NIA Recommendation – ‘Dynamite Diva’ issue #3 from Jasper Jubenvill.

Dynamite Diva issue #3.

Created by Jasper Jubenvill.

Presented by Strangers Fanzine.

Featuring loads of fun fan art and a pin-up from Steve Grove.

Just a quick recommendation late on a Saturday night for this indie outlaw gem. I’ve been following the work of Jasper after hearing about him in Strangers Fanzine. This is in a magazine sized format with black and white interiors. I ordered it from the Strangers BigCartel Store.

Somewhere in the Comics Universe is a Venn diagram made up of three joined circles of Underground Comix, Pulp Heroes and Film Noir. Right at it’s artistic intersection is Dynamite Diva. It’s fair to say that it’s getting a lot of attention in the right circles. I read it on a cold February night during lockdown and absolutely loved it.

Dynamite Diva herself is not shrinking violet. She has an eye patch bearing a skull motif, dark black hair, she smokes, drinks and shags like it’s an Olympic event and she has remarkably strong looking thighs!

It was on page 2 where actress and gangland floozy Susan Schultz says to her muscle legged bodyguard….

‘Maybe I just need to keep clear of men – – they always make life so much more messy.’

…that I realised there would soon be some sexy fireworks! In fact there’s so much nude action in this that if Chester Gould got hold of it I can imagine he’d be untucking his nightshirt, turning the lights a little lower and checking that Mrs. Gould was in the land of nod! In fact all comics historians know that Dick Tracy was called that for a reason!

But as we all know, the course of true love is never straightforward in Noir and wouldn’t you know it but straight after some saucy Diva on Actress action there’s a bloody murder of that aforementioned gangster’s moll! So who get’s called in? Yup, it’s Detective Fist, aka The Fist of Justice. He looks like a version of The Green Hornet but one that had stepped out of the pages of Zap Magazine.

What I have described above is literally just the first few pages. What follows is full of action, drama, murder, blood, guts and our Diva literally pops a dude’s nut – and not in a good way! Jasper packs the pages with gorgeously clean and expertly applied ink lines. This reminds me of something similar to Ryan Heshka’s Mean Girl’s Club and genuinely takes it to the next level. I had a ball reading this and can’t recommend it enough.

You also get the results of a fan art competition, a Clowesian pin-up from Steve Grove and a back cover full of fake adverts for things like rings that are ‘100 percent made of plastic. Looks Like Silver!‘ or a ‘Milton Mouse Two-Way wrist radio ($8 + tax)‘. Or you can just buy a nudie poster of the Dynamite Diva herself.

You can grab yours over at the Strangers BigCartel Store here and you can follow Strangers on Twitter here.

You can also follow the artistic antics of Jasper on his Instagram here.

Many thanks for reading.