Slam! #1

Veronica Fish brings the electricity while Pamela Ribon crafts characters so relatable that it makes this book stick with you for a bit. The art, the writing, the story, the characters ... it's all here. What else do you need in a comic book?  Read Full Review

Slam! #1 is a visually beautiful book with a strong premise and a great deal of promise, and even if you're only familiar with derby in passing, it's absolutely worth checking out the first issue tomorrow. Read Full Review

Slam is a comic about making both life changes and new friends, and literally kicking some ass while doing so. And while it's mostly-female credits (excellent letterer Jim Campbell is the only dude in the credits, including editorial) are a joy to see, above all, this is just a fun damn comic book, full of vitality and optimism, successfully avoiding any whiffs of sentimentality. An assured and joyous debut. Read Full Review

Slam! #1 is a strong start to a fresh new series that I highly recommend. I had no idea what to expect when I offered to review this book but was excited at my first glance at the cover. Every panel's art and story lived up to the promise emblazoned there. I am excited for where this book is heading. There may be a hint or two on the first panel; Skate Fast, Skate Hard, Turn Left. Read Full Review

"Slam" is off to a great start with a creative team that works very well together. This roller derby drama has the tenacity to go the distance and I can't wait to see what happens next. Read Full Review

While roller derby is its own world, Slam! #1 gives a glimpse into how that world can have positive effects on the people in it. Following the journey of Maisie and Jen as they first start out and heading into their new lives on teams is absolutely joyful and should absolutely set precedent for how womens sports comics handle competition and friendships. Of course, now that Jen and Maisie are no longer on the same team, how will they handle flying on their own? Read Full Review

For Roller Derby members or fans, you're going to love this series. Readers who aren't too familiar with the sport are going to benefit reading this issue as somewhat of an introduction to the world of Roller Derby. This sport breeds close relationships, and this series takes us through one of the closest there can be. This is going to be an interesting story to follow, so head over to your local comic book shop (comicshoplocator.com) tomorrow to pick up a copy! Read Full Review

Just a friendly reminder, this is another awesome comic about kick-ass women created by some kick-ass women. It is so nice to see the uptick is great comics that just happen to be centered on women that also happen to be written and drawn by women. Aside from wanting to support female creative teams, comic lovers will enjoy this story because this book has a lot of charisma that cannot be ignored. Even looking at the cover, which is a close up of Jennifer in full derby gear, all bloody after an apparent derby match, this book is hard to pass over on a shelf full of comic books. The girl power message throughout this first issue is a subtle one, but the clear message from this first issue is there are plenty more good stories to come from this derby rink. Read Full Review

Pamela Ribbon does a really great job of giving us a lot of realistic little moments throughout this first issue. And Veronica Fish does a fantastic job with the artwork in this book. It's a great team of awesome ladies writing about some other awesome ladies. It may not be as exciting as books about superheroes or superpowers or zombies but it's real and it's got a lot of really exciting potential. I'm really looking forward to the next issue! Read Full Review

Slam is great, I'm not even gonna try to hide how much I love this series so far. It has everything you could need in a comic: humour, action, emotion, relatable characters. It has started off strong and while its Roller Derby setting might hinder how far it can go as a series it is such a different setting that is more than welcome. Read Full Review

The newest BOOM Box series is basically a love letter to the world of women's roller derby, so fans of the sport or the movie Whip It will feel right at home here. Read Full Review

Slam! #1 shows a lot of promise. Though it's not without a couple minor flaws, the joy it exhibits, its winning characters, and its focus on one of the few sports dominated and defined by women, makes its sense of fun infectious. Read Full Review

Slam!s debut issue is like a brand new pair of rollerskates: too polished and squeaky clean to be marked for greatness yet, but possessed of all the nuts and bolts needed for future glory. Read Full Review

Over recent years Roller Derby has become an extremely popular sport. Theres probable not a major city in America or the UK that doesnt have a Roller Derby team. Anyone who has been to see a live game will have noticed the intensity; not just of the game but also of the relationships between skaters, between teams and between supporters. The Derby world is one massive family with a full contact sport thrown into the middle. Read Full Review

If the goal of this issue was to be inventive and highlight the fun parts of roller derby, then it failed. I can see the effort. I can see it trying, but in the end, it didn't work. I wasn't left wanting more or understanding what more of this story would look like. Two cats fight and it's left for us to assume that these two friends will also fight. The story isn't subtle and really I still have a hard time calling it a story because it was too focused on the derby element rather than the characters and their journey. If I want derby, I'll go watch derby. I don't need to read a comic about it. Read Full Review

This all mounts up to a sequence near the end of the comic where the reader, after seeing the backstories of our characters and seeing how they came to join the derby league, see how their lives change in a montage of panels. Not only is this where Ribon and Fish bring them together as friends and endears the reader to their friendship, but the design of the pages that shows the panels like scrapbooked memories taped to a wall brings an intimacy to the world. Maybe it's because I look at the world through the lens of being a lesbian, but this could very easily have been the start of a romantic love story as much as a story about platonic love. Either way, simply having a comic that's accessible to anyone and everyone that's about femininity and love and how embracing both doesn't mean being a perfect flower child and sometimes means putting on skates and hot pants and putting yourself through hell is progressive as hell these days. Read Full Review

supercoolyeah

Jan 16, 2017

Wow very unique set up! I loved how the story flowed Ribon knows how to progress things uniquely. And the art of Fish and Peer is delicious.

clevelandspur

Nov 17, 2016

Really stoked for this series. Never read anything like it. I thought the first book did a great job of introducing the characters and the world of roller derby. Looking forward to seeing how things progress in issue 2

Kylemacca

Jul 19, 2017

As a fan of sports comics and a roller derby skater myself, I was still apprensive about this comic- the covers made me think it was not going to be taken seriously, and would get stuck in "explanation" instead of story, and stereotypical cat-fighting. But after seeing this at my local store week after week before heading to practice, I finally buckled down and bought it. ....I don't know if I can even say I'm disappointed as it had all my expectations. Considering the amount of time spent on off skate interaction, i still don't feel a shred of interest in ANY of these characters. This isn't a story about roller derby- it's a half-forgotten story a friend of a friend who knew someone who played roller derby for a month is trying to tell . more