And I thought the first issue of Full Circle was weird. Zero Girl continues to be the heir apparent to Kieth's The Maxx, both in terms of my interest in it and how bizarre the story is. Married to the already unusual relationship politics of a pair of ex-lovers (well, almost) and the daughter of one of them with a crush on the other, we've got illusionary mothers and strange power based on circles and squares. Like The Maxx, I'm not always certain what's going on, but there's a clearer direction and shorter time frame in which the story can be told, and I'm fairly certain that what I don't understand now will be made clear by the end.
It was the relationships that made the original Zero Girl interesting to me, and that's true of Full Circle as well. Kieth has moved time forward to give us interesting changes in the characters of Tim and Amy, and the introduction of Tim's daughter Nikki into the mix has been a great addition. Tim and Amy already have a difficulty to overcome with their relationship, given that Tim hurt Amy deeply when she was younger, but the anger and borderline dementia of Nikki and her crush on Amy makes things even more complex and difficult. Not so good for the characters, but great for the readers, who have a rich and complex set of relationships to watch.
What surprised me was seeing the powers that were part of Zero Girl taking a more center stage in this second issue. Amy's control over her powers has made them seem more super-heroic than just an element of weirdness, although I like that she uses her powers for such frivolous things as levitating record albums. In addition, it seems like Nikki is more powerful than Amy was at her age, able to create lifeforms of a sort (her mother) and animate a lot of objects at the same time, all subconsciously. However, these "super-powers" are more of a metaphor for teenage rebellion and buried feelings than an exploration of dangerous power gone wrong, so it still fits right in with the general tone of Zero Girl, which has always been more about emotions and human interaction than weird powers and abilities.
Kieth's artwork is as charming and unusual as ever. The strange throwback look of Nikki's "mother" was disturbing and effective, and Kieth gives the character plenty of expression without having standard facial features to work with. The exaggerated anatomy used on the characters is also a fun element of Kieth's style, as Amy and Tim look relatively normal when talking to one another, but they become stretched or strange when viewed through other eyes or when expressing certain emotions. In addition, Kieth brings the obsession with geometric shapes that is part of the book into the design, with twisting panel arrangements and backgrounds that emphasize circles or squares as necessary.
While the original Zero Girl was a romance, Full Circle seems to be more of a family story, exploring not just the romantic relationships but the family history that has shaped the story of Nikki and Tim up to now. The various questions of the heart and head have expanded, and so this sequel actually seems richer and deeper than the original. As long as Kieth can bring it all around in the end, as he did with the original mini-series, Full Circle should be a strong addition to the Zero Girl tale.
