Attaboy is a sensational comic that Mad Cave just had to get the rights to publish. It started as a self-published piece that the creator Tony McMillen crowdfunded and sold on his Etsy. Still there in physical and digital…probably until Mad Cave releases this near the end of May. Or until the FOC near the end of April. Because this is too good a graphic novel to find anywhere else with how it goes into how memory changes the best and worst things in life.
Attaboy: Passion Paints Perception
Tony McMillen bases this graphic novel around recreating a beloved classic game from memory. Hence why this story doesn’t feel like playing a game. If anything it’s about exploring why the player loved the titular classic.
All for the best, because how can a comic capture the experience of playing a game? Unless it’s an AR game like Neon Wasteland or End of the World Pizza, it just can’t. So McMillen instead makes the experience feel like an interpretation rather than the real thing. Hence why the entire comic looks like a crude reimagining of a game manual.
Besides, despite the eye-catching artwork that give the sense of the narrator playing the game with its iconography, readers get a sense on why this fictional game did not catch on. It looks and plays like a generic Mega Man clone on a failed console.
Secret Ending(?)
This brings a unique perspective that allow readers to feel why the narrator loves the Attaboy game so much. While the actual product is never as good as the memory of it, a player’s experience is irreplaceable. When the official play through is over and repeating it bring new perspectives, players can project themselves onto these blank slates they play.
In the secret ending, it plays less and less like a traditional game and more like the narrator reflecting on his childhood. Readers get a sense of the narrator using Attaboy as a way to build up skills to confront an overwhelmingly personal fate. No handicaps in power-ups, no in-game lore, just skills and building up the bravery. Even the art escapes from the game manual format to illustrate this.
Attaboy Forever
This graphic novel boils down everything in relation to a core memory. Nostalgia always plays a big role, but it’s not the only thing. Let’s face it, the actual thing is probably nothing special. But memories can change depending on what they’re attached to. Sometimes it makes revisiting those memories a little easier, almost like a video game. No repeat of a playthrough is ever the same, and sometimes what you get out of it might not be what you want. But the journey to that destination is always worth it. So this gets a full 10/10 for its artistic vision tied to very human engagements.
Thanks for coming to the end and as always remember to look between the panels.