There is a small but growing subgenre in comics represented by comics like The Tick, Sky Ape, Rex Mantooth, Battle Pope, Scurvy Dogs and the like. That subgenre? Bizarre but hilariously funny. Street Angel falls right in line with those type of comics, being the adventures of a 13-year-old girl who fears no ninja or anti-ninja policeman and who fights crime using her skateboard, her wits and martial arts skills so deadly they can rarely even be captured on the page. Rugg and Maruca have crafted a story with the street smarts and attitude of Jim Mahfood and the off-the-wall genre riffing of Ben Edlund, Ryan Yount and Andrew Boyd. It's not quite as laugh-out-loud as the company it keeps, but it's off to a fun start, and is recommended reading for anyone who likes the strange and funny.
Rugg and Maruca serve notice right away that they're well aware of the absurdity at work in this comic. Two pages in, we're hearing about a mad scientist who escaped with the help of his next door neighbors in prison, a ninja and a Desert Storm killing machine (who are described in exactly those terms), and a couple pages after that, Street Angel is beating up on an elite force of SWAT guys sent to bring her in. The world of Street Angel is populated by weirdness, whether it's a specialized anti-ninja SWAT team, ninjas hanging around playing basketball or 13-year-old girls who are the most feared of crimefighters everywhere.
While there's certainly plenty to like just in the surreal world that Rugg and Maruca have created, there's also a fair amount of charm to be found in their protagonist, the take-no-shit Street Angel. She actually reminds me a little bit of David Lapham's insane anti-hero Amy Racecar, especially as regards her disregard for authority or social norms. The bit where she's using a stolen megaphone in the Mayor's office, finishing each sentence with "Over," is hilarious, and her all-too-simple interrogation of the ninjas about Pangea's hideout cracked me up as well.
Rugg and Maruca use gags to get out of a couple of the more drawn-out fight scenes, including a clever and funny "while you were turning the pages" bit, and this builds up the notion of Street Angel as unstoppable badass. However, this isn't done just to get out of drawing the action stuff, because Rugg serves up some terrific action sequences, notably one where Street Angel battles her way through a band of ninjas to get into the hideout but also including a cool skateboard ride that culminates in her casually taking out the two master henchmen without even breathing hard.
Part adventure comic, part social commentary and a whole lot of humor (I'd say 10-10-90, percentage-wise), Street Angel is a whole lot of fun.
