Mean Girls Club: Pink Dawn
By Ryan Heshka
Review by Stephanie Cooke
Ever feel like the world is against you, and everyone is out to get you? Well, when you’re one of the gals in the Mean Girls Club, this is absolutely true.
Mean Girls Club: Pink Dawn is the full-length graphic novel follow-up by Ryan Heshka. After the success of the mini-comic of the same name (minus the subtitle), people were clamouring for more. Heshka delivered through the publisher Nobrow.
This volume follows the Mean Girls Club again as they fight for their place in the world. The right to be left alone, and to be respected by those around them. The mayor, the police force, and the townsfolk don’t want to just let that happen though. They set their minds to finding a way to destroy the women once and for all.
The mayor and his cronies think all their problems are solved when they recruit a young woman named Roxy to be a plant within the group. Roxy has her own pile of shit that she’s knee-deep in and manipulated into bringing down the Mean Girls Club.
Of course, our MGC won’t go down without a fight…
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 time a woman is catcalled, there comes a moment when we all collectively wish we could kick the shit out of the dude. Mean Girls Club takes all of that to the extreme in an absurdly fantastic way. In my day to day life, I’d be happy to get a great zinger in there in response but for the MGC? Well, setting the dude’s on fire works too!
In some ways, I wish that this was written by a woman. It would’ve felt like an almost cathartic way of venting all those awful things that we deal with. Heshka, however, has said that this book is meant to be filled with strong, badass women that act as an inspiration for his daughter. So, that’s a pretty rad thing to do. I can’t imagine growing up with a father like Heshka; one who actively encourages his daughter to fight the world like one of the women from the pages of the book. Someday I’d like to meet her because I bet she’s going to be an awesome person.
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. In fact, it’s time for me to wrap up this review, buy an entire new wardrobe of clothes, get a motorcycle (right after I learn how to ride one) and hammer some nails to the end of a baseball bat.
I’M READY TO FIGHT!
Verdict:
Buy it! Mean Girls Club is a great book that not-so-subtly displays the attitude that many men have towards women in this day and age. It counters all of that with a look at how we sometimes wish we could literally fight off the patriarchy.
Mean Girls Club is a love letter for all the women out there who are called SJWs and feminazis. Women trying to earn an ounce of respect in the world and fight for a better tomorrow.
Hit me up if you want to form a girl gang too after you read this.
