Time to brew something up.
Creative Staff:
Story: John Layman
Art: Joe Eisma
Colors: Celeste Woods
Letterer: Taylor Esposito
What They Say:
Somethin’ ain’t right with Charlie, and not only are the missions he’s sending the Angels on also “not right,” but they are downright treasonous as well. It hasn’t taken the Angels long to figure out this Charlie might not be their Charlie— which means the next mission he sends them on may very well be a suicide mission! The sexiest crimefighters of the 70s are back, baby, with their greatest adventure yet chronicled by the sexiest comic creators of the 21st Century, John Freakin’ Layman and Joe Frickin’ Eisma!! If you miss this issue you will sink into a pit of existential despair so deep and dark and profound it may take you the rest of your life to recover!!!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
While it’s not knocking my socks off I’m definitely enjoying Charlie’s Angels. John Layman has captured the right tone for it as it’s progressed and gotten even more comfortable with the characters and time period while Joe Eisma simply delivers fun costumes and designs with a great flow to it all, bringing it to life just right. Some of the structure of the series isn’t clicking just right for me but I suspect some of it will come together more when read in full but also some of the back and forth each issue employs could make for a few more headaches in that form. The way each issue seems like it’s opening on a new story is throwing me at first until I get into the rhythm of it all.
With the Angels now having connected with their CIA asset and have understood that they’re operating without a lot of information, they’ve making their way through East Germany in Berlin to get to his CIA safehouse. This makes for a fun chase sequence at the start as their visas are still wet with ink and they’re found out pretty easily, but it works because you can visualize it in live-action form as well with the costuming, the flirting, and just the attempted lightness in a serious situation. That we get them swiping some mopeds and dealing with a chase sequence like that? That simply makes it more fun to watch with all its little quirks and nods along the way that is pure 70’s storytelling.
The setup for the bigger picture is still evolving and once in the safe house we get them reconnecting with Charlie through Bosley to figure out the best way to handle things. With it actually being Gardner of the many voices, it’s fun to watch it play out as he does what his kidnappers tell him to do while also seeding in just enough for the Angels to figure out that it’s not the real Charlie. It’s simplistic in some ways but there are a few points along the way where the hair on the back of their neck should be up on all of this and figuring it out quickly. It does lead to a good setup that lets them start pushing for more information on what’s really going on but mostly we just get more things in motion that will ratchet up the tension with the pair in white that are trying to run their big game.
In Summary:
Charlie’s Angel is a fun book but it hasn’t gelled for me in a way that’s really driving it forward where I’m eagerly looking forward to it. This issue has plenty of fun moments where it plays to some of the camp of the 70’s in character and action but it balances it with some decent action and story beats that moves things forward. Layman and Eisma definitely get their characters and settings and it’s flowing pretty well. I’m interested in seeing where it goes and am glad to add another 70’s set book to my ranks of properties I get to enjoy.
Grade: B
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Dynamite Entertainment
Release Date: August 8th, 2018
MSRP: $3.99
