Reviewer: Chris Delloiacono
Story Title: Girl Power
Written by: Steve Vance
Art by: Jennifer Graves
Colored by: Lee Loughridge
Lettered by: Kurt Hathaway
Editor: Joan Hilty
Publisher: DC Comics
BAD GIRLS is the second of three new DC books that feature female protagonists. FALLEN ANGEL, the latest series by Peter David presented a very captivating first issue, while the pairing of Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning will present iCANDY in September. BAD GIRLS, unlike the other two ongoing books, is only a six-issue mini-series, and from the time of announcement seemed to be the least compelling of the three.
Steve Vance, who helped Matt Groening create Bongo Comics, does an admirable job setting up the story. Instead of jumping right into the plot, he takes his time presenting the new cast of characters. From beginning to end this feels like a low budget teen flick with a cast of currently hot TV actors. The beats of the story seem more in tune with the silver screen than a comic book, but that does give it a slightly different feel than most books.
Taking a somewhat realistic approach, Vance still opens a pretty interesting world to us. It’s the first day school for series lead Lauren; the pressure is doubled because she’s new to the town of San Narcisco. Vance starts things off with a variation on the old dream of going to school with you underwear on, then the tour of the school kicks into high gear. The cast is rounded out by science nerd Ronald, Trevor and his band of cookie cutter jocks, and of course the “it†girl crowd. The empty-headed drama queens led by Tiffany and her minions in turn are Ashley, Destinee, and Brittany. While a bit formulaic the cast fits their roles perfectly, and each is well written and fairly believable in their actions.
Lauren is at first shunned by Tiffany and her troupe of bimbos, only to be pursued by the group after a mishap in Science class. You must ask though, what is the point of this series? Well during a regular butt kicking at the hands of Trevor’s gang, Ronald is knocked face first into a puddle of purple liquid. Ronald gains super powers for a moment, but unfortunately for him, they quickly vanish. Cutting to the chase, Tiffany and crew accidentally get hold of the liquid and are imbued with powers that don’t seem to dissipate. Tests with mice Ronald performed verify the fact that the females keep the powers and the males don’t. It’s pretty obvious where this is all going, Superlauren, but with any luck Mr. Vance has a few more tricks up his sleeve.
The art by Jennifer Graves reminds me of the work of Phil Hester or Richard Case. Ms. Graves recently worked on the GOTHAM GIRLS mini-series, and she lends a similar “Animated Series†feel to these pages. The art may be in conflict to the somewhat realistic high school story in issue one, yet the future of the mini appears more fantastical, so the art for the series whole should be very fitting.
This first issue is nothing more than an introduction to this world, in movie terms this is about the first 17 minutes. In movies by page 17 of a script you should know where the story is going, and I think that’s the case at the end of this book. All told, this isn’t a bad start for the mini-series. I have faith that Steve Vance will tell an interesting story. He most recently did some fine work in the short-lived DEADMAN series. Like much of Marvel’s Tsunami line, BAD GIRLS is really written for a younger female crowd. Vance captures the spirit of being in High School very well, and gives us a decent story with some interesting characters.
