Comics Cosmos – Geek-Girl Disappointment

ccHearing there was a comic miniseries out named Geek-Girl, hopes were high for something new and interesting. But those hopes were dashed when I read the review copy. I was so disappointed that I almost wasn’t going to write a review. But then I thought the bad needs to be shared just as much as the good. 

First off, this is not a new premise, but not much is in comics these days. Typical college kid ends up with superpowers from an object, in this case a pair of glasses. But I wouldn’t forego the book for that. What’s really disappointing is that she only gets the name Geek-Girl because she’s wearing the glasses – there is absolutely no hint that she may be intelligent, into science or technology, or that she’s a pop culture geek. The impression given is that it’s all based on how she looks.

geek-girl1previewpg1
Cleavage, butt shot and unnatural poses… all on a single page!

And speaking of looks, this is yet another female superhero in a skimpy outfit. And if that’s not enough, there are plenty of gratuitous down the cleavage shots, rear views and unnaturally angled poses. But let’s not forget a couple of girls kissing just to distract guys (because of course that’s what we do) and then playing some strip poker. It’s just so obviously written and drawn by men with the intention of selling books based on the babe factor.

With all the reports of sexism in the comics industry, it’s disheartening to see that played out on the pages of an indie comic. It would have been so easy to tweak the character to give her some brains and let her live up to the name Geek-Girl – Why did the glasses need to be invented by a male “tech geek”? That would have been such an easy way to make HER the geek! And something a little more intriguing than a standard revenge plot would have been nice (sure, let’s repeatedly call the female villain a bitch, that works!).

But this is just one opinion. According to the press release, the comic has already been praised as “brilliant” and “charming” with “witty” dialogue… and interestingly all the quotes are from men. One quote does sum it up though: “This book is every geek guy’s fantasy come true.” And that’s truly unfortunate.

If you want to take a look and judge for yourself, Geek-Girl #1 is out now in regular, digital and variant editions, and available at www.geekgirlcomics.com and www.comixology.com.

wordpress counter