Destiny is a harsh mistress, especially when the Devil herself has made you a part of her plan for the end of the world as we know it. Your Major Spoilers review of Rebel Grrrls #1 from Keenspot Entertainment awaits!
REBEL GRRRLS #1
Writer: Danny Harrell
Artist: Robert Ahmad
Colorist: Danny Harrell
Letterer: Matt Krotzer
Editor: Rob Potchak
Publisher: Keenspot Entertainment
Cover Price: $5.99
Release Date: July 26, 2023
Previously in Rebel Grrrls: Cursed with the power to resurrect the dead through music, three girls from rural Alabama set out to tour dive bars, basements, and county fairs throughout the south. If making it as an all-girl punk band wasn’t difficult enough, these cursed souls are pursued by a ghoul, disguised as a record executive, who has been tasked with using them to resurrect enough of the dead to overthrow the living. Despite the forces of hell patiently awaiting their time to rise, these riot grrrls are intent to prove that they’re no sellouts, and that they can make their mark on their own.
Will it be a revolution, girl-style… or Armageddon?
THEY CALL IT “RAGNA-ROCK”
Our story begins in the backwaters of Alabama, as Tiberius Ulysses Cotton (Berry to his pals) takes in a show, the first gig of The Alien She-Devils, a three-woman riot grrrl ensemble with dreams of stardom. Or, at least, dreams of headlining at The Buccaneer, in Memphis. What they don’t know is that Berry is an agent of the literal Devil, who has brought the trio together with the intent of destroying the world through their music. What her infernal majesty didn’t consider, though, was whether or not they were actually any good at making music, much less focused on doing the work necessary to get to the top. Worse still, they reject Berry’s offer of fame, fortune, contracts, and money as the ravings of an old perv, insisting that they’ll make it on their own once they play the North Alabama State Fair. The Grrrls (only frontwoman Rena is called by name in these pages) do get to the fair, but their few post-punk feminist fans end up clashing with the idiot locals. When violence breaks out, the Security staff refuses to get involved, forcing Rena to take matters into her own hands.
All of that is a roundabout way of explaining why a man explodes into a tsunami of blood at the State Fair.
PLAY LOUD ENOUGH TO WAKE THE DEAD
There is a fun energy throughout the pages of Rebel Grrrls #1 that makes it all fun to read, even the parts that are just plain unpalatable. (Each of our heroes gets a little bit of their back story explained, with overt physical abuse, child abandonment, and worse depicted to show how the Rebel Grrrls got where to where they are.) Ahmad’s art is reminiscent of John Layman’s work on Chew, making it just cartoony enough that the gory bits aren’t overwhelmingly gross. They are still effective though, and the sight of each Rebel’s past abuses is as touching and terrible as it needs to be. I’m still not 100% clear how a rock group touring the Deep South is going to trigger the apocalypse, but that’s not as important as whether or not I believe it, and the story makes it all work. Berry’s narration is also fun, filled with snide asides and commentary, and really enhances the story with the perspective of a (maybe) demon in Alabama.
BOTTOM LINE: WORTH YOUR TIME
Although I really wish we had gotten the names of all three girls spoken aloud, Rebel Grrrls #1 is an entertaining comic in the vein of ’80s indy works, playing with elements of music, feminism, action flicks, horror movies, and classic Vertigo, earning 4.5 out of 5 stars overall. I’ll be looking out for the next issue, and recommend it to readers (as long as they’re over 18 and good with spicy language.
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REBEL GRRRLS #1
Whether ya like it or not (and I do), this is punk.
Grab it while you still can!
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Writing9
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Art9
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Coloring9
Once upon a time, there was a young nerd from the Midwest, who loved Matter-Eater Lad and the McKenzie Brothers... If pop culture were a maze, Matthew would be the Minotaur at its center. Were it a mall, he'd be the Food Court. Were it a parking lot, he’d be the distant Cart Corral where the weird kids gather to smoke, but that’s not important right now... Matthew enjoys body surfing (so long as the bodies are fresh), writing in the third person, and dark-eyed women. Amongst his weaponry are such diverse elements as: Fear! Surprise! Ruthless efficiency! An almost fanatical devotion to pop culture! And a nice red uniform.