With ’90s properties and trends getting revived everywhere in pop culture, it was only a matter of time before the 1995 teen comedy classic, Clueless, got back in the game. Clueless coming back in comic-book form was a surprise, but it makes sense given Boom! Studios’ history with movie licenses and its dedication to putting out works geared toward a female audience. Writers Amber Benson (best known for playing Tara on Buffy The Vampire Slayer) and Sarah Kuhn are teaming up with artist Siobhan Keenan and colorist Shan Murphy for Clueless: Senior Year, a graphic novel that picks up where the movie left off to explore the next phase of Cher Horowitz’s life. She’s still dating her ex-stepbrother Josh, but that hasn’t gotten rid of her boy problems, which will inevitably get in the way of her figuring out what she’s going to do with her life as she leaves high school behind.
This exclusive preview of Clueless: Senior Year has Cher in a familiar situation, with Ms. Geist telling her to use her natural skills to enact positive change. Benson and Kuhn have a strong handle on each character’s distinct voice, and you can hear the original actors’ delivery of these lines when reading them on the page. (If you forgot what whey sound like, go watch Clueless again. Like right now.) Keenan reinterprets the characters in a softer manga-inspired art style, and the designs capture the defining qualities of the cast without needing to be tethered to specific actor likenesses. The film’s brightly colored visuals live on in Murphy’s coloring, and she gets to be even more extreme with color by using it to dictate changes in emotional beats, like the intensifying heat of the background colors in this excerpt’s final page. Readers can return to the world of Bronson Alcott High School when Clueless: Senior Year goes on sale August 23, but in the meanwhile, here’s an introduction for anyone who hasn’t seen the movie. (And if you haven’t, what are you doing with your life?)