missed a volume or the authors chose to have the two getting together occur off-page, which is a little disappointing.

Another thing that confused me was that we learn that Beckett transferred from the neighbor school, Penitent Angels, which I think is all girls? Does this mean Beckett was/is biologically a girl? I mean, I'm fine with that but whoa, Catholic school must have gotten a lot more progressive recently! (Also seems like an odd choice to transfer when he has a crush on the lead actress there?)

But anyway! There are lots of details that could be prodded disapprovingly (like, was there no investigation of how these kids disappeared for two months?!) but taken as an overall reading experience was was good and a lot of fun.

[Emma]

3.5 Stars

What a perfect ending to this comic duology this volume was! I'm very glad we got to discover more about the mystery in the backstage, I was so curious about it! The backstagers just warmed my heart, I love their friendship and the constant support they show one another. It was nice to see them team up with other backstagers and I wish we could have seen more of that.
Overall it was a very nice and entertaining read!

[Shan( Shans_Shelves) 💜]

I'm laughing so much right now, the actors in this graphic novel were so extra! However I loved them and the backstage crew. I liked how the story continued on from volume one and I enjoyed the conclusion. Another middle grade graphic novel to add to my collection. I'm so happy kids nowadays have wonderful graphic novels like these, super diverse and really sweet with characters you can't help but love!

Highly recommended. Especially if you enjoyed The Lumberjanes this defiantly gave me similar vibes.

[rachel, x]

#1) The Backstagers, Vol. 1: Rebels Without Applause ★★★★☆
#3) The Backstagers, Vol. 3: Encore ★★★☆☆

➸ Trigger warnings for death of a friend recounted, disappearance of a sibling, and kidnapping.

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[Gem (The Creepy Geek)]

Super quirky, super cute and a little bit heart breaking! Just loving this series!

[Mehsi]

Ahhhhh, noooo it cannot end! Though it did end up perfectly, but no no no, I need more Backstagers!

Those are my reactions when I reached the ending of this book. I just love The Backstagers and this was one hell of an awesome volume, I just couldn't put it down.

This time they meet another group of backstagers, though they aren't an unknown group. So it was kind of fun to see the reunion and have one of our group of backstagers be happy to see those people again (though not too sure if they were all too happy at first to see him/his group). I just adored the place they met up, it was a giant room of costumes, if the dimension wasn't so dangerous I wouldn't have minded staying there for a while, dressing up in all sorts of fun outfits.

Plus it showed us that all the backstages everywhere are connected. Not only our school has an entrance, but it seemed that there is an entrance at every place, and that makes the place even more interesting. How big is it? What kind of possibilities and rooms are still to be found.

But it also showed that while time for our characters was x, actually time went by like y. Though I hadn't expected it to be that much! Wow. I can imagine that people in the outside would be angry/worried. I would also be worried if my kid disappeared for such a long time.

And we have a new, very frightening, enemy hunting the magical realm behind the backstage. An enemy who isn't afraid to get his hands dirty. Who will do anything to take his revenge. He definitely was terrifying, but when we find out certain things I also couldn't help but feel sorry for the guy. So when the moment came for confrontation I was just crying as it must have hurt so much, not only for our enemy guy, but also for those who had connections to him.

We also have some romantic moments that made me awwwwwwwwww and squeeeeee!

Of course the art is still freaking awesome. I just adore the style and the colours used (especially the difference in colours/how bright they are when the group(s) enter the dimension).

All in all, highly recommended and I still hope for more, or a cute spinoff with our MC and his boyfriend going on dates/their romance.

Review first posted at https://twirlingbookprincess.com/

[Rod Brown]

The writer continues to explore the fantasy elements of this story to the detriment of the characters and high school theater setting. It's almost as if the whole thing were just a gimmicky pitch for a new cartoon series. I'm hoping now that they have the first adventure storyboarded for potential TV producers, the creators will slow down and actually give the characters time to develop some real personalities.

I was happy to see some more female characters were added, but became disenchanted when they matched up so obviously to the male cast. They were each literally labelled in the book's backmatter as "Opposite [insert male character name here]." Lazy and insulting much?

I'm on the fence as to whether I'd read a third volume if I saw one sitting on a library shelf sometime in the future.

[Kristen Harvey]

I loved the first book so much and this one does not disappoint. Yet more drama behind the stage and into the ghostly and shared backstager realm. I loved every moment of this one and didn't see the twist at the end coming.

[Chad]

Anyone who is or was a theatre kid is going to love this. I found the mystical elements kind of hokey. They're in a "the magic of theatre" kind of way. Very LGBTQ positive. I did not care for the chibi art at all.

[orangerful]

Another fun volume, really loved the exploration and explanation the backstage world.

[Taha]

[Jasmine]

Definitely fun and adorable, but at least for me it felt like it was setting up an epic arc, and then it had to tie up an ending in two issues. I was surprised to see that the series continued, cause I thought on reading it that it had been cancelled. For a "having to wrap up fast" ending, it was good. For a close to an arc, slightly less so.

fave things: toolmice on strike, and the mcqueen brothers breaking through reality with the power of their performance.

[Xiomy's Book Tales]

"Let's crawl, back into our impossible magical underground world where things make sense."


OMG this volume was so stinking adorable it had everything I wanted a m/m romance, stronger friendships, new wonderful characters, and further development with the Backstage magical world!

Loved how the cliffhanger in volume 1 (Rebels Without Applause) was handled and the backstory of those that got lost.

Plus it is an amazing moment when you fangirling for two characters and yes I did scream when something happened!

I can't wait for the next installment in the Backstagers, these stories are just so engrossing and entertaining!

[Ellyn → Allonsythornraxx]

02/07/2021
3 ⭐
Tommy was so creepy and I loved all the bits with him in it, but the rest of the comic felt like such a letdown after volume 1. I will be reading vol 3 whenever I see it at the library though, just because I do like the characters and somehow this is only a trilogy???

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[Wybredna Maruda]

O całej serii:
Szkoła dla chłopców. Zajęcia teatralne. Zamiast Les miserables wystawiają Les terribles. Potem Lease, które jest jakimś połączeniem grease i rent.
I to tyle jeśli chodzi o musical. Potem wchodzi fantastyka, bo za kulisami DZIEJE SIĘ MAGIA; wątki lgbt, bo to szkoła dla chłopów; mroczne tajemnice, bo jak magia to i villain musi być (taki trochę upiór w teatrze) i fajna, pastelowa kolorystyka. Teatr jest w zasadzie miejscem do akcji niezwiązanej stricte z teatrem. No ale jest cute. Byłabym bardziej zachwycona, gdybym nie nastawiła się typowo na musical i backstage

[Darcy Roar]

Auuuugggghhhh! I'm not crying, you're crying! Such twists and turns! (I was legit suprised by some of the twists). If you were (or are) a theater kid you should read this. If you like theater you should read this. If you've heard of theater once, in a dream, you should read this. It's adorable and sweet and gay and amazing. 10,000/10, would read again right now.

[Sara]

This comic is so DANG CUTE AND MAGICAL!!!!! I love all of the characters so so much (although Sasha is probably my fave) and I continue to love the art!! I love the world they’ve created so I really hope this volume isn’t the last.

Ps. I LOVE THAT THERE’S A TRANS CHARACTER!!!

Pps. As a true Canadian when they mentioned Canada in one panel I was sent into an excited tizzy!

[Mandy (Bookishlove85)]

I think I enjoyed this one even more than volume one. More depth and meaning in the story line. Looking fwd to continuing this series.

[Sylwia]

Just as good as the first one. I adore this series.

[Emma]

Such a weird series but it's grown on me.

[R]

I absolutely adore this series even tho I've become a little disenfranchised with theater at the moment. It's so cute and queer and honestly just so much fun.

[Tori]

Ahhh! I can't get over how spunky and cute this is all at the same time. That /feeling/ they talk about is an actual thing - I know that well from the times I've been on stage. <3 adore this story.

[Cassandra]

PLS THESE ARE SO CUTE

[Aerika]

4.25⭐️

[Marie]

The way this comic went from crazy fantasy world building to adorable soft romance was *chef’s kiss*. The effortlessness of the representation throughout really stood out to me because it was that moment of “huh so it really is that easy.” I would read 100 volumes of this, all the content please.

[Carolina]

3,5

[Sydney (sydneysshelves) West]

Cute, dramatic, colorful. Love these boys and gals and what they're bringing to the world of comics. A heartfelt story with beautiful art.