Review by Frank Plowright

Jonesy is a cynical teenage girl dismissing most popular activities as being beneath her, partly as a defence mechanism to avoid disappointment, an opening story about Valentine’s Day exemplifying that. After that there’s town fair and the Prom to be dealt with. What actually sets Jonesy above everyone else is an ability to make people fall in love, which works with other people, food items, causes and has multiple other applications. Conveniently, it’s just as effective on groups as individuals.

Sam Humphries sets a nice animation vibe going, tapping into the universal likes and hates of each generation of teenage girls. Dad jokes are a constant form of annoyance, as is having to help out in his donut shop, but let no-one say she has a crush on pop singer Stuff, despite putting out a zine where he’s the exclusive focus of attention. Caitlin Rose Boyle brings all this to life in a flat cartoon way with a great eye for design, the look completed by Fred C. Stresing, whose colour is so bright it almost pulses.

The back cover blurb compares Jonesy to Scott Pilgrim, which is stretching a point as the similarities pretty well begin and end with them both being High School students. Jonesy is more obviously comical and the angst is transformed into ranting, although that’s pretty funny. Logic merchants are going to be driven wild by the inconsistencies of Jonesy being old enough to get a tattoo, yet sometimes behaving as if she’s twelve. Go with the flow, and there’s fun, laughs, likeable people, and one hell of a cliffhanger ending heading into Volume Two.