Written and Illustrated by Frank Cho
Published by AWA
What’s not to love about a comic book cover that spells out a premise by numbers, like an old movie poster?
“10 Women, 4 Challenges, 1 Crown. Winner Rules the Empire.”
The old rule in public relations holds true: Numbers impress when used right.
And so begins Fight Girls, a five-issue series created, written and illustrated by Frank Cho.
Yes, the master of drawing super-fit, super-sexy glamazons doing actual action stunts.
These are no mere ornamental pin-ups.
It’s the essence of pulp, brought to the modern day.
Frank Cho also uses his world-class sequential art talent to answer every feminist critique of mainstream comic book art, while also goadingly embodying them all at the same time.
He’ll pile on the T&A for the fanboys, but his work still respects actual human anatomy. No brokeback posing, but plenty of boob windows.
Just check his Instagram feed, full of good-girl art versions famous female characters alongside ironic mentions of “Outrage!” You’ll see what I mean. It’s all so you-mad-bro, and confounding.
I’d been following Cho creating and drawing Fight Girls for a long while now, and it’s nice to see it finally arrive.
The contest to find a new queen of the Gilmoran Empire is just beginning when the issue opens. This is a sci-fi world of advanced technology such as a floating city and teleporters.
The empire’s main TV feed is broadcasting the contest. Drone cameras buzz about the locations. A TV director is calling out cameras and shots, correlating with the panels Cho has drawn.
We see all 10 women, with a brief rundown of which part of the empire they represent as women both high- and low-born. It’s nice that Cho can draw slightly different faces, though he doesn’t do so well with ethnic or racial diversity here.
(In fact, I’m hard pressed to think of any time Cho has drawn a Black woman. Not to single him out, because I bet I could keep going and going with this across many popular artists … sigh.)
Cho gets off to a rip-roaring start with one of his favorite scenarios: a jungle locale with ferocious beasts and dinosaurs. A stunning splash page awaits you, and I hope Cho does one each issue.
Of course, this story can’t simply be about the contest. We already hear the voices crafting the show, and people watching it as a sporting event with live bets. We’re bound to meet the people in power who have set all this into motion and seek to manipulate the throne.
The fun is just beginning.
