REVIEW: Angel City #1

Angel City is a story centered around old school Hollywood, though the book comes in color, yay! It begins when a young women is found dead in a pile of trash, and goes through the backstory of she and her friend, Dolores, as they make their way to Los Angeles to become big name stars.

Though it“s a simple enough concept, it doesn“t have that old 60“s and 50“s feel, and it might have something to do with the way it“s illustrated. Make no mistake, the illustrations by Megan Levens are great, and so are Nick Filardi“s colors. But they“re very modern and almost childlike, and don“t give off the grittiness of the story. It overall has just too much polish, and I really think if the artwork was approached at a different angle, it would bring a whole other feel to the story.

When there is a somewhat basic narrative like the one Janet Harvey has presented here, I think you need to put a little something extra on it. Is the story captivating? No. Is it bad? No. It“s merely okay, and you can decide for yourself if that is a positive or negative thing. To me, I want a story to make me feel something. I want to love it, hate it, at least be intrigued. Stories that don“t do that are the ones that need vast improvement.

One thing I did like about Angel City is the blatant sexism from the male characters towards the women. It did give a little bit more shape to the women, though I wish the ending would have really jumped on this theme, instead of just eluding to it. Perhaps in the next issue we get to see some of that passion? It seems like this is a story that“s going to be about a woman going rogue, but certainly does give off “femme fatale”“ by any means. If you“re going to do a story like that, DO IT. Really get in there and get your paws dirty.

Overall, this whole thing was kind of bleh, and it“s not something I would desire to read again. It could have really showcased some kick ass girl power, but here“s hoping that Angel City #1 is just getting a bit of a late start, and can live up to its potential in issue #2.

Story: 2 Stars
Artwork: 4 Stars
Cover: 3 Stars

[yasr_overall_rating size=”large”]