Suicide Girls #1 - Mobile Edition

Progressive Panels
Suicide Girls #1
By Andy Frisk
April 27, 2011 - 19:33

IDW Publishing
Writer(s): Steve Niles, Missy Suicide and Brea Grant
Penciller(s): David Hahn
Inker(s): Cameron Stewart
Colourist(s): Antonio Fabela
Letterer(s): Shawn Lee
$3.99 US

In the not so distant future, the Way*Of*Life Corporation controls pretty much “everything now.” Society under this corporation is repressed, intolerant, and “treats those who don’t conform like criminals.” Individual freedom is a thing of the past. Enter Frank. She’s a warrior against the repressive religious manipulators of society. Imprisoned for conducting her violent search for Xenia, the woman who “was taken from” her, she ends up getting broken out by the mysterious SuicideGirls, a group of women who have been covertly active in protecting the rights of women and individual freedom for thousands of years. Their organization goes all the way back to at least Cleopatra, perhaps the original “suicide girl” (I’m sure the pun is intended…)

Okay, I can understand the idea and the message, and I can’t say that it isn’t a noble one. A story based on a website that promotes unique ideas of what is sexy and acceptable, all in the name of individual freedom, is noble. SuicideGirls.com promotes itself as a site that encourages its soft core porn models to exert control over the presentation of their sexuality, creativity, and personality, and whether you see it as exploitation of women or women exploiting their own modes exploitation and controlling it is irrelevant. SuicideGirls.com is nothing if it isn’t fundamentally another unique way to promote individualism. It is unique as an idea and as a website. Why then is the first comic book, which really could have been something unique and interesting in and of itself so bland, trite, and at some points laughable? IDW Publishing produces some great and intelligent comic books, but SuicideGirls #1 represents a major misstep that could have been a critically acclaimed success.

Perhaps site co-founder Missy Suicide along with Brea Grant and writer Steve Niles, who are credited with the plot and script of SuicideGirls #1 simply wanted to write a somewhat throwaway, near future dystopian type of sci-fi work where the series’ protagonist carries unsheathed katanas in the laced ribbons of her piercings on her back (without cutting or killing herself), escapes from prison with the help of a wheelman named…Wheeler…, plays it safe by referring to the missing Xenia as “the woman who was taken” from her instead of her lover, and stars a gaggle of stock alt rock looking emo and goth girls that really don’t exert much personality. Granted, the relationship between the two isn’t made clear, but if Xenia is meant to be Frank’s beloved, then you’d think a comic book based on SuicideGirls.com wouldn’t make an issue of hiding their comic book protagonist’s sexuality. Again, Xenia and Frank’s relationship might end up being one of the best of friendships and nothing more, but why dance around the subject if Xenia is her partner? In short, what are we getting out of SuicideGirls #1 that we don’t get out of nearly all the rest of the comics on the shelves these days? Perhaps the decision to go with the more mainstream publisher IDW strictly dictated the type of book this was going to be, and with IDW publishing more mainstream and less edgy books than publishers like Fantagraphics (or even Image Comics) does, this is the best we're going to get from SuicideGirls.

SuicideGirls.com is a major money maker now though, and as much as I hate to sound like a stodgy anti-corporate type, when corporations grow sometimes the lose site of their original ideals and have to make the best business decision, i.e. grab for the most cash. I hate to think that this is what is going on here. Again, the flipside might be true and SuicideGirls #1 is simply an attempt to reach a different audience. Honestly though, I would think that a large section of mature comic book readers would already be into something edgy like SuicideGirls.com, and reaching for an audience that most likely is already there makes SuicideGirls #1 look like just a simple cash grab. When I heard that there was going to be a SuicideGirls comic book, I really hoped for something more along the lines of a real world type story. One can tell some pretty enlightening stories about the battle against individual freedom, art, and bigotry, that I’m sure some of the girls on the site have waged, simply through their lifestyles and art without always resorting to a fictional dystopian near future tale. A biographical tale of real world SuicideGirls and their battle against mainstream repression of the type of individuality that these girls express and the treatment that they endure (like getting seating in the back of restaurants, if at all, because of their visible tattoos-something that I’ve witnessed happen to girls similar to the modified and tattooed girls on the site). I bet some of the girls have enough stories to fill volumes of graphic novels about their life experiences. That would have made a much more interesting and relevant SuicideGirls #1.

Overall, while SuicideGirls #1 is a well drawn book, although David Hahn’s work lacks the attention to detail that I personally love, it is a let down. For a site that encourages its females to take control of their own sexiness, creativity, and presentation, it sure allows for its first foray into the sequential art world to be dominated by the same old conventions that might sell well in the world of mainstream comics, but really dampen the artistic potential of such works.

Rating: 4/10