Jenny Zero #1 from Dark Horse Comics is a story about a girl and a monster. Well, monsters. And a girl who is a party monster. In all the ways that count. How? Well, read on.
Jenny Zero is a new superhero/kaiju comic book series from Dark Horse Comics, created by writers Dave Dwonch (Cyrus Perkins and the Haunted Taxi Cab, Mind Palace) and Brockton McKinley (MAD Magazine, Full Moon Deadly Ten films). Magenta King serves as the artist (including for that lovely cover art above), Megan Huang, meanwhile, serves as the colorist. Jenny Zero #1 will be available here from Dark Horse Comics’ own website on April 14, 2021 for $3.99. If you want this comic book, get it then.
Warning: spoilers for Jenny Zero #1: Party Monster. If you have any desire to read this comic book, stop here. Otherwise, stay calm and party on.
Jenny Zero #1: Party Monster: Plot Summary
The plot of Jenny Zero revolves around our main character: Jenny Tetsuo. It’s kind of funny that her surname sounds like a first name in Japanese, but I digress. Jenny is quickly revealed to be a party girl to the nth degree. When she parties, she means it. Alcohol, drugs of all kinds, sex; you name it, she did it. It almost looks like she’s trying her best to escape something with all that partying, doesn’t it?
Which, as it turns out, is basically exactly what Jenny is doing in Jenny Zero #1. Turns out, all that partying is her running away from her own organization. Apparently, Jenny is the daughter of a superhero. A superhero who died sometime in the past, unfortunately. Understandably, grief is a powerful motivator for partying hard enough to forget. Even more unfortunately though, her Oji (“uncle” in Japanese, or possibly “old man” if it’s supposed to be “Ojii“) gives her the bad news that kaiju don’t wait for when she’s at her best to attack. Thus, she finds herself thrust into a brand new war, with nothing but a biotech gun/suit thing attached to her arm to aid her. Unfortunately, she’s still suffering from the effect of her hard partying. Not to mention, she continues to drink even during the battle. So it’s not surprising that she ends up in a bad way in her first battle in Jenny Zero #1.
What is surprising is the end of Jenny Zero #1 though. Spoiler alert: Oji gives the order to shoot her, and she then turns into a kaiju herself. A naked and definitely female kaiju, but a kaiju nonetheless. What does this mean? Well, I guess we’ll just have to find out in the second issue.
Jenny Zero #1: Party Monster: The Good
Even though the main character of Jenny Zero is basically a constantly drunk drug and sex addict, it’s hard not to empathize with her. The girl look like she’s going through an intense case of PTSD, and is trying to drown out the memories with the above. It may not exactly be working, but I guess it’s either that or a professional therapist. And frankly, Japanese culture tends to view going to therapy as a bit taboo-ey. So, party hard it is.
I thing I really liked though in Jenny Zero #1 was Jenny’s relationship with her very rich best friend, Dana Sheraton. Sure, Dana does go to the parties and drink with Jenny. But she’s also far more responsible than Jenny. She appears to drink much less, and even shouts out a piece of advice for Jenny to use a condom when she wanders off into a bedroom with a guy. She’s like Jenny’s cool big sis in this comic book, really. Jenny even shows that she returns the friendship by making sure that Dana is going on a plane far, far away from the impending battle. There is a lot of yuri potential between those 2, and I do really hope the story does go that route.
Plus, Jenny’s biotech gun in Jenny Zero #1 is pretty cool and is even oddly cute, so that’s nice. Not sure where it went, but hopefully, the little guy returns later.
Jenny Zero #1: Party Monster: The Bad
I’m not a particular fan of Jenny’s attitude during the battle in Jenny Zero #1. She was wild, reckless, and frequently disobeyed orders from her commanding officer. Yes, she was drunk during the entire battle (which is another bad thing entirely), but you’d think she’d at least try to stay sober for actual combat. I guess it was supposed to be a case of Drunken Master, but it still irked me.
Also, this is a bit of a nitpick, but Oji’s nickname for Jenny in Jenny Zero is a bit off. He calls her “Ko Ona“. Taken literally at face value, it looks like it translates to “Little Hole”, but that makes no sense and is a bit disturbing to boot. I think the writers intended for the nickname to be “Ko Onna” with a double “n”, but got the spelling wrong. “Ko Onna” translates to “Little Woman” or “Child Woman”, which is probably what he sees her as and which makes a lot more sense than the other spelling. Yeah, the writers might want to work on their spelling here.
Conclusion
Jenny Zero #1 is a story about a girl suffering from PTSD, and doesn’t want to see a psychiatrist. Thus, she parties like no tomorrow. Unfortunately, kaiju come and ruin the partying for her and everyone else in the city, and now she has to kill them. She also finds out that she herself is a kaiju in a plot twist. Why is she a kaiju? Well, we’ll just have to find out in Jenny Zero #2 whenever it comes out. In the meantime, you can read the first issue of this comic book series on Dark Horse Comics on April 14, 2021 for a mere $4.
Source: Dark Horse Comics
