Grrl Scouts: Magic Socks #6 Review

Grrl Scouts: Magic Socks #6
Writer/Artist: Jim Mahfood
Colorist/Letterer: Justin Stewart
Publisher: Image Comics

A review by Stephanie Pouliotte

As predicted, Grrl Scouts: Magic Socks #6 was indeed the craziest issue yet, it’s sad that it’s also the last! In the aftermath of the Gwen-and-Rita takedown, Josie’s fanatical mob is out for blood and the stakes are high (and so is Daphne). Seriously, she must be if she sold her soul to the first definitely evil looking deity she could find, but you know her track record is pretty good with this kind of thing…

At least she finally realized what an ass she was in life, and it only took 75 years of trippy soul searching in a psychedelic afterlife! But is remorse really the same thing as redemption?

What struck me the most about this closing issue is that despite the tense plot and the pressure of ending the series on a high note (heh), Mahfood still had a lot of fun with it. He hasn’t stopped having fun since the very first issue, and you can tell he just really enjoys creating this crazy, over-the-top story. His comical twists and mundane asides always provide the perfect foil to the gruesome mayhem that’s going down. I didn’t actually think it could get more intense than issue #5, but man, like it’s a bloodbath by the end. All the tension that’s been building over the course of the series is unleashed in five pages of pure fury and ‘anime-type-epicness’, as Rita puts it.

Plot wise, things unfurl pretty predictably in one sense, but it’s really the spectacle that keeps you strapped in (that final battle was off the hook!) Mahfood has some furiously powerful Daphne artwork here, and Stewart sets these pages apart by electrifying them with vibrant blues. It’s certainly an epic final act, but it left me wondering if I’d consider Daphne to have truly found redemption. At one point Uncle Humphrey speaks of salvation and the power of righteousness, but she sure didn’t seem so righteous during that fight. She’s a wild, passionate spirit and she found out first hand what it truly means to wield that power. The last page ties off her journey perfectly though and ends it in true Grrl Scouts fashion.

Verdict
Buy it! Grrl Scouts: Magic Socks #6 was the highest drop on this wild rollercoaster of a series. This run was short, but sweet. It flew off the rails more than once, but kept on course. It was a damn good read.