Broken Frontier

Street Angel centers on a young woman named Jesse Sanchez, who is not only the world's greatest homeless skateboarder but also a dangerous martial artist who fights everything from ninjas to pirates. To be honest, that description of the main character tells you everything you need to know about Street Angel. The book is incredibly random, fun, and most of all, Street Angel is a truly hilarious read.

Creators Jim Rugg and Brian Maruca have incredible imaginations which account for much of the humor to be found in this book. Their ideas are often absolutely unbelievable and off-the-wall, accounting for a large portion of the humor simply by the fact that those situations exist. Think about it, how is one going to think of an Incan God sending Pirates to our time via a time warp? Or an Irish astronaut with an Australian accent? These ideas are just plain funny, people!

Some of the humor also derives from Rugg's dialogue. With simple statements usually from Street Angel herself, Rugg drives home the absurdity of the situation he has placed his characters in, making for some truly hilarious one-liners. This book, as the fourth issue in particular shows, can go much deeper than humor, but, even in that fourth issue, there is always humor to be found.

Brian Maruca's art should not be overlooked as one of the tools used for the book's humor. He captures every action at just the right moment for comedy and the facial expressions on his characters are pure gold. Further, his character designs are absolutely perfect. Most impressively, his art has steadily improved. Early in the series, it was rather stiff, but as the series has progressed, Maruca's art has come to flow more and more. The most hilarious part of the book often is Maruca's inside cover, which features Street Angel in some battle with a squid. How can you not laugh at a squid dressed as a cowboy?

Broken Frontier has voted Street Angel as the best comedy book of 2004 and that title is richly deserved. Yet, this book barely cracks the top 300 comics every month, so yourself a favor and read this book.

- Eliot Johnson