Customer Reviews

Fallen Angel

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Lee, the "Fallen Angel" of the title, represents an evolution in comic book characters, and in female characters as well. She brings a toughness not seen in almost any comic character, male or female, and comes off as real, flaws and all.

Peter David's "Fallen Angel" collects the first six issues of this excellent monthly series. The collection introduces you to the strange world of Bete' Noire, complete with many interesting characters and settings. There are several stories in this collection, but they all flow together to create the sense that you are visiting a real place, and a strange and interesting one at that.

Fallen Angel features drug dealers and cancer-stricken youth. It features likeable characters who may be monsters underneath, and monsters who may hide compassion and caring hearts. It features themes for the smart and mature reader, and situations and language to match. This is not for your six-year old, and not just because of swear words. Fallen Angel requires you to be able to understand concepts like loss, hatred, anger, and viciousness, and all of these from the supposed hero of the title.

Lee is not your typical comic heroine. She could kill you as soon as help you; she could torture you half to the edge of death rather than just ask for your help. You sympathize with her, because clearly she has suffered. But you would not hesitate to turn her in to the authorities if she crossed your path, because she will scare you.

Buy this collection. If you want to see how comics have progressed, or if you want to read a good story. This is far beyond the funny books of old, and it is more mature than the sadistic "mature readers" comics of recent days. It may be mature, but only because it has grown up. It is not mature for the cache of an "R" rating. It is mature because that is how the story goes. Lee's story is real, and it must be told, no matter how gritty the details.

This isn't your typical DC Comics book, and it isn't even a typical Peter David book. David, known for his many years as a writer for comic and SF franchises like the Hulk, Star Trek, Supergirl, and others gives us a much darker and personal story in these pages.
Though those familiar with David's past work may wonder if the yet to be revealed past of the Fallen Angel of the title has any shared history with his previous titles, the greater point of the book are the grey areas we all live in.
The main character inhabits a gritty, almost noirish reality of gangsters and mystical threats in a strange and fictional city that is well illustrated and brought to life by some stunning art by David Lopez, whose realistic and fluid art perfectly compliments Peter David's story.
It should be noted that the graphic novel, a collection of the DC comics series of the same name, is intended for mature readers and contains some language and depictions of violence, however, both writer and artist keep these factors within the bounds needed to tell the story and never become salacious in their use.
A well executed and criminally under read piece of graphic storytelling. It stradles the line between noir and horror and should have a wide range of appeal to those who like a cracking good story.

In the humid, shadow-drenched city of Bete Noire, nothing is quite as it seems. By day, the city's so peaceful that it doesn't need a police force. By night... well, that's a whole different story.

If you're lost, or desperate, or just need help, you might just find yourself in Bete Noire in a bar called Furor's, sitting in a booth in the back, waiting for Lee, the hooded woman otherwise known as the Fallen Angel. If you tell your story well enough, and if she feels like it, maybe she'll agree to use her extraordinary abilities on your behalf.

But beware: you may not get the kind of help you were looking for.

Blending the seedy energy of '30s pulp novels, the creeping surrealism of David Lynch, and just a pinch of that good ol' superhero flavor, Peter David's "The Fallen Angel" is a comic series like few others. Prepare to have your expectations turned upside down: the heroine is a nihilistic jerk, frankly, while the criminals she matches wits with are frequently smart, brave, charming-- even compassionate. Do Lee's often alarming means of righting wrongs justify her more or less noble ends? That's just one of the uncomfortable questions David poses to readers in the course of her adventures.

Artists David Lopez and Fernando Blanco create a convincingly creepy atmosphere for Bete Noire, backing up David's enigmatic writing (and selling his occasionally punny jokes as well.) Though this is most definitely not for kids-- just wait until David starts bringing up the queasy connection between superhero violence and sexual excitement!-- it's an outstanding, challenging read, and one of the best ongoing series on the market.

This is the only Fallen Angel collection I've read, and I'm not a fan. The main character, Lee, appears to be David's attempt to up the stakes on the anti-hero(ine). Instead of following a deviant but fairly clear moral code like, say, the Punisher, her schtick is that her motives are utterly unpredictable, i.e. inconsistent. Her supernatural abilities follow this same logic--sometimes she's nuking boats with her mind from 50 km away, other times she's beating up characters with her bare fists. The result, in my opinion, is a character who comes off as nebulous, weak, and fickle. A more conservative reader might read this inconstancy as distinctly juvenile-feminine, while a more liberal reader might consider it distinctly sexist. Either way, I don't think sacrificing depth of character in favour of a gimmicky generic novelty makes for very interesting reading.

The writing and art are adequate, but not great (I certainly couldn't do better myself, but David and Lopez aren't paying me for my efforts). There are at least a couple of lines of dialogue whose mechanics don't quite match up across panels, and a few drawings where it's not exactly clear what's supposed to be going on. The characters go through the motions, but none is particularly memorable or sympathetic. There's a big "As You Know, Bob" expository lump concerning the global significance of the city of Bete Noire (which, BTW, is never demonstrated or established by actual events in the story itself) that suggests to me that the book was either rushed to meet a publishing deadline or just written with very little TLC.

I liked David's run on the X-Factor revamp in the early 90's, and I once read a Star Trek novel of his that was pretty good. Fallen Angel is worse than both of those. Your mileage may vary, but I could've skipped this one.

I discovered Fallen Angel in somewhat backwards fashion, not that there is anything wrong with that. I was poking around in my local comic book store, saw FALLEN ANGEL REBORN, featuring Illyria from ANGEL as a guest character. I instantly bought it, loved it, and wanted to know more. In the same store I saw FALLEN ANGEL OMNIBUS, which collected the first 21 episodes of the comic with IDW after David's comic was cancelled by DC. I loved that one, so I have now gone back to the DC collections. The plan is to finish the volumes in the DC run, and then read the volumes that come after the IDW OMNIBUS. After that, all I can do is hope that FALLEN ANGEL REBORN won't be the end of things. I suspect it won't be.

I found these stories somewhat surprising given what I read in later issues. For one thing, I was interested to discover that Lee's supernatural origins are not clearly spelled out. I mean, clearly she has supernatural abilities, but she her heavenly origins are only vaguely hinted at. I like that, however. I like that she starts off as a mystery and only gradually discloses her secrets.

I also enjoyed the stories in these first issues. They are restricted much more to Bete Noire than many of the stories in later episodes. But all in all they definitely make me want to continue with the series.

This collects the first issues of DC Comic's Fallen Angel, written by Peter David. This series is a joy to read and I'm so glad that they collected the first six issues here. Wether your a long time Peter David fan, a comic book fan, or just love a good story you can't go wrong with Fallen Angel.