Pamela Ribon

In the fast-paced, hard-hitting, super cheeky, all-female world of banked track roller derby, two young women will have to decide if their budding friendship is stronger than the pull of a team when a win is on the line. When life starts coming at you like a freight train, you have two options: run away screaming or lean into the hit. From the first day of Fresh Meat Orientation for the Eastside Roller Girls, Jennifer and Maisie knew they’d be fast friends. But when they’re drafted to different teams, the pull of competition — and their increasingly messy personal lives — threaten to drive them apart. In roller derby you take your hits, get back up, and learn how to be a better jammer, a better blocker, a better lover, and a better friend. Derby can heal your heart . . . but it might break a bone or two in the process. Bestselling novelist, screenwriter, and retired Los Angeles Derby Doll Pamela Ribon (Going In Circles, Why Girls Are Weird) joins artist Veronica Fish (Archie, Silk) for a tale of friendship, heartbreak, and truly epic jams.

SLAM!

menna

not really my thing! the art is cute though

Maggie Gordon

If I was marking this solely on the art, the rank would be a lot higher. Slam is full of vibrant, colourful art of badass ladies doing roller derby. Unfortunately, the story is lackluster. Two women meet at roller derby become best friends until suddenly they aren't because of a variety of silly problems. It's not that the set-up is implausible, but that the book doesn't give the conflict enough time to develop so it is hard to care. At least it's pretty?

Patricia Macías García

Ay, es muy cuqui, no sé. Hay muchas mujeres, con muy buena representación y siendo amigas y haciendo el fuertecismo. Yo no necesito mucho más para ser feliz.

Ken Yuen

Despite the cover, I really liked this graphic novel! Basically, if you give me any story about being awkward and feeling out of place, I'm going to identify with those characters. Plus, I think it's cool that it's a story about a friendship with two girls (one of which is an Asian one, her parents show up!)

So this is a story about these two girls, who find identity and friends through roller derby (I can't even remember the last time I roller skated). It's a sweet story that shows the birth of a friendship, the highs and lows, how friendships can just randomly end sometimes, and how maybe how they can recover?

I really like how the different characters find identity through their hobbies. At the same time, you see them struggling to balance work, school, relationships. It shows a messiness that reflects the realities of life. It's not just a story about a scrappy underdog derby team that wins the championship (although you still want to cheer for them).

Love this line:
"You get better by challenging yourself. You gotta do the things that scare you." "Okay, maybe I'll hug a clown tonight."

CanCan picks up a snarky attitude from her mentor, which rubs Knockout the wrong way. Everything comes to a head on the track, which eventually leads them to realize that the only thing holding them back from their potential... could be each other.

SLAM! #3

Did I read this already? I vaguely remember some of the plot elements, but it's been a while.

As usual, the comradery and friendship between the characters is the highlight

Can't find a physical copy of this book anywhere. Was this series cancelled?

CanCan and Knockout are living separate lives after their friendship fizzles...until Knockout volunteers to ref a bout with CanCan's team and appears to be calling extra penalties on her old friend.

SLAM! #4

Think I'm confusing the trade collections with the issues.

Abi Baker

Hey Veronica Fish, that's one nice cover.

Last issue had Cancan and Knockout stop being friends :( so I super hoped they made up this issue, and they kinda did, albeit at the expense of Cancan being injured.

I liked that they had an intro to roller derby at the start of this issue, because I honestly don't know a whole lot about it and it definitely made it feel more inclusive for someone like me who doesn't know their stuff.

The opposing panels of them talking to other members of their team about the dissolution of their friendship made me really sad but was such a good layout for this; to see their pain paralleled was just honestly really touching. This coupled with the last panel where Cancan calls Knockout her hero was so so cute!

I think this is my favourite issue to date because we had a really good balance of roller derby and the friendship between the two mains.

I love love love this comic!

Even though this comic is about roller derby, which I've never done in my life, it's still so heavily relatable. I've been that girl who's wanted to do something with her best friend but ended up in a different place (then again haven't we all been that girl). I've had the boy that I've called 'the boy'. I've had to juggle splitting time between my old friends and my new friends and feeling bad when I can't seem to get it right.

I just love the idea of female friendship in this book. I love that Cancan is starting to stand up for herself. I love the art. I just love it.

Hayley 📖🌈💜🌸

Meh. Not sure I’ll continue with this series.

I was ready to give this one 2 stars and then that ending happened.

Now that best friends Knockout and CanCan are on separate derby teams, their paths go in different directions, with the pressure putting a strain on their relationship both on and off the track.

SLAM! #2

While I really enjoyed this, it seemed like it was missing something?

Best-selling novelist (Why Girls Are Weird, You Take It from Here), animation writer (Moana, the Wreck-It Ralph sequel), and comics writer (Rick and Morty) Pamela Ribon and artist Veronica Fish (Archie, Silk, Spider-Woman) dive into the fast-paced, hard-hitting world of roller derby! Jennifer Chu and Maise Huff (aka Knockout and Ithinka Can on the track) have been best friends since their first day of Fresh Meat Orientation for the Eastside Roller Girls, but when they get drafted for two different teams they'll have to figure out if the bond between them is stronger than the pull of a team when a win is on the line. You get slammed on the track and slammed in life, and in both cases you have to take your hits and get back up again!

SLAM! #1

Oh man, I really loved this! Looking forward to more.

Dani C

This is so accurate to what it's like first getting started with derby!

Kate

THIS WAS SO GREAT.
It definitely felt like a set up for the story to come, rather than a fully fledged arc itself, but if how much I enjoyed this is anything to go by, I have no doubt I’m going to adore this series.

SLAM!

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