Writers: Jim Rugg and Brian Maruca
Artist: Jim Rugg
Publisher: Slave Labor Graphics
Story: In Wilkesborough, Jesse Sanchez rides the streets as the homeless, skateboarding Street Angel! Fighting against poverty, hunger, ninjas, nepotism and crazy mad villainous schemes!
Comments: After making my way though this collection, there's
just one thing that I have to say…
Wow. Rugg & Maruca have produced one damn fine comic book. Just the entire concept behind Street Angel and its execution makes it a book that should top your "to read" list.
Each of the five issues collected provides its own, self contained story. The plots for each story, while relatively simple, bring in a multitude of wild, whacky and well thought-out ideas into play. From Dr. Pangaea kidnapping the mayor's daughter and trying to re-unite the world, to pirates, spacemen & Incan virgin sacrifices gone wrong, to Jesus helping bash some satanic rituals, a day in the life of Street Angel and a team-up with pimp-extraordinare Afrodisiac, Street Angel knocks you on your ass and keeps the good stories coming!
The pacing, fight scenes and action are all well assembled and flow impeccably throughout the story. The dialogue is real, believable and damn entertaining. Not to mention the amazing extra back-up stories, sketchbook material and guest pin-ups that just drive this book home even further.
Rugg provides an artistic style that captivated me with just a glimpse of the cover. While there are slight hints of inspiration from such indie greats like Clowes, Mahfood, Dorkin and more, Rugg retains a style uniquely his own. Street Angel has a defining look to it, and imbedded itself in my memory. You can see Rugg's understanding of the art form pour out into each page in the collection and the time and detailed put into every scene. I can only hope we see much more of him in the future.
Overall: What else can I really say? Street Angel blew me away, plain and simple. Forget super heroes, forget pretentious indies and forget all of the other muck in the way and get Street Angel. Fifteen bucks for over 200 pages of an amazing comic book is more than a deal in my book. Anybody that's looking for something different, enjoyable, entertaining and original can pick up Street Angel and be pleased.
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