The Ups and Downs of Nostalgia

Nostalgia is something that everyone loves, it's for the most part pleasant reminder of something else we may have previously enjoyed. On the other hand, nostalgia bait is a real thing in the book world as it can be used to gain sales and set unrealistic expectations for readers and leave them wanting more. I totally had this happen to me with my two most recent reads so let's dive right into it.

So let's start off with the positives and talk about the Backstagers! This is a graphic novel collection by James Tynion IV and Rian Singh, it follows the adventures of the five-person stage crew over the course of the year at their all-boys school. This was such a fun read as I actually was in stage crew during my time in middle and high school, however it was not as fantastical as this read. There was a whole other world behind the curtains at this school and with each new area explored I couldn't put it down.

The Backstagers Crew: (from top to bottom) Jory, Hunter, Sasha, Aziz, and Beckett

I loved and related to every single one of these characters, but I think the ones I related to the most were Sasha and Beckett. Sasha'a boundless energy was definitely how I started my own time as crew, I wanted to get my hands on absolutely everything. However once I started learning the ropes, and had a year or two of experience behind the scenes I felt myself definitely relating more towards the calm, cool, and mostly collected Beckett.

I am definitely going to be on the lookout for single issues of this series next time I am at the comic shops. Some of the covers pay homage to popular musicals which is just the cherry on top for this musical theater fan.

Now let's get into the negative, or nostalgia bait side of things. The other read I want to talk about is The Summer Fun Massacre by Craig DiLouie. When I first picked it up in store, I was like oh it reminds me of one of my favorite games The Quarry.

The Quarry came out in 2022, here's the cover art showcasing the main cast of the game.

The Quarry features a group of summer camp counselors trying to survive the night when they are targeted by a pack of werewolves. I totally felt the same energy when I was reading the premise of DiLouie's book. A "supernatural" killing spree occurs at a summer camp, only to quickly reveal that the same thing happened nine years earlier on the very same night. It sounded awesome and with the nostalgia in play I had purchased the book.

Summer Fun Massacre by DiLouie, this is the second title I have read by this author

After reading this I was definitely confused by some of the choices made. I think the choice of character focus was interesting, where instead of focusing on the typical final girl it instead focuses on the police officer who got to the scene too late. However I feel the story is still a little unbalanced. One of the blurbs on the front of the book describes the work as a pendulum that swings back and forth between mystery and horror and I feel it missed the mark. The book leans too much into the mystery that quickly overwhelms the horror elements of the plot. I do think it was miscategorized to be completely honest. The horror and supernatural elements of the story felt forgotten about until the last few pages of the book where it felt like oh well maybe the creature is still out there.

It was a serious let down, and I definitely will need a break from the horror books... at least until spooky season officially comes around. In terms of nostalgia though, I will always be a sucker for it. Hopefully the next couple of times will be more positive than negative!

Thanks for stopping by the Nest. :)