Review: Mean Girls Club
By Dustin Cabeal
Mean Girls Club is a mini-comic in a way. It’s a stand-alone story that begins and ends within the pages of this book. The narrative isn’t that strong, but then I don’t think that’s the point. It reminded me of other Nobrow Press books that I’ve checked out this year that felt short and sweet. Mean Girls Club is a quick read. Much quicker than the other books (click here to see more from Nobrow), but in a way more enjoyable. It knows exactly what it’s doing and what it wants to do. The story begins with a cabin in the middle of the woods and a woman tied up with her head through a wall and sticks out of one of those animal trophy plaques. She’s crying, and her tears are also producing ice. A second woman fills up her glass with the tears and ice. This woman, who we learn is named Pinky, calls to order the 113th secret meeting of the Mean Girls Club. We meet the five other women that make up the club, and they decide to pay tribute to the ghosts of their founders.
The rest of the book is crazy.
They inject poison into their blood. Hit each other with fish. Get intoxicated. One of them passes out and their go to a hospital and punch a nurse and just give the sick woman a bunch of pills and then get right back to being crazy as fuck… while still in the hospital.
The story is fun. It’s a blast to read and I absolutely love the fact that the women (or girls since that’s their club name and all) take zero shit from anyone. Sure there’s no consequences to their actions, but that’s not what the stories about.
The art has a 50s pinup girl style and look to it. It’s great overall and very fitting. This throwback world is entertaining because of its classic look. The entire story is told in black, white and shades of pink. That may sound strange based on everything else I’ve said about it, but it really fits the vibe of the story. I also want to point out that the page layouts are very creative. Their non-traditional and better for it. There’s an organic feel to the layout that flows with the action and story.
I would 100% recommend this to people to check out. Sure it’s short. Sure the story is simple and crazy, but I had a lot of fun reading it. It was a book I wanted to read again and would definitely join the adventure to see what the 114th meeting has in-store.
Score: 4/5
Mean Girls Club
Creator: Ryan Heshka
Publisher: Nobrow Press