Read for yourself. Here are the first five pages of FALLEN ANGEL #3. Yes, it’s “For Mature Readers”, which means that you probably shouldn’t be reading if you are upset by drawings of pretty females in schoolgirl uniforms, women with bindings on their feet, or possibly inappropriate touching of a young schoolgirl’s knee…
(What? Me using lurid and overwrought descriptions to tittilate and get more people to read Peter’s book than otherwise might? Perish the thought!)
• 
eeeeh? That’s it? Well…
Here is the thing, though, and I hope you (Peter) take this in the appropriate way.
WTF is going on in this series? There has been NO character development. The stories, while okay, are FAR from you best, or even average, work. In fact, so far, they have been pretty lame.
I don’t care about any of the characters at all. Been two issues so far, and after the second issue, I asked myself “Who cares?” as I set it down. The only reason I picked up this series was on the strength of your name, Peter. But honestly, there are other books that may replace this one unless you actually start to tell a story. So far, it reads really… how to say this… see, there IS no story so far. Are we suppose to care about any of these people? I don’t see much redeeming qualities about any of them so far.
So, no storyline, no defined characters, why am I buying this book? Why should I continue???
Tim
-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-
Tim Robertson
Publisher, MyMac.com
I for one like the mystery. Don’t tell me everything and let me use my brain. Let me make wild assumptions and then slowly tick them off my list. As long as Peter stays consistent and plays fair with the world, I’m having fun.
Right now just figuring out Angel’s motives are a treat. The dark world and loathsome characters are a nice change of pace from the simpler almost childish characters I read in other “mature” comics.
And, from the opposing corner…
I like the Fallen Angel. Outside of any larger context, the stories themselves are fun, with plenty of clever twists. I personally don’t mind not having every single thing about a character spelled out for me right up front. I enjoy the mystery.
It looks like issue 3 will answer the only really nagging question I had thus far– what does Lee do by day, and what is Bete Noir like when the sun’s shining?– so I’ve got no complaints.
The art was good to begin with, too, and is getting better by the issue.
I think the issue #3 looks VERY good. I like the opening with Lee on the floor and then how it goes back to show you what happened (always liked that kind of story!).
So far I like Lee. She’s real mysterious. Good to see though, that we will see her day job in #3.
The stories have been good so far. Not as great as say Captain Marvel, but I’m betting the series will get better and better.
And now that you can do pretty much do anything you want, well, it should really great.
Glad your not going to over use the cuss words though. I think that really messes up a book. Reading F this or that every couple of lines really turns me off. Its the man reason I can’t read most of Stephen King’s books.
Anyway, the preview for #3 looks really good PAD. Thanks for posting it!
DF2506
Count me as a dissenting opinion. The first two issues of Fallen Angel definitely made me extremely interested in finding out exactly what’s going on here.
FA is a far departure from most of PAD’s comic work, and I am surprised to realize that is in no way a bad thing. You’re right, we know next to nothing about Lee, but that is not a turn off to me…it just makes me more anxious to learn more. The first two issues really went a long way towards developing the strange characters and relationships that make up Bete Noir, and I hope we don’t get all answers too quickly 😉
That’s mature audiences? May I ask why? It might seem odd, but that content would maybe need a PG or PG-13 at max, but never a mature audiences one. At least not in my country. Lucky for me I’m not a US American but rather from Old-Europe. 😉
Ah, yes. It all hinges upon a single word: “abortion.” Hot-button. Bad Thing. Angry parents. Immorality. Protests. Boycotts. Bloody dolls on sticks. Screaming people. Pictures of fetuses. Yadda yadda yadda. Hence “mature audiences only.” All because of one word.
This country is nuts.
I wouldn’t jump to conclusions. DC is probably just choosing to err on the side of caution, rather than reacting to any particular content in the book. (Which was solicited without the “Mature Readers” label, BTW.) After all, DC doesn’t have an equivalent to a PG-13 label at the moment, so it’s safer to make it MRO than leave it unmarked. (And since PAD was writing it under the assumption it wouldn’t be MRO.)
Speaking of that, does anyone know if there’s a guide somewhere to Marvel’s new codes? I confess I can’t quite guess what “PSR+” means.
Well, that’s interesting. Start with the hero in a bad spot, then going back to find out how it got to that situation. I enjoy reading those kind of stories. Becky is an interesting character, and her situation has me anxious to get the issue to find out what happens next.
There is a nitpick: the virgin story to cover a pregnancy was two millenia ago (or about 2003 years, more or less)
And to Tim: it’s a matter of taste. There’s nothing wrong with not liking everything a writer, artist, performer, what have you produces. I’ve been a PAD fan since he asked for letters of comment for Hulk 331 (mine was even printed in 335) and I don’t collect/read everything he writes. It’s nothing against Peter (or anyone else) Harlan Ellison once wrote about a fan who enjoyed his stories but didn’t get one of them and called him. His response was basically “you didn’t get it, you got all the others, let it go”. If it isn’t clicking with you, it doesn’t work, you don’t need justification. If you want to drop it and move on, sorry about that, nice having you here, maybe catch you another time and place.
Tony
Looks neat, dude. Rock on.
Tim, do you want everything spelled out for you in the very first issue? What’s wrong with letting things develop as the series progresses? Try giving things a little time, rather than expecting to know everything about the series right away.
Cedara and a fan, don’t forget, that’s only a couple pages. There could be much more about the book that we haven’t seen, that warrent the “Mature Readers” label.
PAD, personally, I’m intrigued by it. Looking forward to reading it.
PAD, what are you worried about? Firstly, you don’t really expect your average 10-year-old to pick up Fallen Angel, do you? I thought all your stories were written for mature readers.
Secondly, I can’t think of anything more likely to grab a 13-year-old reader than the legend ‘for mature readers.’ It’s like those appalling ‘public service’ ads which appear in DC comics. You know the ones -‘Tobacco is Whacko (if you’re a teen)’ put out by the Lorillard Tobacco company. If that isn’t saying – in an obscenely cynical way – ‘hey kids, smoking’s a really grown-up thing to do’, my name’s Beryl Smegma.
I think the first two Fallen Angel issues were great. Not a lot of character development so far, but Peter did a great job of setting up Bette Noir as a dangerous and mysterious place, and introducing some of the players.
The preview for #3 indicates that Peter will be revealing more about “Lee” as the series goes on, so I wouldn’t worry too much about that.
And I love the blond hair coming through red. Another piece of evidence suggesting that Lee may be Linda/Supergirl.
Gary Bainbridge: If that isn’t saying – in an obscenely cynical way – ‘hey kids, smoking’s a really grown-up thing to do’, my name’s Beryl Smegma.
On a related note, scientists agree that “Beryl Smegma” would make a great name for a rock band.
I like the pages, PAD. FA has been a nice, subtle ride and promises, thus far, to continue to be.
I’ve only one comment, and it really kind of stretches along more of your work than just FA — at least as far back as YJ #1, really.
I’ve noticed something about the characters you create (Lee, Donald and Anita Fite, and so on) or re-create (Aquaman, Arrowette), and that is that they all have similar literary voices. It reminds me of Robert Heinlein (you’re free to take that as a compliment), in that, specific personality traits* aside, all the characters he wrote think in the same manner; male and female, conservative and liberal, what have you — everyone has this sort of heightened self-awareness of themselves as fictional characters, as though they could at any given time ask the reader what he or she thinks they should do or tell the writer they’d consider it a personal favor if they just happened to find the exact thing they need. A less-pronounced version of She-Hulk’s self-awareness, if you will. That’s the sort of vibe I get even from your one-shot characters, like Harm and Dante, a hint of smugness beneath everything they say and do. (Yes, I know Harm showed up again, but I had this feeling that you weren’t sure whether you intended to when you wrote his death.)
Of course, I’ve always found that you are wonderful at not doing that with pre-established characters — their voices are always flawlessly theirs, no matter what those rabid Lobo fans tell you. This smugness seems perfect for Lee, and actually for the entire cast — it’s not hard to believe that people from such a freaky town think they know everything — but I’ve heard the voice before, and I don’t think it’s Anita Fite’s, Buzz’s, or Arthur Curry’s personality that control what they do or say. I think it’s yours. Keep it up.
*Such as the fierce dislike Colin Campbell had for Lazarus Long, or Alex Hergensheimer’s fundamentalist philosophy.
” … do you want everything spelled out for you in the very first issue? What’s wrong with letting things develop as the series progresses?”
For me, that depends on the context. I’m hoping Lee turns out NOT to be Supergirl. For the same reason why I disliked SIRENS OF TITAN by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
In this novel he starts off with a character then, without warning, skips ahead an ill-defined amount of time and resumes with an unrecognizable, semi-sentient … something … which we [much] later find out is that same character for obscure reasons which take longer to be made remotely clear.
I hated it. Much as I dropped the Legion of Super Gods, er, Heroes comic when they jumped an undetermined number of years into the future of the storyline (after the MAGIC/TECH war)and had everything turned upside down for no immediately discernible reason, and certainly nothing which made any sense given the end of the previous storyline. The awful art (which made it even more difficult to recognize the characters) didn’t help, either.
‘Q’ would not be entirely correct in complaining that I am too linear. I didn’t mind Q SQUARED and THAT was all over the map. Or DINOSAUR BEACH. But at least none of these featured massively drastic and unexplained changes in the main character(s).
Good writers (in which category the David person has amply shown he qualifies) don’t need to resume a story, previously left at “d” by jumping ahead to “n” then going to “r” before jumping back briefly to “k” and from thence to “g”, then “t” and so forth. It’s needlessly confusing and often annoying especially if it involves a hitherto sympathetic character who’s apparently been rewritten for no good reason. Best show a gradual development from before to after. If nothing else, it makes it easier to understand the why of the change and thus maybe keep caring for that character.
This latter being a big part of the reason why I enjoy most books, and why I’m still withholding judgement on FALLEN ANGEL because much of the established background really leaves me cold. Lee sleeping with someone she KNOWS is trying to kill her? And he knows she knows? Sorry, that makes it awfully hard for me to feel terribly sad when I see her lying at the bottom of that elevator shaft. She obviously likes to play with fire and such people generally tend to come to bad ends.
Sure, perhaps we’ll find a very interesting and plausible [I’m reaching here, but given the author’s cleverness it isn’t totally impossible] reason behind it all. But, since this hasn’t been established effectively right off, I’m shrugging and have to go on the evidence as presented.
Sadly, we live in a time where the sitcom is becoming the ideal of entertainment. If the entire story isn’t crammed into 30 minutes, or 30 pages of a comic book, people rush to declare it a waste of money and time.
That annoys me, really, because I stopped watching sitcoms and quit reading certain comic books because I believe the opposite: If a compelling story has been forcibly crammed into 30 minutes or 30 pages, it inevitably becomes unsatisfying and bland. Don’t get me wrong, there are some really good one-issue stories out there, but they’re rare.
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine used to be one of my favorite shows in its prime, because each one-hour episode threaded into the next, but not so much so you would get lost. You could pick it up in the middle and figure out the rest as you went along. Sadly, a show like that would never be produced today, because the networks don’t have any confidence in viewers’ attention spans. That’s why I watch lots of movies and anime these days, complex stories seems to be an endangered species these days on American network TV.
And just as sad, it seems that comics are starting to go the same way. Very vocal readers who, for some reason, want each issue to be a 30-page standalone story, are threatening to vote with their wallets, and struggling comic companies are gradually starting to listen to them. That’s why my comic purchases have shrunk over the last few years down to just a handful every month. The rest I spend on manga from Amazon.com.
So I have to ask now: Am I really that unusual in wanting complex stories that last more than one or two issues? Am I really part of such a small minority? Or is this trend just what’s “cool” in comics right now?
I agree with you, Jason. I like complex stories. I like storylines. I like ongoing subplots. I like reading or watching something and knowing that the story and characters are going to evolve and grow. I like learning more about people over time, and seeing them adapt to an ongoing situation, crisis, or what have you. Hey, that’s how life works. It’s realism (or as close as fantasy-based fiction can get). And yeah, I like that many comic creators are taking their time telling a story. I hope we’ve seen the end of four-page origins, followed by a rushed adventure and a happy ending. I can’t connect with those kinds of stories anymore. I want something deeper, something more complex and realistic and mature. Pacing is very, very important, and I like how Peter Angel is handling this in Fallen Angel.
Can’t wait for the next issue, Peter!
“So I have to ask now: Am I really that unusual in wanting complex stories that last more than one or two issues?”
Outstanding shows such as BABYLON 5 and MURDER ONE (first season) were outstanding precisely because just about no one else was doing that sort of thing and you’re sadly right. It isn’t likely going to happen again any time soon.
Look at the newspaper ‘funnies’. When I was growing up, my favourite daily strip was PILOTE TEMPETE (French translation of the Dutch strip PILOOT STORM) where each adventure could last for months, instead of the few (very) weeks of nowadays. Again because the powers-that-be feel their audience has no attention span.
They may be right. Consider how comparatively few people can be bothered to take the time to sit down and read a book nowadays?
Are standalone issues really a trend in comics? At Marvel, at least, the trend seems to be to make storylines 5 or 6 issues so they’ll fit neatly into trade paperbacks. Many of the comics I read are wrapping up long story arcs (Flash, Avengers, JSA, FF, to name a few). (Not that there can’t be two conflicting trends going on simultaneously, I suppose.)
To answer your question directly: I enjoy long storylines and continuing subplots, but I enjoy single-issue stories, too. It really depends on the story and the book, and having the right length for the right story.
BTW, Fallen Angel is beginning a 4-issue arc starting with #3.
“…and I like how Peter Angel is handling this in Fallen Angel.”
There’s something to be said for proofreading. Something with at least a few asteriks in it. *grumble*
My Fallen Angel theory, as recently posted at Newsarama.
Bette Noir is a place in the DC Universe where characters go after they die. Lee really is Supergirl, but she’s in a second life, as is “Dolf” and possibly Thomas.
It isn’t likely to happen again any time soon.
Isn’t “24” a recent example of this sort of show? And “Alias?”
And there’s more to it than just attention span. Continuing stories are harder to jump into the middle of, and it’s challenging to make each installment accessible without boring people who’ve been with it from the beginning. (For an example of continued stories gone berserk to the point of total inaccessibility, look at “X-Men” in the early ’90s.)
I enjoyed the first 2 issues. Especially with the notion that people there hide their true names.
So, in my mind, Linda is Lee and Batman was in issue 2.
I agree with the longsighted ones…draw out the mystery a good 300 issues, Peter!
Shawn
I’ve also wondered about Bete Noir being some sort of purgatory– that would explain why it’s perfect in the daytime, and decidedly less so at night. It’s my understanding that Linda Danvers was in a very dark, very sad place at the end of Supergirl; that she might have taken some sort of drastic measure to end her unhappiness doesn’t seem entirely out of the question.
Or perhaps Bete Noir is some corner of the Dreaming?
Oh, and this is “The Lady’s First Song” by W.B. Yeats:
“I turn round
Like a dumb beast in a show.
Neither know what I am
Nor where I go,
My language beaten
Into one name;
I am in love
And that is my shame.
What hurts the soul
My soul adores,
No better than a beast
Upon all fours.”
Seems unusually apt.
SAINT PETER, ANGEL OF DECEPTION (gotta get your attention somehow)
i feel cheated. all of those rumors circulating about the fallen angel being linda danvers on top of the suggestive “ending” of supergirl #80 in which we hear the villian shouting out all of this verbose exposition about linda’s future powers added to peter’s “don’t ask, don’t tell policy” made me confident that this new series would be a continuation of linda’s journey. i miss the theme of the supergirl series. linda wrestled with personal redemption, trying relationships, mysterious children claiming to be god, reincarnation, earth angels, comedian lesbians hitting on her, comet, blithe, and let’s not forget buzz (one of the most multi-layered characters that i’ve read and actually cared about in a long time. he reminded me of emma from new x-men.). to top all of that off peter was constatnly drawing on the silver age supergirl’s mythos and retelling it with twists and suprises. it worked on so many levels. there are so few titles that deal directly with the one of humankind’s most basic drives: the persuit for god. the root word in religion is actually a term that means “to bind back”. supergirl was about our desire to bind back to our innermost self, our soul. it was told with adventure, humor, suprises, strong characterization, and down right solid visuals that just wasn’t flashy enough for the pin-up fanboys who wouldn’t know a bøøb from their butt cheek anyways. i would never have even picked up supergirl if it wasn’t for peter but it turned out that i fell in love with this series. the superman mythology was always really boring to me. i just didn’t find this christ-like character with his ensemble of corny supporting characters with 50 years of recycled history enticing enough to ever buy into it. a second rate lame-o supergirl (outdated name and costume) was the last title i expected to get sucked into. then you flipped the switch and all hëll (and heaven) broke loose. in my opinion it’s your best comic work to date. better than the hulk run, better than aquaman, x-factor, sachs & violence…whenever i’m asked what the supergirl series is about i’m always at a loss for words. i just say, it’s about earth angels and redemption and it’s really confusing and you just have to read it to know how amazing it is. (just like back in the day with another favorite series of mine, the maxx by sam keith. or sandman by gaimen.) so all this said, i feel cheated. as much as peter tried to wrap everything up by issue 80 it just wasn’t enough for me. those characters were rich and fascinating to live through. just the relationship between linda and buzz was enough for yarns and yarns of stories. by issue two of fallen angel i get the impression we won’t be delving into the same themes or bumping into any of the old guard. i’ll give it a whirl and see if it rubs off on me but like i said, cheated.
Ahhhhh, MURDER ONE. Boy do I love that series, and I wish there were a DVD of Season 1. Fat Chance.
Of course, I’ve always found that you are wonderful at not doing that with pre-established characters — their voices are always flawlessly theirs, no matter what those rabid Lobo fans tell you. This smugness seems perfect for Lee, and actually for the entire cast — it’s not hard to believe that people from such a freaky town think they know everything — but I’ve heard the voice before, and I don’t think it’s Anita Fite’s, Buzz’s, or Arthur Curry’s personality that control what they do or say. I think it’s yours. Keep it up.
I’ve fooled you completely. It’s not my voice at all. It’s Aaron Sorkin’s.
PAD
Better than the Hulk run? Blashphemy I tell you.
Seriously, I didn’t read too much of the Supergirl run. The series basically stretched over most of my too old to read comics phase. Didn’t really dawn on me that PAD was writing it until it got cancelled… But that said, certain stretches of the Hulk run are probably my all-time favorite comics…
Well, I bought issue #1, and was pleasantly surprised that the gory cover was not indicative of the contents. However, I’m sorry, but the story didn’t grab me.
Whoever or whatever this female troublebuster is, and whatever relationship she has with that evil mastermind, she isn’t intriguing. To make an appropriate comparison, Bigby Wolf of “Fables” is an experienced, hardcore detective with an understanding of human nature. (As well he should, being several centuries old.) Aside from some fighting skills and buddy-buddy relationships with the bad guys, she doesn’t have anything that suggests she could resolve a disagreement between third grade girls, let alone between adults in this version of Sin City.
I know Mr. David is trying to develop the story slowly, to draw people in. But the main character (whose name I can’t remember, her being so unmemorable) has to show some capability for the job, or no one will stick with the book to find out.
Peter, is it all right if I DON’T think Lee *is* Linda Danvers? Because I think Linda no matter the bad place she was in SG#80, would be making cracks about the Virgin Birth being a “story”, not when she came so far in both respecting her mother’s faith and her new brother being a God-Boy and all. I also doubt she would have made such a boo-boo. The last big virgin giving birth was TWO millenia ago not ONE.
I’m still not sure if I like Lee or not after 2 issues and while I’m intrigued by the fact she seems morally “gray”, it only works for me if she’s an all new character and not the former SG or Lilith Clay or any of the other guesses that have been made. Right now the city of Bete Noire is more interesting to me than the Fallen Angel herself.
Peter, is it all right if I DON’T think Lee *is* Linda Danvers? Because I think Linda no matter the bad place she was in SG#80, would be making cracks about the Virgin Birth being a “story”, not when she came so far in both respecting her mother’s faith and her new brother being a God-Boy and all. I also doubt she would have made such a boo-boo. The last big virgin giving birth was TWO millenia ago not ONE.
I’m still not sure if I like Lee or not after 2 issues and while I’m intrigued by the fact she seems morally “gray”, it only works for me if she’s an all new character and not the former SG or Lilith Clay or any of the other guesses that have been made. Right now the city of Bete Noire is more interesting to me than the Fallen Angel herself.
I sit corrected. There IS “24”, yes. And, by all accounts it is quite good. Couldn’t say about ALIAS, however. Watched maybe one episode [which I was taping for an overseas friend] and then gave up on it. I sort of remember something about her fiance being grusomely murdered by her employers and she knows about it but she allows them to live? Then again, I watch very little stuff on tv these days.
I’ve fooled you completely. It’s not my voice at all. It’s Aaron Sorkin’s.
Aaron Sorkin, producer of such great television fare as Sports Night? Why, that explains everything!
“Sports Night — It’s the comedy that’s too smart to be funny!”
– First toad-licking kid from that one episode of the Family Guy about toad-licking
(Actually, I love Sports Night, but that description is fairly accurate.)
Is the mystery in Fallen Angel in anyway a parody on the current run of the Hulk? You sometimes write in suble ways, and I’m curious if in an outright fashion you are trying to out do the “what the hëll is going on” storyline that is so popular of late?
Just another vote of support for PAD’s Fallen Angel here. While it’s not his best comic-book writing ever (that honor would go to PAD’s run on X-Factor — Bwahahahahahahahaha!), it’s certainly intriguing, provoking, and not at all dull.
And I’ll admit that I jumped a tad when I saw Lee on page 2 there. Shades of “The Death of Jean DeWolff” there…)
And I love the blond hair coming through red. Another piece of evidence suggesting that Lee may be Linda/Supergirl.
You’re forgetting that Linda is a natural brunette.
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