I learned of Boom Studios’ Cover Girl graphic novel (actually, a trade collection of the eponymous five-issue series) via Kevin Church’s website, BeaucoupKevin.com. As a regular reader of his blog and webcomic The Rack, I figured anything Kevin touched couldn’t suck. Plus, I try to support my friends’ creative output, so I clicked the Amazon link on his website and bought the trade, not really knowing what to expect.

Well, it turned out that I wasn’t just humoring Kevin by buying Cover Girl, which he scripted from a plot by Eureka creator Andrew Crosby: It’s a damn good story, one that packs in a whole lot of dialog, action and humor into 128 pages. The basic premise: Struggling, dumb-but-pretty actor Alex Martin plays hero, becomes Hollywood’s next “It” boy, gets wrapped up in a mystery that finds him on the wrong end of guns, explosives and fists, and is saddled with tough-but-smoking-hot bodyguard Rachel Dodd.

Yeah, on the surface, it’s pretty much Moonlighting-meets-Lethal Weapon, but along the way, Andrew and Kevin use Cover Girl to take shots at just about every aspect of the motion picture industry, punctuated by acerbic, punchy dialog crafted by … acerbic, punchy Kevin. While the resolution of the main plotline comes a little too easy, it doesn’t detract from the overall satisfaction I felt finishing the book. It’s just a fun, engaging read, with vibrant, clean art from Mateus Santolouco. And really, what more can one ask from their funnybooks?