DNF around 33%.

This is my first exposure to the Grrl Scouts series, and it quickly became apparent that my expectations were way off base. Instead of a rad girl gang of feminist besties, kicking ass and taking all the things, what I got was a rather disjointed story about a bunch of women treating each other like shit, sometimes - but not always - in the pursuit of a pair of cursed extraterrestrial socks.

The artwork is easily the book's best feature; raw and unpolished, it has a street graffiti feel to it. I loved it even when it veered from weird into straight-up confusing (e.g., the fight scenes).

The general plot line isn't even that bad, or at least going on what I read of it. The dialogue tries a little hard to be uber-hip and campy, but it's at least good for a laugh now and again. What I didn't love - what caused me to throw in the towel - was the constant use of racist and sexist slurs (cunt, twat, the n-word), as well as the odd rape joke/threat. It's like Mahfood tried his best to be as "un-PC" as possible. What a rebel! Gag.

Full disclosure: I received a free electronic ARC for review through Edelweiss. ( )

GRRL Scouts: Magic Socks is, in an effort to be as positive as possible, well-drawn. The writing, well, that leaves a lot to be desired, a whole lot. I can usually adjust my expectations up or down (or left to right if up or down sounds too hierarchical) but this was simply too disappointing as a story. If anything is important in writing a graphic novel it is dialogue and this dialogue is abysmal.

I would not recommend this to anyone looking for a good story though I would suggest it for someone wanting to broaden their visual horizons. I might consider suggesting this as a how-not-to book on writing a graphic novel since it is so poorly written.

Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via Edelweiss. ( )