Good Girl Art


The much-awaited Frank Cho Shanna remake arrives.

I've been waiting for this to come since last year, when Mr. Cho broke the news on his site. Some may argue that Frank Cho's art has a 'soft' look to it and that his women all have but one face, but DAMN what a face. And what a body. I've been into the Cho art style since last year (though I've tamed down my desire to Cho-ize all my stuff), and it's all culminated with the release of the mini-series.
Slated for 7 issues (NO! MORE!!! MORE!!!), the new Shanna series arrives sans Marvel hubbie Ka-zar and other baggage like environmental activism. In fact, Shanna arrives sans clothing. She's first seen floating in a tank inside an apparently abandoned Nazi science installation, discovered by a group of commandos and a professor. Soon afterwards, the explorers meet the other denizens of the lab, and they look like they've come straight out of Jurassic Park.

The first ish is a fast read- the text isn't heavy and things move pretty fast along the pages. To go with the copious amounts of skin Shanna flashes (still censored though- DAMN), there's a fair bit of bloody violence which startles given Cho's 'clean' lines. Refreshingly though, Cho still manages to fit in some moments of humor, showing off his comic strip mentality with some quick little gags. All in all, the story tantalizes but I really want the next issue right now. It's fun, sexy and well worth the hefty price- at least for me it is.

Funny though, I found myself thinking of the Hellboy movie after reading Shanna- commandos, Nazi experiment, befuddled professor, and a naked main character found... same structure, eh? It's really intriguing what Mr. Cho has in mind for Shanna, given that there are only 7 issues. I'm really hoping they extend or continue this title and the character, with the Monkeyboy at the helm, indefinitely. This is pretty much a title that will stand as long as the prime elements (Mr. Cho, half-naked girl) stay together. But we'll see.

Shanna the She-Devil #1 is available NOW at Comic Quest and other comic specialty shops. Grab it before I get them all. Heh.