In this review of The Powerpuff Girls #5, all Mojo Jojo wants is a little piece and quiet to get his work done! Well, if he can’t finish his Powerpuff Girls-destroying missiles on Earth…
The Powerpuff Girls #5
Written by: Paulina Ganucheau
Art by: Silvia De Ventura
Cover by: Paulina Ganucheau
Variant Covers: Ken Haeser, Ro Stein, Kenya Danino, Pasquale Qualano
Page Count: 32 pages
Release Date: October 16, 2024
Synopsis:
The Powerpuff Girls #5 begins on one fine morning, as everyone is doing something different in Townsville, and Mojo Jojo is cleaning house because nothing gets him in the mood for inventing diabolical weapons faster (better when combined with dark roasted coffee). All he needs is an unlimited power supply, which he is so close to completing, except – darn noisy kids in the park! And those dogs! And those Powerpuff Girls, fighting a giant spider in a tutu! That’s it, Mojo Jojo’s out of here, and heading to the moon. He’ll just set up a new lair on the surface of his moon…and – there, finished the power supply! The missiles are ready in record time. What could go wrong?
Well…things got out of hand fast – now Earth has just three hours left until it’s destroyed. Powerpuff Girls, helppppp!
Analysis:
The current creative team of Paulina Ganucheau , Silvia De Ventura, and Carlo Lauro – sadly slated to only do three issues – is firing on unlimited power, much like Mojo’s missiles. I have to resist the urge to just gush out superlatives so I can offer some actual analysis.
I like it when see more of the people of Townsville, so the heroes and villains aren’t just operating in a vacuum, and the three glimpses into people’s windows on page 1 tell us so much about their daily lives. I love how panels 2 and 3 on that page simulate a pan and zoom from the windows back to Mojo Jojo’s hideout. The art is dynamic, cinematic, and – dare I say it? Flawless? I cannot look at it and find a boring panel in the bunch.
Giulia Lafranceschina’s color palette is as bright as I’ve ever seen the Powerpuff Girls, and even Jeff Eckleberry’s lettering is given moments to shine – the sound effect of “SPACESHIP!” as Mojo’s spaceship appears is perfection, and the “Jojo” license plate on it is the icing on the proverbial cake.
There is a deep understanding of Mojo Jojo’s character here – that Mojo has the potential to be a good ape, but his hate for the Powerpuff Girls has rotted him inside. I love the balancing act here, between telling a story where Mojo Jojo is the protagonist and a story where Mojo is the hero. We can appreciate all the details we learn about Mojo – he loves to dance, loves to clean, he is so obsessed with the Girls that he drinks out of Powerpuff Girls mugs – while still understanding that the Girls have to stop him.
I love how the Powerpuff Girls’ fight with new villain Tarantu-lala is just going on in the background; that the main story is not conflict, but character study. Mojo has a moment of epiphany where he realizes he’s caught in a cycle that always leads back to failure – but his solution is to leave the planet and live on the Moon. Mojo’s other insights turn out to be just as misguided; he assumes the Powerpuff Girls are as obsessed with him as he is of them, but when we glance in on the Girls they seem more at ease and happy than ever, with not a thought about him.
When Mojo discovers an alien monster on the Moon, his first thought is to offer friendship. Had the monster responded positively to that, would Mojo have been able to turn over a new leaf? We’ll never know because the monster proves so dangerous that Mojo has to fire his Powerpuff Girls-destroying missile at it, and it’s the missile that is going to push the Moon into Earth in three hours’ time.
We get a whole scene featuring Professor Utonium, a rare occurrence in this series so far. We even get an insight into what makes the Professor tick, as he reveals that he invents things as a coping mechanism for his anxiety problem.
I have to nitpick to point out flaws. I get that the kids in the park not recognizing Mojo is a joke, but it’s hard to believe anyone in Townsville hasn’t seen him in some act of villainy by now. The Moon Monster just comes out of nowhere with no explanation, and the wristwatch it wears has even less explanation and seems to be there for just one gag. I would have been happier had the monster tied in with Taranta-lala somehow. Some of my nitpicks are a little more serious. There is no wind on the Moon. The Moon is either ridiculously small or Dynamo (yes, Dynamo returns in this issue!) is ludicrously huge (about 2,000 miles tall).
Despite some issues with scale and science, I love almost everything about Powerpuff Girls #5. I have been a huge fan of this title since the beginning, but this has been the best issue yet. I wish we were getting this creative team for more than just one more issue!
