Geek-Girl #9 - Markosia Enterprises

GEEK-GIRL No. 9, December 2021

Containing two simultaneously told story threads involving the comic’s titular character and its ‘new upcoming star’ Cabra Cini, Sam Johnson’s narrative for Issue Nine of “Geek-Girl” must surely have pleased its 158 backers following its successful Kickstarter in May 2021. Sure, the twenty-page periodical’s more action orientated moments initially sit entirely with the Voodoo Junkie Hitwoman as opposed to Ruby Kaye’s super-powered alter-ego. Yet once the “hot popular Maine College” attendee confronts Mean Girl in a shopping mall, the glass-wearing crime-fighter soon establishes a dynamic narrative all of her own; “Don’t worry. This doesn’t last long and now you know this trick you’ll be better prepared next time --”

Foremost of this book’s plots however, has to be Cini’s enthralling exploits in The Infinite dimension, which grab the reader straight from the start and subsequently take them on a surreal adventure with huge, sword-wielding trolls, blade-carrying harpies and dart-firing stone heads. Indeed, it’s arguably hard to imagine a more bizarre environment than the one the “co-creator of The Almighties” conjures up for this publication, and once “the Voodoo lady” starts slicing through her fantastic-looking foes using a combination of close-combat skills and bullets, it soon becomes abundantly clear why Cabra has already been given a mini-series of her own.

Equally as intriguing is Geek-Girl’s latest ‘arch-frienemy’, whose bemusing mixture of devastating Kung-Fu kicks and hallucination-inducing phone selfies certainly seems to catch a somewhat overconfident Kaye completely off-guard. Just how Mean Girl’s special unicorn-based ability works is anyone’s guess, but having severely injured Whupper with a shoe-spike straight out of an old “James Bond” movie, it appears certain that the colourfully-costumed shoplifter with a penchant for pink is going to be involved in a highly-anticipated rematch at some point soon.

In addition to Johnson’s penmanship, Carlos Granda and colorist Chunlin Zhao genuinely imbue all this comic’s cast with plenty of vitality and ‘believability’, even during some of their more sedentary moments such as when Summer James decides she wants some powers of her own. The pencilling of Cabra’s fantastic swordfight with two blubbery, big-bellied minions of The Rook is particularly well-done though, and alongside Mean Girl's gruesome kick to an unsuspecting Whupper's chest, is probably the highlight of this book.

The regular cover art to "GEEK-GIRL" #9 by Carlos Granda & Chunlin Zhao

Geek-Girl #8 - Markosia Enterprises

GEEK-GIRL No. 8, December 2021

Packed full of a plethora of plots, Sam Johnson’s script for this “extra-sized issue” certainly does a good job in ‘hooking’ its readers, whether they stay for Geek-Girl’s big battle against the formidably-sized Digger Mensch, the mysterious discovery of an old man and his cloned wife living deep inside Johnny Carlyle’s multi-storied Headquarters in Maine, or the incredible, dimension-jumping exploits of Cabra Cini. In fact, in many ways it’s a shame this twenty-four page publication isn’t even larger so as to give the likes of the “Voodoo junkie hitwoman” and the bizarre happenings inside the Infinite even more ‘screen time’.

Foremost of these story-threads however, has to be Tyler’s unearthing of Gerry and Theresa. The elderly people’s plight is actually quite heart-breaking, with the building’s cold-hearted owner appearing to be as ruthless a landlord as he was a scheming salesman of high-tech weapons. Luckily, things appear to have been resolved in the short-term when Ruby Kaye decides it would be fine to give the pensioners a ‘stay of execution’. Although, that status quo sadly doesn’t last all that long once the criminally-inclined Digger arrives to permanently remove the former residents; “Yeah. I’m just here to do a job -- Johnny needs them out… They were s’posed to be gone yesterday.”

Just as intriguingly enjoyable are the insights Johnson’s writing provides on the portal-ridden universe of Cabra Cini. The Lady of Voodoo’s ability to traverse “Limbo’s crazy cousin -- locked away in the attic”, courtesy of some magical symbols, looks set to generate some sense-shattering shenanigans in this ongoing series’ future instalments. But in addition, the twisted domain also seems to have a second connection to our modern day world, thanks to the comatose hospital patient Kristina and her eyeless duplicate who is depicted dinning on chicken, vegetables and potatoes with a disconcertingly masked Lisa back in the Infinite.

Providing this periodical with some prodigious pencilling is Carlos Granda, who really does a splendid job during this comic’s opening of showing just what a massive, sprawl of corridors and doors the super-team’s premises consists of. Likewise, the artist really imbues Mensch with all the angry frustration a bibliophile might expect from a criminal whose “crooked drinking buddies” are starting to deride, now his boss has seemingly turned away from numerous nefarious activities.

The regular cover art to "GEEK-GIRL" #8 by Carlos Granda & Chunlin Zhao

Geek-Girl #7 - Markosia Enterprises

GEEK-GIRL No. 7, September 2020

Focusing heavily upon some of the party games taking place at “fancy dress club nite Freakee Kiki’s”, this twenty-one page periodical’s plot arguably does a good job in highlighting the animosity bubbling beneath the surface between Ruby Kaye and her so-called friends Karin, Stacey and Jennifer. Indeed, straight from this comic’s opening, when the Maine College student shows her new team-mate The Minger a selfie of the three girls dressed as “the super-bitches”, it is clear that an evening packed full of over-indulgent alcoholic drinking and somewhat bizarre circus contests is probably not going to go all that well for the super-hero.

Of course, that isn’t to say that the self-centred trio don’t deserve everything Kaye later verbally gives them, considering that one of their group comes purposely dressed as Ruby’s arch-nemesis with the intention of having “some fun in the Feats of Strength” challenge, and another is simply rude towards poor Summer James for apparently having the audacity to be wearing Geek-Girl’s costume. But by the end of the night’s Airing of Grievances it seems reasonably clear that both Karin and Stacey are undoubtedly going to plan some sort of revenge upon their drunk “girl-friend” after she falsely accuses them of grabbing her pair of “power-inducing super-tech glasses” in front of a packed night club audience; “-- That stuff about slapping her, that wasn’t her. It was that Monster Guy’s fake Karin. Now they’ll really think I’m crazy…”

However, for those readers more interested in entrepreneur Johnny Carlyle’s creation of The Kaye Foundation than the titular character’s increasingly poor relationship with her college companions, Sam Johnson’s script for Issue Seven of “Geek-Girl” does still include a brief look at Digger Mensch’s equally poor rapport with his downright shady criminal chums. Badly hung over following his own bout of binge-drinking at some less than salubrious underground venue, the mechanically-limbed builder is less than impressed when he wakes to find one of his unsavoury associates has defaced his shirt whilst he slept, and having taken his revenge upon the semi-conscious vandal suddenly seems potentially destined to turn his back upon his felonious past for good.

The regular cover art of "GEEK-GIRL" No. 7 by Jason Hehir & Chunlin Zao

Geek-Girl #6 - Markosia Enterprises

GEEK-GIRL No. 6, September 2020

Featuring a sizeable cast of characters, including a humorous cameo by Guano Guy and Mister Marvellous Man, Sam Johnson’s narrative for Issue Six of “Geek-Girl” probably pleased the majority of this comic’s fans when it ‘hit the shelves’ in September 2020. Sure, the titular lead doesn’t actually have much to do within this particular twenty-page periodical, apart from arrange “a fabulous, fancy-dress night – themed on Seinfeld’s alternative Xmas, Festivus” for her girlfriends. But that doesn’t stop the book’s plot from still posing some intriguing questions as to the motivation behind some of the series’ other personalities.

Indeed, arguably this publication’s best moment is the scene depicting “Johnny Carlyle’s right-hand man Digger Mensch” meeting up with the likes of villain Papa Potato inside a seedy bar area. There’s some seriously good tension generated by Digger’s conflict with his supposed pals, following their objections that he has helped restore the town’s previously destroyed police station with his construction super-powers, and the builder’s palpable fear of Black Mass literally leaps out of the panel when the criminal questions Mensch’s loyalties by warning him that Carlyle is fast becoming a problem for the rest of the group.

Likewise, the air of mystery surrounding a lone Satanist communicating with the dead in an upper apartment’s rune-covered mirror is equally as enthralling, especially when the man’s desperate pleas for help from beyond the grave actually seem to prove successful, and he conjures up the ghost of Kristina; “Haven’t seen… But someone could see him, maybe. Lady of Voodoo… Cabra Cini. Yesss. Find on the Dark Web.” The identity of this fair-haired cultist is intriguingly kept hidden from the reader, as is the reason as to why he’s trying to locate someone who has “taken all our cash and cleaned out his apartment.”

Carlos Granda should also be acknowledged as a key contributor to the competence of this comic, with his prodigious pencilling. Johnson has penned plenty of word-heavy, dialogue driven sequences in “Change Of Plan”, yet the artist still manages to make these conversations pleasing to the eye by imbuing all their participants with both animated life and, in the case of Summer James, plenty of vibrant personality too.

The regular cover art of "GEEK-GIRL" No. 6 by Jason Hehir & Chunlin Zao

Geek-Girl #5 - Markosia Enterprises

GEEK-GIRL No. 5, October 2019

Successfully funded by 175 backers in 2019 as part of a much larger “Kickstarter” project to get this comic book series’ earlier editions available as a trade paperback, this “extra-sized jump on issue” must most assuredly have opened the eyes of its readers to the significantly larger world “Geek-Girl” creator Sam Johnson was planning to populate following his decision to make the title an ongoing publication rather than just a limited run. For whilst this ‘Markosia monthly’ still provides plenty of focus upon Ruby Kaye and her ‘best friend forever’ Summer James, the twenty-five page periodical also literally introduces a planeload of brand new super-powered characters for its fans to wrap their brains around.

Foremost of these intriguingly different ‘capes’ has to be the Whupper, whose introduction, courtesy of a long haul airline flight sat alongside one of the most irritatingly talkative passengers imaginable, cleverly causes this book’s audience to immediately sympathise with the incredibly patient stubble-faced man. Such pathos is then quickly turned into likeability when the unassuming gent does all in his power to save the life of the overly-chatty lady sat beside him following their aircraft’s sudden mid-air destruction; “Holy c%$p on a stick!!! Put this on!”

Somewhat less heroic looking, though equally as interesting, are the disconcertingly named Minger, Digger Mensch and two of the doomed plane’s other occupants, Guano Guy and Mister Marvellous Man. Apart from helping to re-build Acorn Ridge Main Street Police Station, embarrass Ruby with her dorky secret headquarters introduction video, and seemingly selflessly flee the burning airliner whilst someone else saves the day “for free”, this quartet of gaudily-costumed oddities aren’t admittedly given enough of this publication’s finite sheet space to properly develop or sparkle, yet still manage to make a positive contribution to the comic's creation of the "newly-formed Kaye Foundation".

Equally as strong an asset is the excellent illustration work of Carlos Granda, whose dynamic pencilling really helps imbue Johnson’s slightly dialogue-driven script with plenty of visual pace and dynamism, even when simply sketching some of the scenes aboard the aforementioned doomed aeroplane. In fact, this book’s opening sequence, featuring a chanting Satanist being brutally gunned down at his flat’s front door, generates an almost palpable air of mysterious menace to the book's proceedings, which the artist then maintains throughout the rest of the magazine.

Writer: Sam Johnson, Artist: Carlos Granda, and Colorist: Chunlin Zhao

Geek-Girl #4 - Markosia Enterprises

GEEK-GIRL No. 4, January 2019

Deftly tying up all this mini-series’ previous plot threads in light of Sam Johnson’s decision to make this title an ongoing publication (utilising the funding platform “Kickstarter”), Issue Four of “Geek-Girl” arguably starts somewhat slowly before blossoming into a full-on action-fest involving Chromex, Terry, the League of Larcenists, Neon Girl and undercover telekinetically-powered operative Tyler. In fact, by the time Pig-Head is busy serving his “quirky bunch of villains” a formidably-sized pizza-feast, prior to “the briefing on today’s job”, and a furiously frustrated Sandra has finally managed to contact a hung-over Ruby Kaye, all of this comic’s main cast are clearly in position for artist Carlos Granda to prodigiously pencil one pulse-pounding climax; “I told you to be ready. I’ve got where the League of Larcenists are! I’ve texted you the details -- Get over there now. I’ll meet you!”

Of course, that doesn’t mean that this twenty-eight page periodical rests upon its dialogue-driven laurels for its entire opening third either, as its creator even manages to provide an evening visit to Munchers diner with plenty of punch when Summer James, Mariella and “Little Miss Popular” are suddenly robbed at gun-point by a seriously incompetent mugger. Instantly donning her “power-inducing super-tech glasses”, an incensed Kaye soon overpowers the Batman-masked thug courtesy of a table to the face, and simultaneously provides just the sort of the ‘pizzazz’ Maine College’s co-educational student needed to get Geek-Girl “back in the game.”

Interestingly however, despite Ruby being “back in the costume” by the time a cybernetically-enhanced Neon Girl literally crashes in upon Pig-Head’s plans, and rather whimsically quotes Mel Brooks’ 1974 American satirical Western film “Blazing Saddles” as she punches through the secret headquarters’ brick wall, this comic’s conclusion is not as straightforwardly scripted as its readers may have anticipated considering “Maine's First Lady of super-heroing” is leading the charge. Indeed, Sandra’s “hell bent” decision to soar off in chase of Chromex and Terry’s escaping armoured truck leaves a wholly out-matched titular character facing almost the entirety of the Larcenist’s “serious tech” and “a guy whose brain has been fused with a pig’s” who isn’t afraid to use them upon the bespectacled brunette.

Astonishingly for a book which has previously depicted its super-heroes suffering from all manner of physical beatings and maimings, Johnson actually pens for this intense laser beam-filled finale to reach a satisfying conclusion, as Kaye’s unsuccessful attempt to replicate Al Pacino's “Say hello to my little friend” scene from the movie “Scarface” is salvaged at the last second by Neon Girl’s return and Tyler’s revelation that he’s working for Mister Carlyle. True, Pig-Head loses a hand during the cataclysmic conclusion, whilst Chromex luckily lives to commit crime another day, but such intriguing developments are actually soon overshadowed by the prospect of Geek-Girl potentially teaming-up with the chain-smoking power broker’s telekinetic in this series’ next edition…

The regular cover art of "GEEK-GIRL" No. 4 by Carlos Granda

Geek-Girl #3 - Markosia Enterprises

GEEK-GIRL No. 3, September 2018

Enthusiastically publicising that this twenty-four page periodical contains “Round Two” of Nina Dante’s attempt to unseat Ruby’s bespectacled alter-ego as “The Hero of Maine”, Sam Johnson’s narrative for Issue Three of “Geek-Girl” may well have surprised many within its audience by providing far more than a simple slug-fest between the jealous cybernetically-eyed lawbreaker and “Little Miss Popular”. Indeed, despite Kaye’s rival receiving “an experimental new power” instead of the robotic arm she was intending to purchase via “doing a Kickstarter”, “The Welcoming Party” arguably appears to focus far more upon the titular character’s doubts as to ever wearing Trevor Goldstein’s super-tech glasses again than the aforementioned rematch, especially when Karin Carpenter begins pressurising her resoundingly popular ‘friend’ into donning the costume once again as some sort of publicity stunt at Raleigh’s nightclub.

Before any of this dialogue-heavy soul-searching takes place however, this comic first resolves Summer James’ confrontation with “the menacing Chromex”. This altercation really must have got the readers’ blood pumping straight from the start as the heavily armoured maniac seems entirely hell bent on pummelling the powerless young woman before him as a result of her bravely interrupting his attempt to rob a gas station; “You got in Chromex’s way, lady. You don’t get to do that again!” 

Delightfully though, this somewhat tense sequence is seemingly penned by Johnson to provide Neon Girl with a truly awesome entrance, allowing this title’s fans their first proper look at the town’s “resident Big Gun super-heroine” during this mini-series’ second volume. Now sporting a robotic hand, the blond-haired heavy hitter makes short work of Chromex courtesy of hurling a car into the villainous tin-can, and is only thwarted in her attempt to incarcerate the clunky criminal when he is surprisingly spirited away by the League of Larcenists during an all-too brief vehicle chase.

Perhaps somewhat unexpectedly, “the über-bitchy unofficial leader of Ruby’s clique” is also given plenty of ‘screen time’ within this publication, first as the model hostess for a geek-chic celebratory V.I.P. table, and then as an arrogant bully who forces an unconvinced fan into wearing some of her spare contacts so Kaye could borrow her glasses for the evening and look even more like her costumed counter-part. Manipulative, controlling and overbearing, Karin positively bristles with indignation when Summer’s late arrival ruins her plans to transform the evening into a major promotional event, even when James hands over to her “the replica [Geek-Girl] costume I made”…

The regular cover art of "GEEK-GIRL" No. 3 by Carlos Granda & Chunlin Zhao

Geek-Girl #2 - Markosia Enterprises

GEEK-GIRL No. 2, July 2018

It’s rare for a magazine to generate such a strong, mounting sense of injustice in its audience as Sam Johnson’s script for Issue Two of “Geek-Girl” arguably does in its terrible treatment of the “comic book geek with a basement stuffed with super-hero funny books”, Summer James. For whilst by her own admission, the fashion student has simply been carrying “on Geek-Girl’s work until you got better -- Just until you got back into it --”, the poor young woman’s unforgivably antagonistic reception by Ruby Kaye and her best friend’s mean-spirited parents is infuriatingly hostile, especially considering that the super-heroic stand-in only visited Little Miss Popular's residence because her supposed buddy invited her to; “Yeah, it’d be great to see you.”

This scene is tremendously well-penned by the title’s creator, and turns what was initially expected to be a joyful reunion between “the cool kids” into a somewhat uncomfortable doorstep greeting, and then later full-on verbal tirade by Janice, who immediately starts irrationally accusing the bespectacled-rookie of irresponsibly putting her daughter in a coma and almost getting her killed. This outrageous welcome to someone who has simply been trying to do their best, and placing their life on the line as a consequence, genuinely gets the blood boiling, and any liking for the original super-tech glass-wearing protagonist debatably evaporates when she subsequently further deflates Summer’s bubble by taking back Trevor Goldstein’s invention from her, even though Ruby apparently has absolutely no intention of ever wearing them again…

Happily however, this understandably depressing, dialogue-heavy sequence is interestingly interspersed by a much more humorous series of scenes focusing upon the utterly inept Terry and his unwise decision to join the League of Larcenists. Anyone foolish enough to believe a man with literally half a boar’s brain is going to produce a “rock-solid” plan for robbing Maine of half its considerable wealth is asking for trouble, so it surely wouldn’t have come as a surprise to this twenty-one page periodical’s audience that the criminal’s relationship with Pig Head and Mongo quickly degenerates in something of a farce, particularly when one of the crew reveals “he was telling me his wife made him have a vasectomy the other week” and the naïve crook’s resultantly awarded the codename “Numb Nuts”.

Quite possibly this publication’s biggest draw though is Summer’s confrontation with the mechanically-menacing Chromex. Fantastically pencilled on this comic’s variant edition cover by Carlos Granda, the heavily armour-suited villain would potentially appear a match for James even if the caped crime-fighter still actually had her powers, let alone now when she isn’t “wearing the glasses”, so his devastating destruction of Josh’s car as the student desperately attempts to save the head-miked damsel in distress sincerely shows what the robotic lawbreaker is probably planning to do to his fallen prey at the conclusion of this book.

The regular cover art of "GEEK-GIRL" No. 2 by Carlos Granda 

Geek-Girl #1 - Markosia Enterprises

GEEK-GIRL No. 1, June 2018

Proudly publicised as “There’s A New Geek in Town” by creator Sam Johnson, this opening instalment to the comic’s “Crime War” story-arc strongly builds upon the cast and situations initially introduced in the mini-series’ ‘first run’ by replacing Ruby Kaye as the titular character with Little Miss Popular’s best friend, Summer James, and depicting the “less shallow” fashion student’s disconcerting difficulties as a rookie crime-fighter. Indeed, as inaugural missions go, the super-hero ‘funny-book fan’ performs quite dismally, by first accidentally ploughing a simple street-thief straight through the glass window of a local hardware store, and then mere moments later, being completely outfoxed by a dapperly-dressed villain known as the Cad, whose only significant power is that he can supposedly “#$*% with girls’ heads.”

Admittedly, such an inauspicious start to the new Geek-Girl’s career as a bespectacled vigilante certainly provides plenty of bang for one’s buck, even during Pit-Bull’s sedentary still, brutally frank debrief as to his opinion of the young woman’s performance against the “D-Lister” and his “mind thing”. But disappointingly what then follows is arguably far less enthralling, as “the rest of Ruby’s clique” spend three-pages behaving in a thoroughly objectionable manner around the comatose heroine’s hospital bed cracking inappropriate jokes, and Summer seeks some semblance of solace in the company of diner dish-washer Mariella by regurgitating the plot’s main premise once again; “Remember how all this started --? You wanted to get Trevor Goldstein interested -- so you could take his geeky teach-glasses, that they said give super-powers...”

Of course, these dialogue-heavy, rather wearisomely wordy conversations are intermixed by the writer cleverly focussing upon the exploits of Maine’s “new-crooks-on-block The League of Larcenists” and their first somewhat heavy-handed, aggressive robbery at Acorn Ridge’s bank. Yet even the masked men’s cold-blooded threat for the stockpile staff to “get those shutters back open or we’re gonna shoot everyone in here”, plus their van’s subsequent shocking teleportation back to the aspiring criminal’s secret lair isn’t quite enough to fully reinvigorate a narrative which gets a little too bogged down in adolescents feeling “about as welcome as a turd in a swimming pool.” 

Correspondingly as inconsistent as this publication’s penmanship is arguably Carlos Granda’s artwork. The Colombian’s ability to draw dynamically-charged panels pumped full of animated life is vividly evident right at the very beginning of this book, courtesy of a single splash-page showing the klutzy buxom brunette showering a shop full of hapless customers with glass as she careens through the retail establishment’s entranceway. So just why he then later draws Pit Bull wearing such an amateurishly pencilled, clunky-looking costume as he does is disconcertingly bewildering..?

Writer: Sam Johnson, Artist: Carlos Granda, and Colorist: Chunlin Zhao

Geek-Girl: What Ever Happened To Ruby Kaye? - Markosia Enterprises

GEEK-GIRL: WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO RUBY KAYE?, May 2018

Published by “Markosia Enterprises” as a digital only edition for Free Comic Book Day 2018, Sam Johnson’s script for this ten-page periodical provides an impressive interlude between the events featured in Volume One of “Geek-Girl” and those yet to occur within the title’s forthcoming second series of adventures. In fact, part of the publicity surrounding the circulation of this somewhat scintillating ‘short’ is that is contains actual “material” from the bespectacled super-heroine’s earlier escapades “and sets up the second mini-series, launching [in] May…”

Fortunately however, it is far from imperative that this book’s audience have any previous knowledge of the “popular" Maine college coeducational student, or how she “landed a pair of power-inducing super-tech glasses from her college’s resident brainiac” due to the author’s informative recapitulation at the story’s start. Such a simple text-based method of bringing a reader ‘up-to-speed’ is arguably a little clunky when compared to some of the fast-paced, graphically-fascinating flashback sequences other writers seem to utilise within the modern-day tale-telling industry, but is still perfectly acceptable, if not even preferable, when space is assumedly tight within the confines of a freely distributable tome.

In addition, the ‘wordy’ summarisation actually adds to the impact of the pamphlet’s primary panels, as Carlos Granda pencils a fantastically-fast Silver Speedz whizzing through the carnage of Lightning Storm’s most recent attack upon Portland, and shockingly gets stripped to a skeleton when his common-placed thievery irks the seemingly unstoppable super-villainess; “Hell’ve a job yer doin’ -- Got myself a freebie! ZSHAAAKK…” In fact, with the possible pause of Summer James asking Josh Campbell to borrow a baseball bat, the sense-shattering action between Geek-Girl and her disconcertingly white-eyed, electric-manipulating opponent, simply doesn’t let up until towards the narrative’s end when a comatose Kaye has a friend visit her in hospital, and Terry rather unconvincingly tries to explain to his wife that becoming a heavily-armed bank robber, courtesy of joining the League of Larcenists, would potentially be a good career move for them...

This persistently relentless combat between the titular character and Neon Girl’s “extremely dangerous” nemesis really is the highlight of “Geek Girl: What Ever Happened To Ruby Kaye?” and genuinely grabs the attention the moment Johnson’s creation blindsides Storm with a satisfyingly sound sock to the jaw. Of course, along with the Police repeatedly shooting at her, such a move only seems to enrage the cold-hearted killer. But that doesn’t stop the tension rising as the pair’s savagely-fought confrontation develops to the point where both combatants seemingly beat one another within an inch of their lives.

‘First published on the "Dawn of Comics" website.'

Writer: Sam Johnson, Artist: Carlos Granda, and Colorist: Chunlin Zhao

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