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Posted September 30, 2013 by Alvin Minon in Comics
 
 

COMIC BOOK REVIEW: The Powerpuff Girls #1

“Sugar, spice, and everything nice. These were the ingredients chosen to create the perfect little girls…”

You know how the intro goes and the trio of Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercup makes its way into comics in IDW‘s The Powerpuff Girls #1. Using their ultra-super powers, these girls fight crime and protect the city of Townsville in comics just as they did in the animated show.

The book is faithful to the cartoon series. Troy Little‘s done it in such a way that it feels like an episode of the show, following the usual format of a PPG episode: opening narration, Townsville in danger, Mayor asking for help, the girls wrapping things up and the rest of the story rolls in. In just a few pages, people who are new to PPG (though I highly doubt, there’s anybody out there who doesn’t know ’bout these munchkins) would easily get the personality of each character: Blossom’s the “commander and the leader”, Bubbles is the “joy and the laughter” and Buttercup’s the “toughest fighter” and Mojo Jojo’s a central character as the girls’ longtime nemesis, yet he’s reduced to being a pathetic fodder who’s dispatched in four pages.

Even the look’s that close to the cartoon series. It just feels like each panel is lifted off from the tv series. The colors are all vibrant and solid, while the lines are all bold making the characters distinctive from the background and other things going on that are outside of focus. There were bubbles spread around the panels but they weren’t distracting or anything. I also love how Little plays with the girls right from the get-go, using the girls’ fighting formations and aerial routines that are definitely awesome eye-candies.

This is a 5-issue mini series so it’s expected that Little would bring out the big guns early on. However, it’s not just the visuals and the faithfulness to the cartoon series that’s interesting here. This series seems like it’ll be playing with the character of Mojo Jojo, whose different faces Little has successfully portrayed here. He starts off with some laughs, getting his ape-butt kicked and thrown into prison then later on tries to evoke emotions with his monologues. Readers would be up for some twist considering that cliffhanger scene with the villain in prison pondering after his recent defeat. I’m guessing that this mini-series, although initially targeted towards younger audiences, could cater also to young adults given the story and dark humor hidden between Mojo Jojo’s monologues and those golf-pun exchanges with the swamp monster.

With a new CG animated special coming to Cartoon Network, IDW has done a great job introducing PPG into comics. At most it’s a rated PG book and kids are sure to enjoy it. There’s subliminal adult humor too so young adults would have fun reading this. Plus there’s the nostalgia hitting those who have seen the tv series when they were kids. Although the book would seem weaker if considered from the eyes of a young adult reader, it’s still the first issue so I’d want to see if this would really be an all-ages comic book in the next issue.

Review Score:

8/10

Have a taste of Chemical X and grab your copy of The Powerpuff Girls #1  from Comic Odyssey now!


Alvin Minon