The Little Bearded Girl That Could

While the second issue of Eric Powell’s “Chimichanga” took a bit longer than expected, with months separating it from issue one, the end result is a great one that hints at the potential flavors it’ll have down the road.

Even though it may be a bit too early to tell, the concoction Powell is brewing here may be more magical than anything that Dagmar the Witch could come up with.

With political satire, the adorable bearded-girl Lula, a cast of carnival characters, a witch and a grotesque, but awesome “animal” in Chimichanga, this series has something for everyone.

Doing a rare thing in having you connect with Lula, who’s youth gives her a fresh and unique view on the world, this series takes you back to that magical Saturday morning feeling many older comic book fans haven’t experienced in quite some time. You know, when shows like “Punky Brewster” or “My Pet Monster” were on TV and kids, just by being honest, could have an impact on the world, full of butt-head adults. If that didn’t work, they always had a cool pet or monster by their side too that could take care of business. Creating this mid ’80s pop culture ambiance, Powell makes this series completely different from”The Goon” and takes you on a reading experience that will have you smiling much more than any other comic book out right now.

However, while Lula is adorable, especially with her kiddie-speak, doing things and saying things that you wouldn’t expect from a lead character in a comic book series, there’s a plethora of political, social and economical satire that caters to the smart reader as well. Seeing Lula’s adversaries fight over her and Chimi is much more than a literal battle- it’s a fight over ethics, morals and the ability to live freely.

You may not see it first, but the potential layers here give Powell a ton of places to grow and make the series something worth keeping an eye on.

And they say ogres and onions have layers; they haven’t read this comic yet.

If all that fails to cut the mustard for you, the art style here is excellent as well, encompassing many of “The Goon” elements and playing with them enough to make them suitable here. For instance, the splash pages here show Chimi changing the size of his mouth to fit whatever he wants in there, while his facial expressions are so sound that it doesn’t matter if the character utters a word or not- you absolutely know what’s on his mind.

Not bad for a comic in black and white.

All in all, with this more than engaging story developing and Powell’s signature art style, “Chimichanga” looks like a series many will eventually see as special.

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 14230 Articles
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports. Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders. His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023. Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief. Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale. Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.

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