An imperfect, but thoroughly promising read. The premise is intelligent without being zany-- this series could easily be a gag-a-minute boner joke festival, and yet the series is instead a thoughtful and uncompromising look at the awkward side of sexuality, while simultaneously being a pretty grown up take on the superhero genre. (I say 'grown up'-- as in mature-- rather than 'gritty'-- this series is no Christopher Nolan, and all the better for it. It never takes itself too seriously, which is wonderful.) Funny, interesting, and with lots of fascinating characters, this volume is a promising preview of a strong series to come. The volume itself isn't the strongest, but I see potential in it.

While Fraction and Zdarsky are no slouch when it comes to comics, something about the formula seems a bit unsure, a bit forced, at times. Maybe it's the unclear way the narration moves forward: the narrator is sometimes in the panel as a flashback is happening, sometimes not, sometimes wearing distracting costumes, sometimes narrating past events in the past tense, sometimes the first tense, etc. Maybe it's the way a lot of the techniques used to tell the story feel a little gimicky-- this series is already larger-than-life, it doesn't need characters who are ultra precious and educated, meeting over a discussion of Nabokov and having incredibly quirky speech patterns. But something leaves the series feeling a bit... faked, to turn a phrase.

It's not bad. It's just the sign of a fledgling series finding its wings. When Fraction stops the gimickry and actually writes, the series soars. The scene where Suzie breaks out into a stunning rendition of [song name redacted], except all the lyrics are blotted out with sticky notes because they couldn't get the distribution rights, shines as a moment of surrealist charm because Fraction doesn't try to make it precious, and it would have been unnecessarily so otherwise. (The question of whether Fraction ever really tried to get the rights to print the lyrics in the first place-- which would have made a very boring and overlong scene of Suzie singing to the reader in a soundless medium-- or decided it would be best to only reference the scene indirectly through fourth-wall-breaking antics, is a question for another time.)

All in all, I look forward to more from this team and the series they're creating. I look forward to watching it find its footing, so it can be the best lil' sex machine it can be.