Take elements of the movies Heathers and Mean Girls and mix with any number of low-grade superhero comics. The result, if you avoid tainting the recipe with too much originality, creativity or decisive character development, might be Bad Girls.

Lauren Case is the new girl, the popular-girl wannabe who straddles the line between the cool kids and the salt-of-the-earth unpopular crowd. Ronald Bogley is the geek with the strange purple formula; Tiffany, Ashley, Destinee and Brittany are the cheerleader snobs who accidentally drink it. All five girls get a dose of Ronald's formula, and all five develop strange superpowers.

Unfortunately, the book is largely a snore, as the cheerleaders use their powers -- strength, flight, invisibility and shapeshifting -- secretly to torment their classmates and go on distant shopping sprees, and Lauren tries to minimize the damage with her newfound telepathy. Attempts at intrigue fall flat, and the few surprise twists fail to inject any real excitement into the tale. Bad Girls is the most unforgivable of comic-book failures: a bore.