Written by: Marguerite Bennett
Art by: Kim Jacinto (main story artist), Israel Silva (colour artist), Stephanie Hans (substory artist)
Publisher: Marvel
Did you read the Secret Wars tie-in 1602: Witch Hunter Angela? It was brilliant in my opinion, with a cool fantasy setting, interesting characters with great chemistry and beautiful, it was one of the few spin offs from Secret Wars that didn’t bore me half-way through. Well now the team has been given an ongoing series and if this issue is anything to go by then we’re in for one wild ride. Angela is an Asgardian Princess who was kidnapped at a young age and raised as an angel in the Realm of Heven, she’s your standard tough fantasy hero with a bit of a soft heart for certain things. Sera is her partner and takes the role of the story’s narrator;, giving exposition, making jokes and keeping things light hearted is her forte (see Puck from Berzerk) but unlike most characters of this archetype Sera never gets on your nerves and can most certainly hold her own in a fight. The story of the series seems like it will revolve around Angela venturing into Hel to rescue Sera and eventually taking it over while this issue focuses on setting up the background of Angela, Sera and Hel itself.
First impressions were mixed, Bennett’s skill at instantly endearing a character to us is immediately evident through Sera’s opening, playing up her faux-narcissism while laying out Angela’s background but I can’t help but notice the change in art style from Stephanie Hans’ work in 1602 to Kim Jacinto’s. It would be unfair to say that the art is bad, in any other comic I would’ve said it was fine, but it would be a lie to say I was happy about the change from something that is so singular and unique to something I’ll probably forget about in a couple of weeks. I am blowing this up to be a bigger issue than it really is, Hans’ work is very prominent throughout the middle of the book and there is a clever reason, with which I can’t find fault, for the difference in artists being used however, as a fan of the art that Stephanie Hans is capable of putting out, I am slightly disappointed that the entire issue wasn’t composed of her work.
As with 1602 the reason why I like this story so much is for two simple reasons:
- The world feels alive, I don’t get the impression that once I stop reading it stops existing, but rather that it goes on with more history and stories being made. The secret to this seems to be the art of putting in small details, little bits of information about people, places and cultures that don’t necessarily need to be there and don’t have to be made relevant by the plot later on in the tale but are just there to give flavour. This is something that the issue has in spades, talking about histories and structures of realms and fates of dead civilisations.
- The chemistry between Angela and Sera; every page which features the pair together is a treat, whether they are making jests with each other or sharing their fears at no point does the love between them feel tacky or artificial or not well thought out, as relationships in comics often feel.
The only thing I could fault the writing of the issue is the amount of jumping around there is chronologically, usually I’m fine with this sort of thing but in twenty pages of story (by the way, twenty pages of story for £3.99?!) there is a total of five major time-jumps, including one into a memory/vision and one out of the same memory/vision. Overall, I’d say if you want to get started on what will be a great fantasy series, then look no further than Angela: Queen of Hel, with memorable characters and an interesting world it’s sure to be an entertaining read.
