Review: Divalicious

Divalicious, vol. 1
Writer: T Campbell
Artist: Amy Mebberson
Rated T for Teen (13+)
Tokyopop, $9.99

I’ll admit right up front that the whole idea of Divalicious made me roll my eyes when I first heard of it. It looked like a fluffy tale of a dumb-blonde singer, the sort of thing I’m trying to avoid when I tell the kids to turn off VH1.

Well, I stand corrected. Divalicious is a fast-paced, lighthearted satire of the entertainment industry with a surprisingly complex story that unfolds like a music video, with quick cuts and over-the-top humor that made me laugh out loud in places. It deftly skewers the stock characters of the genre—the slick manager, the bad-guy rapper—and even takes on Christian rock and reality TV. Plus there’s a real plot.

Writer T Campbell’s script moves fast—a bit too fast in places. At the beginning of the book I felt like I was jumping in in the middle of a story, as a whole slew of characters popped up without proper introductions.

So as a service to the first-time reader, here’s the setup: Tina Young is a 17-year-old singer who is wildly successful but still somewhat jealous of her competition (and former co-star), Bit Fencer. Tina’s manager, Shaquille, nurses a hopeless crush on her while efficiently taking care of all her business matters. In the first chapter, Tina briefly reunites with her old band, which includes do-gooder Evan, weight-conscious Paula, and someone called Bert who is always in a chemical haze. And in the second chapter she hooks up with rapper Chaddy G, whose bark is definitely worse than his bite.

The book rockets forward in a series of short episodes, each of which builds on the other to form a coherent story that really comes together in the last chapter. At that point, all the scenes that looked like non sequiturs suddenly make sense.

You might expect the blonde, bubbly Tina to be deep as a dish, but Campbell and Mebberson have given her unexpected depth. One minute she’s fighting hunger by bringing a plate of cookies to Africa, but the next she is providing calculated advice to her rapper boyfriend: “Now, you got a podcast comin’ up… You want to insult a major religion. But not too major. Buddhists are good ‘cause they’re real forgiving.”

In fact, all the characters have a bit more depth to them than I initially expected. Campbell and Mebberson have taken the standard stereotypes and given each a twist. Chaddy G is as shrewd as Tina, but he can’t intimidate a small-town shopkeeper. Shaquille is the stereotypical slick manager, but he’s a sloppy drunk. And as Bit Fencer slowly comes into focus—along with the shadowy agency that’s representing her—you start to realize that this isn’t Pizzazz on Parade, it’s a story with a real plot.

Mebberson’s energetic artwork is a good match to Campbell’s fast-paced script. She makes full use of all the cartoon conventions to add emphasis in all the right places, and she keeps Tina recognizable and consistent despite drastic shifts in mood from panel to panel.

Divalicious has a knowing tone but a good heart. It’s not a sequential-art version of US magazine; it has a solid plot, and I found on the second reading that I was picking up on things that made more sense once I knew where the plot was going. Yeah, that’s right, I read it twice. It’s that good.

(This review is based on a complimentary copy supplied by the publisher.)

Did you enjoy this article? Consider supporting us.

Comments

  1. LillianDP says

    Yay! I’ve been a fan of Mebberson’s work ever since I read her webcomic, As If, in my college days, and so I was thrilled when she and T first won Rising Stars, and then got signed up with us (even though I didn’t get to work with them myself). And I was even more thrilled when we got to hang out at NYCC! She’s super-cool! :-) *fangirls*

  2. Cool! My dad invited me to go to Borders with him tomorrow, I’ll check it out if I don’t find Chobits.

  3. I have to pick this up….I came fairly close to it when I was at Coles, but opted for Princess Ai instead [succumbing to my love for trashy anime/manga]. As If was great, and I hope someday someone will collect it….

Trackbacks

  1. […] of whom: Brigid Alverson reviews the first volume of T Campbell and Amy Mebberson’s […]