Review - Bad Girls #3

The evil villainesses of the Zenescope universe continue to unite their powers for no good in Bad Girls #3 from Zenescope.

The title is written by Joey Esposito, with art by Eduardo Garcia, Salvador Velaquez and Anthony Spay, colors by Jeff Balke, Jason Embury, Wesley Wong and Mike Stefan and letters by Jim Campbell.

Sela Mathers has really made a lot of enemies in her journeys through the Grim Fairy Tales universe. Among them are the Highborn villainesses, who were ever so close to finishing Sela and ruling the four realms unimpeded. Until Sela got some help.

Sela has enlisted some other fighters. Those fighters include Nathan Cross, Samantha and Britney. Britney also just so happens to have a new pet in the Mandersoon who was born of magic and must be trained in the ways of combat to continue fighting the goblins leashed upon the world. Meanwhile, Samantha has decided to take matters into her own hands and go rogue on the group.

Esposito's writing isn't the most in-depth dialogue out there, but it works for the book. Essentially, the story is that the bad guys team up, unleash holy hell on the good guys and, by the end, are forced to retreat. That's not saying that's how Bad Girls ends, but so far there hasn't really been a sense of urgency on the part of the heroes.

The Nexus and four realms are being threatened by being completely overtaken, yet the third issue doesn't really make it feel like that. The first issue had the arrival of a lot of monsters. The second issue had more monsters. The third issue? More monsters. The stakes still don't feel very high and there are only two issues left.

The art is sort of all over the place, which should be expected with three artists and four colorists. Some of the monsters that aren't goblins look cool, but there's really nothing but a lot of T&A shots. Yes, this is Zenescope and T&A is their bread and butter, so it's not entirely surprising.

Overall, Bad Girls #3 has brought the miniseries to a screeching halt storywise. It feels like the story has hit a dead end and so far all that's been accomplished is fighting, dimension hopping and the birth of a weird creature. Hopefully the final two issues pick things up and send the series out on a high note.

Bad Girls #3 is in stores now.