There’s something a bit odd about this book, and not in the way that the creators are probably hoping for. It sets out to shock, but because of its politically correct nature it ends up failing to elicit much of a reaction at all. This comic shocks in the same way as reading about Wolverine drinking in a bar, or Jean Grey turning into the Phoenix, again.
The problem with the Grindhouse concept is that the methods of shocking the reader are at least three decades out of date. If we were still living midway through the 1960’s then I can see people at least having a discussion about this book. In 2014 nobody is going to say a word about it, good or bad. It’s just a book with some boobies in it. Sure you wouldn’t want a ten-year-old reading it, but they aren’t going to be the audience for this book anyway.
The plot in this particular issue of Grindhouse centres on old religions, human sacrifice, a girl’s summer camp and a demon from the old world coming into the new one. The old world is sacrificial alters and a bit of female masturbation, so far so blah, and the new world is a group of predictably lary girls having fun at hockey camp. There’s some generic drug and topless scenes, but a strange absence of modern day essentials like cell phones, blackberries and Internet connectivity. It’s set now, but not really now, and that’s the problem.
Does writer Alex De Campi want it to be 1970 again? A time where he thinks (and he’s probably wrong anyway) that sex and beheadings in a comic will shock and outrage people. I don’t understand what he’s doing here. The problem is that images of sex and violence are everywhere now, people carry it around with them on their phones. It’s boring now, it’s everyday. Nobody cares if you show some big-breasted girl ripping some generic trucker’s head off. It’s actually quite lame and yes I know that’s a depressing thing to say, but it’s the truth.
A huge structural problem with this book (and series) is that everything is written from the feminine point of view, so when things happens it’s all structured to empower females and make them look like they are in charge of proceedings. In the 1970’s this would have been something different, even liberating to the readers. However, in a 2014 context, female empowerment is the accepted norm. If you really wanted to shock contemporary readers you would have to display females as helpless victims, not as the protagonists. If this book is designed to shock and be different, then playing by the norms of 2014 western entertainment narratives isn’t going to cut it.
Looking on the positive side, there were moments of silly humour in this book that I really did appreciate. It’s still a terrible facsimile of the world as it is today though, especially considering the girls don’t even have the ubiquitous cell phones that are practically glued to the heads of every teenager living in the real world today.
That’s the highlight of the book, the occasional clever joke, but the rest of it is as liberal and safe as you can get. There’s a banner on the front cover of this book that proudly states, ‘How have we not been arrested yet?’ I’ll tell them why. It’s because they are not doing anything outside of the accepted western cultural norms of 2014. It’s not edgy, dangerous or revolutionary. It’s just a comic with typically empowered girls flashing their breasts and taking charge of their own lives. It’s like an episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but with Buffy getting her breasts out every now and then.
So ultimately, how to judge a book that prides itself on being edgy and dangerous, but doesn’t have the balls to do anything that is genuinely shocking? I guess that means it kind of fails, doesn’t it? It has scant moments of comedy, the art lacks detail and isn’t particularly memorable, and that’s all there is to say about it really.
If you really want to shock somebody then take an issue of this comic, jump in a time machine and set it to sometime in the 1970’s. The people there won’t find it that shocking, but at least they might have a discussion about it, because in 2014 the only person talking about it will be me, in this review. Now I have finished, and that’s all that will be said about it.
A very safe book that boasts of rebelliousness that it noticeably lacks.
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