It is said we stand on the shoulders of those came before us, and in so far as belief systems persist, physical reminders of their presence persist, culture, arts and political discourse are informed by their antecedents, that’s true.
But what happens when all you have is fragments? A pottery shard here? A hidden, half-lost wall-painting?
Or in the case of Angelic, a breathtakingly original take on a future without humanity but full of our handiwork, in ruins and otherwise, by Eisner nominee SIMON SPURRIER (The Spire, CRY HAVOC, X-Men Legacy) and rising-star CASPAR WIJNGAARD (LIMBO, Dark Souls, Assassin’s Creed), species upon species of advanced, tech-augmented animals?
Think religiously-obsessed flying monkeys (and yes, there is, rather pleasingly, a Wizard of Oz reference tucked in there), rocket-propelled dolphins with a killer bent, quantum-powered cats who just want to be friends, and manatees in gravity-defying pods and Why Fy.
All these animals, and the whales and other animals that abound, all with humanity’s lost technology turning them into something Mother Nature never envisaged, in a world full of ruined, decaying cities, shards of memory and a remnant AI system – known in the pigeon tongue of the day as AY, another example of the slivers of memory and understanding treated as fulsome fact – and only a partial appreciation of why they are there at all.
In such a vacuum, like the people before them who fled an AI uprising by taking to the stars, or so the legend, repeated as religious invocations, goes, the little is sown into a lot, what is known added to by core belief and supposition until what is left is a dogma, rock hard orthodoxy (known as “lore”) that cannot be challenged and suffocates any attempts to get to the truth of the matter.
Such is the case for Qora, one of the monkey monks, the keepers of a sacred religion which venerates the “Mans” with a fervency and ferocious purity of belief that aggressively stymies any attempt to ask “why?”, a perfectly reasonable question for any inquisitive soul, but one usually met with virulent opposition.
The world of Qora’s tribe, ruled by the autocratic Alfer, is one of unthinking obedience, punitive instruction and adherence without question to rituals such as the removal of females’ wings when they come of age, and a patriarchal system of rule that relegates the females to child-rearing and the kitchen and the males to fighting and protection.
Try as she might to adhere to these long-held, centuries in fact, beliefs, Qora constantly finds herself butting heads against orthodoxy, dogma and the iron fist rule of Alfer until one day when she breaks free, encouraged by the beatific manatees who track her down, sensing either a kindred spirit or an idealist who can be manipulated, to go on a quest with one of their own in search of a missing piece of their “God”, AY.
Adherents of science, and with a murky agenda of their own – you soon realise that Qora is one of the few creatures left with any kind of mind of her own or purity of soul – the manatees are persuasive, sweetly but determinedly so, convincing Qora to venture into the “tox”, ignoring her “lore” which forbids it (that, and many other things such as flying too high) in search of the missing of AY, with only her religious texts, which the manatees believe contains enough fact to be useful in her quest, to guide her.
From literally the first page, Angelic comes alive with some of the most immediate and arresting worldbuilding I’ve seen in any medium.
You can get a dramatic understanding of the world in which Qora lives, a world with shadows and ghosts of humanity haunting the landscape, in which the whispers of what was have become the shouted declarative statements of current dogma.
On pages two and three of the first issue, we are treated to a gorgeous double-page spread in which Spurrier’s story comes alive with crackling dialogue, a sense of how the world looks and behaves, as the weaponised dolphins, who kill the monkeys for sports, speed with enthusiastic haste to have some sporting fun.
“Speak truly, my fine fellows: Are you not perky? Do you not tremble for the chase?
“Why — I seethe! I effervesce! I must have sport!”
“Indeed, I too have prayed for prey! But — good sirs! — Look there! My eyes behold satisfaction!”
Every single word is deliciously, beguilingly poetic, conveying as much religious fervour as delirious enthusiasm, every scintillating, immersive word overlaid on a lavishly illustrated ruined cityscape, courtesy of WijNgaard (letters and design by Jim Campbell and Emma Price respectively).
The quality of both narrative, dialogue and art does not waver through the first two issues available, with every group of animals, and the world they inhabit coming luxuriously alive with eye-popping fervour.
For a world so removed from our own, and able to only guess at what we were like, it bears some uncanny, exquisitely well-realised corollaries with the present day.
For one thing, each group is almost intrinsically diametrically opposed to the other, inherently suspicious of their motives, their dogma, their lifestyle, with no one willing to seriously entertain that the others may have a valid point of view.
It explains why Qora, who is questioning her beliefs but still very much wants to remain a part of the monkey monks, is immediately suspicious of the manatees, their reasons for calling on her, their mission and even their belief system which they don’t hesitate to proselytise, meeting almost word they say with “blasphemy”.
It’s hardly an aggressive response from Qora, belying the fact that she is wavering in her beliefs, purely because she is never allowed to question them, but it does show how divided this world is and how Qora’s acquiesce to venture into the “Tox” is such a big deal.
Everything about Angelic is deeply, brilliantly impressive, with everything from the narrative to the artwork, dialogue to deep philosophising to worldbuilding absolutely, stunningly top rate, demonstarating again and again that this is one series worth staying with for the duration, no matter what you might believe.
Watch it all come to life with this beautiful introductory video …