Girl Comics: La Superica

By Lisa Fary

More powerful than a pair of red patent leather boots, hotter than a habenero chili, and able to leap border fences in a single bound. Meet La Superica.

La Superica is the title character of the comic written by Amy Davila with art by Gene Espy. La Superica is Frita Fernandez, an undocumented worker from Tijuana, who arrives in Los Angeles after being forced to flee from Mexico. Frita is a bruja, a witch who makes potions, can command the wind, and can fly.

There is a lot to like in La Superica.

Davila’s ideas are so off the wall. For instance, Frita is advised by a 10 foot tall rooster that only she can see. (The rooster’s name is El Cock Gigante. No, I can’t say it without giggling. Yes, I know that’s childish of me). La Superica throws plenty of stuff like that at the reader. I’m always up for weird, so that’s a positive thing.

I really like Gene Espy’s artwork. Not only does he get in a range of body types, it’s like he’s seen actual boobs before, and has even paid attention to how women dress. That’s a big pet peeve of mine in comics: no thought goes into the wardrobe, no consideration goes into how fabric actually behaves, and it all looks spray painted on bodies.

Not with Espy. There are no wasp-waisted, body-painted heroines with anti-gravity boobs in this comic. I can always get behind thoughtfully drawn characters.

Davila doesn’t wait for the reader to catch up. Another peeve of mine is poorly handled exposition, like when the story comes to a halt for the express purpose of explaining something that a reader with half a brain can likely figure out for themselves. Davila doesn’t go that route; she starts with the story in progress, keeps throwing things out there, and leaves the reader to piece it together.

Incidentally, that’s also La Superica’s primary weakness. I almost never say that a story needs more exposition, but Davila could have gone with more in this issue. I had already read a lengthy and detailed synopsis of Frita’s background, so I had an idea of what was going on and how the characters had gotten there. Had I gone in blind, I don’t know how well I would have made sense of things like the giant rooster or the Mole World.

The other weakness is the narration boxes that pop up from time to time. They shift back and forth from third-person limited to directly channeling Frita’s thoughts and they’re pretty distracting.

Davila’s writing shows a lot of enthusiasm for the content and a willingness to go to new places. In later issues, I’d like to see her do two things: 1) consider what the reader does or doesn’t know about the story and 2) cut back on the number of panels on each pages so the story has room to breathe.

But, I definitely want to see her do more issues. Everything is there for La Superica to be a top notch indie comic. It may just take some time, like a good mole.

Mmmmmm. Mole. . . .

You can read the first seven pages of La Superica here.

Lisa Fary is a graduate of the creative writing program at Florida State University and holds an advanced degree in Special Education. Her earliest influences are Princess Leia, Rainbow Bright, Astronaut Barbie, and her 6th grade teacher, Ms. Palmer. She’s angry that it’s almost 2010 and she still doesn’t have a hovercraft, but will accept a jetpack as consolation. That jetpack had better be pink with a rhinestone monogram.

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