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The Trouble With Girls #1
The Trouble With Girls Volume 1
One of the longest running independent series of all time The Trouble With Girls created by Will Jacobs and Eisner award winning writer Gerard Jones. Originally published by Malibu, this groundbreaking serise crossed all the lines.
176 pages, Paperback
First published May 3, 1989
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
July 28, 2025
So, this was more like a bunch of the original issues with gaps and additions. I had about fifteen issues over the three publishers'. I had the most of this run and one of the Lizard stories.
What to say? Sometimes satire removed too far from its target loses a bit of the punch. This has definitely aged in that regard but with a lot of the macho action stuff and especially with the superhero stuff still ongoing, there is plenty of parallels.
The casual caricatures and overly simplistic racism is supposed to be enough to let us know that the authors are in on the joke. It just doesn't sit as well as it could.
The other issue with ongoing satire is that the source material has to be rich enough to move about so that the jokes can feel fresh. The idea of a spy wanting to have a quiet life is good. Too much is spent on the globetrotting variety that smacks of late James Bond. I do wish I had followed the writing careers to see how the trajectory went. I guess I could hope to find some of the projects but even finding the rest of this project has been a chore. So, I just hope that the kind of deus ex machina so heavily relied on here shows up in my life.
What to say? Sometimes satire removed too far from its target loses a bit of the punch. This has definitely aged in that regard but with a lot of the macho action stuff and especially with the superhero stuff still ongoing, there is plenty of parallels.
The casual caricatures and overly simplistic racism is supposed to be enough to let us know that the authors are in on the joke. It just doesn't sit as well as it could.
The other issue with ongoing satire is that the source material has to be rich enough to move about so that the jokes can feel fresh. The idea of a spy wanting to have a quiet life is good. Too much is spent on the globetrotting variety that smacks of late James Bond. I do wish I had followed the writing careers to see how the trajectory went. I guess I could hope to find some of the projects but even finding the rest of this project has been a chore. So, I just hope that the kind of deus ex machina so heavily relied on here shows up in my life.
February 15, 2024
Lester Girls took on the task of satirizing the spy/espionage genre long before Austin Powers.
In this case, Girls is the most incredibly talented/able operative there: women throw themselves at him; every spy outfit (sanctioned or unsanctioned) wants him dead, or working for them.
All he wants is a quiet life with a mousy wife (whose idea of glamor is wearing pearls while she does the vacuuming), a little bungalow with a white picket fence in the suburbs and a mundane job that pays the bills, allows for a little time on a golf course.
Writers Will Jacobs (a National Lampoon vet) and renowned comics writer Gerard Jones (Green Lantern, Martian Manhunter) have come up with an action-packed series with a hero who does incredible things (he's constantly being attacked or seduced) while wishing for that mundane life and bemoaning that (a) he needs several copies of The Red Pony because it keeps getting destroyed (and it makes a while to find his spot since the attacks prevent him from marking his page) and (b) one night of good sleep.
Highly recommended.
In this case, Girls is the most incredibly talented/able operative there: women throw themselves at him; every spy outfit (sanctioned or unsanctioned) wants him dead, or working for them.
All he wants is a quiet life with a mousy wife (whose idea of glamor is wearing pearls while she does the vacuuming), a little bungalow with a white picket fence in the suburbs and a mundane job that pays the bills, allows for a little time on a golf course.
Writers Will Jacobs (a National Lampoon vet) and renowned comics writer Gerard Jones (Green Lantern, Martian Manhunter) have come up with an action-packed series with a hero who does incredible things (he's constantly being attacked or seduced) while wishing for that mundane life and bemoaning that (a) he needs several copies of The Red Pony because it keeps getting destroyed (and it makes a while to find his spot since the attacks prevent him from marking his page) and (b) one night of good sleep.
Highly recommended.
February 9, 2025
What a fun series. I've come across a few random issues of this in the past, but I never really gave it a chance. Well I'm glad I finally did. It's a funny story about an action hero. Surrounded by excitement, gorgeous women, and more money than he can count. Only he wishes for a quiet life. A small suburban house with a mousey wife and a boring 9-5 job. It's a silly idea that makes for a hilarious comic. The art is great. Clean and simple, just like Lester. There are as many jokes in the art as there are in the dialogue. So make sure to scope every panel for laughs. Definitely worth the pickup if you can find a copy. Great stuff.
November 19, 2016
A super spy who only wants to be normal. They stretch the gag pretty far, sometimes more effectively than others. The art is fine, some of the jokes are great, but the direction seems uncertain for a while. Hopefully book 2 will solidify a main plot line worth following.
January 11, 2013
This amusing send-up of the James Bond style hero dates from the black and white comics explosion (art by Tim Hamilton, who as is often the case with comics does not get credited as anything but "illustrator") and was, for a while, a very funny comic indeed.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews