Alpha Girl #3 (Image Comics, $2.99)
Story by Jeff Roenning, art by Robert Love and Dana Shukartsi
It's not for everybody, but Alpha Girl is fun.
Alpha Girl is on its third issue (as of June 13), and we don't know why the lead character is going to be called Alpha Girl (if she is). The second issue could probably have been dropped altogether. And it's not really original. These are problems. But the fun outweighs that. Let me explain.
The plot is: Morbidly funny zombie apocalypse. The details are that some third-rate perfume manufacturers develop a scent that turns women into crazed, violent killers -- and eaters -- of men. Somehow, in a very short period of time -- it appears to be overnight -- the world becomes a wasteland. Our heroine, Judith Meyers, is a tough chick of roughly late-teens vintage who is living alone and sells her fluids (urine, used tampons, spit, etc.) to sexual perverts to keep herself in a cheap apartment and to save cash to get her younger brother out of juvie. (They are both essentially orphans, and the boy has gotten locked up for fighting off Jerry Sundusky types, and since they are important and he is not, he has ended up in a juvenile jail)
She walks out one morning and finds it's the aftermath of zombie apocalypse: The streets are empty, but the few people she meets are crazed zombie women (think 28 Days Later kind of "fast" zombies), soon-to-be male victims and in the second issue, SWAT-suited men who are capturing all women and locking them away. (So I guess "civilization," or at least remnants of a central authority, isn't completely gone.)
That's the first two issues. Here we are in the third issue (which shipped June 13), and our on-the-run heroine hooks up with a male of relatively similar age and they launch into their plan to save her little brother. What happens next I won't spoil.
The art is reminiscent of Michael Avon Oeming in Powers, although not as polished. In other words, it's unapologetically cartoonish but attempts to overcome that by storytelling skill. It's not a style I usually enjoy, nor is it particularly suited to the subject matter. But it's consistent, it's clear and it's strong in storytelling, so I'm good.
The story is problematic as well. As noted above, the story is taking a long time to establish its central premise, or even its title, nor have we hooked up yet with the little brother, a character I assume will be important. As noted above, the second issue, which shows Judith being captured by SWAT types and escaping, adds very little to the narrative and could have been skipped altogether, which isn't good. And taken as a whole the story is a sort of mish-mash of Y: The Last Man (with genders reversed), Sucker Punch (Judith could have been in that movie), various zombie properties (especially Shaun of the Dead) and MAD magazine, because all of the characters who survive are snarky teens (all adults are stupid, and die stupidly). This doesn't seem like a formula for success too me, because you need people over 19 to buy a comic book for it to succeed, and this book goes out of its way to ridicule that audience.
But with all that being said, I can still recommend it. If you're OK with Michael Avon Oeming's art, then you'll like this. If you like The Walking Dead, here's another post-apocalypse story, with all the usual logistical challenges. And if you're over 20 and can laugh at yourself, and most authority, then you're in the ball park.
And, honestly, I'm curious about how things will turn out for these kids. And I'm curious why only MOST women go zombie, but not all, like our heroine, and a few other gals (all teenage-ish) that we meet. And it's pretty funny in spots.
Since the book is going for black humor and achieves it, I call it a success. And if what I've said here is interesting to you, maybe you'll like it too.
Replies
Yeah, I neglected the subtext of familial bonds that runs through the book, which is sometimes the main story (Judith trying to rescue her brother). That adds an element of sweetness that one would not expect, and it's welcome.
And I'm only guessing at the ages, Mark -- you could be right, for all I know. But Judith appears post-pubescent to me.