Zodiac Starforce #1 Review: Girl-Powered

Girls love magical girls. The idea of saving the world while dating and going to school is like a dream. So of course there will be plenty of fans trying to emulate these stories. Kevin Panetta and Paulina Ganucheau show off their love of the genre with “Zodiac Starforce #1,” a magical girl comic that tries something different, but the execution isn’t all that.

Two years after the “Zodiac Starforce” defeated the evil Cimmeria, the team has disbanded. After one of the members gets attacked by a monster team has to reunite and figure out why there are monsters.

This comic skips the origin story of the typical magical girl and decides to start after a major event. While this is a clever idea, it leaves way too many questions. Who is Cimmeria? Why was each of the girls chosen? What exactly are their powers? These questions may be answered in later issues, but in the first issue it makes the reader not care about any these questions.

There are a few things about the story that are terrible. The majority of the story takes place at a party where typical teenage mayhem happens. Not to mention some of the dialogue reads like forced teenage lingo. It will grate on the reader after a while.

The absolute worst thing in this comic is one of the characters is revealed to have joined up in a “coven of mean-witches.” This is one of the most overused and worst clichés in any teenage story. Real life witches (which are Goths or Wiccans in real life) act nothing like they do in these stories. Just because the Goths act jaded does not mean they’re mean. It’s the whole “pretty: good, ugly: bad” cliché that should have died out years ago. Both Panetta and Ganucheau said they’re fans of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” which is where they got this cliché. Just because a show had does not mean you need to continue to beat a horse that’s been dead for years.

The art shows that Ganucheau was inspired by magical girl comics. It has some of the typical magical girl basics like the girls are really pretty and have wild hair. Not to mention pink. Lots of pinks. Like, super girly pink. It’s like if “Barbie” and “My Little Pony” decided to mate and this was the result.

“Zodiac Starforce #1” may be a love letter to magical girl shows that tries something different, but has a ways to go. The story needs some work, the clichés are way out there and the art is as girly as it gets. This may not be fondly remembered like “Sailor Moon,” “Cardcaptor Sakura” or even “Cutie Honey” but it’s all America has right now.