Geek Girl issue #4 not only did a great job of building up some of its core characters but also introduced us to some new ones which feel just as strong and finally gave us a proper look at the League, sorry Legion of Larcenists which resulted in what was probably one of the best battles of the whole comic so far. Seeing an old heroine back in action and finally seeing some of the members of the legion be developed a little bit more was a breath of fresh air and an action-packed one at that.
Plot
Geek Girl issue #4 is written by Sam Johnson with artwork from Carlos Granda, Chunlin Zhao, and Paul McLaren and see’s Geek-Girl team up with Neon-Girl in an attempt to track down and take out The Legion of Larcenists who have started reeking havoc throughout Maine after Lighting Storm destroyed the majority of the cities police. The issue is definitely more action-centric but there are still those key character moments sprinkled throughout and the issue still has time to crack the odd joke here and there all of which hit. This concept of the police being virtually out of action and heroes from all walks of life having to band together to keep the people safe is a really cool concept and something I hope will be expanded on in later issues especially because this issue demonstrates perfectly just how cool it looks when we see multiple heroes teaming up against different villains at once.
Characters
The two standouts for me in this issue were both members of the Legion. The first was Terry and the second was the lovably awkward Chromax. Terry especially felt very real and grounded and his distaste at his gang nickname demonstrated a humanity to the gang’s members we have not seen before. His back and fourth’s with Chromax and their eventual team up was enjoyable enough and despite Chromax being a robot the connection the two seemed to make between their hatred for the gang was sold well. As for the rest of the gang, I would have liked to see a little more from the pig-faced leader who will hopefully be able to put up more of a fight in his next battle against Neon-Girl and Geek-Girl. Speaking of which, let’s get onto the heroes. Geek-Girl, this time the original Geek-Girl AKA ruby instantly felt way more confident in the role compared to her friend Summer who took up the mantle in previous issues. Despite having virtually the same power set due to her very impressive glasses she didn’t just feel like a clone and I appreciated that. Neon-Girl was also a cool addition again feeling more experienced in this role. Despite appearing as equals Neon-Girl had a slight edge on Geek-Girl and I enjoyed that ‘master and apprentice’ feel they had similar to Summer and Pitbull in the earlier issues.
Artwork
Geek-Girl has always had a bright and vibrant color pallet and that really shines through in issue #4 especially near the end of the issue. The bright red, blue, and yellow’s of Neon and Geek-Girls outfits contrast in a great way aginst the legions generic looking goons in all-black. Its a really simple thing but it works wonders and the additional bright orange backdrop or purple energy blast kept the action feeling energetic rather than just seeing characters get thrown into walls over and over again.
Overall I really enjoyed Geek-Girl #4. Finally exploring the Legion of Larcenist’s was really fun and I loved Chromax’s involvement throughout the issue. Seeing Neon-Girl and Geek-Girl team up helped to elevate the entire second half of the issue especially with this being Ruby as Geek-Girl rather than summer which was a nice switch up.
Geek-Girl #4 is out right now and available at www.geekgirlcomics.com and www.comixology.com If you want to know more about Geek-Girl you can check out my previous reviews here on GVN or check them out over on Twitter.
