Larry Young asked me three questions and recommended an AIT/Planet Lar book for me based on my answers.
- What did you have for breakfast this morning?
- What did you do on your last vacation?
- What’s your favorite movie?
Coffee and a donut, San Francisco with a girlfriend and The Wizard of Oz got me Smoke and Guns, a graphic novel about warring cigarette girls written by Kristen Baldock and drawn by Fabio Moon. In Baldock’s world, you can’t run up to Walgreens for a pack of American Spirit Lights; you can only buy cigarettes from licensed cigarette girls who only sell their district’s cigarettes within their district.
The main character, Scarlett, tries selling her cigarettes outside her district and ultimately ends up instigating a cigarette girl war, which doesn’t sound that threatening until we figure out that all cigarette girls in this book are homicidal maniacs and very eager to pump lead into each other.
Smoke and Guns is fast paced and bloody (for black and white) and feels like your garden variety action movie. But, since it’s all happening with hot cigarette girls instead of hardened hit men, gang members or cops, it’s much easier to swallow and look at as something that shouldn’t be taken too seriously.
The only real drawback is that there really isn’t a hero, or anyone likable enough to root for. Scarlett is as close as we get, but if the cigarette girls are homicidal maniacs, she’s the worst of the bunch. She’s a total sociopath.
I liked the concept of Smoke and Guns, but not this particular cigarette girl story. I’m almost disappointed that Smoke and Guns was limited to a one shot graphic novel because I think the concept alone is strong enough for a series.
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