Trouble With Girls!

 The Trouble With Girls is that it's too much and too little.

Lester Girls is a square-jawed super-spy who hates his job. This man's man dodges every attempt to kill him, always captures his man (and woman), indulges himself on the higher and faster side of plush, but wants nothing more than to live as a average "Joe" in a small town in a bungalow with a mousy wife.

This collection of the first seven issues of Girls' comic book title suffers from too much of the shtick just noted. It is repeated in every issue as if there is no other element of the super-spy sub-genre to parody.

What recommends the writing on Girls, however, is the fun the writers are having satirizing a subgenre they obviously love is easily translated to readers.

The Trouble With Girls is there is also too little attention paid to detail in the art. The artist has minor problems with perspective, and an occasional lack of variety in line width flattens the art, weakens the illusion of depth, and weakens suspension of disbelief.

What recommends the art on Girls, however, is that it is in no way poor or even that most dreaded word for artists, average. It's visual pacing is energetic, never boring, its characters physically distinct and engaging, and the majority of readers may not even notice the rough patches.

The Troubled With Girls/$17.95 & 161 pgs., Checker Publishing/art: Tim Hamilton, words: Will Jacob and Gerard Jones/sold at comics and book stores & at www.checkerbpg.com. MV

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Order Vance's history of the American Comics Group in Alter Ego #61 at www.twomorrows.com.

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