Comic Review: Flavor Girls #2

BOOM! Studios

Story & Art: Loïc Locatelli-Kournwsky

Colorist: Eros de Santiago

Flavor Girls is the name of the book. The heroes are a Sailor Moon-esque group known as the Sacred Fruit Guardians. If you’re not already smiling, Flavor Girls might not be the book for you. If your interest has been piqued, prepare to dive into a world of heartwarming whimsy, alien invaders, magical fruit, and unmistakable art from illustrator and cartoonist Loïc Locatelli-Kournwsky, best known for Persephone.

BOOM! Studios senior editor Dafna Pleban described the book as taking “influences from bandes dessinées and manga in the best way possible.” I couldn’t agree more, and it’s no wonder Locatelli-Kournwsky has excelled as a cartoonist. The art in Flavor Girls has a kinetic dynamism that frequently takes cues from anime and Cartoon Network staples like Steven Universe.

But Locatelli-Kournwsky clearly has a grip on the comic medium, as well: layouts range from tastefully subdued to wonderfully cluttered. Furthermore, Flavor Girls is a book of genuinely emotive art. The titular girl’s, especially poor, sweet Sara, draw laughs through simple expressions and poses. Throw a pair of spiral eyes on someone who just got their bell rung, and I will laugh.

That said, in a manner similar to Peach Momoko’s work on Demon Days, Locatelli-Kournwsky’s style lends itself just as readily to the psychedelic, the grim, and the frenzied chaos of extraterrestrial-magical warfare. Sandwiched between Sara’s hapless training montages and her adorably hit-or-miss efforts to befriend the other Flavor Girls is a stark, sobering flashback to the invasion. The sequence involves an amputation grieving the death of a parent. Yet, even this tragedy is relayed to Sara, and readers, with a tinge of hope, the core ethos of Flavor Girls.

Colorist Eros de Santiago brings a vibrant, almost tactile palette to the world of Flavor Girls. There really is no better word than “vibrant” when it comes to describing Santiago’s work. Locatelli-Kournwsky’s art provides the energy; Santiago’s colors send that energy flying off the page. There’s a nice moment in Issue #2, where Locatelli-Kournwsky superimposes two characters talking over a full panel flashback. Santiago uses faded greys and blues for the flashback, which is easily separated from the vividly colored characters in the foreground.

By the way, I took the Which Flavor Girl Are You? quiz at boom-studios.com and got Camille. Camille is a carefree, extroverted badass. So, this quiz is busted. But Flavor Girls rules!