In the idea of the Judd Winick’s Hilo adventures, but with a bit more “weight”, yet equally funny, magical and scientific, we have Travis Daventhorpe for the Win! Volume One. Good for ages 8 to 11/young12, this book has all the fun of robots, dinosaurs, friends, bullies, wizards and dodgeball! (Okay, dodgeball might not be fun, but the scientific experiments Travis does are.) 
Travis is new to middle school. He has little to no social skills, but he can build sentient robots that can do everything from cooking,
cleaning, helping with homework, and flying (okay, still working on flying). Wes Molebash’s hero is odd (after all, have you seen his hand? That’s more than a “birthmark”) and has a great big heart. His parents are equally big hearted if not a bit naive. He tries to make friends with the new girl, Juniper (getting a dodge ball in the face for his efforts), and one day his destiny is revealed: he is the chosen one to stop the Big Evil.
Has the story been done before? Is the obvious insult against Travis’s last name used? Is Juniper a “geek” too? Yes, but it feels fun and fresh. The adult reader will know who The Rogue character is as soon as you meet someone, but I am still working on
who is The Big Baddie. One of the has-it-been-done-before-but-is-still-somewhat-fresh points is how things are set up like a D&D video game (or like Travis’s favorite video game which obviously is a D&D like game) when things happen (we get the stats of people, the commentary (you now have the sword; your journal has entered this information). Plus there is a “side story” that (so far) seems a bit needless (two farmers who put the hill in hillbilly) is included. Oh, yes, don’t forget the blackhole/vortex. There is also a bonus/side quest that if you know your Halloween TV specials you will recognize two of them. 
Overall, things are just fun. And as said above if you have read the Hilo series, this is a good new series to start. I read via an online reader copy, but it’s currently available, with volume two coming March 2024.