50 Girls 50 #4 – Review

By: Doug Murray & Frank Cho (writers), Axel Medellin (art), Nikos Koutsis (colors) & Thomas Mauer (letters)

The Story: The all woman crew of the Savannah have a final adventure on their trip home.

What’s Good: This comic has two big things going for it.  First, it is really pretty and features a lot of nice-looking women.  That’s all well and good.  I’d much rather look at pictures of pretty women than pictures of muscular men in skin-tight clothing, ya know?  But, pretty girls only carry a comic so far and this issue (and series) deliver on the story aspect too.

Granted, this series isn’t trying to be Watchmen, but sometimes I’d prefer to read a comic that is just trying to entertain than something that is all dark and gritty.  Each issue of this series has featured some clever little sci-fi problem that the women of the Savannah have run into as they try to get their vessel back to Earth: inter-dimensional beings, aggressive aliens, jungle planets that dissolve their spacesuits, etc.  In terms of feel and attitude, this comic reminded me a lot more of Star Trek: The Original Series than any of the later Star Treks that took themselves more seriously.

And, the art has been just grand.  While I’ve gotten familiar with Axel Medellin’s work through the pages of Elephantmen and this is earlier work for him, but he still knew how to draw pretty women (in the best Frank Cho style) so that they look curvy and fluid.  It’s just a skill that some artists have and some artists don’t….and Medellin has “it”.  One clever thing in terms of character design is how the uniforms (skin-tight, of course, because baggy clothes would just get snagged on stuff) have all these seams making them look a little like a wetsuit.  Theses seams give Medellin a way to accentuate the curves and give these women a stronger sense of energy, motion and depth than you’d normally expect.  From a coloring standpoint, I would have enjoyed less pronounced highlights, but the color palates are very pleasing to the eyes too.

50 Girls 50 #3 – PREVIEW

Story by: Frank Cho & Doug Murray

Art By:Axel Medellin

Cover By:Frank Cho

With the ESS Savannah now further from Earth than ever before, the crew is faced with the fact they may have to make a new home elsewhere. Will their new planet’s natives welcome them with open arms? No. Not even close.

50 Girls 50 #1 – Review

By: Frank Cho & Doug Murray (writers), Axel Medellin (art), Nikos Koutsis (colors) & Thomas Mauer (letters)

The Story: The crew of an all female spaceship is lost in space.

What’s Good: Well, it’s Frank Cho and Axel Medellin, so you know there will be pretty ladies in it.  I guess there’s also the hint that it’s called 50 Girls 50…

What makes this an enjoyable title are two things.  First, it seems to be in that space opera end of the sci-fi genre that doesn’t get covered by comics all that much.  And I don’t count the Big 2 cosmic stories where so many of the central players (the Kree, Thanos, etc.) are known entities.  50 Girls 50 is all new and has that wonderful sense of discovery that is a part of any good space opera.

The basic story is that in the semi-near future, Earth learns about wormhole technology and launches a ship.  For scientific reasons that are (thankfully) left vague, wormhole travel is not compatible with Y-chromosomes, so the crew is all women.  But, what was intended to be their maiden voyage, goes wrong and the ladies are stranded in unknown space.

The other neat aspect of the story is something that you’d kinda expect with Cho and Medellin.  As a landing party sets down on a planet to investigate, suddenly you have women in space suits tromping through a jungle full of huge insects.  That would be pretty cool by itself, but surprise, there is some aspect of the planet’s atmosphere that dissolves their gear, so with each passing page, the comic becomes more cheesecake.  First, they’re in spacesuits, then the sleeves fall off, then its pants and half-shirts and by the end of the issue they’re running around the jungle in their undies.  Two things about this work nicely and keep it from being too exploitative.  One is the neat transition from a sterile spaceship environment to sweaty bodies and loincloths.  The other is that it is all done in the best cheesecake tradition with tongue firmly planted in cheek and where everything is teased, but not explicit.

Jungle Girl #4 – Review

By Frank Cho (plot, cover art), Doug Murray (script), Adriano Batista (art), Frank Martin (colors)

You can’t expect too much from a book like this. One look at the cover and the title pretty much sums up what you’re about to get into. Delays have plagued this issue (I think it’s two months late), so I’ve sorta forgot what the story’s about.

I know there’s a crew of civilized people stuck on this island. Jana (the Jungle Girl) was helping them out when some rival natives capture the refugees. The tribe’s all-knowing leader, Dream Walker, says that if Jana can enter this sacred cave and slay the beast within, she and her refugees are free to go. Well, not only does she slay the beast, she slays the tribe’s leader in ultra violent fashion. From there a chase into the abyss begins.

Scripter, Doug Murray, is no Shakespeare, but he manages to write decent dialogue into the mouths of the characters. And penciler, Adriano Batista, is no Frank Cho, but he’s pretty darn good in his own right. His storytelling is easy to follow. In fact, one could easily follow this book without ever reading a single line of dialogue. His work is digitally inked so there’s a mixed result at times when his pencils aren’t so tight. I do wish he had an inker – the art would look so much more refined. Frank Martin’s colors are a mixed bag as well. When he colors the characters, they look amazing. But there are times when things look over-colored or too flat (like after the worm chewing scene). It’s just a bit inconsistent.

Jungle Girl is a book grounded in high adventure, unapologetic violence, and gratuitous amounts of fan service. If you’re into this kind of stuff, it’s fun for what it is. If you’re not, well, you knew you were never going to buy this book to begin with. If these delays continue, you’re probably better off waiting for the trade paperback, because you’ll just forget what happened in the issue before. (Grade: C)

– J.Montes