Halo & Sprocket is that rare book that manages to be hilariously funny without being caustic or overly cynical. The tone of the book is actually somewhat sweet, and the characters are generally very likable and nice people, but somehow the book still manages to make me laugh out loud. I suspect it is because of Callen's observation of the absurd in real life, because while there are gags to be found in Kate's roommates (an angel and a robot), many of these jokes come from a place that any of us can understand.
The split story format is a good one for the book, as Callen gives the story just enough room to breathe without stretching the gag. The stories center around believable everyday occurrences, such as a clogged sink, a bone-headed move in traffic or a discussion with friends, and the only thing separating this from real life is the existence of a robot and an angel. Mind you, those two are not just a gimmick for the book; Callen has some fun with Sprocket's naivete, playing up that he has a childlike personality but isn't actually a child, and the somewhat irritable personality of Halo makes her an unusual angel.
Callen's strength is in his character work. After only two issues, I feel like I have a sense of who Kate, Halo and Sprocket are and how they would react in situations. In addition, this issue adds Frank, the next-door neighbor and handyman into the mix, and he is similarly well-developed. His somewhat lowbrow sense of humor and chauvinistic ways are done so that we can see why Kate would find them annoying, but they never cross the line into annoying the reader, because there's a good-natured core at the heart of him.
Of course, what really drew me to the book in the first place was how funny it was, and that continues here. There are sight gags, including Sprocket's reaction to Frank teaching him how to fight. There are dialogue-based gags, such as the entire sequence of "Suckers" that reminds me of the half-full/half-empty discussion of the last issue. And there are situational gags, such as Kate agonizing over how to apologize to someone who she'll likely never actually meet.
Halo & Sprocket works in terms of art as well as it does in terms of story. Callen's artwork is simple and clean, with a clever use of gray tones to add depth and shading. Callen also has a great sense of pacing and storytelling, making great use of close-ups or flashbacks and sometimes pushing a character far into the foreground to give them a sense of jumping off the page. Though Halo & Sprocket is not what you call an action book, there's a sense that the artwork is always moving, and that gives the book as much energy as the script does.
