ANGEL AND THE APE #1
"Model Behavior"
Recommended (8/10)
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DC Comics/Vertigo imprint
Writers: Howard Chaykin & David Tischman
Artist: Philip Bond
Colors: Kevin Somers & Digital Chameleon
Letters: Ken Bruzenak
Editor: Heidi MacDonald
Price: $2.50 US/$4.25 CAN |
Bawdy.
That's the best way to describe Chaykin, Tischman and Bond's take on the bimbo and ape private eyes to which the title refers. Howard Chaykin's comic writing has always been peppered with sexual innuendos and circumstances, but this book is dripping with sex. But Angel and the Ape isn't a stroke book or anything... it's an outrageous satire, taking potshots at the detective genre, youth and fashion.
Bambi Dextrous, the top model for a lingerie company, has gone missing, and her boss, Torso von Morso, hires part-time gumshoes Angel O'Dare and Sam Simeon to track her down. There's no lack of suspects, as Bambi was loathed by her co-workers, inclduing von Morso himself. A surreptitious visit to Bambi's apartment yields little but a new outfit for Angel, so a chat with Bambi's ex-husband is next on the agenda.
Hmm... nary a sacred cow in sight. Chaykin and Tischman's tongues are planted so firmly in cheek that they threaten to pierce the flesh. The supporting characters' names alone are enough to bring a debaucherous smile to one's face: Dwight Kaywight, Saliva, Bahbi Ganoozsh... the list goes on. Some might say the writers are glorying deviant sex and self-indulgent culture, but they're really just poking fun at everyone, as if those names weren't evidence enough.
Bond's work is immediately recognizable, but it's also clear that he's adapted his style to suit the tone of the script, as he often does. Though the art still boasts its usual cartoony but richly textured quality, there's a greater... silliness factor at play. Somers's garish colors further reinforce the surreal tone of the story.
Perhaps it's the barrage of promotion for the new Kevin Smith flick that brings this to mind, but Sam Simeon strikes me as the Silent Bob to Angel's Jay. Angel is always talking, always focused on more superfluous aspects of her life, and Sam serves as the accepting and wiser non-voice of reason. The interplay between the pair and their interactions with the bizarre world in which they live make for some fun reading.
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