A book that could be oh so much more.
Creative Staff:
Story/Art: Aki
Translation: Adair Grask
Lettering: Tania Biswas
What They Say:
By all appearances, the ties that bind High King Madeth and the knight Lalvan, his childhood friend, are made of the sternest stuff. But in truth, their friendship has always struck a most delicate balance. With the arrival of Lady Prima and the birth of her son, Perseus, not long after, the precarious harmony between Madeth and Lalvan crumbles. And when the young Perseus, harboring questions about his lineage, seeks out Lalvan, will the repercussions be much greater than a friendship lost?
A lone angel, its eye replete with sadness, looks on as the tragedy unfolds…
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
What happens when you let doubt shroud your judgment to the point of losing the only friend you had? Stories are kind of sad and ask these kinds of questions with absolute seriousness. They take us to the darkest realms of characters’ minds, but also shows how strong, resilient, and brilliant people can be.
The Angel of Elhamburg thrusts jealousy in our faces and never looks back. The king Madeth has been trust to the top by his friend Lalvan because he’s the one that the people love and he’s the one that can talk. Lalvan can write. He’s like the nerd that has a bunch of wisdom and intelligence, but relatively low charisma. Madeth has high charisma and average intelligence and wisdom, which is probably actually generous since he can’t write or read well at one point in the story.
It’s a fake connection between Lalvan and Madeth’s bride-to-be that puts a wedge between the two friends. She has a silver tongue and could have convinced any other man to sleep with her, but Lalvan is Madeth’s friend and won’t allow it to happen. Still, Madeth and Prima’s child takes after Lalvan more than anyone—a circumstance of upbringing more than anything else, because Madeth can’t bring himself to love a child that might not be his.
This is the cruelty of the world—of people—when jealousy can take hold.
Even the child, now grown, allows jealousy toward his brother cloud his heart. He runs to Lalvan—finds him on the edge of their territory—and asks whether Lalvan is truly his father. Not because he wants Lalvan to be his father and not because Toue, his servant, wasn’t enough. No, the boy simply wants someone to call “dad” and have the other person look him in the eyes with love.
This is the cruelty of the father who never loved—who can’t love.
Yen Press does a great job with the book, as they do with all their hardcovers. It’s got Lalvan on the slip cover and a vibrant red book hiding underneath it. There’s one glossy page with probably the best art in the book. The designs are intricate and nice to look at, but the faces kind of blend together in my head. I had to really start looking at hair and faces and dress to figure out who was Madeth and who was Lalvan.
In Summary:
Despite some strong themes, I don’t really feel like I connected with Angel of Elhamburg that much, nor did it really connect the stories within itself very well. There is, however, a very strong basis here that could have become a great comic. I think it needed one or two more volumes to really get through everything because it feels more like I’m hitting every important plot point in a series with much more to offer.
Content Grade: B-
Art Grade: B+
Packaging Grade: A-
Text/Translation Grade: A
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Yen Press
Release Date: March 24th, 2015
MSRP: $18.00
