Brian Maruca

I love the sense of humor behind this rather violent comic about a crime-fighting, skate-boarding orphan. The stories are short, unrelated and they take every opportunity to poke fun at familiar themes. My favorite line is said by a Spanish conquistador who has traveled forward into Street Angel's time. When she asks what their deal is, one of them says, "We come from your distant past." and the other says

Or possibly from your future...you know...if there was some kind of apocalypse and mankind lost all of its technological prowess, had to start over from scratch and civilization followed roughly the same path a second time around.

The character profiles in between each story, outlining their abilities (such as strength, intelligence and skateboarding skills) were fun, and there's a great cover gallery at the end of the book.… (més)

You are required to love a comic that features a rogue geologist as a villain. Yes.

Street Angel is the story of a homeless 13-year old world-class skateboarder and ninja fighter. She lives in a world of (the aforementioned) ninjas and scientists, but her world is also chock full of Aztec gods, Conquistadores, Irish astronauts, Satanists, and the headaches that come with being homeless. This volume collects the five issues of the series as well as short stories, covers, and a wealth of pinups and sketches. And it is a thing of beauty.

The stories in Street Angel happen free of context and, blessedly, continuity. Each story seems to happen in its own little universe of fun. I suspect that Rugg (artist and co-writer) and Maruca (co-writer) weren't so interested in telling a grand, linear story; they were mostly concerned with figuring out how comics work. They needed to figure out the rules, and then they needed to break them completely.

The collection I own is called "volume one" in the indicia. I pray that there will be a second some day.… (més)