Broken Frontier

High school is pain enough when you are an angst-ridden teenagers, but high school is even worst when you’re both a natural-born goody-two-shoes – and a demon at that. Diva Beezle discovers this the hard way – through lots of public humiliation – finding there will be hell to pay if her parents and teachers find her being good.

Evil Diva – by Pete Menotti and Brinson Thieme – centers on the aforementioned Diva – a good girl struggling to be bad . . . or is it the other way around? Regardless, this devil has a heart of gold every bit as strong as her nose for trouble. With the help of her dog Cerby and her new best friend Michelle Serafino – an angel – Diva is dangerously close to falling in with the wrong (or right?) crowd and doing nice things out of the goodness of her heart. To make matters worse, Diva has gained the eye of both her high school crush Gabriel – brother of her nemesis Angela – as well as the mysterious Mr. Virgil, a school counselor neither angel nor demon.

I like it already.

First off, Evil Diva has a great art style more than ready for a stint on prime time Cartoon Network. Secondly, Evil Diva has a great premise – namely a school for angels and demons to hone their inner good/evil – and a dynamic and instantly lovable heroine smack in the middle of it all. All of these points are literally hammered home when Diva’s parent’s angrily display a form letter sent by the school  – “We regret to inform you your child DIVA BEEZLE has been sighted being good/evil … and we request that your little devil/angel behave appropriately.” The fact that this school informs Diva’s parents about her (mis)behavior in a form letter speaks volumes about the strip’s creativity.

I particularly like the inclusion of Mr. Virgil. Not much is known about Mr. Virgil, who starts his first encounter with Diva in the most recent strip, when she saves his kitten . . . Mister McFancyFur the Third. But it seems like Mr. Virgil could be a homage to – if not ripped straight from – Dante’s Inferno, as a virtuous pagan, neither angel nor demon. The role as school guidance counselor further reinforces this notion, as Virgil guides students through school just as his Dante counterpart guides souls through Hell and Purgatory.

Though it only has thirty-some strips in its archive, Evil Diva is showing creative on the vibrant level of Scary Godmother or Jingle Belle. Certainly worth a read for anyone looking to close the book on their Halloween reading – and start a promising new adventure altogether!