|
You may expect Evil and Malice to be two of the newest cold-hearted
villainesses from one of the major comic book publishers... They'd have
incredible figures, wear these outrageous black outfits with leather and
fishnet and studs, and they'd have white skin and black hair. They'd go
on this big crime spree, the hero(es) would defeat them, and you'd never
hear from them again... Such is the life of a minor comic book villain.
Well, the Adventures of Evil and Malice is not at all like that. No, it's
definitely a kid's comic, and not even one that would appeal to older
audiences as well. The two title characters are the daughters of the
number one villain of their town, the Black Eye. Their mother is absent,
and in one frame we see their dad talking about how he'll make the city
pay for taking her from him.
In this first issue, Evelyn and Malinda (the girls' real names) are all
geared up because they're going to go see the town's official super hero,
Goldie Gal. They absolutely adore her, but their father has forbid them to
go see her. So of course they cook up some crazy scheme to keep him
from seeing them on TV while they're at Goldie Gal's appearance.
So, the two sneak out to city hall, and help decorate for this big event.
The event happens to be the unveiling of the Max 2000, a silly looking
super computer that will handle all the trivial little government things in
life, such as post office and DMV type stuff. For whatever reason, Goldie
Gal is there to unveil it, probably a publicity stunt.
Anyway, enter these villains who steal the computer... The two girls
manage to beat them up, but the computer gets destroyed in the process.
Later on we find the 3 strange new villains plotting with The Black Eye,
but the girls have reason to believe that they're going to double cross
him.
Meanwhile, across town, the newspeople are trying to figure out what to
call these strange new heroes in town and decide on Evil and Malice,
based on their real names... That's one of the cheezy things about this
book, you know they came up with the name Malinda (thank god my
parents didn't name me that!), just because it sounded like Malice.
So, since the news people have already declared the girls heroes, and
since the girls know that these 3 new villains are going to double cross
their father, they whip up some ridiculous looking costumes (I mean,
these things are scary), dress their cat up as a pet side kick, and prepare
to kick butt.
Aside from a silly plot, the book has Saturday morning cartoon animation
style artwork, childish dialogue, and not a lot of surprises. It would most
likely appeal to kids in the 8-10 range at a guess, especially girls... It
is nice to have a kids comic with tough female leads, even if they are silly.
The issue I have here is a couple years old (dating from 99), so I don't
know if the comic is still being made.
Now, this is a little thought that I have here, that may spoil whatever hint
of a plot this comic intended to have, but let's put 2 and 2 together
here...
Goldie Gal is the city's official hero. The two girls' mother was
supposedly "taken away by the city". The Black Eye doesn't want his
daughters seeing Goldie Gal... Gee, you don't think maybe Goldie Gal IS
their mother? Naaaaah.
To sum it up, if you want to get your young daughter hooked on comics,
this may be a good series to find, but it has little appeal for teens and
adults.
|