That's very naked.
Girls: Conception (Volume 1)
By the Luna Brothers
Image Comics, 2007
By Sandra Yao
Girls was the comic that started me on a path of unbridled comic reading. It could be viewed as an interesting take on female empowerment or just another excuse to have naked women run around all over the pages. Either way, it’ll definitely keep you reading.
In the first volume, appropriately named Conception, we meet the main character, Ethan, masturbating (how all good stories begin). He’s got girl problems that stem from an ex he just can’t seem to forget. Drinking at a bar after work, he shows his complete frustration with women by engaging in an angry outburst aimed at almost every female within range. Accused of being out of line and borderline misogynistic, he’s forcibly removed by the sheriff. Furious and fed-up, he shouts as the glass shatters around him leaving many of the townsfolk in awe. In a panic, Ethan quickly jumps into his car and drives away. Thinking things could not get any worse, he nearly runs over a woman walking down the middle of the highway. She’s naked and lost. He takes her home, and well, I’m sure you can imagine what happens next. Fast-forward to the next morning, and the mysterious girl is laying eggs in the middle of Ethan’s bathroom. If he once thought girls were trouble, he didn’t even know the half of it.
The Luna Brothers form a great team of writer and artist. Joshua creates characters like Ethan that are likeable and easy to sympathize with even at their worst, but he also creates others whom you try hard to like but ultimately just want to slap. You also quickly start to get a feel for who the town bitch is, who the town bicycle is, and who the village idiot is. It’s the variety of archetypes that Joshua tries to portray that really helps to emphasize the small-town atmosphere appropriate to the setting of the story. The small-town setting is often used in the sci-fi genre, but this one thrives with its own unique twist.
Jonathan’s art and colouring is very much like his previous work in Ultra, the book he worked on with his brother before Girls (the pair are currently working on The Sword too). He utilizes round, clean, and thin lines and limited colours, but this helps set the eerie, barren tone. I can’t say that I was blown away by the art, but it looks like it could translate to the silver screen well: backgrounds are blurred to show movement but also to draw attention. The expressions on each of the characters are simple yet emotive. The art compliments the story and the dialogue, allowing the voice of Girls to speak for itself. Essentially, it wasn’t about the art (at least not for me): it was about the story that Girls was trying to tell.
Like I said before, this book keeps you guessing. I felt like I was watching an episode of LOST except without the island or the plane crash and with more small town and egg-laying. But, like with LOST, you start with these big questions about what’s going on, and even though they get answered, you’re never given the whole truth, so you’re always left hanging. It’s that constant search for answers that keeps you watching LOST, and that same search keeps you reading Girls. Girls is definitely worth the read. Even if you don’t appreciate the story, at least there are naked women-scary naked women.
“You also quickly start to get a feel for who the town bitch is, who the town bicycle is, and who the village idiot is. It’s the variety of archetypes that Joshua tries to portray that really helps to emphasize the small-town atmosphere appropriate to the setting of the story. ”
You mean stereotypes, not archetypes .. characters are incredibly one -dimentional and adolescent which I thought was on purpose but know not so sure ..
dialogue and characters are kinda simplistic but story is good enough to keep me reading .
I suppose you’re right that I could have used stereotype instead of archetype, but I wanted to get with a more general term for the type of people I thought they were trying to portray. Using the term “village idiot” would mean that they are the type of person to fit into the prototypical role, but they’re portrayed in a stereotypical way, as in he’s the village idiot because he likes to run around setting dynamite off in pumpkins for fun. Make sense? Kinda? I hope.
I personally think the characters are meant to be simple because of the small-town scenario. Then again Girls has this special place in my heart for getting me into comic reading in the first place. :)
Is there any way to find this? None of the places I check have it.
Hi, Tweedman. If none of the comic book stores near you have it it’s likely that they would order it for you. If not, I just checked and Amazon has it in stock (pretty cheap, too). Good luck!
nice page