Written By: Simon Spurrier
Art By: Casper Wijngaard
Published By: Image
Angelic is a fascinating book. On the one hand, it’s written and has the veneer of a kid’s book. On the other hand, it isn’t afraid to ask dark questions and imply grave dangers. The former gets in the way of the latter.
The bulk of issue #2 is Qora having a chat with the flying manatee creatures revealed at the end of the first issue. It begins as a pleasant chat, a “hey maybe we aren’t so different you and I,” and then it gets uncomfortable. And then it gets ominous.
The whole time this chat is going on, we visibly see Qora go through a variety of emotions, from curiosity to anger to downright fear. She knows something is wrong, just not what. It makes for a captivating set of pages despite being more dialogue-heavy than I’d like. I’m not sure this story has earned such an exposition dump given how little we’ve stepped foot into it, yet I’m not unhappy either.
The information is interesting.
It also raises some very poignant questions in regard to God, authority, and following the rules. I’m reminded of Pullman’s Dark Materials. This is a kid’s book with more at stake than a fun adventure. There’s a message here, and quite a bit of heart too.
Unlike Pullman’s famous trilogy though, this one muddies the execution. Qora and the other flying monkeys have their own culture and vernacular, and I find it to be really grating. “You’re a poopstink” is a cute way to say “shithead,” but it’s not something I can take seriously. I get it—I really do—I just don’t jive with it.
It’s a shame, because it makes most of the actual dialogue annoying to read despite the content being really quite good.
There are also some pacing issues, or rather, the book feels longer than it is. Some of that stems from the amount of dialogue, but some is just in the amount of plotting that happens. Angelic #2 is more than just its conversation, and in a way, I think that’s a mistake. But then, I like slow burns when it comes to this, and a kid’s book isn’t the time or place for that.
Again, it’s a shame, because I want to like this story. I think this is a story worth liking.
I touched on the artwork earlier, but man, I need to do it more justice. Angelic is pretty. The animal designs are nothing short of phenomenal, a cutsey way of doing Giger’s biomechanical horrors. The color pallet only accents everything with lots of calming shades of pink, red, and blue. It’s all so pleasant to look at, making the unpleasant undertones all the more jarring. This should be fun, and Qora should be having fun and making friends, but life ain’t so nice.
At the end of the day, I do think there’s something special here. There’s an important message and a neat world to be found. I even like the characters, kid-friendly though they may be. I just wish the speech patterns weren’t so annoying. They really hurt what should be a good time.
