Review: SAVE YOURSELF! #1 is a Great Jumping Point for a New Magical Girl Comic
Save Yourself! is a new comic series from writer Bones Leopard and artists Kelly Matthews and Nichole Matthews. It’s a Magical Girl comic series which instantly got me interested and then it even promised to be a twist on the genre. The first twist is pretty predictable, but I wonder if there’s more to it. BOOM! Studios was kind enough to provide me a copy for the review, but the comic is available from your local comic shop, comiXology (affiliate link), or wherever you like to buy comics.
What if Magical Girls weren't Earth's champions at all? Aoe, Thel, and Gen, better known as the Lovely Trio, first burst onto the scene five years ago when they saved Earth from a surprise space monster attack! Since then, everyone, including Gigi, whose brother died as a bystander in a Lovely Trio battle, idolizes them as superheroic pop icons. But when Gigi witnesses the Lovely Trio battling a monster firsthand, she sees something that causes her to question everything she thought she ever knew about her heroes! A magical new series from the team behind Pandora's Legacy, writer Bones Leopard (Identical) and artists Kelly & Nichole Matthews (Just Beyond), that's perfect for fans of Sailor Moon and Wynd.
This comic was fun to read. It is a Magical Girl story, but so far, we don’t really follow the magical girls, rather civilians and their perspectives. We get to watch as they observe the magical girls fight monsters and our main hero, Gigi, discovers secrets about both sides. Before the fight, we do meet some of Gigi’s friends though and they seem like they’ll be fun to get to know as well.
The art is not my favorite style, but it is done well and there are some aspects that I greatly enjoy like the hologram of an alien that we see. Also, the art does work well for the story and at no point detracts from it. I think it could easily grow on me.
Overall, if you’re a fan of Magical Girl stories, I think you’ll enjoy Save Yourself!. I enjoyed this first issue and am very excited to see where the story goes.
