Star Scouts: The League of Lasers

I enjoyed Mike Lawrence’s Star Scouts when it came out last year, so I was thrilled to see that there’s a sequel. Star Scouts: The League of Lasers opens by reminding us of Avani and her interstellar friends. She’s been invited to join the League of Lasers, an elite club for star scouts.

While on a try-out mission for membership, Avani gets to put all her scout skills into practice when her smart-aleck spaceship crash lands. Those skills include patience with her alien rival Pam, since they have to team up to survive and get rescued.

The other scouts try to cover up her absence, preventing her father from finding out what she’s been up to. Only since they aren’t very good at what they do, soon enough, he’s helping out in the rescue mission.

As in the previous book, Lawrence has translated scouting-style activities to comedy science fiction with plenty of messages about cooperation and acceptance. It’s all accompanied by comfortable, welcoming cartooning that captures well the imaginative settings and activities. Readers will find plenty to spur their imagination and build suspense as Avani and Pam struggle with being aliens on another planet.

Mabel and Jen’s rivalry over which one is Avani’s best friend provides a character-based hook to counterpoint the space-faring adventures. By emphasizing similarities regardless of species, Lawrence reminds us of the potential wonder of the greater universe out there while making the characters easy to relate to.

Star Scouts: The League of Lasers is due out in comic shops on March 21 and bookstores on March 20. It’s an enjoyable sequel to the original with plenty of excitement and creativity on display. It can be preordered now from your local comic shop with Diamond code JAN18 1702. (The publisher provided an advance digital review copy.)