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Reviewed by Tim Janson It is the year 2504, after an apocalyptic war. Humans, in their quest for science and the secrets of life and death created life in the form of the Beasterians, a genetically superior form of life. God passed judgment on man, a judgment of fire, laying waste to man’s cities. The stronger Beasterians soon became the dominant race on Earth, making slaves out of men, their former masters. In this bleak future, man is slave and prey for the Beasterians as the brutal race takes what they want, when they want. But there are those that still oppose them…they are the War Angels. Whether or not these Archangels are Angels in the biblical sense is yet to be discovered. They appear as humans…they don’t have wings as such. They can be hurt and bleed, but they do have powers beyond the ordinary in their fighting skills. The humans certainly believe them to be Angels in the Christian tradition. As the story opens, a woman known only as “Our Lady” has been abducted by a group of Beasterians led by Tyron. A priest, or perhaps an actual Pope charges three Archangels, Tae, Sir Ross, and the leader Nikki, to rescue The Lady. The trio encounters a Beasterian in a local town trying to take a local girl away where she will be forced to give birth to beast spawn. The Archangels kill the beast but know the scent of its blood will bring more of the creatures. At one point the Archangels debate killing the rest of the townspeople to save them from the horrors of being killed by the Beasterians. No, these are not the nicest people around, even if they are supposed to be the heroes. Tyron leads his small band to the castles of the Overlord Pishlieu, using The Lady as bait to lead the Archangels to the castle. The Archangels have never battled beasts as powerful as Tyron’s and are defeated and left with cryptic messages from Tyron about how they are to gain salvation. War Angels is an enjoyable Manga yet also a bit frustrating. There are many shades of gray to both the heroes and villains in the story and many questions are left unanswered. I guess such is the nature of the start of a new Manga series. We get little if any background on any of the characters. The Lady is certainly important although we don’t know exactly why. I wasn’t really crazy about the name “beasterians.” It sounds a bit campy, like something out of an old DC or Marvel Silver Age comic book. One thing I do know is that the art in War Angels is superb! Jae-Hwan Kim, who also did the excellent Warcraft: The Sunwell Trilogy, provides some of the most vibrant and detailed art I’ve ever seen in a Manga title. Each page is like a piece of fine art and it’s almost a crime that we have to view it in the smaller paperback Manga format. The detail and tones are absolutely stunning. The art will keep me coming back for issue #2 and hopefully the story will catch up to it. Comment on this review of War Angels v1 on the Manga Life Forums. |
6 October 2009
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