Angel City is a story of yesteryear in a variety of ways, with its 1940’s slang, muted color palette, and a citizenry that has as many sexist gasbags as it does cigarette peddlers. While it might be set in an era of outdated ideas, the book’s central protagonist is anything but old fashioned.
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Writer Janet Harvey has an obvious love for the noir genre’s eccentricities, but she doesn’t rely on them as a crutch. Rather, she uses them to accentuate what is at its core a classic whodunnit about the death of a young starlet. While the setup is rather straightforward, it gets the job done.
After some initial setup, Harvey delivers a compelling protagonist who eschews many of the stereotypes that female characters in the noir thriller genre tend to embody. Harvey isn’t content though to just flip the gender roles, though. Dolores is a fierce yet conflicted character who’s very strengths are sometimes her biggest flaws. She isn’t the warmest character you’ve ever met, and truthfully she isn’t really a good guy either, but by issues end, she effectively has your attention.
While Harvey hooks the reader with an intriguing lead, Megan Levens and Nick Filardi paint the visuals with a distinctly retro brush. Everything feels authentic, though the book does go for a more cartoon-like style as opposed to something heavily dripped in shadow. It perfectly compliments the narrative, but more than a few times it was difficult to tell characters apart from each other due to their incredibly similar facial features.
Angel City isn’t afraid to embrace the genre on which it’s based, and while it doesn’t necessarily break new ground in this regard, Harvey has crafted a lead character that does. If you have a soft spot for the genre and find hard-edged characters interesting, you’ll find a great deal to like in Angel City.
Rating 3 out of 5 Stars
Written By: Janet Harvey
Art By: Megan Levens
Colors By: Nick Filardi
