Saturday 19 May 2018

Geek-Girl #1/2 - Markosia Enterprises

GEEK-GIRL No. 1/2, October 2017
Digitally distributed freely for joining creator Sam Johnson’s “Geek-Girl” mailing list, this eleven-page computerised comic is a good example of just why Markosia Enterprises “has become one of the United Kingdom’s leading publishers” and “have gained a reputation for producing a diverse range of comic books and graphic novels that cover almost all genres.” For whilst “Lightning Strikes!” undoubtedly presents itself in many ways as a fairly stereotypical super-hero publication with its straightforward script depicting the fall of Maine’s “resident super-heroine” Neon Girl to a new villain, and a dubious Ruby Kaye resultantly taking up the mantle of the north easternmost state’s protector, its contrived mix of college high-jinx antics, sexual party games, cleavage-filled costumes and suddenly all-too serious ‘death-defying’ story-telling certainly makes this title a surprisingly adult, unusual read.

To begin with, the “writer of the acclaimed comedy super-team comic The Almighties” conceivably captures his audience’s attention by predominantly using this book to dwell upon one of the few areas which arguably the vast majority of similar heroic stock narratives tantalisingly truncate - the medical aftermath of a serious super-powered beat-down. Neon Girl’s physically horrific-looking hospitalised state genuinely conveys the savage raw power of Lightning Storm’s electrical attack in a way a half-dozen of Carlos Granda’s well-illustrated panels depicting crackling energy bolts could never properly communicate, and makes the bespectacled Little Miss Popular’s hesitancy to tackle the formidably-powered platinum-blonde psychopath all the more understandable.

Likewise, the arrival of the “Numero Uno” heroine’s brother at the badly-wounded protagonist’s bedside, as well as his subsequent frank conversation with the patient’s less than optimistic consultant, somewhat strikes home that there’s more than one victim to this savage assault and far wider consequences to Neon Girl’s rather public defeat than the woman simply dusting herself off and taking the fight back to her vicious rival. Indeed, if Johnson’s script suggests anything, it’s that “Sandy-pits” surgery will put her at “quite [a] high” risk of death, so everything seemingly rests upon the titular character’s disconcertingly amateur shoulders if the local “Big Gun” is to be avenged and Maine made safe once again.

Such medical drama is doubtless hardly the sort of baptism of fire Ruby imagined for herself in order to “demonstrate her newfound abilities” when she first “landed a pair of power-inducing super-tech glasses from her college’s resident brainiac.” Yet such scintillating spectacle is precisely what this comic somehow generates in between its disconcertingly immature ‘jokily given monikers’, klutzy drink spillages over “expensive designer dresses” and drunken strip poker shenanigans.

‘First published on the "Dawn of Comics" website.'
Writer: Sam Johnson, Artist: Carlos Granda, and Colorist: Nahp

4 comments:

  1. I have never heard of this comic before, Simon, but I must admit your review does intrigue me. Do you have the rest of this series, and if so, what are your thoughts on it? I'm feeling very tempted to buy the TPB of this first series, after discovering it is available for sale.

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    1. Thanks Bryan, I only found out about the title myself because I was asked to preview its "Free Comic Book Day" edition by "Dawn Of Comics", and subsequently got in contact with its creator/writer Sam Johnson. It was Sam who sent me this particular digital edition.

      I like the series fine, and will be posting up my review of "Geek-Girl: What Ever Happened To Ruby Kaye?" in a couple of days time. I've also got to post a preview of "Geek-Girl" #1 which I've been sent before its release on 30/05/2018.

      After that I don't plan on getting any more as its simply not my particular cup of tea but the artwork is great and the writing enthralling enough. It's just a bit too... "Buffy-verse" for me.

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    2. Thanks for that reply, Simon. Calling the series "a bit too... "Buffy-verse" for me" is all the recommendation I need, as I'm a huge fan of all things Buffy and Angel. I will now order the TPB. Thank you for bringing this series to my attention, otherwise I'd never have known about it. There you go - you're making me spend money now! ;-)

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    3. You're quite welcome, Bryan. That is what "The Brown Bag" is all about :-)

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