By: Frank Cho & Doug Murray (writers), Axel Medellin (art), Nikos Koutsis (colors) & Thomas Mauer (letters)
The Story: The crew of an all female spaceship is lost in space.
What’s Good: Well, it’s Frank Cho and Axel Medellin, so you know there will be pretty ladies in it. I guess there’s also the hint that it’s called 50 Girls 50…
What makes this an enjoyable title are two things. First, it seems to be in that space opera end of the sci-fi genre that doesn’t get covered by comics all that much. And I don’t count the Big 2 cosmic stories where so many of the central players (the Kree, Thanos, etc.) are known entities. 50 Girls 50 is all new and has that wonderful sense of discovery that is a part of any good space opera.
The basic story is that in the semi-near future, Earth learns about wormhole technology and launches a ship. For scientific reasons that are (thankfully) left vague, wormhole travel is not compatible with Y-chromosomes, so the crew is all women. But, what was intended to be their maiden voyage, goes wrong and the ladies are stranded in unknown space.
The other neat aspect of the story is something that you’d kinda expect with Cho and Medellin. As a landing party sets down on a planet to investigate, suddenly you have women in space suits tromping through a jungle full of huge insects. That would be pretty cool by itself, but surprise, there is some aspect of the planet’s atmosphere that dissolves their gear, so with each passing page, the comic becomes more cheesecake. First, they’re in spacesuits, then the sleeves fall off, then its pants and half-shirts and by the end of the issue they’re running around the jungle in their undies. Two things about this work nicely and keep it from being too exploitative. One is the neat transition from a sterile spaceship environment to sweaty bodies and loincloths. The other is that it is all done in the best cheesecake tradition with tongue firmly planted in cheek and where everything is teased, but not explicit.
If you aren’t familiar with Medellin’s work, he’s been the regular artist on Elephantmen for the last year or so and if you know anything about Elephantmen’s art tradition that speaks volumes. I actually think he did 50 Girls 50 earlier in his career for some reason, but you can see all the basics are there: fine storytelling, great anatomy work and really nice looking women. He also keeps the women all visually distinctive, which is a challenge with a 50-woman crew.
What’s not so good: Very small things keep this from being an “A” issue. One is that the space opera story is a little light. Most of the issue is spent watching these crewmembers with their clothing falling off. And, while this reviewer does enjoy cheesecake, it limits the audience. It also wouldn’t surprise me if the cheesecake in issue #1 is the hook and the story will really be fleshed out in the coming issues.
Also, while I wouldn’t call it a “negative”, having read Medellin’s recent issues of Elephantmen (where he’s also coloring his own work) you can see how much he’s grown as an artist recently. The art in 50 Girls 50 is still very solid “B” level art and you can see the promise that caused someone like Frank Cho (one of our more gifted artists at drawing the ladies) to say, “Hey Axel, I want you to draw my new cheesecake-y creator-owned series!” If nothing else, it should be an encouragement to check out the excellent Elephantmen series.
Conclusion: A nice blend of cheesecake and space opera. Two of my favorites…
Grade: B
-Dean Stell
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