The first offering from Scholastic's Graphix imprint was sort of a sure thing. Bone had already been a big success, and had even been seen in color in the Disney reprints, although Scholastic did deliver some jaw-dropping color on their new version. Queen Bee is the first completely original graphic novel from the Graphix imprint, and it continues in the vein of quality that the Bone Color reprints began. Chynna Clugston has tackled the high school set in Blue Monday and Scooter Girl, but Queen Bee finds her writing a bit younger, for the middle schoolers, and her sensibilities translate well to the 'tween set as well. Clugston has done a great job of mixing touches of the mystical or weird in with her previous school/social life stories, and she does the same with Queen Bee, as the story focuses not just on a battle for dominance between two popular girls, but two popular girls... who are telekinetic. It's a fun concept, and Clugston carries it off in a way that should resonate especially well with its younger target audience but has plenty to offer older fans as well.
There are some definite distinctions between Clugston's work on her other projects and her work on Queen Bee. There's a level of sexuality and occasionally off-color humor that pervades Blue Monday and Scooter Girl, and it is mostly absent from Queen Bee. Which isn't to say that Queen Bee is toothless, as Clugston has definitely captured how ruthless young girls can be in the name of the social order, but certainly the war between Alexa and Haley is a lot less outrageous than the battles waged between the girls and guys of Blue Monday. If Blue Monday is stylistically similar to the work of John Hughes (when he was good), Queen Bee is more akin to the kind of thing you'd get from Disney (when it's good). It's important to note, however, that Queen Bee doesn't ring false as so many books aimed at a younger crowd do. These girls have some of the same "growing up" obsessions that the high school set do, including the latest fashions and music, and though it's been a long time since I was a middle schooler (and never a middle school girl), the personalities and interactions do ring true to me.
One thing that is not distinct between Clugston's other work and Queen Bee is that the book is not in color. I have to admit, while Clugston's work looks terrific in black and white, I was disappointed that Queen Bee was not a color book. With the manga revolution, I suppose that black and white isn't the stigma with all kids that it used to be, but given how great the cover looks with Guy Major's colors, I really would have loved to have seen the interiors in color. Fortunately, Clugston is plenty expressive with or without color, and though she doesn't use the super-deformed characters or other extreme exaggerations common in Blue Monday, she's especially good at expressing the outrage and frustration that occurs between Alexa and Haley. In addition, it's key that the characters look like stylish fashion plates or that the art captures the period piece look of the costumes they wear for the "American Dream" contest, and CLugston nails these aspects as well.
Queen Bee has, strange as it seems, a bit of an old school flavor to it. I'm not too proud to admit that, one bored summer in California, desperate for comics, I read my cousin's stash of Millie the Model, Betty & Veronica and similar comics, and Queen Bee reminds me quite a bit of those kinds of books. The dialogue isn't as stilted, the situations not quite as ridiculous, but the focus on Queen Bee is on societal warfare, something that the average middle school girl can probably relate to better than superhero warfare. The cliffhangers in the chapter breaks involve the introduction of a rival for social standing, a new dance/singing competition and a choice of music and style for the competition. The big showdown is the competition, and the telekinetic powers are used for pranks between the girls rather than outright warfare. Make no mistake, this is that rare thing, a comic aimed at girls and not guys.
Clugston knows that young readers, male or female, don't want to be talked down to, and so Queen Bee isn't one of those "everybody learns a lesson" types of books. It's not quite that black and white. In Haley's quest for social structure, she steps on the feelings of several people, and though the "Hive" of popular girls have the meanness of popular girls at any school, they actually are legitimately friendly and nice to their friends and not just cartoon villains. Clugston does manage to slip in the important message of being yourself despite the social structure, and there's an aspect to the Haley/Alexa relationship that promises to deepen that story in future volumes as well. It's easy to guess for older readers, but probably just about right for the younger set.
All told, Queen Bee does exactly what it sets out to do, presenting a fun and relatable story for young girls, who are underserved by the modern comics market. The writing may be a little predictable for older readers, and harder to relate to for male readers, but Clugston's art and general wit and storytelling ability make it worthwhile for fans of the medium and fans of her other work to check out.
