Review: It Girl and the Atomics #7

The next chapter of It Girl kicks off this week and it is a real treat. It’s a creative issue that reintroduces the reader to It Girl’s powers, while also kicking off the next major plot line of the series. The thing I’ve always enjoyed about Mike Allred’s worlds is that while the characters are very human and go through things we all do, there is always this lighthearted nature to them. Rich really maintains that feeling with this series making it great to read each month.

Sky diving can be fun, but not so much if your parachute isn’t working which is exactly where It Girl finds herself  at the opening. Sure she’s on a mission so it’s not a leisurely jump, but I’m thinking she’d still like to make it to the ground. She manages to grab ahold of a bird flying by and sprouts some wings of her own to get her out of trouble. A smooth recovery for sure, until the bird that was assaulted brings back its flight of friends and they begin to attack It Girl. She escapes of course and finally lands on the ground only to find herself in the path of a herd of goats. After the shenanigans calm down It Girl finally meets her Tri-Eye contact and gets her instructions on where she needs to go to rescue her mission objective.

From there It Girl sneaks up on the Von Harbou lodge run by Mother Van Harbou and her two brutish sons. While sneaking around one of them gets the jump on her, but she manages to kick them down the very large hill that she just climbed up from. This is the perfect opportunity for the other son to club her over the head with a serving tray. It Girl wakes up tied to a chair, but at least she’s found the professor she was sent to rescue. There’s a silver lining to everything right?

This issue is very entertaining and I tried to leave most of the gags alone for you to discover for yourself, but my descriptions do no justice for Mike Norton’s art so you’ll at least have the visual to discover for yourself.

Rich does an incredible job with It Girl’s powers in this issue. It was very creative to see how she uses them to get in and out of jams, to the point where I didn’t know what she what she was going to do next. That’s a lot of fun and shows that he’s keeping the story as fresh as possible. Characters with multiple powers tend to get stale when writers forget they’re long list of possibilities and this just shows that Rich is constantly thinking of new ways for It Girl to use her powers. The gags were great and again captured that lighthearted nature that I’ve always associated with the world. It Girl is a terrific character and I love her personality; she’s worth ten of any of the “big two’s” female super heroes.

Every time I review a series that Mike Norton is attached to I like to begin with, “Mike Norton is fucking machine.” Why? Because he has not one, but two series out this week alone; both of which are monthly titles. The other title that I’ll also be reviewing is Revival and while the art style is different, it’s equally fantastic to the work he does on It Girl. I especially enjoy the visual gags that Norton illustrates in this series as it shows his range and talent as an artist. Very impressive each month and I look forward to the next chapter of this series along with his other monthly work. I would even go as far to say that he is my favorite comic book artist working in the industry currently.

The last issue of this series was a great break between stories lines and with that came two opportunities to jump on the series. Obviously the last issue was one of those chances and so is this issue. Sure there isn’t a lot of backstory, but the world is pretty easy to figure out if you read the dialog and pay attention. If you’ve been wondering about the awesomeness of It Girl then wonder no more and pick up this great issue.

Score: 4/5

Writer: Jamie S. Rich

Artist: Mike Norton

Publisher: Image Comics

Price: $2.99

Release Date: 2/20/13