Sweet Paprika vol. 1

Paprika used to be just an editor at Infernum Press, until her insight led to one of their releases, “Spice it Up,” becoming a monstrous success.  Now she’s a driven Chief Creative Officer overseeing the book’s adaptation into other media, and showing everyone else in her office that she deserves the success she’s enjoying.  The problem is that the vicious, fire-breathing persona she projects has done a great job of keeping any potential friends away.  It also keeps any potential suitors away as well, as does her lingering sexual hangups that were instilled by her domineering father.  That all starts to change after her dad suffers a heart attack, some of his secrets come out, and Paprika meets a charming producer who’s angling to turn “Spice it Up” into a movie.  She thinks he might be The One, though she’s worried that her lack of experience might be a dealbreaker here.  Fortunately there’s a hunky-as-he-is-annoying delivery boy named Dill who might be willing to help her out with that.

“Sweet Paprika” comes to us from Mirka Andolfo and represents her first series as a writer/artist since “Mercy.”  The two series couldn’t be more different as that was a horror story drawn in a subdued yet detailed style, while this one is a frothy romantic comedy that goes right over the top with its cartoonish wild takes.  Despite the craziness, Andolfo has delivered a solid, character-driven series with a likeably complex lead.  Paprika has a lot of issues to unpack and while a lot of her insecurities are played for laughs, she still comes across as a likable and sympathetic lead.  The rest of the cast, particularly Dill, also have more than one shade to them and I’m interested in seeing how all the drama between them is going to be worked out.

Andolfo’s art is also a lot of fun to behold as she cuts loose in a way that I wasn’t expecting to see after “Mercy.”  Her style makes for a story that’s always visually interesting and will hold your attention through its more predictable stretches.  That said, you’ll notice from the cover that the characters have explicitly Angelic and Demonic looks to them, and while the story tries to make that a thing, it’s really not.  Andolfo could have drawn the whole cast as regular humans and the story would’ve been the same.  It’s a story that you’re likely already pretty familiar with, but the creator does manage to give her take on it enough energy to make me want to see how it’s going to wrap up in the next volume.