Fight Girls #4

Fight Girls #4

AWA Upshot Studios 2021

Created, Written & Illustrated by Frank Cho

Coloured by Sabine Rich

Lettered by Sal Cipriano

Ten hard-as-nails women face off in an ancient contest of champions where the winner truly takes all: the title of "Queen of the Galaxy." To win the challenge each contestant must survive the hazards of the planet's harsh landscape, the ferocious predators on and below its surface, and their fellow contestants. This edition of the contest has a twist: one of the contestants is an infiltrator who has her eye on something bigger than the prize. Who is she and what does she really want?

With one issue left everything that’s happening is going to come to a head here and what I was thinking would happen isn’t. So essentially Frank throws us a curveball and I like it. I honestly hadn’t expected events to play out the way that they do here and that excites me even more. We’ve been led to believe that contestant Seven is one who doesn’t belong and at this point I still believe that this is true and if so then what is she up to and what nefarious scheme is in the works remains to be seen. Though one thing is for certain whatever she is up to there are those that are ensuring that anyone looking into her is taken out of the equation.

I think that the way in which this is being told is pretty sensational. The story & plot development that we see through how the sequence of events unfold as well as how the reader learns information is presented exceptionally well. The character development that we see through the dialogue, the character interaction as well as how we see them act and react to the situations and circumstances which they encounter does a magnificent job in bringing their personalities to life. The pacing is excellent and as it takes us through the pages revealing the story we are treated to what’s on the surface and left wondering what’s simmering underneath and it’s enticing and exciting.

I am appreciative of the way that we see this being structured and how we see the layers within the story continue to emerge, grow, evolve and strengthen. I like how we see the layers opening up new avenues to be explored, mainly with the guy following up his leads always getting shot, and how this adds depth, dimension and complexity to the story is fabulous. How we see everything working together to create the story’s ebb & flow as well as how it moves the story forward is impeccably achieved.

Frank’s interiors are tight. I still firmly believe we could stand to see more backgrounds being utilised. The linework is strong, clean and crisp and with the varying weights and techniques being utilised to create the detail within the work is extremely nice to see. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show a remarkable eye for storytelling. The colour work is beautifully rendered. The various hues and tones within the colours being utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work shows a sensational eye for how colour works and how to maximise their effects.

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I've been surprised with this series right from the get-go and have broken every single expectation that I’ve had for the book. It is a very rare thing that every step of the way I’ve had to pay closer and closer attention to what we are seeing to really understand what is happening and not see it filtered through my rose coloured lens. I’m thrilled beyond belief by what we’re seeing within these pages thanks to the level & quality we see in the writing, the characterisation and the interior artwork.