If Girl Comics had featured this Girl...ah, if only.

It's funny: I didn't think I was a huge fan of writer Peter Milligan--we've only seen a few issues from him here, like his Scarecrow one-shot or the Minx. But, I liked the Minx up until it's premature end, I liked Milligan's Batman work (especially his more oddball Detective stories) and a lot of his Vertigo work, like Face, Human Target, Egypt, the Eaters...and then his X-Force/X-Statix run. Huh, yeah, that's a pretty good batch of Milligan.

Then there was Girl, a surprisingly amusing three issue limited, under the Vertigo Verite label, and following the misadventures of young, charming, and imaginative Simone Cundy. Trapped (not unlike every teenager) in the terrible urban blight of Bollockstown, she struggles to deal with her identity, with her frankly horrible family, and with her grip on reality. It's hilarious, even when a murder mystery shows up later...


Milligan usually does pretty well with artistic collaborators, and this time is no exception: Duncan Fegredo is one of those artists, who, if there's any justice, should be getting paid to draw whatever the hell he feels like right now. (Actually, that may not be far off, since Fegredo is currently Mike Mignola's replacement on Hellboy.) Great facial expressions, a ton of detail, and a lot of fun.

And, as I have a lot lately, it seems I've picked another series that hasn't been collected to date. (In fact, Fegredo is the subject of a recent interview at Newsarama and Girl comes up.) I don't think Milligan's later Vertigo Pop! limited London has been collected either, but we might have to scan a few Philip Bond panels from that one sometime.