Halo and Sprocket shot right up to the top of my list of favorite books when it came out, and it has held that position for four issues. This comedy series about a girl living with an angel and a robot features light philosophy, attractive artwork and dead-on perfect comic timing. While a quick glance at the cover will tell you to expect quirky and cute tales, Halo and Sprocket isn't just cute and quirky; it is also laugh-out-loud funny, without being caustic or overly cynical. I suspect this 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.
Callen seems destined to suffer the same "he's not a woman?" reaction as Andi Watson and Terry Moore, for much the same reasons. Katie is a remarkably believable and likable young woman, not unlike many women I've known, with a somewhat mischievous sense of humor and an energetic and optimistic personality. She has just enough strangeness about her to fit in with such odd roommates as a robot and an angel, although her quirks are no more unusual than a lot of real people. In addition, though both Halo and Sprocket have a naivete about the ways of the world, each a different sort of viewpoint from the other. Halo almost represents the emotional side, while Sprocket represents the intellectual. Even that is somewhat simplistic, however, because Halo has some logical sense to her that Sprocket lacks, and Sprocket has emotions that one wouldn't expect from your average robot. The resulting melange of viewpoints gives Callen a wide variety of approaches in any given story.
Though Halo and Sprocket focuses on an unusual set of roommates, it is also very much a "slice of life" type book. It's full of observational humor and philosophical discussions, although it is much more light and fun than deeply ponderous. The alien perspectives of Halo and Sprocket, reacting to normal situations like the eternal question of whether a glass if half-full or half-empty, a discussion about names or a late-night trip to the Museum of Natural History makes these situations quite funny. Callen mixes up the stories, from multi-page to single-page affairs, and the jokes never feel recycled or familiar. There's a definite sense in reading Halo and Sprocket that Callen will never run out of funny stories for these characters.
Halo and 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. I also quite enjoyed some of the "special effects" used to indicate Halo's abilities, such as the announcement of her voice or her teleportation or presence abilities. Though Halo and 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.
Perhaps most importantly, and demonstrated in every story, Callen has absolutely dead-perfect comedy timing. The punchlines of all three stories are worth a laugh out loud, and Callen seems to have no end of little trivial life moments that Halo and Sprocket can misunderstand to humorous effect. It doesn't stop with the lead characters, either. I am not what you call a cat lover, as anyone who knows me will tell you. However, Callen captures such a universal vibe in his "Are Cats Highly Intelligent (But Aloof) or Just Plain Stupid?" that I couldn't help but laugh and enjoy the feature. I got a similar kick out of the "Spontaneous Human Combustion Explained" on the back page or the rough comic strips that were the genesis of Halo and Sprocket.
Which brings up the important point of whether or not it's worth buying this trade if you have already bought the single issues. In a word, yes. The book isn't packed with extras, but it's a terrific package. Callen has thrown a few new short stories into the mix, all of them good ("All's Well" is actually a new favorite) and all marked as "New!" in the back, a nice feature for those who just want to skim the new stuff. He also has short comments on each story which provide interesting insights into the reasoning behind the story without over-analyzing or ruining the piece itself. And early work such as "Hope and Gears" (the original strip version of the book) or character sketches are charming and fun as well. The book also collects the various pin-ups from other creators, including Jim Mahfood, Kelly Seda, Andi Watson and Steve Lightle. This trade should be on the short list for any comics fan who likes to laugh.
