Mean Girls Club: Pink Dawn [Graphic Novel]

by Ryan Heshka

Overview

The Mean Girls are out for blood in this timely revenge fantasy that speaks to our deepest desires for awful, corrupt men to get what’s coming to ‘em! Filled with mayhem, misandry, and more danger than you can shake a stiletto at, get ready for a chaotic, bloody ride.

The Mean Girls Club have been laying waste to the town for years, and Mayor Schlomo is hell-bent on their destruction. He has other plans for the town's young women... brainwashing and sexual servitude. And so the Mayor blackmails a young mechanic by the name of Roxy to infiltrate the Clubhouse - but Roxy's feisty attitude lands her an initiation into the Club instead! Torn between her obligations to her dying grandfather, the Mayor's dirty threats, and her unexpected friendships with the Mean Girls, will Roxy help the Girls to bring down the Mayor's cult once and for all?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781910620229
Publisher:	Flying Eye Books Ltd.
Publication date:	05/08/2018
Pages:	96
Sales rank:	758,152
Product dimensions:	7.50(w) x 9.90(h) x 0.60(d)
Age Range:	16 - 17 Years

About the Author

Based in Vancouver, Ryan Heshka is a selftaught artist and illustrator. His childhood influences of antiquated comics, pin-ups, and pulp magazines 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. He has exhibited extensively across Europe and North America including at Roq la Rue in Seattle and the Jonathan Levine Gallery in New York.

Editorial Reviews

02/19/2018
This exhibition of mid-century dime-store dame rebellion is so over-the-top that it misses the mark. In response to a botched attack on their hideout, a group of femme fatales known as the Mean Girls Club sparks a crime wave fueled by misandry and a thirst for the destruction of 1950s ideals. A horrified Mayor Schlomo enlists mechanic Roxy to infiltrate the gang’s ranks and hand-deliver them to him. Needing cash to care for her unwell grandfather, Roxy accepts his offer. After breaching the club, who ridicule each other and mourn their smudged eyebrows more openly than their lost “sisters,” Roxy leads the Mean Girls into a trap, resulting in their arrest. But when Roxy suffers a devastating personal blow, she’s left regretting her actions at a grim crossroads where all the women are in peril. This feisty noir is black, white, and hot pink all over, but the toxic girl gang’s clawing at each other while stabbing down the patriarchy undercuts the seemingly intended messages of feminist empowerment. Still, nostalgic pulp genre fans will get a kick out of the expressive art style and rowdy sexploitation references. (May)

Publishers Weekly

"This satisfying revenge comedy arrives at just the right time to appeal to readers hungry for payback against gropers and grabbers."
—Library Journal

"Mean Girls Club: Pink Dawn is a revenge story that brilliantly subverts the standards of the era it portrays. From the limited color palette to the dialogue to the masterful line art itself, the book bleeds style."
—Foreword Reviews

"[...] nostalgic pulp genre fans will get a kick out of the expressive art style and rowdy sexploitation references."
–Publishers Weekly

“Resembling an old noir film on acid, Heshka’s pink-and-black art is the big draw here.”
—Barnes & Noble 

"Serving up full throttle exploitation with its eponymous gang, Heshka swerves into pop surrealism and sly satire, touching on both the gorgeous and grotesque with equal ease."
—Katie Skelly, The Comics Journal

"Those who enjoy the visuals will likely find something of interest here, particularly if they’re willing to surrender into the setting. If you like the kitsch of 50s “women in prison” films, this is the book for you."
—Comics Worth Reading

"Mean Girls Club: Pink Dawn feels like the ultimate revenge fantasy for all the women out there who fight to be heard and struggle against the patriarchy as a whole. […] Every page is filled with stunning art by Ryan Heshka and a story that makes you want to go out and form your own gang of bad ass women."
—Rogues Portal

Praise for Mean Girls Club [17 x 23 Comic]:

"Ryan Heshka’s new release from Nobrow Press (as part of their wonderful 17 x 23 series) is going to blow your mind."
—Boingboing

"The Mean Girls Club is a subversive look at the clichés of Hollywood’s Golden Age wild on a pink tinted acid trip. While it is a quick and light read, this one-shot will make you a lifetime member of the Mean Girls Club."
—Previews Indie Edge

"The story is fun. It’s a blast to read […] I would 100% recommend this to people to check out."
—Comic Bastards

“It’s honestly batshit crazy in the best way possible” – Women Write About Comics

“Ryan Heshka’s Mean Girls Club is a short, adorably, ridiculously amoral tale […] would make a great gift for the bad-girl lover in your home”. – Okazu

"Ryan Heshka plays on the clichés of 1950s Hollywood noir. He subverts the sadomasochistic high-heeled, overly made up wannabe movie stars sirens of the time (think LA Confidential on acid?) and turns it up to levels of ear-drum busting craziness." –Down the Tubes

From the Publisher

04/01/2018
Not snotty high schoolers per the Lindsay Lohan film, these very adult gals are out to break the power (and head) of corrupt Mayor Schlomo (who likes to peep under young girls' skirts). Sweets, Wanda, Wendy, Pinky, Blacky, and McQualude all survived male exploitation, with heart-wrenching tales to tell. So when the lecherous mayor hires naive Roxy to betray the club, the ladies retaliate with guts and guns. Heshka's (Welcome to Robot Town) heroines embody the hilariously extravagant curves of retropulp heroines, such as Will Eisner's P'Gell from The Spirit or Al Capp's ladies in Li'l Abner, plus stiletto heels and sass to match. The transgressive, more modern dialog and some of the character names play on slang for genitalia, e.g., "gun-toting gashes," "poon-goons." Stylized panel design and expertly selected pink/black colors emphasize the story's brazen bawdiness. VERDICT This satisfying revenge comedy arrives at just the right time to appeal to readers hungry for payback against gropers and grabbers. Sexualized imagery, lampoonery of faux-sanctimonious religion, and rowdy language; no actual nudity.—MC

Library Journal