egelantier's review
3.0
freakangels is a finished (and free) post-apocalyptic webcomic written by warren ellis and drawn by paul duffeld. i remember following it in 2010 or so and wandering away between updates; now it's been finished and i've had a lot of fun reading it to the end. it's pretty self-contained and very nicely paced, there's a cool premise (basically, what if midwich cuckoos grew up?) and an interesting plot and character development to follow up on me, and even a half-decent attempt at diversity.
i won't recommend it wholesale, i think - there's this lol edgy take on characters' sex lifes and lack thereof that i mostly found embarrassing, and there's rape used as narrative device that should've just... not been used as narrative device, and so on. but it still was worth an afternoon read, i think.
i won't recommend it wholesale, i think - there's this lol edgy take on characters' sex lifes and lack thereof that i mostly found embarrassing, and there's rape used as narrative device that should've just... not been used as narrative device, and so on. but it still was worth an afternoon read, i think.
ifitaintkate's review
5.0
I just realized I never tracked like, any of the webcomics I read. This was one of my favs, though I haven't reread it since 2011.
rassfrass's review
5.0
Warren Goddamn Ellis. How does he do it? Science Fiction written really well, while half the writing is just swear words, really.
I like stories that involve dystopian futures and wibbily wobbly timey wimey stuff. Especially if they involve Doctor Who references. So, naturally, Freakangels was a fantastic read - Not least because of these things, but more because the characters evoke so many visceral reactions within you, while the story takes turns that are hard to digest, because the characters do things that are difficult to relate to sometimes, because your moral compass is setting itself on fire from all the spinning. This stuff makes you push the envelope, but in all the right ways, because it pushes you to be more compassionate.
Credit to Paul Duffield as well for not giving two hoots about boundaries when the story needed some larger-than-life feel going on for it, or when we needed to picture something as the foreground without letting the background blur. Not that I can even so much as spell "art" without checking to see if I got it right fifty times, but this is my very personal and naive opinion of what the illustrations made me feel like.
Transmetropolitan was always my favourite comic series. I'm glad that I read Freakangels too, so now I don't have to feel bad about the former being the only Warren Ellis work I've read.
I like stories that involve dystopian futures and wibbily wobbly timey wimey stuff. Especially if they involve Doctor Who references. So, naturally, Freakangels was a fantastic read - Not least because of these things, but more because the characters evoke so many visceral reactions within you, while the story takes turns that are hard to digest, because the characters do things that are difficult to relate to sometimes, because your moral compass is setting itself on fire from all the spinning. This stuff makes you push the envelope, but in all the right ways, because it pushes you to be more compassionate.
Credit to Paul Duffield as well for not giving two hoots about boundaries when the story needed some larger-than-life feel going on for it, or when we needed to picture something as the foreground without letting the background blur. Not that I can even so much as spell "art" without checking to see if I got it right fifty times, but this is my very personal and naive opinion of what the illustrations made me feel like.
Transmetropolitan was always my favourite comic series. I'm glad that I read Freakangels too, so now I don't have to feel bad about the former being the only Warren Ellis work I've read.
lornlarn's review
adventurous
dark
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
I started reading FA back when it was still an ongoing webseries at around age 13. I was obsessed, even if I didn't get every other nasty quip. Reread it last year, it’s still fucking amazing. The art / location design is spectacular, the characters complement each other in a way that reinforces their backstory as entirely believable. It’s just not possible to put down once you get going. The only issue I ever had with it is that Karl and Kirk don’t get the moment I think they should have had, as their dynamic felt the most genuine to me.
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