Kindergoth

(Bloodfire, 2004)
™ and © Bloodfire Studios

Here’s another empty entry for your comics shop’s gloomy corner likely to alienate its intended audience, not because it’s not very good (though it’s not), but because there’s nothing particularly Gothic about the little Goth Girl lead Alise, a back-in-black pre-schooler prone to literally violent mood swings.

Though, from the pages of his sketchbook printed in back, it’s clear artist Zugale has talent, the reader could hardly tell it from the art here: so primitive that it usually lacks even the most basic of backgrounds. At least, Alise has that dismal-cute vibe merchandisers seem to like, but the rest of the cast are a bunch of awkwardly drawn contrivances existing only to spout “jokes” with punchlines like “breed” and “ovary.”

Finally, could we please, as a nation, retire the newly minted stereotype of the fat German exchange student who talks like one of The Katzenjammer Kids (if you don’t know, Google it) who eats a lot? It’s not just because I’m a fat kid of German descent, though it sure doesn’t help, but because it’s cheap, shoddy, comedy helper unworthy of anyone with a pulse.

— S.A. Bennett

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