Nothing like a little cannibalism.
Creative Staff:
Story: Adam Warren
Art: Carla Speed McNeil
Colors: Carla Speed McNeil
Letterer: Carla Speed McNeil
What They Say:
Trapped in the high-school hellscape’s cafeteria, Empowered and Sistah Spooky desperately battle the high-calorie threat of a ginormous junk-food elemental before facing off against a trio of Spooky’s vengeful ex-classmates, whose blonde manes have been infernally transformed into head-lopping Weapons of Magical Destruction! Off with their heads!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
With an extra month between releases, this might be a little more problematic with some series to follow what’s going on – especially if you read a whole lot of books regularly. With this series and its simpler but very fun focus, it’s easy to get back into what Adam Warren is putting together and the flow of it all. The two-story design for most of the issues so far has worked well and it’s even gotten me to gradually like Carla Speed McNeil’s artwork more and more within the context of this series as I’ve enjoyed her work elsewhere. I’m still not wholly on board with it for this property but it’s becoming more familiar, which certainly helps.
The events this time around are just a touch more mixed but still a good bit of fun. The entry into the cafeteria the last time around was definitely a sign of something disturbing to come as we get the three K-girls and the food monster to deal with. While the girls are being fed tons of food by another K-girl, the infernal magic that keeps their tummies tight creates the smorgasbord monster that’s trying to kill Emp and Spooky. This definitely lets the design side shine with a lot of detail in it, and some disturbing chocolate pooping moments, as well as just the fast food eating elements of the girls. It is, in terms of story, pretty predictable since it just takes some time and creativity for Emp and Spooky to win the day but it does it with a lot of fun, a lot of cringe inducing moments, and some really great detail and design work to it that adds so much with what’s eaten and the creature result.
The back half of the book breaks into two different sections, which works well to tighten up one of the action sequences. With the “Principal Charming” getting frustrated with how the witches aren’t succeeding, Ashley is casually promising that it’ll get done with and that leads to some good material between them but also her second with Ashlee as she sets the next trap in motion. Ashlee works with three of the J-girls to use their magical hair powers to take them down and it’s one that most definitely works best as a shorter story even though it’s fun watching them whip the blonde locks to and fro. This is one that tackles Spooky’s past about fitting in and the friend of hers that was changing in order to supposedly please her while losing who she herself was. Emp’s pretty out of this one but has a big moment that helps in the disturbing resolution to everything, one that’s totally worth enjoying and laughing at for the absurdity of these girls.
In Summary:
While I’m still leaning in the direction of that there’s just too many installments for this, we do get some good flashback moments for Spooky and there’s enough creativity in this installment to call it worthwhile. Warren’s style is one that doesn’t work for some but I enjoy the hell out of it in general, particularly with his artwork. Carla Speed McNeil is a great artist and she’s finding some good stuff in here, particularly our cafeteria monster, but I’m still not there with her Emp and Spooky designs which keeps me from being all in on the book still. Which is fully my issue because she’s doing some great stuff across the board with all the students and the like as well as the flow of action and layouts.
Grade: B
Age Rating: 16+
Released By: Dark Horse Comics
Release Date: April 18th, 2018
MSRP: $3.99
