Retro Review: Pink Power #1 and #2

Pink Power was another series that I picked up at Long Beach Comic Expo several weeks back and finally got a chance to talk about it. The book is very interesting and I loved the concepts behind everything they did even though there were way too many characters introduced in the first issue alone. The story begins with the super-hero Pink Princess on the way to the mega super store Best Mart which is basically a hybrid of Best Buy and Walmart. She finds some pink underwear lying about the store (we all know that to be true of Walmart) and decides to try them on… funny and gross. The underwear turn out to be cosmic underwear that give her even more power to her already massive power set.

In the meantime the band Stiletto Lace finishes off their set for the night and heads to bed. Shortly after falling asleep they wake up and become brainwashed super killers! After they’ve finished their assignment they head back home for a few more minutes of brainwashed sleep before waking up and discovering their tour assignment has switched; now their heading straight for Pink Princesses home turf.

The second issue introduces us to the bad guys and Pink Princesses father and a green ninja named Gallahad. The Stiletto Lace team go after Pink Princess and as they fight a mystery man comes along and un-brainwashes the team. The group then begins to train together so that they may fight back towards their brain washers.

The story is ridiculous but awesome at the same time. The only other issue I had with the writing beside the exuberant amount of characters, was that at times the story almost jumps ahead without you or does something with no explanation. Also there were several pages wasted on Pink Princessesfather who’s a Superman knockoff, but dumb. I loved the concepts in the book though. The idea of a brainwashed band that’s trained as assassins traveling the world and killing people while touring is a very creative idea. I even enjoyed Pink Princesshiding her powers from her mother so that she wouldn’t try to exploit them for a reality TV show. There’s a lot of great elements within the two issues, but each book needed to be longer to let the elements play out and to give the art more room to tell the story.

The art is a cartoony/graffiti style, but it’s so rich with colors that it becomes very impressive. The only thing I would say about the art is that it needed more pages. Every panel is jam-packed with content in an attempt to give more detail and information to the reader. Thankfully the art is good enough that even though it’s cluttered at times, it feels intentionally and isn’t distracting. The coloring is the highest point of the book. It’s fantastic and some of the best indie coloring I’ve seen. It’s really the maker or breaker of the issues. Without it I don’t know how much the art would pop out or how easy it would be to view. If the color was too rich you wouldn’t be able to look at the page. Instead it’s bright, contrasting and appears simple even though it is very complexly done. Without a doubt it makes the books worth reading.

The story is goofy and jumps around a lot, but the concept and art are interesting enough to check the book out. I really just had fun reading it and didn’t expect it to change the world of comics or superheroes for me. After finishing both issues I really wanted to read more and I’m not quite sure if I nailed down why that is. It’s just really enjoyable and worth reading. Even though I think you should buy the issues and support the book the creators have the first issue up on their Deviantart page for all to read so check it out for yourself and tell me if I’m crazy for really liking this book flaws and all. Also you can grab both issues on eBay now for your reading pleasure. Issue #1 and Issue #2.

Score – 3/5

Written By: Zen
Art By: Landish!
Color By: Chriss Hall
First Issue Cover By: Joe Eisma
Second Issue Cover By: Tradd Moore