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First thing I can say for this comic is that unlike
BountyHunter, which I reviewed last month, it doesnt
make my eyes want to bleed. I think perhaps its
because Jerkins is mostly drawing a woman in this
comic and she has a readily available model in
herself. Facially the characters are still rather
ugly looking, but at least the print quality is good
enough that I can make out the detail in this comic.
The story however seems vapid and pointless.
In issue number 2 you get a slight backstory on
Serena. Her mother loved her, and its implied that
Serena killed her mothers boyfriend/lover. Its very
unclear as to why she did this and why I, as a reader,
should care. Serena grows up and becomes a world
renowned singer in Korea. Theres an attractive Asian
man named Jyong Yi, who attended every show. Why hes
in here, as we never see him ever again, I have no
clue. The main plot point of this book is that a
handsome American black man comes to her show, watches
her intently, and then gives her her first kiss ever.
He apparently works for a cosmetic company and he was
on a search to find the most beautiful woman in the
world to represent his company. He proclaims Serena
to be this woman in front of all of her audience.
For this she falls madly in love with him and they get
married. Im not really summarizing here. This about
what the book itself says. It just strikes me as so
incredibly shallow, and unbelievable. I understand
the concept of suspension of disbelief, but even that
has its limits. The art in this one is very static.
It looks like a series of still shots, typically
trying to highlight how hot Serena is. Maybe Id
appreciate this more if I were male. Im still trying
to figure out why this book has "For Mature Readers
Only!" on the front. Maybe they think that people
will be more likely to buy it if it looks like it
might be a naughty book. The cover to this one looks
really awesome though Im not really sure what it has
to do with the rest of the book.
Issue 3 is about as vapid, except now instead of
trying to prove how beautiful Serena is theyre now
trying to prove what a bad ass she is. At the end of
the last book she said she was going to be married to
her kissing admiring fan faster "soon and
unexpectedly." We never get any explanation on why
she marries him. She certainly does look pregnant.
So Im not sure what to draw from that comment. At
the beginning of this book shes going to a Tae Kwon
Do Dojo in the United States. Shes apparently not
only married the cosmetics guy, but has also moved to
America with him. Theyve just gotten back from their
honeymoon in Canada. Serena is a fourth level black
belt. At this dojo theres a Master Student whos a
fifth level black belt. Hes a grade A jerkoff. Hes
a racist, and a sexist, who has no clue what the word
no means. However he has to be a piss poor martial
artist, because Serena beats him in the sparring
match. In martial arts, contrary to popular belief
size does matter, especially when the bigger person is
a higher level than you are. By all rights Serena
should probably have her butt handed to her on a
silver platter. Maybe Mr. Sexist Man is too busy
staring at her ample bosoms to remember to fight his
best. Thats gotta be it. Serena complains to the
master of the dojo that Mr. Sexist Man is touching her
inappropriately, and the master severely chides Mr.
Sexist Man. This pisses Mr. Sexist Man off and he
vows to make Serenas life hell. Thats where this
comic ends. As origin stories go this one is very
boring and two dimensional. I mean even Lex Luthor
blaming Superboy for his hair loss was more deep than
this story. You should not do a martial arts story if
you cannot draw the folds in a Dobak. I work in a
fabric store. I know fabric doesnt fall as shes
drawing it. She has figured out that color behind her
static poses makes it look better than a lot of dead
white space, though.
These books are nowhere near as bad as BountyHunter,
but then I think almost anything would be a step up
from BountyHunter. This is not to say that they
arent bad, because they are bad, but given a few
years of working both her art style and her
storytelling, I could actually see this as being a
semi-decent comic. Currently though, its not worth
the paper its printed on. Dont waste your time
trying to read it.
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