100 Girls

(Arcana, 2004-2005)
™ and © 2005Arcana Studio

Sylvia’s just a normal teen who’s managed to skip a few grades and has strange powers she doesn’t understand. With all the postmodernism and “adult” super-hero stories out there, it’s good to see a back-to-basics approach. There’s the requisite secret corporation who may have given Sylvia her powers; there’s a bunch of other girls just like her—hence the title; and there are problems at school when she has to use her powers to fend off a bully. Sure, it sounds familiar. Though it has been done before, it’s rare to see a female in the title role, and writer Adam Gallardo and artist Todd Demong pull it off with panache. Demong uses a graffiti art style—like the videogame Jet Set Radio. It’s an offbeat, unusual approach that really works. Gallardo and Demong have created a heroine worth rooting for.

There is one drawback. Gallardo needs to study how teens actually talk. No teen today would say, “Why so glum, chum?” Despite the flaws in the dialogue, this is an excellent start.

— Steve Horton

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