This one was just ok. I didn't know much about the rise of Fidel Castro in Cuba, so it was fun to read about this point in history. The story features an ensemble of bad-ass ladies, and we certainly need more of this! Thanks to Alex for centering the adventure around these tough women who dream of something better than their life circumstances, however, it missed the mark on delivering the girl-power comradery I was expecting. The girl-on-girl hate and lack of action during a rape scene were disappointing and upsetting. I had high hopes for this story, but I was left confused and disoriented.

Did not finish this title

The story seemed very interesting but I was ultimately disappointed. I quickly gave up once I realized I was going to stay lost in the story even if I reread it.

My favorite thing about Graphic Novels is the art. This story was pretty to look at but even that wasn't enough to keep me going.

Bad Girls takes place on the night of New Year’s Eve 1958 in Cuba. Three women appears to be deep in trouble while a fourth scouts out some island party that seems the place to be at. As the girls try to escape their troubles, trouble itself follows.

I cannot say exactly what drew me to this graphic novel, but I have to assume it was the odd style that was shown or perhaps it was an all-girls cast to a story that normally seems to be a male-type story overall. It seemed interesting and something different to read. Although it was different, it was not what I expected, and that may not even be a good thing.

When I first started the graphic novel, I was little bit interested. It was going at a steady pace, introducing everyone and the environment. It may have taken a little bit longer than it needed, but I was okay with it. As the story went on, I started to wonder what the plot of the story was. Nothing really happened until everything happened once. I did have a few questions about it. It was not confusing but more of “Could it really go that way in reality?” type of questions. It seems that the story took the characters on an disastrous, life-threatening joyride. I just could not get it sometimes. The ending was completely unexpected, but all it had was a “that’s it?” reaction.

There were a few times where the art style did not look good at all. The positions of the characters didn’t make any sense and was immediately noticeable. The color choices were the best part, but the style wasn’t up there where I hoped to be. It does make it interesting for the time period, however.

I wanted to like this book because the storyline was fascinating to me, but unfortunately I could not tolerate the art style. It was too dark and distracting.

Beautiful art telling a story based in Cuba on NYE 1958 right as Batista's government falls to Castro's. Bad Girls is a realistic heist noir graphic novel that showcases women trying to escape abuse and poor jobs and the chaos that ensues.

Cuba in 1958 was awash in nightclubs and casinos owned by the mob that catered to the tourist crowd. On New Years Eve, the owner was visited by a group from the mob in NYC, auditing the books. At the same time, certain female employees decided they needed the money to get out of the country before Castro took over more than the Mob, the El Eden or Batista and his generals did. It was a bit spontaneous rather planned, so the results were bloody with not everyone making a clean getaway. But a nice bit of historical fiction in graphic form.

Thanks Netgalley for the chance to read this.

The description of this book makes it sounds like an Oceans Eleven-type heist. But it wasn’t quite like that. There was a lot of murder and politics involved.

I found many of the scenes confusing. The style was a little noir and a little art deco. The scenes were done in monochromatic colours with a lot of shadows, so it was hard to distinguish between characters unless you look very carefully. The men all looked alike and wore similar suits so I got them mixed up, but the women wore different dresses and had different hair styles so it was easy to differentiate between them.

There was a lot of tension in this book. There were some murders and an attempted rape. Some of these scenes were hard to read. There was also a lot of political upheaval in terms of the communists taking over Cuba.

Unfortunately, this book isn’t for me. It wasn’t the type of story I usually like, but I’m sure other readers will enjoy it.

'Bad Girls' by Alex de Campi and Victor Santos is a stylish graphic novel with a pretty good story to tell.

The story takes place on New Year's Eve 1958 in a nightclub in Cuba. The main characters are a group of women who work in the club. One is the girlfriend of the club owner, another is a dancer, and there is a singer. There is a visit by a mainland mobster, and a large sum of money being funneled off to the Cuban military. Through events in the story, the women decide to take the money and start a new life elsewhere. Things don't go as planned for anyone involved.

These women barely know each other at the beginning of the story, so their motivations for helping each other are tenuous at best. These are pretty flawed characters, but it's a pretty good noir story.

Driving it all is some fabulous art that reminded me of some of the great work of the late Darwyn Cooke. I loved the colors and some of the full pages. I also really liked how the music of the era intertwines with the art to provide a soundtrack to the narrative.

I received a review copy of this graphic novel from Gallery 13, Threshold, Pocket Books, and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this graphic novel.

I was honestly left completely confused by this book. I started off confused and ended that way too. The novel introduces new characters in a very disorienting way - we usually see them for the first time in the middle of a crisis, so we have no idea what they’re talking about, who they’re referring to, or where they are. And then when we finally get to the casino - which is the main setting for the novel - nothing makes sense there either. There are apparently multiple women in employment there as dancers or singers or… random entertainers? I’m not sure what each of their roles are to be honest. And then we are thrown into a plot involving a multi-million dollar scam with some big gang lord spanning across multiple casinos. It’s briefly mentioned/explained twice, but never made really clear.

Then to top it all off, there is a B plot that makes even less sense than the main one. Don’t ask me what it is about, because even after reading the whole thing the only thing I can tell you is that it ends on a cliffhanger… I think.

What I can say about this is I really liked the coloring. It’s full of deep reds and browns giving an air of dread and enforcing the gangster idea a bit more.

I just was not invested in the characters of this, even though I was clearly supposed to be based on the trauma the author puts them through. And I did not understand the story well enough to want to know what happens in the next volume. So suffice it to say I was let down by this graphic novel.

I like the setting and style of this comic which I think the cover accurately displays. The artwork and coloring just border the line of sinister, playing with the shadows and contours of the surroundings and characters. I have to have good artwork if I'm going to read a comic and this didn't disappoint. I think I would have liked a tad more sisterhood, or girl power, which I've kind of come to expect from American comics (excluding Marvel and DC), but overall it was entertaining and a good read.

Bad Girls is the historical fiction graphic novel of three ladies who work in El Eden Casino in Havana, Cuba. On New Year’s Eve 1958, they get into some trouble and have to leave the country. Making the task more difficult is the political turmoil that is Batista fleeing the country and Castro taking over.

I expected this to be badass females, like Gone Girl: girls are multidimensional and can be the bad guy. However, it was not that at all. Taffy, Carole, and Ana have learned how to not be at the bottom of the barrel as casino/gentlemen’s club workers, but outside of the building, they seem to get by more on sheer dumb luck and violence than cunning and street smarts.

Additionally, I didn’t understand the Kitty storyline. What purpose did she have other than as a foil to portray how vapid and hedonistic the whites are compared to the Cubanos. Mayhaps I am just too unversed in the intricacies of illustration and graphic novel. Along the same lines were the fact that Carole left the house without her lipstick and then another character (Ana??) mentioned never going anywhere without it and the diamonds motif: the diamonds that were paste that belonged to the line of Joe’s women and the fact that his boat is named Diamonds. I’m sure there’s a connection there, but it eludes me.

In all, it was an interesting story since I’ve recently read Alan Gratz’s Refugees, which has a storyline of a young Cuban and their family who are escaping Cuba and Castro for Miami some-30 years later.

This graphic novel had an extremely interesting premise but it didn't quite deliver for me. While I appreciated the different female characters and their diversity, I felt like there wasn't enough time to get to know them outside of current motives and intentions. Because of this, I didn't feel particularly connected to any of them which stopped me from being able to fully embrace this story. While I did mostly enjoy the art style, it was a little confusing at times which made the plot challenging to follow. Due to this, I was quite disappointed and could only give an average rating.

The Cuban Revolution from the point of view of a group of women working at a swanky Havana night club on the night Castro takes over the government. A hefty dose of noir covered in girl power. I dug it.

Set at a night club in Havana, this graphic novel focuses on the women who work at (or are otherwise connected to) the men who run the club. The women are having a rough go of it, and each of them is trying to find a way out, whether through climbing the social ladder by dating men in charge or by simply escaping with any resources they can. There's some rivalry between women, an attempted rape, and implied violence directed at one of the main character's daughters.

Santos's art really evokes 1950s Cuba (or, at least, I imagine that it does). The political backdrop is fascinating I hope it gets more exploration in the next volume -- assuming, of course, that there will be one. I'm hoping that's the case.

If a sequel for this graphic novel isn't already in the works, I am going to be heartbreakingly dissapointed! It's New Years Eve 1958 at a Cuban night club in Havana. We get a peek into the lives of three different women who work at said nightclub and the sexist harassment and abuse that they are literally forced to overcome. I don't want to give too much away other than it is an incredibly exciting story where you are cheering for these "bad girls" to be able to leave their crappy lives behind. The fact that it takes place on the cusp of what was a real government overthrown just makes it even more thrilling. The art work of scenes capturing the people in an uproar over their want and desire for a free Cuba (Cuba Libre!) were fantastic! It had a few somewhat violent bits but nothing that I found offensive. In fact, it got to a point where you were wanting the bad guys to get their comeuppance. The story format is told in an hour by hour time slot starting before midnight and going to 6 am so it was very fast paced- read it in one sitting. Added bonus- written lyrics to classic songs such as Mambo Italiano, Fever and Auld Lang Syne- no idea that the line "we’ll tak' a cup o’ kindness yet" was in the last one! In short- very clever and entertaining read! Viva la Revolucion!

I love crime noir, especially that involves strong female characters. This book delivers! The artwork is also amazing.

I went into this with high hopes of female driven Ocean's 11 style heist set on the New Year's Eve where Castro rose to power; and it partially delivered.

The things I didn't enjoy about this were some slight girl on girl hate, the way the heroines were depicted as somewhat bumbling (making mistakes or bad choices and shoddily covering it up), the scene portraying sexual assault and an attempted rape where one of the leads stood aside and watched doing nothing to help her "friend", the superfluous gold digger storyline and finally a lot of murky art or difficult to read panels.

What I did enjoy was the unique setting and time period, the diversity of the cast racially and in social class, the almost all female major cast, the depiction of strong independent women and the realistic interactions and conflicts the personality clashes would cause and that they didn't shy away from violence to achieve their goals.

As you can imagine all of these things combined leave me feeling very conflicted about this graphic novel, I'll be keeping an eye out for more work from the author, just maybe not with this artist.

I read this for round one of the Buzzword readathon where the buzzword was GIRL!

I was lucky enough to receive an advance copy of Bad Girls by Alex DeCamp and Victor Santos from NetGalley. It is set in December 1958, New Year's Eve in Cuba. Talks of a missile crisis flood the airwaves and at a club called, El Edén. This NSFW adult comic follows three women, all from different backgrounds who find themselves in some unlikely positions on this New Year's Eve and now that their lives are in danger they have them coming up with a plan to leave Cuba for good, tonight with 6 million dollars.
I thought the graphics were great, it reminded me of a mix between Frank Miller and Darwyn Cook's work on Batman Beyond with the angles in the faces and their use of shadows. At the same time having their very own unique style. The coloring was good, it works for the story. The characters were fun Ana was probably my favorite and I enjoyed the fact that none of them is 100% good but at this moment it was more about survival than anything else. The story was fast paced with the blend of music playing into the scenes adding a good touch without overpowering them.

TW: rape, violence against women, racial slurs

While I found this book to be a little disorganized those feelings helped with the understanding of what it must have been like for the country you call your home to change in the blink of an eye. The women in this graphic novel did not have foolproof escape plans, they were reacting to their circumstances using the resources they had available. The difference between Batista and Castro's Cuba was immediately felt with dire consequences for some of those caught in the crossfire.

Alex de Campi and Victor Santos created a tangible world through dialogue and art. The bright colours, the conversations in Spanish, and the stark contrast between the Cuba of the revolutionaries and those who used and abused the system for their own gains. There is still much to be learned from the Cuban revolution and this book gives the reader a look into the lives of four women caught in the middle.