What can I say about LJ? Lots. I just wrote 20 darn pages on it. But here's the highlights:
- The girls of Roanoke Cabin (which, btw, when I presented at CHLA on this topic we were in the Roanoke Room, which was amazing) work as a group to defeat the powers-that-be. There's no defined leader, instead their power comes from working together. We can contrast this against Harry Potter & the Sorcerers Stone where the group is really there to prop up Harry's success. No such power structure here.
- The girls, like actual adolescent girls, are at different stages of development, yet aren't set up as "mean girls" that pick on Ripley (seen above on the far left). I think the rejection of the mean girls trope is cool.
- Unlike the 1990s cartoon representatives of "girl power," the Powerpuff Girls, the LJ's don't gain their abilities from the patriarchy. PPG were created by Dad and given assignments by the Mayor (who, yes, has a power behind the throne woman, but still). The girls learn things, earn badges with bad puns, and use that knowledge to defeat various enemies. I like this, as it challenges some anti-intellectualism we see in American culture. Learning is good y'all.
I encourage you to check the comic out. It was clearly more popular than anticipated,so the trade paperback is sold out on Amazon. However, you can buy back issues of 1-8 on Comixology and read them online/on yer tablet. Two thumbs up so far, although one of the creators is leaving this fall, so we'll see where it goes.
