ANGELA: ASGARD'S ASSASSIN V.1: A REVIEW
Written by: Keiron Gillen and Marguerite Bennett
Illustrated by: Phil Jimenez, and Stephanie Hans Paperback: 136 pages
Publisher: Marvel
Language: English
August 2015
Genre: Comic/Graphic Novel/Marvel
All her life, Angela -- the finest warrior of Heven -- was raised to hate Asgard with every fiber of her being. And now Angela knows the truth about her identity: She is Thor's sister. She is an Asgardian. Cast out of her home and wanting nothing to do with Asgard, Angela must now strike out on her own! But what does Angela have that both Asgard and Heven want? And why are they so eager to get it? Visionary writers Kieron Gillen and Marguerite Bennett team with the legendary art team of Phil Jimenez and Stephanie Hans to finally throw the spotlight onto the Marvel Universe's most dangerous inhabitant!
COLLECTING: Angela: Asgard's Assassin 1-6
+++++++++++++
‘Nothing for nothing. Everything has a price.’
Many years ago I first picked up an Angela comic largely based on the fact that Neil Gaiman created her along with artist Todd McFarlane. This time I grabbed an Angela comic from the library because Kieron Gillen was writing her story. If you know anything about the Angela character she got her start in Spawn, but after Gaiman won his battle with McFarlane she was sold to Marvel and became part of the Age of Ultron storyline.
Angela was the first born to Odin and Frigga, but stolen away and raised to be an Angel of Heven. Now she has come back to Asgard only to kidnap her newborn sister and now has the whole of Asgard hunting her down. However, we quickly learn that Angela does not do anything without a reason.
Things I liked: The artwork is gorgeous, lots of amazing colors. In some ways it reminds me of a dark fantasy comic more than your traditional superhero fare.
Yay Loki!
Angela is a bit hard to like. She is cold and quiet. She falls a bit flat for me which is a shame. However, I did like her relationships with Gamora and Sera. And oh Sera, how awesome is she? I loved her. Sera, Angela’s best friend and lover is snarky and a bit of a bard. She is a great character, a transgender angel who is brave, strong, and incredibly acerbic at times. In fact, I kind of liked her a bit better. She is Angela’s humanity and really it is through Sera that Angela gets any real character development. We get to know Angela through Sera’s eyes because Angela is giving us nothing. She also heavily balances out Angela. Their relationship kind of reminds me of Xena and Gabrielle a bit.
Still, Angela is a badass warrior sure. I do admit that I loved her going toe to toe with her little brother Thor Odinson.
It was a good introduction to Angela, though obviously plenty of unanswered questions. I am curious to see where she will go and what she will do. While she is far from my favorite Marvel character, I enjoyed reading her.
Things I didn’t like so much: Her outfit is utterly ridiculous, but it was utterly ridiculous when she was hunting down Spawn as well. Bikini armor. Sure she is rocking the look, but it is incredibly impractical. Sure, she gets actual armor later, but first you must roll your eyes at the skimpiness. Or maybe you don’t, who knows. I will say that despite her bikini top, giant belt skirt, and lots of fun ribbons I never really felt like Angela was being over-sexualized. So points on that.
She has a ton of history and stories that I have not read, so sometimes I felt like I had been thrown in the middle. For once I actually wish there was the beginning primer that is sometimes at the beginning of a new story arc or series just in case this is your first taste. Sure, there was a heavy dose of exposition, but I still felt like I was missing a lot.
Buy or Borrow: Borrow. In the end Angela was interesting, but don’t think it would have stayed on my pull list. Still, I will probably check out the next volume.
Part of: Part of a series
Also Recommended: For more Comic goodness please check out; 1602 Witch Hunter Angela (Marguerite Bennett), Red Sonja (Gail Simone), Mas Marvel (G. Willow Wilson), Saga, Lumberjanes, Rat Queens, The Wicked + The Divine, and Captain Marvel (Kelly Sue DeConnick).
2.75 out of 4 happy bibliosnark bookmarks
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