Review: Charlie’s Angels #2 (of 5)
By now, you should know the story; three gorgeous women graduated from the Police Academy and promptly got swallowed up into dead-end jobs. They were recognised for their skills and recruited by the mysterious Charlie and the trio became his Angels, taking on all manner of under cover assignments in a means to catch the sort of bad guys that managed to evade the police, the CIA and the FBI.  If in order to succeed in this, they had to use their feminine whiles, then that would help the ratings right?
The show was a product of the 70’s, trying to be pro women’s lib as the girls had more responsibility and success than their male counterparts, whilst playing to their glamour in order to entice a male heavy audience. How, I wonder would they cope in this day and age?
The book, written by John Layman, tries hard to capture the vibe of the both the show and the era, the latter being more successful in last issue, with the disco environment. Still, all the relevant parts of the show are present, from the Angles themselves, to Bosley and the faceless Charlie. The issue also has the sort of madcap action that you would expect, although the sex appeal is visually toned down. Layman’s script does tends to feel like exposition rather than actual story development. The dialogue also kind of feels a little patchy as if trying to hard to meet fans of the series’ expectations. This is a bit of a shame as there is a chance in this mini-series to at least show how competent the women actually are.
The art is provided by Joe Eisma, an artist who I haven’t seen a lot of. His art is an odd mix of shapes used to give the eye the impression of what is on show with curvy lines in place to emphasise frameworks. In fact, there is a cartoony element aspects to the art, the “spy’s” broken leg for an example, which may well not suit other types of the books. Expressions on all concerned are of huge importance in this type of story and the cartoon style really brings these out for the reader to enjoy. The colors are, as you should expect, a washed out velour 70’s style provided by Celeste Woods. As with most books nowadays, you get a choice of covers; Stephane Roux cover A is gorgeous.
This book is a throwback to an almost simpler times, possessing an innocence inherent in the characters that somehow have no concern for how they are portrayed or how they are perceived. Is this any different to how characters are currently portrayed in comics? That’s up for debate. What I will say is that the simplicity of intent makes for a refreshing read.
Writing – 3 Stars
Art – 3.5 Stars
Color – 4 Stars
[yasr_overall_rating size=”large”]
Written by; John Layman
Art by; Joe Eisma
Colors by: Celeste Woods
Covers by; Stephane Roux (A); Joe Eisma (B)
Published by; Dynamite Entertainment
Author Profile
- I am a long time comic book fan, being first introduced to Batman in the mid to late 70's. This led to a appreciation of classic artists like Neal Adams and Jim Aparo. Moving through the decades that followed, I have a working knowledge of a huge raft of characters with a fondness for old school characters like JSA and The Shadow
Currently reading a slew of Bat Books, enjoying a mini Marvel revival, and the host of The Definative Crusade and Outside the Panels whilst also appearing on No-Prize Podcast on the Undercover Capes Podcast Network
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