White Angel #5by Barb Lien-CooperReviews may contain information that could be considered 'spoilers'. Readers should proceed at their own risk. Publisher
Credits Grade: 3 I hate to give less than good reviews to small self-publishing concerns. When I do, I feel like I'm raining on someone's dream. But, I also have an obligation to Tart's readers to be honest, since a critic is, at heart, a bit of a consumer advocate.The facts of the case: Superheroines White Angel and Switchblade (cool name for a sidekick, actually) in real life seem to be a teacher and a student at a small high school (they may be mother and daughter, for all I know — which is a cool idea). As the issue begins, what seems to be a science lab (I think) has been destroyed by a real nutcase named Insanity (I like the name and the fact that most of the main characters are female). Insanity is planning to destroy the sanity of the students and teachers by throwing a special neuro-destroying type bomb. The ideas, as you can see, aren't the worst. Some of them are actually original. The idea of a teacher and student being superheroes, for instance, is pretty nifty. Austin Guerin just needs some time, experience, and practice to bring these types of ideas to life. With enough of each of these under the writer/illustrator's belt, Austin Guerin may amount to a good comic book creator. But, for now, Guerin's talent is all promise, no delivery. As such, I can't give White Angel a good review. The writing and art of White Angel are just enough below par to bar my recommending it to Tart's audience. What's more, the plot and dialog are strictly "superhero comic book", in a bad way. I beg wanna-be comic book writers to stop just reading comics and start experiencing other art forms (not just action movies that ape comics and Kevin Smith films, either). Without a deeper experience of all types of art, comic book writing tends to get in-bred and cliched. Written: May 9, 2002
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