Strange GirlImage Comics. |
1 Girl Afraid (1-4; w Rick Remember; a Eric Nguyen). [From Image Comics: Ten years after the Rapture beautiful occultist Bethany Black and her pet runt demon, Bloato, embark on a road trip to the last open gateway to Heaven, in hopes of befriending God and escaping Hell on Earth. A bare-knuckle, action-driven series, peppered with social commentary and dark humor, STRANGE GIRL mixes the aesthetic elements of Preacher, Tank Girl and Doctor Strange with the desperate pace of The Road Warrior.] Book of the Week 12/29/05: This is a very strange book, no pun intended. The premise is simple: The Rapture has seemingly happened (I've read enough comics to be suspicious that things are exactly what they seen), and those who are left behind are subject to the arbitrary and capricious rule of demons. But this is no Left Behind—our heroine is a young woman who was abandoned by the Rapture at a young enough age that one wonders what Godly justice could possibly be at work here, and has grown up as somewhat of a rebel, refusing to kowtow to the demonic forces and remaining outside their control with the help of magical powers and a good demon sidekick (welll, as good as a demon can be—think Starlin's Pip the Troll). Her adventures are wild and bizarre, as is the art (which takes some getting used to), and while the point of the series hasn't yet become apparent, I am certainly enjoying the ride so far. |
2 Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now (5-9; w Rick Remender; a Eric Nguyen, Harper Jaton, Jerome Opena). [From Image Comics: There is a point in every journey where there seems to be no light - no hope. After returning to the human stronghold, Dead Western, Bethany Black learns there is little hope that she'll ever find a respite from hell on Earth.] |
3 Paint a Vulgar Picture (10-15; w Rick Remender; a Nick Stakal, Micah Farritor). [From Image Comics: Six months after the shocking events of the first story Bethany and crew find themselves in New York City on a search for safe passage to Europe and the last gateway to Heaven. As the war between Heaven and Hell makes it way to Earth Beth is forced down into the pits of hell where she faces her greatest enemy-herself.] |
4 Golden Lights (16-18; w Rick Remender; a Peter Bergting). [From Image Comics: With the fate of all existence on the line, Bethany must look deep into her heart and choose between her ideology and eternal reward. Everyone gets his or her heart's desire? and everyone dies. RICK REMENDER's critically applauded series comes to its heart-wrenching conclusion illustrated masterfully by Swedish artist Peter Bergting.] |