FreakAngelsVol 1
Written by Warren Ellis
Art by Paul Duffield
2008
Available now from Islington Libraries
You can reserve this item for free here:
http://www.library.islington.gov.uk/TalisPrism/
FreakAngelsVol 2
Written by Warren Ellis
Art by Paul Duffield
2009
Available now from Islington Libraries
You can reserve this item for free here:
http://www.library.islington.gov.uk/TalisPrism/
FreakAngelsVol 3
Written by Warren Ellis
Art by Paul Duffield
2009
Available now from Islington Libraries
You can reserve this item for free here:
http://www.library.islington.gov.uk/TalisPrism/
FreakAngelsVol 4
Written by Warren Ellis
Art by Paul Duffield
2010
Available now from Islington Libraries
You can reserve this item for free here:
http://www.library.islington.gov.uk/TalisPrism/
FreakAngelsVol 5
Written by Warren Ellis
Art by Paul Duffield
2011
Available now from Islington Libraries
You can reserve this item for free here:
http://www.library.islington.gov.uk/TalisPrism/
Vol 6
Written by Warren Ellis
Art by Paul Duffield
2011
Available now from Islington Libraries
You can reserve this item for free here:
http://www.library.islington.gov.uk/TalisPrism/
What would have happened if John Wyndham's Midwich Cuckoos had grown up to become disaffected and confused twenty-one-year-olds? In FreakAngels - they're living in the sunken remains of Whitechapel 6 years after the World ended attempting to start their own new forward-thinking society - and because it's Warren Ellis - doing lots of swearing / drinking / sleeping around / and debating the nature of the future. And then - like it says at the start: "This is the story of what happened next."
Freely available on the web (see: here) where's it's been published in weekly installments since 2008 (but if you're going to read it I would suggest the handy book form because - yeah - books are better and nicer to read - no - I'm not just saying that because I'm a librarian) this is an exciting, "retro-punk" ever-expanding adventure series with freaky-(ha)-looking artwork that makes everything look cool and slightly-alieny (and whose all-over lanky looking people brought back happy memories of Æon Flux cartoon I used to watch as a kid) - and that's even before you notice all the Freakangels have purple irises (yay for purple!): or realise how spot-on all the body language stuff is (there's one panel where one character is kicking another character in the balls: and just the way that the ball-kicker the balanced feels so perfect). Plus: it's got the small details down: like rainbows in streams of water and gangly make-shift scaffolding sky gardens - perched on top of tall smashed-to-bits East London landmarks (which I've got to admit all gave me a lovely 28 days/weeks later kick of joy) - that will give you vertigo.
There's a lot of characters to keep track off - which can be a bit tricky at times (it does help that all the FreakAngels have names with "K"s in them - even if they're spelling Connor and Carolyn with "C"s) . But it's nice to have a comic that isn't just a main hero + side-kick: and everyone's singular voice is singular enough that it's not too hard to keep track of whos whos. And while it has got loads of pyrotechnical (very bloody) action stuff: it's self-assured enough to go at an easy pace - and happy to let the characters just have chats that don't seem too concerned on the surface with moving the story forward (even if you know it's stuff that's probably going to turn out to be important further on...). Plus: there's some semi-steam-punkisms to keep the steam punk fans happy.
If the X-Men were less restrained, more horny, didn't have any evil baddies to fight (except each other) and were all infused with a little of that down-trodden English sensibility it would feel like this (Wolverine - unfortunately - never says things like "Bumsticks"): with a Utopian/let's build a better world-tinge that's always underpinned Ellis' work in the past - but is here given more chance to breathe and bloom: I think must just be my favourite of all the things Warren Ellis has wrote so far: and it's a heady reading for anyone who was ever a strange child and wanted to end the world and start it anew.
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Links: ComicMix Review with Warren Ellis, Comic Book Resources Review Vol 4, Comics Alliance Article: 'Freakangels': A Western Comic That Breathes Like Manga, Broken Frontier Article: Trading Up: Freakangels.
Further reading: Y: The Last Man, Akira, Echo, Fell, Desolation Jones, Global Frequency, Domu, 7 Billion Needles.
Profiles: Warren Ellis.
All comments welcome.
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