Mean Girls Club

Mean Girls Club

by Ryan Heshka

This bold and beautiful comic is full of sassy club-singing sisters who you don't wanna mess with . . .

Introducing: Pinky, Sweets, Blackie, McQualude, and Wanda. Together they form the Mean Girls Club, a menacing powerhouse of ruthless rebels.

Ryan Heshka creates a subversive comic that re-interprets images of the stereotypical 50's female and gives new and defiant voice to these ladies of leisure.

Based in Vancouver, Ryan Heshka is a self-taught artist and illustrator. His childhood influences of antiquated comics, pin-ups, pulp magazines, sci-fi, natural history, music, and movies persist to this day, and his paintings are full of pop-culture references through the ages. Ryan primarily works in acrylic paint on wood panel, frequently embellishing with cuttings from pulp magazines. Ryan has exhibited extensively across Europe and North America including at Roq la Rue in Seattle and the Jonathan Levine Gallery in New York.

Genres: Graphic Novels, Comics, Graphic Novels Comics, Crime, Comix, Humor, Art

24 pages, Paperback

First published December 15, 2015

Reviews

[Hannah Garden · Rating 4 out of 5]

Five stars for rulin' as hell minus one star for I wish it had been written by a girl though.

[Maddy Kundel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I, contrary to other readers it seems, really enjoyed this comic. Its little quips and scenes made me giggle! I loved the rockabilly artwork and very.... Anti-femme plot. It's a fun, *savage* twist on.... women!

[Tina · Rating 2 out of 5]

I saw the title for this one and immediately requested. I associated the title with the movie Mean Girls thinking this would be like a 1950s mash up of it.

I was so wrong. This wasn’t really anything like Mean Girls, it was more about a bunch of girls who do drugs, steal and threaten people. The graphic novel really had no plot and at the end of it, I can’t really tell you much about any of the characters. I couldn’t even really tell you what it was about.

I did love the black and pink theme. I thought that was really cool, I even liked that it was set in a different decade but other than that there wasn’t much I liked. This was definitely a miss for me.

[leynes · Rating 2 out of 5]

The colors are really all over the place in this one. This bright hot pink really didn't work for me... The story - or better the lack of thereof - was rather frustrating .... the Mean Girls go to down and create mayhem by destruction, that's it ---

[Sam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mean Girls aka badass femmes looking out for other femmes, fighting/raging against misogyny in the church and state (especially the cops). Beautiful risographed pinup styled noir graphics wow a baddie comic if I ever saw one (that and Concrete Park and Las Lobas and company)...

[Allie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like the art, especially the use of half tone with an accent color.

[Alasondro Alegré · Rating 3 out of 5]

★★★½

[Lani · Rating 5 out of 5]

Picked this up at Emerald City Comic Con and is one of my favorite comics I've snagged. I gave it to a friend because I knew she would love it as much as I do, but I hope to come across another copy some day. The viciously pink style is so gripping and unique. Not much happens, but it's a feast for the eyes.

[Daniel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well it's hard to put a star rating on a book that takes approximately 90 seconds to read, but since it was a LOL-filled 90 seconds I suppose that earns a positive review. I love outlandish and ridiculous comics. This one definitely qualifies.

[Emelie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was... Odd! I enjoyed it though :)

[Jess Ash · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved and appreciated the awesome artwork in this, not a lot of story involved but beautifully done.

[Kari Eggerling · Rating 1 out of 5]

Reading Challenge 2016:
-Book less than 150 pages
-Book you can finish in a day
-Graphic novel
-Library Book

[Elizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was interesting, to say the least. The colors are what drew me to it. It had all of my favorites aesthetics. 50's pin-up art style, Pulp fiction covers, the creative uses for pinks, grays, black and white. The plot was.....basic. It read more like a fable than anything, nothing really complex. But it was interesting, but it would been better fleshed out. The Mean Girls Club is a kind of feminism so devoid of substance, you can tell it was written by a dude with some descent intentions, but lacks the education to actually make an impact. I felt the same way I always felt, when it comes to the righteous indignation towards patriarchy....when I was 14. It felt like the Tarantino feminism, that was inspired by the Kill Bill movies, or someone who was really into Tura Satana (who is boss, do not mistake me). It's a feminism born of absolute tragedy, of injustice, of degradation, which is valid, but it seems to be the only one that is acknowledged. Yeah, sure, in the surface it's badass, but there isn't really an definition, no texture. Nothing that stands out.

All in all, a good read to pass the time, but not a very nutritious book.

[Pat Sadist · Rating 2 out of 5]

I appreciated the attempts at feminism here, but the fact that the women have no distinctive personalities make it ring hollow. I will give it credit for the artwork, and the idea was interesting, even if it was a bit underdeveloped. Also, I like a tough, sexy bad girl as much as the next guy, but these women are just plain unlikable, which kind of undermines the feminist message, don't you think?

[Esther · Rating 5 out of 5]

Neon pink happiness! Silly antics femme fatale. Short narrative, a primer for Heshka’s upcoming book. Beautiful line work and spot printing on point. Read this, listen to Messer Chups (Russian experimental music - Mean Girls Gang’s cup of coffee), then watch the music video. Full course meal. Bon app!

[K De · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ryan Heshka's "Mean Girls Club" is a satirical and campy romp into noir style fun of a graphic novel. The artwork complements the tough talking femme fatale/ hard boiled detective fiction/films from Raymond Chandler. Enjoy the work with a good laugh.

[Искандер Булатов · Rating 4 out of 5]

Отличный рисунок, зубодробительное действие и хороший финал. Возможно именно так большинство глупых людей воспринимает женщин, которые не боятся возразить в ответ на несправедливое отношение - как опасные элементы общества. Понравилось!

[Tyler Graham · Rating 4 out of 5]

Macabre, malicious, and mischievous. Mean Girl’s Club follows six violent women as they cause mayhem throughout town in this short comic, sharp as Pinky’s knife. Loved the vintage/pinup style; would gladly read more adventures of this Club!

[Bryan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is SO outrageously crazy yet wonderful. Also, it’s the perfect combination of creepy cuteness, rockabilly girls, and those AIP troubled teen flicks.

I’m so happy that this book exists!

Definitely foresee a tattoo in the near future.

[Anetq · Rating 2 out of 5]

50's style girlsploytation? The art is black & shocking pink - the story is next to non-existant most of the time and seems like an excuse to draw half-naked 50's pinups. Making them mean makes for a little more fun, but not really.

[juno · Rating 3 out of 5]

esto es un claro ejemplo de "menos es más". hilo inestable sobre un mundo utópico, personalmente. ojalá madurar y convertirme en una chica mala...

ah, y estilo de ilustración único y precioso, la joya de la corona.

[Alicia SG · Rating 4 out of 5]

La primera grapa de “el club de las chicas malas” que continúa con un álbum recopilado por Autsider cómics. Villanas pin up en colores negro y rosa como una pesadilla russmeyeriana y jonhwateriana. Recortable al final. Mi corazón ganado.

[Cecilia Powers · Rating 5 out of 5]

I added this book to my to read list because of the art style and it did not disappoint. This graphic is incredibly short so I would consider it as more of a artbook than a story and I love Heshka's vintage inspired style being mixed with the mean girls causing violent havoc.

[Carol Tilley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ridiculous in the best ways.

[June · Rating 2 out of 5]

Hot electric pink art and some witty one-liners, but not a whole lotta depth. Could have been a lot shorter. That being said, I'm always a sucker for a girl with a gun.

[J.A. Hoyt · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was depressingly underwhelmed by this. I loved the black/white/pink color scheme, and the fact that it was uber-feminist. But the story itself and the characters were just... *yawn*

[Kaira Kaira · Rating 2 out of 5]

Amazing visually but the story was lacking

[Dantanian · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very run of the mill in the comix field. There's much better out there than this

[Shelley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bad Girls - Donna Summer

[Brianna · Rating 1 out of 5]

Welp.