There was a fair bit of hullabaloo in the industry when it was announced that the Virgin Corporate Machine was venturing into the field of comics publishing. Unlike a series of smaller publishers that have launched and crashed in the past year or two, Virgin's got some real economic muscle behind it. A cursory glance of its first release, Devi, did nothing to entice me into buying it, as on the surface, it looked like another typical Bad Girl comic. Snake Woman was a different matter, though, as the participation of Alias artist Michael Gaydos was more than enough to encourage me to open up my wallet. Though the creators do a good job of establishing characters and mood, I'm afraid that wallet won't be coughing up any cash for the second issue.
Jessica Peterson is a young, attractive woman living in New York, and if primetime TV (and her wild, overbearing roommate Jin) has told her anything, it's that the world is hers for the taking. But Jessica is a shy, timid woman. She works her regular shifts at a local Los Angeles bar, serving her regular customers. But she's too scared to grab a larger piece of happiness for herself. But when Jin steals a cute new guy out from under the wallflower's nose, she sets out to change things. Unfortunately, it serves as a trigger for dark new developments in her life, and this kind of change proves dangerous. But is it Jessica in danger or those around her?
Gaydos's art is thoroughly effective at established a dark, tense atmosphere throughout the book, and the colors enhance it without encroaching on the noir line art. Gaydos conveys the hip, young nature of several characters quite well, and that's a key element, as those characters no doubt represent the audience that the publisher is targeting.
What seems to set Virgin Comics apart from other publishers, other than its success at getting creators from other-media to establish new properties, is its focus on East Indian culture in its storytelling. We saw it in Devi, and it clearly plays a role in Snake Woman as well. I like that it's understated here for the first issue, and I do find the promise of learning about a different mythology by way of a super-hero comic book appealing. But that cultural element isn't enough to set this book apart from other typical genre fare.
One thing that is intriguing about the book is that Jessica promises to be both heroine and villain of her own story. It's easy to relate to Jessica's timidity and ennui, but the bad decisions she makes in the heat of the moment end up alienating the reader. Jessica's actions later in the book are so clearly ill advised and out of character that it's difficult to accept. 6/10
