Reviewed by Will Cooling
Title: Girly Comic 10
Written by various
Art by various
Lettered by various
Published by Factor Fiction
One of the bigger players in the small press is Factor Fiction who publishes the excellent anthologies Violent and The Girly Comic. Both have pretty self-explanatory names, Violent is, well, violent with lots of helpings of non-PC manic satire whilst The Girly Comic focuses on dolls, make up and boyfriends
(Will ducks the burning tampons that are being chucked in his direction)
No, in all seriousness The Girly Comic focuses on girls and not Frank Millar/Adam Turner girls who are all boobs and no personality (or waist for that matter) but real women. So we get a comic that focuses on such scary things like feelings, relationships and menstruation (okay, I’ll stop now). So far, so earnest sounding, but thankfully The Girly Comic (like its Factor Fiction stable mate Violent) has a sensibility that makes for a very readable comic.
First up is Sylvia’s Path, which is an amusing little story that pokes fun at some of the banality of modern teenage culture (God that sentence makes me sound old) with the old “odd couple” routine of the uptight square and the loose rebel. This time they are sisters, the star Sylvia being the reincarnation of Saffy from Ab Fab whilst her sister Iris makes John Cena look black – she’s all text and skateboarding. Whilst the story is slight (although with only three pages that’s probably unavoidable) it has its moments, having Iris only speak in txt is enjoyably whimsical whilst Sylvia is a humorous representation of uptight, premature aging girls everywhere. The art by Toby Ford is excellent, its cartooney, manga ish style is perfect for the strip and brings out much of the charm and verve in Barry Williams’ script.
In the same vein, there’s a very funny CG style strip Spacegirl, which is devoted to an amusingly body fascistic advert for plastic surgery that will turn any women even Mama Cass into an Adam Turner’s Supergirl. Whilst it’s not the most original idea it’s nicely presented and there are some innovative quirks, especially the final panel that suggests that all the plastic surgery may not be enough anyway.
Speaking of (the great, brilliant, etc) Mama Cass there’s a very interesting history of the Mamma and Pappas (also great, brilliant) star by Lee Kennedy. I’m not going to recap her life, but Kennedy presents it very competently with concise and informative text coupled with good cartooney artwork. Whilst the hand lettering may make it difficult to read in parts and to be honest its not a comic strip but a history of Mama Cass with pictures (yes there is difference), it’s a good read and stands out amongst the…well…amongst the comic strips.
Also excellent is Sparkle, which may be the strongest strip in the whole comic. It focuses on a primary school girl who falls in love with a bully, “seduces him” (no, not that way, the bully may be the leader but he’s not in that sort of gang) only to despair as he slowly turns soft. It’s an extremely fun story, with fun characterisation and cartooney (God, I’m sick of using that adjective), minimalist art and it has a suitably nasty ending. Whilst I would be very keen to see this character return to the comic, I do note that this slightly misogynistic tale (oh, women really like it when you treat them DIRTY) was written by a man, namely Chris Doherty. Maybe he’s setting himself up as the Russ Meyer of the Girly Comic?
Of course, misogyny is more often than not preferable to earth mother angst, which is what we get with Gutterbaby, which must be one of the strangest stories I’ve read – and not in a good way! It centres on a woman (can’t tell how old she is) who was abandoned as a child. She falls into a PUDDLE, yes a PUDDLE and begins to feel like she’s drowning, which causes her to have a flashback to when she was abandoned as a child. Whilst there’s promise in the writing, it’s poorly constructed and has niggling flaws that undermine the main character (I’m sorry, but she’s drowning in a FREAKING PUDDLE?). It’s also far, far too earnest as well. As a rule, it’s far easier to entertain people than make them feel something, it is not a coincidence that almost all the comic book masters started out with lighter stuff before doing the stuff that really packs an emotional punch. In addition, the art is (there’s no other words for it) absolutely terrible as Joseline does a weird scratchy line thing that makes all her characters look like bad string puppets and it just completely distracts from the story. And I say this as someone who is not only understanding of the fact that most small pressers haven’t got access the materials to replicate “professional” artwork, and one who likes the minimalist style, but I really don’t rate this artwork.
The final story for me to cover is The Chanced Romanced, which has a special appeal to Nexus fans. You see its written by our Iain Burnside, yes our Inside Pulse’s own pet Scottish Skinhead with a morphine habit (ah how I long for the days of the Duke of Cumberland when every English child had their own pet Jock). Now I know what you’re thinking, with Captain Morphine at the helm this is going to be a ball busting, no holds barred satiric masterpiece OR manga porn. Actually it’s neither! Nope, Iain beneath that rough, tough and buff exterior actually has a heart that not only beats but weeps too. He’s really a gentle soul and he’s first published comic work is…a romance story!
Teasing aside, this is a very good story. Now, I know I’m Iain’s bitch so it’s difficult for me to be impartial, but I’ll give it my best shot. The story is about two typical adolescents riding the school bus who try to steal glances of each other whilst avoiding each other. In short, a fairly typical story of teenagers being wussies and fancying someone though not doing anything about it. However, Burnside does three things that make it an interesting story. Firstly, he gets the balance right between angst and lightness; this isn’t a heavy story in the slightest, which makes it much easier to read. Secondly, in the tale’s few pages he has he expertly established their characters and turns them from plot ciphers into fully formed characters with personalities. Finally, he shouts “YOU’RE NICKED SUNSHINE” (I wonder how many people get that? No one? Okay then). It’s a good read, and it should be noted that really this is the only story that actually does what The Girly Comic says it’s about (and normally is very good at) by focusing on the relationships of real women. The artwork by Debra Boyask whilst rough round the edges, has lots of character and charm and also nicely captures the character of the story.
All in all, this is a very good comic and thoroughly good read. In terms of stories, it has lots of variation from the pure satire of Spacegirl to the relative realism of The Chanced Romance. It does suffer from an over abundance of artists who can only be described as “cartooney, minimalist” and it would nice for future issues to restore the balance between that (which to be fair, is the prevailing style of the Small Press) and more realistic artwork. Still, I enjoyed it and almost all the stories are well worth a read.
