Out this week as we learned the true nature of the Shard. Whad’ja think?
PAD
14 comments on “Fallen Angel #9”
Well…the scene where Lee touched the Shard gave me the chills.
And I really like Asia…that guy cracks me up.
Thanks.
The true nature of the shard is revealed?
I’m still clueless. Yeah, it is from the “real” cross with Jesus’ blood on it – but it’s “true” nature -??????
It makes people confess their deepest shame? Or something else.
Asia was actually sympathetic.
This is PAD’s best work yet.
“It makes people confess their deepest shame? Or something else.”
Something else. By “true nature” I mean what it is and where it comes from. As for fully understanding what it does, that’s in the next issue.
PAD
Something really familiar about that opening scene. Maybe it’s in a movie or something? 🙂
This was certainly the most gripping issue yet, one that I think gives us a good sense of Lee because she’s by herself most of the time. That alone seems to have made it worth the time.
But then we get Asia Minor stealing scenes, and the bizarre flashback to a very young Mariah, and it gets that much more interesting.
One tiny nit to pick, and that I don’t think Jews were wearing Chai necklaces so long ago. But at least it was not a Jewish star, from what I know is an innovation of the Middle Ages.
Good work all around, PAD. I think I am ready to say this book is coming into sharp focus.
Well, if that’s what you mean by the true nature of the Shard, then I guessed that pretty much right after you Mariah mentioned it. Sorry to sound arrogant, but if it makes you feel better I had to be humble over at Bill Willingham’s board because my guesses about what’s going on in Fables are totally off…but in a good way.
We got some very interesting views into Lee’s psyche this issue. The fact that she lost a child and that it tears her up inside is something that we’ve guess before however…I was quite interested in her comments after the log trap failed to smash her. It seems as though Lee equates her physical invulnerability with an emotional invulnerabilty. It’s like she doesn’t let anything touch her in any way. She keeps everything bottled up inside her and doesn’t let the inside & outside worlds have any contact with each other…unless she happens to be holding a piece of the True Cross.
Thus far, this has been my favorite issue of the series. On this go around, for the first time, I felt like we had a real glance at Lee. Maybe because she spends most of the issue talking to herself (and being dámņ funny) and carries the scenes on her own without the supporting cast. Not that I don’t like the supporting cast, but there’s so much attention that requires to be paid to all these folks, that sometimes it seems like Lee gets lost in the shuffle.
This, however, even with the shard backstory (way, way, way backstory), we get a lot of meaty goodness. And yes, you zing us with another “Is she, isn’t she” thing. But dámņ is it good.
Love it, love it, love it. Further proof as to why this is one my “Employee Picks” at the store I work at.
It was mentioned in a James Blish novel that there seemed to be enough pieces of the “True Cross” to build about forty houses with. Someone in the Catholic Church called this “miraculous multiplication,” saying that they were all true pieces – and apparently people bought the cover story.
In the shadow of “The Passion,” this will either be called a ripoff (although this story was probably written a long time before the film was made) or amazing prescience. Either way, it’s interesting to ponder; a woman who insists on being untouchable and indifferent to pain, compared to a man (and to some, a god) who chose to feel pain and spent time with those who suffered.
And again, I have never seen a comic book take on issues like this, and I don’t know if the haughtier comic fans will prize or despise it – but I don’t think I’ve ever read anything quite like it, especially from Mr. David.
Baldrick: Moving on to relics, we’ve got shrouds, from Turin; er, wine from the wedding at Cana; splinters from the cross (his finger gets a sliver from one of the splinters); er, and, of course, there’s stuff made by Jesus in his days in the carpentry shoppe: got pipe racks, coffee tables, coatstands, bookends, crucifixes, a nice cheeseboard, fruit bowls, waterpoof sandals… (picks up a piece of wood that’s partly carved) Oh, I haven’t finished that one yet.
Percy: But this is disgraceful, My Lord! All of these are obviously fake!
Edmund: Hah, yes!
Percy: But, but how will people be able to tell the difference between these and the real relics?
Edmund: Well, they won’t! That’s the point!
Percy: Well, you won’t be able to fool everyone! Look (he takes a red cloth from his sleeve): I have here a true relic.
Edmund: What is it?
Percy: (unwraps the cloth) It is a bone from the finger of Our Lord. It cost me 31 pieces of silver.
Edmund: Good lord. Is it real?
Percy: It is, My Lord. Baldrick, you stand amazed.
Baldrick: I am — I thought they only came in boxes of ten. (he opens a box of finger bones) (??????????)
Percy: What?!
Baldrick: Yeah, yeah — fingers are really big at the moment. Mind you, for a really quick sale, you can’t beat a nose. For instance, the Sacred Appendage Compendium Party Pack: you get Jesus’ nose, St. Peter’s nose, (??) of St. Francis’ nose, and (picks up a pair of false breasts) er, no — they’re Joan of Arc’s.?
I loved Fallen Angel 9. And to respond to an earlier comment, there have been many movies that dealt with some aspect of Jesus on the cross so it is unfair to say that people should view this particular issue of Fallen Angel as a rip off of Mel’s film.
Lee’s was obviously upset to say the least at the end of the comic but I felt that she should have been at least a little grateful to the gentleman for his selfless act.
Anyway keep up the great work.
Regards:
Warren S. Jones III
“there have been many movies that dealt with some aspect of Jesus on the cross so it is unfair to say that people should view this particular issue of Fallen Angel as a rip off of Mel’s film.”
Wait …
Mel Brooks made a Jesus movie? ÐÃMN, I gotta find my way to a theater more often. 🙂
As for the issue — yeep. Definitely enjoyed the look into Lee’s psyche; more, please.
TWL
Sure, it’s unfair to compare this to “The Passion,” but when has “unfair” ever stopped any Peter David haters?
I was surprised that, off the top of his head, he mentioned half-a-dozen people who have come up to him in public and insulted him. I’ve been insulted plenty of times on the Internet, but never by someone in person. When offered the opportunity, the on-line boors turn tail and run. So Mr. D must attract a choice number of cretins for some reason.
To keep this appropriate…for those of you who remember the old Icebox.com Flash-animated show “Mr. Wong,” do you think Asia Minor talks in his voice? I am very glad that Minor is a thoroughgoing coward, but honest about the fact; he could have lied to Lee about seeing to her business if she died, but he didn’t. Maybe in Bete Noir, the second most dangerous thing you can do is brag, since that may invite challenges. (The most dangerous thing is to be in Bete Noir, period.)
I was very impressed by this issue. One good thing is that I was able to follow it without having to re-read the previous issues immediately beforehand.
And I’d echo the comments other people have made, about Lee’s emotional reaction in a couple of places (when she became impervious again, and at the end).
It was also interesting to see her keep hitting the dog after it was dead. That reminds me of something PAD wrote in his “Contradiction” to “The Death of Jean DeWolff” – the idea that you can’t easily turn off the adrenaline in a fight, and someone else has to pull you away from the guy who’s now lying on the floor.
I thought it was a nice touch that Asia’s fake accent slipped at the end when he was under stress (following up on something we’ve seen before).
Looking at a previous comment, I don’t think that the child who picked up the shard was a young Black Mariah. I got the impression that this was just a random Jewish child who happened to be nearby, and who later got mummified.
I’m wondering whether the hellhound was the white dog we saw in the flashback, i.e. whether that was an existing form of protection for the crypt rather than one of Black Mariah’s additions.
As for the hints, I’ve just re-read Supergirl #79-80, and there are certainly a lot of similarities with this issue. Enough that I’m happy to accept Lee as Linda, even if the closest the comic can get is to say “they have a lot in common”, without explicitly confirming or denying anything.
(Disclaimer: these next comments are written on the assumption that the Christian history in the New Testament is true. I recognise that not everyone will share this belief, and I’m not trying to convert anyone, but I think it’s reasonable to suspend disbelief for the purposes of the story.)
Thinking about the effects of the shard, I’m not sure whether it’s significant that Lee never actually touched the blood on it; maybe it was an art error, or maybe after 2000 years the effects have “soaked into” the rest of the wood. (Presumably there’s something special about this part of the cross, as opposed to the rest of it.)
Anyway, my understanding of the biblical story is that when Jesus was on the cross, he took on the sins of the world, and was completely cut off from God. (“Why have you forsaken me?”) I.e. he had to accept responsibility for all the sins fully, with no forgiveness, in order to then get punished for them. So, in Lee’s case, it looks as if she’s being put in a similar situation – she has to face all the negative consequences of her past actions, without any comfort.
One minor nitpick though – when people were crucified, the nails went through the wrists, not through the palms (which makes stigmata claims even more dubious). The reason being that if you got nailed up by your palms, your weight would just rip your hands away (the nail would pass between your fingers) – painful, but not lethal. Whereas there’s an oval gap in the wristbones, so a nail through there will hold you up. See: http://holyface.all-catholic.net/crucifix.html
for more info on that.
On a more positive note, I hadn’t come across the word “INRI” before (carved on the cross), but a web-search turned up some info about it: http://mb-soft.com/believe/txw/wordcros.htm
so that’s been informative for me.
I thought this was an okay issue. I’m interested in what happens to the shard. But the monologue in this issue just seemed kind of bland for me. I guess I missed the action this title usually has. And the hellhound scenes took up too many panels, with the obligatory smashing to death (yawn). Asia Minor is a great character and I’m glad he was in this issue. Hopefully next month’s issue will be better.
Ah! Let’s start with the easy stuff (& thanks for all your great stuff – I happily chortled through the two Knight in NYC novels).
Plotting Point: only 2 traps?
Mariah already had more respect for FA’s abilities than just 2 would suggest. I recognize that it allowed you to write the emotional line for characterization purposes (Lee really is emotionally blind when she’s fully into her Fallen Angel persona; as Lee the coach she acts with true human empathy) and then there’s our general expectation for more mayhem which sets up the visual mummy joke (& yeah there’s only 22 pages). And how does a (changed?) Jewish lad wind up as a kind-of-Egyptian mummy? (‘Cause for plot purposes he’s got to be preserved until he falls apart when the splinter/talisman is removed?)
I see Asia’s upgrading his reading habits from Romance Novels to Ben-Hur. Given his own persona issues, when he gets to Proust he’ll really have blown his cover. Or, having given up on Love with Lee, he’s trying to understand Religious Obsession?
I like the three-level quality of the cover. I’m assuming there’s meaning here, too. Life in the foreground, the nope-that’s-not-really-Lee figure in the middle thrusting/tossing Life at the reader, all foregrounded to the Word (everything begins with the word, especially comics).
So, just what IS the text at the third level? “In the beginning was The Word”? [If this has been answered before, my apologies for not finding it.]
I appreciate the serious-ness of your approach to your themes here. Happy to see that the publisher is also thematically supportive at the present. (I tend to think of the SwampThing-Veitch contretemps as one of The Great Lost Moments in Comics History.)
Heroine as Torturer? Which should make Lee thoroughly repugnant to us all. How can you punish yourself when you are functionally too strong to take punishment from any one? Perhaps by becoming everything you used to hate? How far will you go in pursuit of that pain?
• 
Well…the scene where Lee touched the Shard gave me the chills.
And I really like Asia…that guy cracks me up.
Thanks.
The true nature of the shard is revealed?
I’m still clueless. Yeah, it is from the “real” cross with Jesus’ blood on it – but it’s “true” nature -??????
It makes people confess their deepest shame? Or something else.
Asia was actually sympathetic.
This is PAD’s best work yet.
“It makes people confess their deepest shame? Or something else.”
Something else. By “true nature” I mean what it is and where it comes from. As for fully understanding what it does, that’s in the next issue.
PAD
Something really familiar about that opening scene. Maybe it’s in a movie or something? 🙂
This was certainly the most gripping issue yet, one that I think gives us a good sense of Lee because she’s by herself most of the time. That alone seems to have made it worth the time.
But then we get Asia Minor stealing scenes, and the bizarre flashback to a very young Mariah, and it gets that much more interesting.
One tiny nit to pick, and that I don’t think Jews were wearing Chai necklaces so long ago. But at least it was not a Jewish star, from what I know is an innovation of the Middle Ages.
Good work all around, PAD. I think I am ready to say this book is coming into sharp focus.
Well, if that’s what you mean by the true nature of the Shard, then I guessed that pretty much right after you Mariah mentioned it. Sorry to sound arrogant, but if it makes you feel better I had to be humble over at Bill Willingham’s board because my guesses about what’s going on in Fables are totally off…but in a good way.
We got some very interesting views into Lee’s psyche this issue. The fact that she lost a child and that it tears her up inside is something that we’ve guess before however…I was quite interested in her comments after the log trap failed to smash her. It seems as though Lee equates her physical invulnerability with an emotional invulnerabilty. It’s like she doesn’t let anything touch her in any way. She keeps everything bottled up inside her and doesn’t let the inside & outside worlds have any contact with each other…unless she happens to be holding a piece of the True Cross.
Thus far, this has been my favorite issue of the series. On this go around, for the first time, I felt like we had a real glance at Lee. Maybe because she spends most of the issue talking to herself (and being dámņ funny) and carries the scenes on her own without the supporting cast. Not that I don’t like the supporting cast, but there’s so much attention that requires to be paid to all these folks, that sometimes it seems like Lee gets lost in the shuffle.
This, however, even with the shard backstory (way, way, way backstory), we get a lot of meaty goodness. And yes, you zing us with another “Is she, isn’t she” thing. But dámņ is it good.
Love it, love it, love it. Further proof as to why this is one my “Employee Picks” at the store I work at.
It was mentioned in a James Blish novel that there seemed to be enough pieces of the “True Cross” to build about forty houses with. Someone in the Catholic Church called this “miraculous multiplication,” saying that they were all true pieces – and apparently people bought the cover story.
In the shadow of “The Passion,” this will either be called a ripoff (although this story was probably written a long time before the film was made) or amazing prescience. Either way, it’s interesting to ponder; a woman who insists on being untouchable and indifferent to pain, compared to a man (and to some, a god) who chose to feel pain and spent time with those who suffered.
And again, I have never seen a comic book take on issues like this, and I don’t know if the haughtier comic fans will prize or despise it – but I don’t think I’ve ever read anything quite like it, especially from Mr. David.
Baldrick: Moving on to relics, we’ve got shrouds, from Turin; er, wine from the wedding at Cana; splinters from the cross (his finger gets a sliver from one of the splinters); er, and, of course, there’s stuff made by Jesus in his days in the carpentry shoppe: got pipe racks, coffee tables, coatstands, bookends, crucifixes, a nice cheeseboard, fruit bowls, waterpoof sandals… (picks up a piece of wood that’s partly carved) Oh, I haven’t finished that one yet.
Percy: But this is disgraceful, My Lord! All of these are obviously fake!
Edmund: Hah, yes!
Percy: But, but how will people be able to tell the difference between these and the real relics?
Edmund: Well, they won’t! That’s the point!
Percy: Well, you won’t be able to fool everyone! Look (he takes a red cloth from his sleeve): I have here a true relic.
Edmund: What is it?
Percy: (unwraps the cloth) It is a bone from the finger of Our Lord. It cost me 31 pieces of silver.
Edmund: Good lord. Is it real?
Percy: It is, My Lord. Baldrick, you stand amazed.
Baldrick: I am — I thought they only came in boxes of ten. (he opens a box of finger bones) (??????????)
Percy: What?!
Baldrick: Yeah, yeah — fingers are really big at the moment. Mind you, for a really quick sale, you can’t beat a nose. For instance, the Sacred Appendage Compendium Party Pack: you get Jesus’ nose, St. Peter’s nose, (??) of St. Francis’ nose, and (picks up a pair of false breasts) er, no — they’re Joan of Arc’s.?
I loved Fallen Angel 9. And to respond to an earlier comment, there have been many movies that dealt with some aspect of Jesus on the cross so it is unfair to say that people should view this particular issue of Fallen Angel as a rip off of Mel’s film.
Lee’s was obviously upset to say the least at the end of the comic but I felt that she should have been at least a little grateful to the gentleman for his selfless act.
Anyway keep up the great work.
Regards:
Warren S. Jones III
“there have been many movies that dealt with some aspect of Jesus on the cross so it is unfair to say that people should view this particular issue of Fallen Angel as a rip off of Mel’s film.”
Wait …
Mel Brooks made a Jesus movie? ÐÃMN, I gotta find my way to a theater more often. 🙂
As for the issue — yeep. Definitely enjoyed the look into Lee’s psyche; more, please.
TWL
Sure, it’s unfair to compare this to “The Passion,” but when has “unfair” ever stopped any Peter David haters?
I was surprised that, off the top of his head, he mentioned half-a-dozen people who have come up to him in public and insulted him. I’ve been insulted plenty of times on the Internet, but never by someone in person. When offered the opportunity, the on-line boors turn tail and run. So Mr. D must attract a choice number of cretins for some reason.
To keep this appropriate…for those of you who remember the old Icebox.com Flash-animated show “Mr. Wong,” do you think Asia Minor talks in his voice? I am very glad that Minor is a thoroughgoing coward, but honest about the fact; he could have lied to Lee about seeing to her business if she died, but he didn’t. Maybe in Bete Noir, the second most dangerous thing you can do is brag, since that may invite challenges. (The most dangerous thing is to be in Bete Noir, period.)
I was very impressed by this issue. One good thing is that I was able to follow it without having to re-read the previous issues immediately beforehand.
And I’d echo the comments other people have made, about Lee’s emotional reaction in a couple of places (when she became impervious again, and at the end).
It was also interesting to see her keep hitting the dog after it was dead. That reminds me of something PAD wrote in his “Contradiction” to “The Death of Jean DeWolff” – the idea that you can’t easily turn off the adrenaline in a fight, and someone else has to pull you away from the guy who’s now lying on the floor.
I thought it was a nice touch that Asia’s fake accent slipped at the end when he was under stress (following up on something we’ve seen before).
Looking at a previous comment, I don’t think that the child who picked up the shard was a young Black Mariah. I got the impression that this was just a random Jewish child who happened to be nearby, and who later got mummified.
I’m wondering whether the hellhound was the white dog we saw in the flashback, i.e. whether that was an existing form of protection for the crypt rather than one of Black Mariah’s additions.
As for the hints, I’ve just re-read Supergirl #79-80, and there are certainly a lot of similarities with this issue. Enough that I’m happy to accept Lee as Linda, even if the closest the comic can get is to say “they have a lot in common”, without explicitly confirming or denying anything.
(Disclaimer: these next comments are written on the assumption that the Christian history in the New Testament is true. I recognise that not everyone will share this belief, and I’m not trying to convert anyone, but I think it’s reasonable to suspend disbelief for the purposes of the story.)
Thinking about the effects of the shard, I’m not sure whether it’s significant that Lee never actually touched the blood on it; maybe it was an art error, or maybe after 2000 years the effects have “soaked into” the rest of the wood. (Presumably there’s something special about this part of the cross, as opposed to the rest of it.)
Anyway, my understanding of the biblical story is that when Jesus was on the cross, he took on the sins of the world, and was completely cut off from God. (“Why have you forsaken me?”) I.e. he had to accept responsibility for all the sins fully, with no forgiveness, in order to then get punished for them. So, in Lee’s case, it looks as if she’s being put in a similar situation – she has to face all the negative consequences of her past actions, without any comfort.
One minor nitpick though – when people were crucified, the nails went through the wrists, not through the palms (which makes stigmata claims even more dubious). The reason being that if you got nailed up by your palms, your weight would just rip your hands away (the nail would pass between your fingers) – painful, but not lethal. Whereas there’s an oval gap in the wristbones, so a nail through there will hold you up. See:
http://holyface.all-catholic.net/crucifix.html
for more info on that.
On a more positive note, I hadn’t come across the word “INRI” before (carved on the cross), but a web-search turned up some info about it:
http://mb-soft.com/believe/txw/wordcros.htm
so that’s been informative for me.
I thought this was an okay issue. I’m interested in what happens to the shard. But the monologue in this issue just seemed kind of bland for me. I guess I missed the action this title usually has. And the hellhound scenes took up too many panels, with the obligatory smashing to death (yawn). Asia Minor is a great character and I’m glad he was in this issue. Hopefully next month’s issue will be better.
Ah! Let’s start with the easy stuff (& thanks for all your great stuff – I happily chortled through the two Knight in NYC novels).
Plotting Point: only 2 traps?
Mariah already had more respect for FA’s abilities than just 2 would suggest. I recognize that it allowed you to write the emotional line for characterization purposes (Lee really is emotionally blind when she’s fully into her Fallen Angel persona; as Lee the coach she acts with true human empathy) and then there’s our general expectation for more mayhem which sets up the visual mummy joke (& yeah there’s only 22 pages). And how does a (changed?) Jewish lad wind up as a kind-of-Egyptian mummy? (‘Cause for plot purposes he’s got to be preserved until he falls apart when the splinter/talisman is removed?)
I see Asia’s upgrading his reading habits from Romance Novels to Ben-Hur. Given his own persona issues, when he gets to Proust he’ll really have blown his cover. Or, having given up on Love with Lee, he’s trying to understand Religious Obsession?
I like the three-level quality of the cover. I’m assuming there’s meaning here, too. Life in the foreground, the nope-that’s-not-really-Lee figure in the middle thrusting/tossing Life at the reader, all foregrounded to the Word (everything begins with the word, especially comics).
So, just what IS the text at the third level? “In the beginning was The Word”? [If this has been answered before, my apologies for not finding it.]
I appreciate the serious-ness of your approach to your themes here. Happy to see that the publisher is also thematically supportive at the present. (I tend to think of the SwampThing-Veitch contretemps as one of The Great Lost Moments in Comics History.)
Heroine as Torturer? Which should make Lee thoroughly repugnant to us all. How can you punish yourself when you are functionally too strong to take punishment from any one? Perhaps by becoming everything you used to hate? How far will you go in pursuit of that pain?