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Written by Nunabutt
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Tuesday, 27 January 2009 21:35 |
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Freakangels
Written by - Warren Ellis
Art by - Paul Duffield
Warren Ellis 2009 Copyright
www.freakangels.com
I know, I know. Nunabutt has got her hands on another Warren Ellis comic. Like you needed to see anymore drooling applause for the Hunter S. Thompson of the comic book world. And this time I've actually tatooed Mr. Ellis's name onto my ovaries. I hope that any future would-be suitors don't take an issue with this fact. But that is a topic about the author himself rather than the comic in question. So, let us delve inbetween the covers as they were and take a look at Freakangels.
Freakangels is a weekly webcomic. It's updated every friday, well, mostly. Though Mr. Ellis and Mr. Duffield have been excellent in regards to keeping us informed as to why a week is skipped every so often. And at times these excuses and posts are more entertaining than the comic itself. All of this still escapes the point. Weekly webcomic. It's free. And oddly, that makes me want to buy it. Badly. Not to mention all the cool stuff the website offers at the store. If the weekly comic is a marketing ploy, I've gone and drank more of the kool aide. Though, I don't think that's the tale. In a ever expanding medium of weekly comics, Freakangels is the cherry. From the first six pages it proudly states, "I am here. You will subscribe."
...and that does remind me to add it into the RSS feed on my blog.
Bad tangent. No cookiee.
"23 years ago, twelve strange children were born in England at that exact same moment. 6 years ago the world ended. This is the story of what happened next." Welcome to the world of Freakangels. It's a very grabby introduction, that could lead you either way. Toss you over some railing into the East River in which you drown on the B-Movie Cheese Factor of toxins that make up a bad comic book. OR! As Warren Ellis has a habit of doing, ties you down to the chair and makes you read. Don't move. Just read. And I am very obviously biased.
I've also tried my best to keep away from spoiler warnings, but the steampunk epic that Freakangels is turning out to be is making it hard for me. So, for what an be only the second time in my short life as a reviewer...
***Spoiler Warnings***
A young girl awakens, not really knowing where she is or whom she is sleeping alongside. We come to find out she is known as KK and she has just slept with a boy from the wrongside of the proverbial tracks. After what seems to be a telepathic connection with home, she climbs up onto the roof where she finds an interesting looking possession. A helicopter that greatly resembles an engineers creation out of World of Warcraft. In this snippet of introduction, we are taught that KK is a member of a clan who call themselves, "Freakangels."
This is also a bit of knowledge that comes at us with a major plot point, a rogue Freakangel that is sending what has to be a god-modded idea of minions to the neighborhood of Whitechapel in order to kill his former clanmates. And through this act, we also recieve a new main character. One who becomes quite at home with the Freakangel crew. But, that is giving too much away regardless of a spoiler warning!
Onward! To the gift Warren Ellis gives us. It's pretty. And it makes me giddy. I have a new Comic Crush, Karl! And not surprisingly, he looks, speaks and acts a little like Spider Jerusalem. Well, if you take away the glasses, the tatoos, the drugs and the entire journalist thing. But really, Spider and Karl. Prototype character. Which after reading some of Ellis' prose leaves me to believe that both the characters of Karl and Spider are mere incarnations on the page of the author himself. This explains so much.
"Imagine: It took the end of the world to create the conditions for the human race to move forward into time on their own terms." Luke in Episode 4.
As far as the stable of works that have been correlated and compiled, created by Warren Ellis, Freakangels, is the first that leaves a feel devoid of nanotechnology. Really. It's steampunk. And one of the most well done articles of steampunk that I've seen in a very long time. This is also a fact that pays homage to the artwork itself. I'm in love with the refined and simplistic lines. The characters whose faces and bodies all resemble each other yet something independent of each other. They are subtle, beautiful, gracefull and they all encompass an excellent sense of subculture stylization. Which leaves me with the shiney moment of thought with the one I call the Lavender Goddess. Who individually, without being the young, steampunk Spider Jerusalem is my favorite character in the series.
With an idea of characters that can be described as young, rogue, militant Hunter S. Thompsons and Jack Kerouac's, is there really any surprise to know that the dialogue is astounding at times. Both rich with philosophy and banter that never lacks any semblance of candor. The wit and sarcasm at times drop more than a two dollar hooker. All while matched by Mr. Duffield's fine artistry that highlights the expressions and tones of each panel. His renderings of the character Arkady embrace me with the ideas of youthfull whimsy and innocence. She reminds me much of the young boy from the original Matrix movie who embodied the idea of the spoon.
"Welcome to the home of the twentysomethings with arreted development and an obsession for crap shagging." - Karl
There is one series of panels and story that takes my own breath away, it's the concept of food. With the same art and seduction that Joss Whedon utilized in "Firefly" with the introduction of Shepard Book's strawberries to Kaylee's volumptious lips, we find here. The refugee, Alice, crying as she tastes a strawberry grown in Karl's garden for the first time in years. It's a beautifull moment masterfully captured. And it makes me want a strawberry, dammit.
Where does one find good mid-winter Strawberries in Canada?
I'm coming to terms with the use of modern day netspeak in comics, but like with comics from the early 60's and even before, the dialogue changes to the generation who is reading the pages at the time. It is for us to dicipher and understand fully. And still behind it all there is a vast array of social commentary that begins to unfold. I can't wait for more from Freakangels.
12 minds put together could end the world. How cool of a concept is that.
Friday just became my favorite day of the week again. Battlestar Galactica AND Freakangels. Pinch me. Please.
To read Freakangels, please visit www.freakangels.com.
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Last Updated on Wednesday, 28 January 2009 16:03 |
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