Everyone has their favorite buddy movie. Whether it’s Tango and Cash, Lethal Weapon, Rush Hour, the Last Boy Scout, or even 48 Hours it all boils down to the interactions between the central characters. In the case of Cover Girl from Boom! Studios, take one of the buddies and replace he with a she, throw in high speed chases, gun play, and a plot to set off a bomb, and you get an idea of the type of action you’re in for.
Alex Martin, used to be a nobody actor – that is until he saved a woman from a burning car and his heroics got caught on tape. Now he’s a rising star, but someone keeps trying to kill him. Perhaps it has to do with the mysterious phrase uttered by the damsel in distress before she passed out.
The simple solution would be to hire a bodyguard, but who is going to believe a macho star like Alex would need protection? When Alex’s manager hires Rachel Dodd, who ends up posing as his girl friend, the action heats up, as the plot to kill Alex unfolds.
Of course there are the bad guys and the big boss character that must be defeated, but like every buddy movie you’ve seen, the good guys win in the end, while the baddies wind up as street pizza.
Is the story wild and absurd? Sure, but what do you want from this genre – Shakespeare?
This is where Cover Girl shines. You can’t force yourself to write witty dialogue, but the exchanges between Alex and Rachel flow off the page like they were written by master craftsmen. And they were, writers Andrew Cosby is one of the creators of the Sci-Fi channel�s Eureka, while Kevin Church is the mind behind Cthulhu Tales and his own snarky website BeaucoupKevin.com. Since there isn’t going to be a lot of character development in this type of story, the only way to keep the audience�s attention is to make the dialogue the best it can be. It’s not Maddie and Dave zaniness, but it also isn’t See No Evil, Hear No Evil bad – although if you like that kind of crazy in your story, you’ll like Cover Girl just fine.
As you read through this short trade (only 128 pages), you can actually imagine this book being turned into a major motion picture staring Rachel Bilson and Matt LeBlanc. And as bad as that team-up sounds, in this story it would work perfectly. That’s how good the writing is.
The art by Mateus Santolouco, R.M. Yankovicz, and Andre Coelho is as good as you are going to find from the major publishers, and I really like how Mateus takes the fashion and style of the day and makes it seem timeless. Plus once you see the outfits Rachel wears, you’ll be wishing Bilson would be cast in the role.
Like my last review, Boom! Studios opted to print this trade in a smaller than comic book format. While it is annoying for those of us who like our trades the same size as the original run, this trade is only made up of five issues, and you aren’t losing anything by having the art scaled down. If the small size makes it more portable for those on the go, and gets people to read, then I say great.
When the big publishers are printing tales that are so mired in continuity, feature characters that are out of this world, or titles featuring the mass annihilation of worlds, Cover Girl from Boom! Studios is a breath of fresh air.
Cover Girl has a cover price of $15, but you can find it cheaper online. I give Cover Girl 4.5 out of 5 Stars earning it a spot in the Major Spoilers Trades You Should Own.
