Ghouls Gone Wild for Koni Waves
Koni Waves: Ghouls Gone Wild
Written by Mark Poulton
Illustrated by Stephen Sistilli, Dexter Weeks & Mike Capprotti
Published by Arcana
Reviewed by Richard Caldwell
In this trade collection of the second Koni Waves mini-series, we are given more of the continuing saga of Hawaii’s skimpiest private eye, Koni and company. Constantly plagued with supernatural cases, she and her friends always come out on top, even while the villainous prince Hopohopo is ever lurking in the background. Contrary to all of the obvious expectations…I like it.
Poulton shows us a character who (perhaps unintentionally) betrays the general stereotype of the tough femme fatale heroine, as Koni is actually more of the other stereotype, of the “happy-drunk-partygirl-bitch” mindset. The kind of clubgirl every man wants to lay, but in daylight would really have nothing at all interesting to say; Koni is an ex-stripper who spends half of the story plastered drunk. She is not a very likable or respectable person. In fact, in real life her sort would be the first to fall victim to the magical evils that Koni the character somehow always survives. Yet she is still somehow tough, in her own slutty way.
In three otherwise stand alone tales, Koni is first assisted by guest starring rockband ADEMA in clashing with the nightmarish Nightmarchers, then tracks down the Succubus responsible for abusing athletic hormones, and finally must face down the savage culprit behind a growing bodycount on the island. The Hopohopo subplot throughout ties it all together while building up for the next chapter in Koni’s tale.
I really like the art here, handled mostly by Sistilli. A bit like the work of the very crisp and sharp Pat Olliffe, with a heavy heavy heavy dose of Modesty Blaise in spirit, the pages are well-thought out and exhibit a wonderful narrative flow. The monsters never look like cartoons, and the overall atmosphere never goes the way of Scooby Dooby Do. God I love substance over form. Thank you, Sistelli and crew, for boldly remembering that storytelling can be as structurally graceful as it is necessary in this medium. For that I will mostly overlook the handful of lettering flaws.
Though the scary factor of Koni Waves: Ghouls Gone Wild is minimum, the exploration of islander mythology is somewhat grounded enough in and inspired by actual lore so as to make for a nice little read. Even nicer if it were a monthly ongoing. I’d buy it. And even if the sorcerous undead and unnatural threats aplenty seen here in these pages are not the sort to keep you up at night, the plenitude of bikini shots probably will.
Ahem.
www.arcanacomics.com
www.koniwaves.com
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