Murs & Josh Blaylock Present: MerchGirl


We got in-depth on the relation between comics and rap late last year, and briefly mentioned West Coast emcee Murs and Devil's Due Productions founder Josh Blaylock as teaming up for parties. Well, since then, they've been quietly publishing a comic book of their own.

If you told me that Murs, who is best known for spinning rhymes about growing up and living in Los Angeles, and Josh Blaylock, whose company trailblazed the revival of "G.I. Joe" comics ten years back, were going to team up to do a cute, funny romance comic about a merch girl, I wouldn't believe you. And yet, their collaboration with artists Jose Garcia and Juan Urueta is exactly that."MerchGirl" is about Yumiko Morales, Yumi to her friends, and merch girl to the band "Murder Acts." Her boyfriend is the lead singer, so touring with the band is kind of a dream. Of course, since you can't have a comic without conflict, she's going to end up tripping along a "supernatural thrill-ride." What's particularly notable is that they're going with a digital release on the web. If you want to read the comic, all you have to do is click here (and beware the autoplaying music!) and start opening jpegs. The only flaw is that there's no update schedule on the site.

Music is obviously going to play a part in the story, as befitting Murs's involvement, but really, this is just a normal comic book. There is a main character, her boyfriend and friends, and a little bit of spookiness to kick things off. "MerchGirl" reminds me a lot of comics like Chynna Clugston's 'Blue Monday' or Sean McKeever and Takeshi Miyazawa's "Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane." Light-hearted, kind of sweet, and fun to read.

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