Attaboy is a graphic novel disguised as a retro video game manual
Nov. 16, 2023The latest project from writer/artist Tony McMillen has a unique format
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Tony McMillen, the writer/artist behind coming-of-age horror comedy Serious Creatures is back with an innovative new graphic novel. Attaboy is a science fiction adventure comic cunningly disguised as the instruction booklet for a video game.
Attaboy started life as a successfully funded Kickstarter a few years back before being picked up by Mad Cave Studios. The story follows a “byte-sized” (we see what they did there) hero as he attempts to avenge the loss of his father, Dr. Atta, in what is described as a “colorful and personal allegory of grief.”
Here’s McMillen’s own cover art for the book.
“Attaboy, the “byte”-sized hero, is forced to avenge the destruction of his father and creator, Dr. Atta, by the sinister rebellious mechazoid Motherboard. However, the turn of each page unravels a much deeper story of pixelated thoughts, real-world references, and heartbreaking truths.”
“Comics are a lonely pursuit in a lot of ways. Especially self-publishing comics,” said Tony McMillen of creating the project. “After posting Attaboy on Kickstarter four years ago, I’m tremendously happy that the book has found a new home withMad Cave Studios. Having a group of savvy people who are as excited as I am about this makes me confident that the large audience we both feel is waiting for a book like this will sit up and take notice…and that makes my toes tap!”
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Will Salmon is the Comics Editor for GamesRadar/Newsarama. He has been writing about comics, film, TV, and music for more than 15 years, which is quite a long time if you stop and think about it. At Future he has previously launched scary movie magazine Horrorville, relaunched Comic Heroes, and has written for every issue of SFX magazine for over a decade. He sometimes feels very old, like Guy Pearce in Prometheus. His music writing has appeared in The Quietus, MOJO, Electronic Sound, Clash, and loads of other places and he runs the micro-label Modern Aviation, which puts out experimental music on cassette tape.
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