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Review: “Clockwork Angels” #2

Published

10 years ago

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Owen Hardy continues his journey and exploration of Crown City on a mission to see the titular “Clockwork Angels” in the second installment of Rush’s Neil Peart’s comic book based on his album and subsequent novel of the same name. As Owen comes up against obstacle after obstacle to view the Angels that he has given up everything to do, we learn more about the City, the Watchmaker, and the Anarchist. Unfortunately, this steampunk dystopian comic can present buckets of information all day in the most elaborate and beautiful illustrations with well-crafted dialogue, and yet it’s still not enough to make me want to read more.
clockworkangels_02_covera
WRITTEN BY: Kevin J. Anderson and Neil Peart
ART BY: Nick Robles
PUBLISHER: BOOM! Studios
PRICE: $3.99
RELEASE: April 30, 2014

When our protagonist, Owen, finally makes it to the Clockwork Angels, he is unable to enter and view them without a ticket. And no one seems to want to tell him how or where to get a ticket. Distraught, Owen finds himself at a carnival where he receives mysterious fortunes and meets a real life angel, a tightrope walker by the name of Francesca, with whom he promptly becomes smitten.

Meanwhile, something is amiss. The Anarchist, in his quest for freedom, flexibility, and spontaneity (something apparently not allowed in a town run by a Watchmaker so obsessed with time and clocks) sneaks around at night and uses the skills he learned as the Watchmaker’s protégé to mess with all the clocks and challenge the very fiber of Crown City.

As Owen slips in and out of situations around Crown City, he finds himself helping the Watchmaker’s workers during which he finds out that the Watchmaker has planned the entire universe to perfection. The functionality of the planets, moons, stars, it’s all planned according to the Watchmaker, and apparently, not even the Anarchist can disrupt that. Though I sense that will change.

In a case of mistaken identity, Owen is chased out of Crown City, believed to be the Anarchist. Having no money and nowhere to go, we see him head toward the carnival where he first met Francesca and the other misfits. End scene…wait for issue three.

As I said in my review for issue #1, there is nothing wrong with “Clockwork Angels” but there is nothing really right with it either. Nothing happens that makes the reader ponder about life, seize with fear, giggle with excitement, or grasp at the edge of their seat in anticipation. It just…is. It’s a decent story with some beautiful art that doesn’t bring a whole lot to the table. In fact, by the end of issue #2, I had way more questions than answers, and not in a good way.

I wish good things for this comic, I want it to grab ahold of the genres it is toying with and play to their strengths. I want it to make me think. I want it to give me chills. And maybe it will in the future. But for now, I’ll have to be content with its simplistic and dry storyline.

Review by – Bree Ogden

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‘The Toxic Avenger’ Returns with Cover Artwork for First Issue of New Comic Book Series [Exclusive]

Published

2 days ago

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May 13, 2024

By

With a remake on the way and a new 4K restoration of the original classic now streaming, it’s a good time to be a fan of Troma’s The Toxic Avenger. Additionally, Matt Bors — the founder of The Nib and a political cartoonist who has twice been named a Pulitzer Prize finalist —and acclaimed artist Fred Harper (Snelson) are collaborating on an all-new 5-issue comic book series starring the satirical superhero of the Troma Films cult classic films!

TOXIC AVENGER #1 will land in stores on October 9, 2024.

While you wait, you can exclusively check out the issue #1 cover art from Fred Harper below, along with a set of emojis designed by Harper for the extremely online teens of Tromaville.

“The Toxic Avenger delivers what Troma fans want,” said AHOY Comics Editor-in-Chief Tom Peyer. “The series has violent action, gross mutations, bursting pustules, eye-popping visuals, and trenchant humor.” 

“If there was ever a superhuman hero for these toxic, miserable times, Toxie is the one!” said Lloyd Kaufman. “Only AHOY Comics and Bors & Harper could pull this off…er…mop this up! Toxie and the Troma Team can’t wait ‘til you read -no, experience – the art and stories that the Toxic Avenger Comic Book will explode in your brain, your soul, and your heart. Above all, remember – Toxie loves you and so do I.”

“This series will combine elements of the original films with the Toxic Crusaders cartoon and characters in familiar ways, updated to tell a story of environmental devastation, corporate control, and social media mutation,” said Bors. “The Toxic Avenger is first and foremost an environmental satire, one about a small town and its unremarkable people trapped and transformed by circumstances they don’t control. The story Fred Harper and I are telling is about people frustrated by authorities telling them not to worry about their life, that things are fine, even as their dog mutates in front of their eyes. And at its core it is about a powerless boy, Melvin, who finds out he can be incredibly strong, hideously mutated, well-admired, and incredibly heroic… but still ultimately powerless over human behavior.”

In The Toxic Avenger, teenager Melvin Junko helps run his parent’s junkyard in Tromaville, a small town in New Jersey where nothing much ever happens — until an ill-timed train derailment of toxic waste transforms Melvin into a hideously deformed creature of superhuman size and strength: the Toxic Avenger!

Under a media blackout imposed by Biohazard Solutions (BS) and their PR-spewing Chairwoman Lindsay Flick, Melvin emerges as a hero fighting against BS and the mutated threats that keep popping up around Tromaville.

Eventually Melvin uncovers a vast conspiracy more far-reaching than he could have ever imagined — but he knows if everyone is simply made aware of the crisis, they’ll act to stop it. Right?

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