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“Wow, we’ve really made it. We’re with the band. And not just any band. The up-and-coming, everybody wants a piece, we’re gonna be bigger than The Beatles, achingly hip, band of the moment.”
The five-issue comic-book series ‘Groupies’ by Helen Mullane and Tula Lotay is a dreamily drawn, glossy-yet-dark tale of beautiful girls being brutally murdered while touring with ‘The Moon Show’, the hottest band in town. Is there a serial killer on the loose, or is the devil demanding its price for the band’s meteoric rise to fame?
Every issue follows a different young woman, two of whom are caught up in a seductive tug-of-war over Si, a grungy heartthrob from ‘The Moon Show‘, who might remind some readers of a young Kurt Cobain. Almost all chapters of ‘Groupies’ are soaked in sex, drugs, and messy egos, balancing rockstar glamour with gruesome, possibly demonic killings.
However, since each chapter is less than 30 pages long, the moment you get familiar with one character, the narrative moves on to someone else. None of the characters are particularly memorable, even though their designs are mesmerizing. Needless to say, the beautiful artwork by Tula Lotay is the highlight of Groupies, with her illustrations smoothing over some of the plot’s weak points. Tula Lotay draws the women like seductive sirens and Greek goddesses wrapped in hip clothes from the 1960s and ’70s.
There’s considerable suspense around the mysterious violence unfolding throughout the issues, but unfortunately, Groupies ends with a randomly abrupt climax that makes little sense. If you’re the kind of comic-book reader who reads for the art, this series is worth checking out.
Rating: 3 on 5. ‘Groupies’ is also on Kindle Unlimited.
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