Review by Frank Plowright

Life’s not been easy for Lisa Cheese in Earth City, despite being able to kick in super strength when she’s angry, while GiGi, agent of the Spirit World, is in some ways more grounded with her musical methods of preventing crime. Introduced in Attack of the Snack, under Kevin Alvir’s meandering form of storytelling there was little indication a second outing awaited the characters and their battle against greedy capitalists, but here they are.

The Rock God Complex is more of the same, but slightly better. Alvir retains the energy levels, yet a linear structure and greater coherence replace the previous rawness, and there’s the impression of a plot worked out in advance. The corporate scumbags this time are Sklorp, energy drink manufacturer, blatant about wanting to connect with new musical talent to sell more drinks. They don’t want Lisa, though, and that just makes her mad, sending her into one of her rages. GiGi’s problem is even worse, as a robbery has left her unable to connect with the Spirit World.

Alvir’s art still has that 1990s punk zine feel about it, exemplified by the assortment who turn up for Lisa’s high school reunion and the vivid, random colours, but there’s now greater adherence to conventional necessities. The art’s at it’s best when Lisa’s freaking out, all boundaries thrown out of the window.

Two primary plots gradually coalesce. A thieving demon accompanying a guy in white stealing random objects precious to people appears early, responsible for GiGi’s loss, and Alvir’s also building to a battle of the bands contest. A meta sense of humour leads to a sequence guaranteed to have readers thinking their book has been wrongly bound, and there’s a good revelation as to the identity of the recurring menace and what they’ve been up to.

Compacting the story isn’t Alvir’s priority, leading to the battle of the bands section being massively over-extended, while the corporate plot is lost somewhere along the way. On the other hand, the diminished randometer means the teen reader looking for something different will take home a lot more from Lisa having to save the day here than from the previous outing.