TITLE: Geek-Girl #2
AUTHOR: Sam Johnson
PENCILLER: Carlos Granda
PUBLISHERS: Sam Johnson, Markosia Enterprises LTD
PRICE: $3.99
RELEASED: December 4, 2016

By Rob Siebert
Editor, Fanboy Wonder

Cheesecake anyone? Or maybe Geek-Cake?

Ruby Kaye has been thrust into the spotlight as the superhero Geek-Girl. The mysterious supervillainess Lightning Stom has already hospitalized two of Maine’s established heroes, leaving Ruby to pick up the slack. Feeling the pressure, she does what any hero would do: She hits the bar with her best friend Summer. But drama follows, as Ruby has a crisis of confidence.

Here’s my big question with Geek-Girl: What does this book want to be? When I read it, I’m seeing two different things. On one hand, there are elements of a teenage superhero drama in here. Ruby stumbles on to superpowers and is in over her head, and at the same time has to deal with the popular kids not liking her, and guys not being into her either.

But at the same time, there’s an overt sexuality on these pages that can’t be denied. Almost every woman you see has big boobs, big lips, and Ruby herself is often drawn provocatively. This issue in particular has a story that could have been plucked straight from a porn parody. Depressed with how her super heroics have fared lately, Ruby goes to a bar to get drunk with Summer. At one point, the bartender offers to buy her a drink. But when she returns later with her Geek-Girl glasses on, he turns her down. She then comes close to sharing a kiss with a girl on the dance floor. A girl in a tube top with a cybernetic eye, no less! An impromptu sparring session between the two then takes place, and we get the following panel…

So I’ll ask again, Geek-Girl: What is it you’re trying to be? Not every story needs to fit needly into a genre. But Geek-Girl goes too far in the cheesecake direction for me to take it seriously as a teen superhero drama. That it seems that’s what it’s aiming to be.

The name Geek-Girl is also a bit of a stretch. I had high hopes that Ruby would be a fangirl of sorts who somehow gains superpowers. Sadly, what we get is even more far-fetched. Ruby wins a pair of magic glasses in a game of strip poker, but a mean girl tells her she looks like a geek in them. Ergo, Geek-Girl. Not only does wearing glasses apparently make Ruby a geek, but it kills her sexual confidence.  I guess it’s amazing what a pair of glasses can do. Just ask Clark Kent.

I don’t take any pleasure in being critical of a little indie comic like this. But do yourself a favor and don’t show Geek-Girl to your wife or girlfriend. It’s not that kind of female superhero book.

Follow Primary Ignition on Twitter @PrimaryIgnition, or at Facebook.com/PrimaryIgnition.