NO HEROINE #1 review – Buffy + Tank Girl + Drugs = Kayla (Gogol, Madd, Madd, Rinehart, Raafat, Templesmith, Source Point Press)

Written by Frank Gogol, Art by Criss Madd, Colors by Shawna Madd, Letters by Sean Rinehart, Main Cover Art by Ahmed Raafat, Variant Cover Art by Ben Templesmith

NO HEROINE, a new series from Source Point Press bills itself as follows “If Buffy and Tank Girl Met Somewhere in the Middle, You’d Get NO HEROINE.” And you know what? That’s a fair analogy. In the world of NO HEROINE, vampires live among us, slinging a drug to humans. The series’ title is an interesting play on words, as the heroin like drug plays a major role in the plot. In addition, the protagonist, Kayla, is no heroine herself, having burnt bridges and scarred those around her with drug use. A young female protagonist facing off against vampires? The Buffy reference seems fair so far. Kayla has an interesting punk design, making the comparison to Tank Girl valid.  The art also reminds me a bit of the old Barb Wire comics.

NO HEROINE has some interesting things to say about drug addiction and its impact on people. Vampires have never really been my thing (thanks to Twilight and general overuse), but they make decent bad guys to further that theme in this book. Perhaps thanks to a knowing Twilight reference, I found their use here to be enjoyable. In the world of NO HEROINE, they seem to live pretty much out in the open, and so far, they are bad. Vampires certainly lend themselves to being killed in interesting ways, which I found to be the most fun part of a book that deals with some heavy subjects. The action scenes effectively convey what is happening, which his often difficult for comics.

Thanks to violence, plenty of cursing, and references to drug use, this is a book for mature audiences. The story itself is pretty self contained and includes a resolution, so it makes for an easily digestible issue if you are interested in checking it out. There is a teaser for future events, but it isn’t a cliffhanger.

The first issue of NO HEROINE is set for release on July 15th.

Do you plan to pick up the issue when it comes out? What are your thoughts? Feel free to chat with me on Twitter or leave a comment below!