"Tomboy" #1 Is A Really, Really Good Comic, and Issue #2 Comes Out Today!

A seemingly cute picture is a lot darker
when you notice what she is holding.

Written and illustrated by Mia Goodwin, the comic, "Tomboy," is one I picked-up based upon having heard some positive buzz and seeing the cool covers it had. Well, I am glad I did because this is one impressive read. Focusing on a young girl named Addison who has just turned 16, the comic seems at first like it could just be the simple everyday tales of a happy girl, but slowly things get darker and more twisted when she learns her best friend (and possible romantic interest), Nick, has been murdered--this leads to a shocking last few pages where it seems Addison may have some dark magical powers that are going to result in a fair amount of death.

In fact, that expertly done balance of cutesy and gruesome is one major reason I love this comic. Whether it is Addison's imagination of a cute Princess Cheery Cherry (a cartoon she loves) telling her to transform into a killing machine, or how the book can go from a peppy and light coloring to dark with some splashes of bright-red blood, it really is some great stuff. The theme of happy world of being young facing the painful realities of grown-ups doing no good (a conspiracy involving a drug company may be to blame for Nick's death as his Father was involved in some questionable business) makes me wonder where things could be going next in this book.

Cute-meets-Grotesque.
I love it!

Another area the comic excels in is really sounding authentically like the voice of a teenage girl when we see our protagonist's narration, or hear her conversations with others. We witness someone who isn't quite an adult, but clearly not a child, and unsure whether she wants to truly be mature or still enjoy the things of her, "Childish," youth before the impeding of reality when her best friend is killed. Whether we see Addison spending time with her Father & Grandfather, or a best friend, we get the feeling that this is a fully-developed and fleshed-out character, one with hopes and dreams...and then a lot of rage.

Were I to have any complaints about the comic, it would be that it does something I find a bit cliché as so many movies/books/comics seem to do it now, where we, "Open," on a scene from the end and then go all the way back to the beginning. I've gotten kind of tired of so many forms of media doing that, "Trick," where we see a glimpse of the conclusion before jolting back to the start, so I could do without that--one thing I'll give a pass for this overused plot device is the movie, "Swordfish," as it opens around the last 1/3 of a movie before going back to the beginning, so that's kind of clever. Oh, and Memento opens at the end and each scene leads all the back to the start, that's clever too.

The bright and cheery colors give way
to darker hues as the issue continues

"Tomboy" is a stellar first issue from Action Lab, a publisher whom I have been hard on sometimes, but which has something really great here. I'm thinking I should look more into their comics and see what else I might like which they put out. I would recommend you go out and buy the first issue of Tomboy, and issue #2 actually is out today too, so grab that while you're at it!
5 out of 5 stars.