01-20-06

When Anime meets Foglio
I don't often review new comics.  I have a few reasons for not doing so; among them, the difficulty in getting a feel for the artists' and authors' work in a small archive and the ever-present possibility that the comic will fold up and blow away like an unfinished term paper.  In this case, I'm going to make an exception because what fun is it to be your own boss if you don't bend your rules sometimes?  And, anyway, if it does blow away, you'll be sorry you missed it and I don't want that guilt on my shoulders.
          Cute Ninja Girls, by Dan Vincent and Sean Conchieri, is one of those quick, witty comics that make a reviewers job worth doing.  The small archive in no way detracts from the almost-immediately-engaging development of the characters, and the writing is more consistent in the comic's fifth month of development than many are in their fifth year.  CNJ centers on the lives of Hanna and Kay, two cute ninja girls living in Boston (hence the title).  They are almost immediately thrust into an epic-ish quest to defeat the evil that murdered their father by an anime-influenced (as are the girls) Mysterious Old Man who claims to be their grandfather.  Once that particular stage has been set, we are introduced to Dirk, who inadvertently frees Gul'Jagen from his thousand-years prison.  Much of the real funny in the strip thus far is directly related to Gul'Jagen's efforts to deal with a thousand years of culture shock.
          It's obvious at just a glance that CNJ is in it's earlier stages of development.  Competing and incongruent art styles from a number of influences battle for attention on the page, and the art itself is inconsistent in the way that more fully developed comic art never is.  The art is good, however, and the inconsistencies of style are never quite jarring.  Conchieri's artwork definitely shows signs of improvement just over the short span of the existing archive, and he started off fairly good.
          But it's the writing shared by Vincent and Conchieri that sets CNJ apart from other startup comics.  The jokes are tight, and, even when they miss, they don't miss by much.  The characters are developing well, with neither a rush of exposition nor lingering feelings of confusion, which says a lot for the authors' ability to tell a story.  It's obvious that (excepting seasonal one-offs and lazy-artist quickies) the story has been outlined well in advance.
          It's a good story, for all that it treads familiar terrain.  Of course, there's a reason familiar terrain becomes familiar.  With any luck, Vincent and Conchieri will stick with it.  I hope so; it would be a shame if this became another tiny stone in the Internet's wide graveyard of comics.  But just in case, you should go see it now.

Cute Ninja Girls by Dan Vincent and Sean Conchieri

Updates: M
Caveats:  Inconsistent art, anime influence, flaming-headed skull demons.
Rating: