Sweetie Candy Vigilante #6 // Review

There’s a new candy shop in New York. It’s in kind of a bad neighborhood, but it’s actually doing pretty good business on its opening day. The police are a little concerned when a multiple homicide leads an NYPD investigation to the door of the new shop in Sweetie Candy Vigilante #6. Writer Suzanne Cafiero and artist Jeff Zornow put together a weird crime story featuring a strangely appealing ensemble of characters that still aren't quite given the kind of narrative framing that would allow them to live up to their potential. It’s kind of charming. As of yet, however, there hasn’t been enough time with any of the characters to build much depth beyond the surface of the story.

The shop is called Sweetie Candy Vigilante. It has nearly 1.5 million followers on social media. Over 1,000 people visit the shop on its opening day. The shop is about to close up on a very solid opening day for business when it gets a visit from Detective Kyle Jacks of the NYPD homicide division. Evidently, one of the victims of a multiple homicide had listed the address of his last employment as being a bar known as Ice Cream Bunny, which had an address listed that was identical to that of the candy shop. 

Cafiero writes a dialogue-heavy issue set in the somewhat bizarrely popular candy shop run by a cheerful, attractive woman who shares her name with the shop. Sweetie is given a very cheerful demeanor throughout the early going of the issue, which features appearances by the rest of her squad, including Candy Wolf and Pixie. The mystery would likely seem a lot more interesting if the dialogue was a lot less stiff and wooden. Cafiero does a good job of coming up with an intriguing setting and ensemble, but the actual story that they’re in seems painted in only the broadest strokes without much of anything in the way of subtlety or nuance. 

Zornow makes the visuals look cute without being overly cuddly. There’s a hard edge to the cuteness that maintains a clear sight on the somberness of the murders. In Zornow’s hands, Sweetie seems to be a bit of a mystery in plain sight. She’s clearly very charming and sweet, but there’s something deeper there in her decision to open the candy shop that is caught in Zornow’s visuals. There's a general happiness about the visuals that bleeds through vivid, smiling colors.

Were there a little bit more of a contrast between the hero, the setting, and the conflict of the plot, the series could be really appealing on a whole bunch of different levels. As it is, however, there simply isn't enough of a connection between the visuals and the darkness of the story. There needs to be more of an integration to provide the kind of disconnect needed to make this story really feel all that coherent. It’s fun, but there’s a feeling of disconnect between Sweetie and the multiple homicide that still hasn’t become totally clear as of the end of the sixth issue.

Grade: B