By Dustin Cabeal
The Gamma Gals is a quaint indie superhero story that’s part Fantastic Four, part high school drama. The origin story is given to us in just a few pages which were nice, but then also a little too quick. Listen, comics are overrun by origin stories, so it’s fine to skip it, but if you’re going to bring it up then cover it. Otherwise, it’s better to skip it than to gloss over it.
The story follows three high school girls that double as superheroes in their free time. After an intense game of D&D, they run into some danger. They find a man that’s unable to control his powers and inadvertently destroying things. The Gals don’t stop him on their first meeting, but they soon run into him again as it’s revealed to the reader that he’s a bully at their school.
The first issue gets the ball rolling, but the ending is a little awkward in that it ends with the villain rather than the heroes. At this point in the story, you know more about the villain’s struggle to control his powers than you do any of the other characters. The story does follow one of the Gal’s home, and we see a small window into her family life, but the other two main characters are relatively unknown.
The dialogue was smooth for the most part. There were some clunky interactions that didn’t come across very natural or realistic. The overall pacing is just okay as again; we spend a lot of time the antagonist rather than the protagonists.
The art is interesting, but mostly because of the coloring. The colors are very flat but then layered all throughout the issue. It ends up looking like a marker at times, which isn’t the best look. That and some of the color choices end up contrasting more than matching. The style itself is decent, with thick linework and a consistent style. The backgrounds are rich and full, but not terribly interesting. The world looks empty because there’s never any background characters. The art is solid and consistent throughout, but it has room for improvement.
For me, I would rather not read indie superheroes. There’s just too many superhero books in general and even one like The Gamma Gals with positive female leads, with realistic body shapes, ends up feeling tired. If you can’t get enough superhero comics, then definitely check out The Gamma Gals, but if you’re burnt out, then there’s very little here to reinvigorate your interest in the genre, but rather reinforce your exhaustion.
Score: 3/5
The Gamma Gals #1
Creator: Stefano Terry
Publisher: Fanbase Press