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Spy Goddess
by Michael P. Spradlin (Author), Rainbow Buddy (Illustrator)
Manga Review
It's like Buffy the Vampire Slayer meets James Bond but in manga form for younger people. You might think it's a strange combination (I think so, too) but the chemistry works AND, most importantly, it's not cheesy.
 I think the biggest factor in taking the cheese out is the writer. Unlike most manga nowadays, Spy Goddess is written by an American writer. He has the American lingo down pat.. It would be pretty bad if he didn't actually... Not only does he have the lingo down, but he has the energy and lingo for teenagers down as well. I'm not saying that writers that are no longer in their teens can't sound like teenagers when they write but it is rare.
 Most writers are like me: I can write like a teenager but I can't sound like one. Some writers that mimic teenagers when they write either have the energy or the lingo, and even then it feels forced. You know when someone is not comfortable with what they are saying but they are forcing the words out of their mouth (or in this case, out of their mind) so that whoever they are talking to will like them. Imagine this: if I, a puny round Asian girl with glasses, went up to the black...ahem...African-American guy sitting on my stoop and went "Yo, wuh ya doin' on my stoop, dawg?", not only will the guy cringe from hearing me but he'll also beat me to a tinier pulp.
 The story and the characters pull you in immediately. Spy Goddess, Rachel Buchanan, is our titular heroine, Beverly Hills clueless reborn version of the goddess Etherea. She accidentally broke a law and got sent to Blackthorn Academy to train to be a spy. She would rather break her nails breaking boards in tae kwon do spy class than juvenile hall. Lead by Mr. Kim, Blackthorn Academy's goal is to protect the world from the evil Simon Blakenship, the not as clueless reborn version of the god Mithras. Since Mithras was banished to the Underworld by Etherea lifetimes ago, that makes Simon and Rachel enemies and he's got to kill her, wouldn't be fun otherwise. Luckily, Rachel has her roommate/best friend and two other students to back her up.
 Pilar, her best friend is a psychic and her only home is the Academy. She is going out with Alex, who gets on Rachel's last nerve, and is really good friends with Brent, a tech genius. Pilar really wants Brent to go out with Rachel so that the best friends can double date but Brent secretly likes Pilar and Alex, between all the jabs and insults with Rachel, might be developing a crush on her. Meanwhile, Rachel might be developing a crush on Alex as well but she is a little busy staying alive and insulting Simon Blackenship to sort out her feelings at the moment. Maybe instead of sorting out her feelings, she should just develop a crush on Simon and get him to get a crush on her and abandon the whole "I need to kill you" thing?
The sooner Rachel can stop Simon from killing her and opening a gateway into the Underworld, the sooner she can get to sorting out her feelings. Once her feelings are all sorted out, then she can really go on to the most important things in a girl's life: shopping, shopping, more shopping, and manicures.
Reviewed by Carolyn Whu, July 2008
Editors note: The illustrator of thei manga is credited as "Rainbow Buddy" which is a pen name for Ivy Ling, a manhua artist from China.
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