Longtime readers will know that I've been a fan of Fallen Angel for a while now, but this is the first time that the book has earned a 10/10 from me, and that's because this is the first time that everything in the book just clicked perfectly for me. This is the first part of a new story that promises to shake up the Fallen Angel status quo, and it features everything that makes this book great: conflicts of morality and responsibility, a tinge of horror atmosphere and rich, intriguing, ambiguous characters. It also features Lopez and Blanco doing what is probably their best art effort on the book yet, and one hell of a cliffhanger ending.
I've always praised David's writing on this series, but I've never really singled out artists David Lopez and Fernando Blanco. I've been complimentary, but I've also felt that the variance that sometimes shows up in their faces was a weak spot, and the artwork was good, but perhaps not quite in the great range all the time. This issue, they really pull out all the stops, and this issue is perhaps more their showcase than a showcase for David's writing. The opening sequence is one of visual impact, using pictures to illustrate the "something wicked this way comes" that Dr. Juris quotes, and the resulting scenes are shocking, powerful and full of portent. I particularly loved the intersection of the mysterious visitor to town and Lee, the lead character. There's some strong dialogue in their brief exchange, but it's the setup, the way each of them gets to that point on the street, that really illustrates what we need to know about the characters.
Leaving aside the spectacular visual moments in the early part of the issue and the excellent sense of atmosphere that the art provides throughout, the spotlight falls on David's script, and this is a terrific opening chapter. I've come to really enjoy the way David has structured the flashbacks to the pasts of various key players, generally starting the issue with them so that we don't have the context, we just have a snippet of a life gone by, and then we can connect it with a character we know. It's a great way to flesh out the characters without changing them into something other than what they are, and it serves to reinforce some of the key themes of Fallen Angel: that people can change, that life can be cruel and that we are what life made of us.
It is this borderline nihilistic viewpoint that is a big part of what I love about Fallen Angel, and it's in full view here. The tricky love affair between Lee and Dr. Juris is explored from a couple of angles in this issue, and we see how it has affected both of them, even though it's ostensibly over. There are also some really intriguing clues as to the nature of Juris, his bosses and the city of Bete Noire, not enough to give any real answers but enough to give those of us working out our own theories more to think about. It has been clear from the start that Lee's role as self-appointed protector of Bete Noire is something different, and in many ways bigger, than the way superheroes tend to adopt a city, from Batman and Gotham to Jack Knight and Opal City.
Then there's the cliffhanger. There have been brutal, action-oriented plot goings-on in this book before. One need only look at the torture that Lee inflicted on her enemy, or the disturbing series of murders that drove the first big arc, to get a sense of the danger of Bete Noire affecting the people of the city. However, this is the first time since the first issue that we've really seen Lee herself targeted so blatantly for harm, and it immediately amps up the tension level. Even moreso given the potential for collateral damage and the disruption of one of the secrets Lee has, secrets being as important to her as her own life is in many ways.
