It’s spooky school supernatural drama, all collected in Dark Horse’s “Empowered and Sistah Spooky’s High School Hell trade.

And here’s the summary: Empowered and Sistah Spooky are high school students, who sell their souls in order to look gorgeous. They need to fit in, to have the look of the ideal student. No longer nerds or outcasts, they have become powerful and beautiful. They have been transformed! But the scene is not too rosy, no sirree. You see, the OTHER girls in the high school, all blonde and wearing identical stereotypical naughty school girl outfits, are jealous. And they are out to kill Empowered and Sistah Spooky. It’s a war, you see!

The trade collects the six issues of the mini-series by the same name.

It’s written by Adam Warren, with art and lettering by Carla “Speed” McNeil, and colours by Jenn Manley Lee.

It’s all a bit wild and wicked. The general theme of the story is that the entire female school body is conspiring to kill Empowered and Sistah Spooky, by any means necessary. So, there’s a laundry list of ways that the killing can be done. With some supernatural help, there is bullying, death by magic hair, lab experiments with monstrous frogs, deadly food fights, and so on. All school-related.

Perhaps it’s a bit repetitive and narratively flat in tone, but it’s dramatic and a fun parody. There are so many jokes about high school experiences for girls here that this book is likely to have strong appeal.

The art is wild and wicked too. Carla McNeil has a great gift for exaggeration and dramatic scenes that does her well here. It’s a hellish adventure to be sure!

Dark Horse, Empowered and Sistah Spooky’s High School Hell, $19.99 for 148 pages of content Rated Teen: 16 and over

By Alan Spinney

After a career of graphic design, art direction and copywriting, I still have a passion for words and pictures. I love it when a comic book comes together; the story is tight, and the drawings lead me forward. Art with words... the toughest storytelling technique to get right. Was this comic book worth your money? Let's see!!