Broken Frontier

Angered to the point of desperation due to last issue’s event, the Magistrate of Bete Noire goes looking for the Fallen Angel.

At the end of issue #1 of the new IDW series, Doctor Juris, Magistrate of Bete Noire, attempted to pass on his title to his firstborn son. Or at least the person who he thought was his firstborn son, Jubal. Because the title was unable to be passed along, Juris quickly realized that Lee had lied to him those years ago. That the child she was having at the end of the first series, in fact, had not been a miscarriage. Therefore, he sees no other option but to head to Dolf’s bar, where the Fallen Angel is getting blind drunk, and threaten her with her life. Meanwhile, the son in question makes his way back to Bete Noire, and some more old faces show up and make themselves known.

For someone who has been the defining voice on the Hulk, as well as dabbling in the sandboxes of both major companies, it seems like Peter David has the most fun with his own creation, Fallen Angel, and her stories. He managed to break down all expectations when restarting this series. Taking it further into the future of Bete Noire than anyone could have guessed, he carefully tied in the final arc of the DC book with this one, and at the same time, made it totally accessible to new readers. His dialogue is tight, and retains every ounce of his signature wit. The characters themselves are still everything they should be, which is to say lying, cheating, and backstabbing. Makes for great stories. His pacing is spot on, as he carefully interweaves expositional flashbacks between the real meat of the issue.

However, the artwork of J.K. Woodward, which last issue was hit and miss, is more miss in this one. Aside from the absolutely brilliant cover image, Woodward falters too much inside. Sometimes the artwork can remind of Alex Ross, highlighting an odd sense of realism. But other times the angles are wrong, his facial expressions are overly acted, and he tries too hard to set a mood with his brush. This isn’t to say that it’s hard to follow, because every image is clear, the storytelling technique never confuses and he does match the pacing of the book very well. Given a few more issues working on the book, one thinks that Woodward will find his footing. And it certainly is worth giving the chance (David’s writing is more than enough for an enjoyable read) as the artistic style shows a great amount of potential and could eventually prove a perfect match to the writing.

Fallen Angel was a consistently good read while at DC. Through two issues at IDW there is no reason to believe it won’t be here either.