There’s a lot of backstory to the It Girl and the Atomics saga, spanning several different series prior to this one, which provide the details of who these characters are, how they came to be, what they can do, and what their relationships are to one another. None of it really matters a whole lot to this particular issue. If you wanted to jump in with #9, with no prior knowledge of the series or the characters, you could do so without becoming too terribly lost. The only really important information is this: they’re superheroes. Everything else is pretty much incidental.
The story opens with Dorrie (superhero The Slug) waking to find that her husband Phil (superhero Black Crystal) has left her all alone on their anniversary. In his absence, she hangs out with her friends Luna (the titular It Girl) and Carla, who take her out on a boat and try to make her feel better. Meanwhile, Phil is underground, doing epic battle with gigantic gophers.
The characters are pretty interesting, visually. Both Phil and Dorrie have blue skin (in two different shades) and undergo dramatic transformations when they’re superheroing. Carla is black and yellow, with antennae and a tail . . . and a bikini. The only one who looks normal is It Girl, who’s drawn with typical superheroine proportions.
What any of these characters is actually able to do barely matters. It’s a fun, slightly silly, slightly generic, superhero adventure. Honestly, it would be fairly forgettable, except for the visuals. Between Carla and the giant gopher, It Girl and the Atomics #9 is at least worth a look.
