Social outcasts find their collective calling along with some incidental heroism.It's May 1989, and 16-year-old Doug Cowen is putting a band together to open for returning local boy Tommi Tungstun, who has achieved a modicum of heavy-metal success outside their small Tennessee town. Drummer Jonny Duncan, Lenny Heck on his older brother's bass, and Marty Ward on guitar round out the main cast. Each of them is held back personally or targeted for bullying at school as a result of their circumstances and upbringing, be it Doug's small stature and gifted and talented label, Marty's poverty, Jonny's repressively conservative Christian family, or Lenny's larger body size. Scenes of adolescent downtime that find the four outcasts nerding out over music ring true. Performance as their means of escape, expression, and bonding is also cause for bold sound effects lettered in primary colors. The group's tenuous camaraderie serves as an escape from the ever present bullying of quarterback and sheriff's son Clay Guidry, who finds and torments them at school and around town. Climactic action revolving around carnage caused by mutated pigs created by a multinational corporation may seem out of place, but it also serves as a catalyst for the gang's character arcs. A substantial epilogue closes out the bloodied but rockin' wonder years. This concise offering scratches that Stranger Things itch without overstaying its welcome. Main characters appear White.A nostalgic nod to the power of friendship. (Graphic fiction. 13-17)