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Powerpuff Girls #6 // Review

It’s another Saturday morning in the cheery town of Townsville  It’s early Saturday morning, too. There’s time to catch the weekly Saturday Super ‘Splosion Cartoon Lineup. There are three girls who seem to be missing it, though. They’re all nestled snug in their bed sleeping soundly. So maybe they shouldn’t be awoken. Maybe they should be given a chance to sleep. They’ve got important things to do in The Powerpuff Girls #6. Writer Paulina Ganucheau continues to pay tribute to the beloved Cartoon Network stars with visuals faithfully brought to the page by the art team of Silvia De Ventura and Carlo Lauro. 

The big show on TV this particular morning is My Frootie Friends. There’s ONE Powerpuff girl who can’t wait to find out what Patootie Frootie and her fruiity friends are up to on this particular morning. She really wishes that she could be with Patootie Frootie all the time. Surely there must be SOME way of getting Patootie to life and bringing the loveable lamb to this side of the TV screen. And wouldn’t you know that it just might happen? It’s just precisely the kind of strange and wacky thing that happens in Tonsville. Of course...it just wouldn’t be the Powerpuff girls if things went exactly as expected, would it?

Ganuchaeu rushes through a manic series of events that all seem to build quite well on each other. Though this particular story could have easily showed up in any of the animated episodes of the original series, the plot in question has a distinct rhythm and motion that works well on the page and away it couldn't possibly work on the TV screen. Ganuchaeu showcasing the strength of the comic book format without compromising those things that make the animated series such an enduring and beloved, classic people who grew up with it.

De Ventura and Lauro managed to find a very good balance between the cel animated style of the TV series and the  more textured and complicated visuals possible with contemporary design in high-end indie comics. That's kind of an interesting balancing act that they manage. The action hits the page in a way that really amplifies the emotional impact of what's going on. It's remarkable the sheer range of different emotions and nuance capable in some very simple character design. The range of emotion making it to the page is really, really impressive.

There really isn't any reason why they couldn't be an ongoing series like this that would just run completely completely openly for a very long time. Animated series ran for quite some time. But comic book version that is executed as well as this version is could run for quite a bit longer and quite a a few more episodes than the TV series ever managed. It would take a long time for the comic books to catch up to the total number of stories that were captured for TV, but Ganucheau and company are doing a good enough job with it and there’s enough of a following for the characters that it could easily keep going indefinitely. 

Grade: B