FreakAngels, Volume 3

FreakAngels #3

by Warren Ellis, Paul Duffield (Illustrator)

Twenty-three years ago, twelve strange children were born in England at exactly the same moment. Six years ago, the world ended. Today, eleven strange 23-year-olds live in and defend Whitechapel, maybe the last real settlement in flooded London. Fearing the return of an old enemy from beyond their borders, the Freakangels discover that their latest threat comes from inside their ranks, as one of their own breaks the most sacred rule -- never to violate the mind of a person under their protection. Gunplay and a telekinetic confrontation ensue, distracting the group... and leading to a face-to-face confrontation with Mark, the exiled Freakangel who seeks bloody retribution. The third chapter in award-winning author Warren Ellis' post-apocalyptic web comic series!

Episodes #0049-0072.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Science Fiction, Fantasy, Fiction, Post Apocalyptic, Steampunk

144 pages, Paperback

First published October 9, 2009

About the author

Warren Ellis is the award-winning writer of graphic novels like TRANSMETROPOLITAN, FELL, MINISTRY OF SPACE and PLANETARY, and the author of the NYT-bestselling GUN MACHINE and the “underground classic” novel CROOKED LITTLE VEIN, as well as the digital short-story single DEAD PIG COLLECTOR. His newest book is the novella NORMAL, from FSG Originals, listed as one of Amazon’s Best 100 Books Of 2016.

The movie RED is based on his graphic novel of the same name, its sequel having been released in summer 2013. IRON MAN 3 is based on his Marvel Comics graphic novel IRON MAN: EXTREMIS. He is currently developing his graphic novel sequence with Jason Howard, TREES, for television, in concert with HardySonBaker and NBCU, and continues to work as a screenwriter and producer in film and television, represented by Angela Cheng Caplan and Cheng Caplan Company. He is the creator, writer and co-producer of the Netflix series CASTLEVANIA, recently renewed for its third season, and of the recently-announced Netflix series HEAVEN’S FOREST.

He’s written extensively for VICE, WIRED UK and Reuters on technological and cultural matters, and given keynote speeches and lectures at events like dConstruct, ThingsCon, Improving Reality, SxSW, How The Light Gets In, Haunted Machines and Cognitive Cities.

Warren Ellis has recently developed and curated the revival of the Wildstorm creative library for DC Entertainment with the series THE WILD STORM, and is currently working on the serialising of new graphic novel works TREES: THREE FATES and INJECTION at Image Comics, and the serialised graphic novel THE BATMAN’S GRAVE for DC Comics, while working as a Consulting Producer on another television series.

A documentary about his work, CAPTURED GHOSTS, was released in 2012.

Recognitions include the NUIG Literary and Debating Society’s President’s Medal for service to freedom of speech, the EAGLE AWARDS Roll Of Honour for lifetime achievement in the field of comics & graphic novels, the Grand Prix de l’Imaginaire 2010, the Sidewise Award for Alternate History and the International Horror Guild Award for illustrated narrative. He is a Patron of Humanists UK. He holds an honorary doctorate from the University of Essex.

Warren Ellis lives outside London, on the south-east coast of England, in case he needs to make a quick getaway.

Reviews

[Jan Philipzig · Rating 5 out of 5]

At its core, this is a story about power, guilt and responsibility. Kinda like Spidey, that’s right. The FreakAngels are far guiltier than Peter Parker ever was, though, and so what really comes to mind while reading this is the role of so-called first-world countries in the devastation of the planet and of so-called third-world countries in particular, and more specifically the current “refugee crisis” in Europe. In other words, FreakAngels is the kind of science fiction dystopia that becomes more relevant by the minute. It is also one of the most thoughtful, nuanced, sincere and best comics Warren Ellis has written to date—read it already!

[Brandon · Rating 4 out of 5]

In Volume 3, The FreakAngels have brought in and put to work several refugees. Staying the course and rebuilding Whitechapel, the FreakAngels are trying to undo the pain and suffering they initially caused. However, along with the exiled Mark, Luke is beginning to realize the sheer scope of their powers. Breaking the "one rule", Luke sits on the verge of ex-communication. Can the FreakAngels rebound from Luke's treason and can Whitechapel return to its past glory?

In the age of the digital web comic, it's hard to believe that work of this calibre is being given away for free. Granted, if you want the hardcover collectors edition, you've got to shell out a few dollars. This isn't to say that in terms of quality, stuff like The Oatmeal, Cyanide and Happiness or Toothpaste for Dinner isn't up to par with Ellis' epic - it just feels like this series deserves to be paid for.**

With Volume 3, the series begins to take a turn towards darkness. We're exposed to what the FreakAngels are capable of through a pretty disgusting act by Luke. I won't spoil it for you but it's deplorable to say the least.

Comics like FreakAngels is why I could never become a weekly reader. I simply love devouring series' back-to-back-to-back; monthly or bi-weekly issues could never work for me. If Volume 4,5 and 6 are just as good as the first 3, you're looking at a ridiculously solid series.

** I may or may not be getting these books for free from my local library.

[Blindzider · Rating 3 out of 5]

Like many other post-apocalyptic stories, where humans strive to survive in a "normal" community, humanity rears its ugly head. Ellis examines a little bit of basic survival issues including food and water needs as the population rises, but more importantly what happens when one or more people decide not to play by the rules? How do those in charge deal with "bad elements"? And just what happens when those in charge have psychic powers? That pretty much sums up Volume 3. Still very interesting and I'm not sure where this is heading (and that's good.)

[Nate]

The most intense volume yet. A murder of one of the newcomers happens in Whitechapel, and the Freakangels (mainly Kait) investigate. Then Luke violates their law and is put on trial, so to speak. The last third is edge-of-your-seat reading. Duffield’s art is tremendous here, moving the action along in many silent panels. The way he depicts rain adds to the intensity. And the cliffhanger promises even more action in the next book.

[Donovan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yeah, my reviews aren't great for this series because I'm just enjoying it too much. There's great character development and the limit of the FreakAngels' power seems to fade with each volume, making them more and more supernatural. I love the steampunk angle. I've never been huge into steampunk but it's cool here because it's subtle. I'm fascinated by the idea of the "package" and hope that it's explained, hope that maybe we see the "event" and their origin, eventually get to meet this mysterious Mark. This almost has a Walking Dead Us versus Them feel to it at times, but it never devolves into factional wars, which is nice, it's deeper than that. Okay that's it. Go read now.

[OmniBen · Rating 5 out of 5]

(Zero spoiler review) 4.75/5
Forgive me as this is the third Freakangels review I have written today, but this series just keeps going from strength to strength, and may just be Ellis' strongest and most cohesive work. Now, fans of Transmet might take exception with that, but Transmet arrived like a punch in the face and didn't really have anywhere to build from there. Don't get me wrong, Transmet is an outstanding series, but Freakangels is a different beast altogether. This series just continues to build, showing a strength to Ellis' writing I'm not sure we have seen before or since. Don't get me wrong, by builds I don't mean improves, although this is certainly the best arc yet. I mean builds as in the fantastically solid foundation Ellis carefully and meticulously crafted in the opening volume, adding additional layers across volume two, to what we have here in Volume three. The cast is established, the reader will have a reasonable idea what is going on. Favourites will be established and the world is coming into its own. Ellis knew this, and has ramped up the tension just that little bit more. Inner conflicts start simmering to the surface. Powers are further explored (and still haven't been broken yet). Something for which I continue to be thankful for. And all the while, we are still left wondering as to the cataclysmic event that brought them all here. This one really is building towards something pretty special, and its something pretty god damn special already. The Goodreads scores on the remaining three volumes indicate no drop off in quality, so believe me when I say, I am hyped to have this series conclude just as strongly as it started. 4.75/5


OmniBen.

[Adam Stone · Rating 3 out of 5]

The volume begins with literal world building. The Freakangels crew had rebuilt what they imagined society was before the book started, but at the end of the last volume, they realized they could do so much more. So we begin with the So Much More, using their powers to try and return their area of the world to something more resembling 19th century, and then 20th century society.

It's a fast, interesting read, but it pretty quickly veers into internal politics among the Freakangels and sets a breakneck pace of plot points to set up some cliffhangers before we get into volume four.

They're all solid. And I'm enjoying the series, but I felt like I read this volume in five minutes. That, as fast as it moved, I felt like it was one issue's worth of plot points spread into six issues worth of pages.

The art is fine but it makes me feel like I'm reading a fantasy sequence that takes place during www.questionablecontent.net .

[Nigel · Rating 5 out of 5]

In the purple-tinted post-apocalypse the psychic twenty-somethings who somehow or other caused all this make amends as best they can, taking more refugees into their protectorate of Whitechapel and putting in the work and innovation to build up the infrastructure. It helps that they all seem to be more-or-less geniuses in their chosen fields. However a grisly murder and some ethically dubious behaviour by a particularly rapey Feakangel threatens to disrupt the jolly barn-building and marching towards a more secure and stable future.

[Krishnakumar Mohanasundaram · Rating 4 out of 5]

Having set the environment perfectly in the first two volumes, the author takes over the third volume with a riveting story arc...

The Angels find themselves amidst lot of trouble after taking in huge number of refugees into their hold ...

An angel begins to bend mind of an innocent woman, whereas other one find herself investigating a murder..

The parallel arcs cover these characters at different places around their Whitechapel hold in fast paced narrative...

[Jake Kilroy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Things are tightening up with characters getting at each other, offering insight into how this ragtag group sibling-like pals play demigod society rulers. A lot of fun, a lot of chaos; maybe some hope.

[Erica · Rating 4 out of 5]

the action is finally revving up. love how there is never more than 4 panels on a page. awkward amy winehouse reference :/

[Calvin Daniels · Rating 4 out of 5]

Continues an intriguing storyline! In a way it's Lord of the Flies meets young Xmen!

[Stacey · Rating 4 out of 5]

soooo... onto book four, then.

[Adam Šilhan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Po úvodní expozici dává chování Freakangels daleko vetší smysl.

[Kevin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cada personaje está establecido y ahora el conflicto se pone más intenso. Como en los tomos anteriores, las secuencias son A+ y el dibujo es un sabor adquirido que he adquirido.

[scarlettraces · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are some pages in this which are definitely not safe for public transport

[Sam Quixote · Rating 5 out of 5]

The story of the Freakangels goes into darker territory in the third book when one of the survivors they rescued in the second book is found murdered in the style of Jack the Ripper. Also Luke is caught raping one of the survivors and the Freakangels discuss whether executing him is the right way to go. That is, until Mark shows up and all Hell breaks loose…

Warren Ellis continues to impress with this amazing story of a dozen psychic young people with incredible powers living in and rebuilding a post-apocalyptic Whitechapel – an apocalypse they seemingly brought about. The voices of the characters all sound genuine and Ellis’s dialogue brings them all to life as if they were real people.

Paul Duffield’s artwork is always brilliant in these books. Large panels, sometimes 2 to a page, show a wonderfully rendered backdrop to the manga-esque characters. At times it feels like watching Ghibli film, the actions are drawn so intuitively and fluidly.

I love these characters and this world and even when there’s not a lot going on and it’s simply Karl (the Gardener) showing ordinary people how to irrigate land or Arkady (the super powerful psychic/savant) playing with chickens, it’s still a mesmerising read. Throw in the excellent storylines that builds to a crescendo by the end of the book and you’ve got a masterwork of modern comics. Only, make sure you have Vol 4 handy as Vol 3 ends on fantastic note which’ll make you want to start reading the next book immediately.

[Artur Coelho · Rating 4 out of 5]

É interessante notar como Ellis, por intermédio de Paul Duffield, utiliza a luz para sublinhar os estados colectivos de alma nesta série. Há um optimismo utópico na primeira parte, com os Freakangels a encontrar soluções engenhosas para albergar, alimentar e manter em boa saúde os que se refugiam em Whitechapel. Até se fala em trazer de regresso a música. Mesmo um assassínio sangrento não quebra esse optimismo, que só começa a ceder quando um dos Freakangels é condenado pela sua tendência de usar os seus poderes para controlar pessoas. No entanto, o assassínio, cometido ao estilo de Jack o Estripador (Whitechapel é um bairro com história), acaba por revelar o início de algo muito mau, com o regresso de um Freakangel renegado.

A transição é simbolizada pela atmosfera, com um sol luminoso a sublinhar o progressismo utópico de recuperação das catástrofes, e uma cinzenta tempestade que se abate quando as coisas começam a correr mal. Axiomática é a linha narrativa que se centra nas capacidades dos Freakangels, na sua relutância em explorar os seus limites, sujeitos a um código de ética peculiar que os impede de se tornarem quase divindades, dominadores dos inferiores humanos. Mas nem todos os Freakangels pensam desta forma.

[Reenie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Funny how something that took about 6 months to read by 6-page Friday installment ends up not much more than half an hour when you have it in book form. It can be less frustrating this way... even, for some reason, the cliff-hanger ending doesn't bother me so much at the end of the book as I thought it would, but it can also be less rewarding not to get the enforced time to dwell on each set of 6 pages that the weekly format gives you. There is a bunch of stuff that happens in the middle, and a lot more set up for a hell of a 4th book, hopefully, so I'm hoping that it will all pay off.

Who am I kidding? How can Warren Ellis not pay off?

Anyway, it's very very nice to be able to read pages without scrolling, so if you can wait or want to reread, reading it by book is better than online.

[KV Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really dig this one because it's where the interpersonal stuff starts to get super screwed. Part of that is just seeing how truly mad Kait is (Haha, Quincy...), which makes me happy. Also, seriously, her and Miki. Maaaaan. And then her and Arkady! "It's the law." Looooove.

But I also think a huge part of my love for this one is the egg/chicken discussion between Jack and Connor which for some reason makes me unreasonably happy.

Actually, I think what this whole collected book really is, is proof that between Ellis's dialogue and timing and Duffield's art, these two could pretty much vamp with absurd conversation for an entire book and I'd eat it up with a spoon and laugh my head off.

Oh yeah, and I think stuff happens in this one too. Or, I should say, it begins to happen. Like, for real this time.

[terka · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF - I forgot I was even reading this until I bumped into it again while browsing through my shelves here and upon checking the book I noticed I'm just a couple of pages from the end.
Third volume in and nothing happened yet! Amazing. Well, to be honest, things are happening. I just don't care. About any of the characters, about the world, about anything. The art isn't helping at all since it's suffering from a severe case of "same face syndrome", everyone looks the same. I had to tell the characters apart from their haircuts (didn't help that almost everyone has the same hair colour), like this was DBZ where the only difference between the characters is the amount of spikes in the hair. And those weird lips, visible especially in 3/4 view, very... duck-facey. In short, I found nothing interested in this, and boy did I give this series a chance.

[a.g.e. montagner · Rating 4 out of 5]

Things take a dark turn in Whitechapel...

Possibly not my favourite story arc so far (I guess I'll always have a special fancy for the first volume); although it may just be that this is the first one I read as it was posted online week by week, rather than in huge breathless chunks.

In notice 3 Ellis had written "we’re actually still inside the first 24 hours of the story. It could take me three years just to reach the end of the first week. I might die of old age before I reach the end of the first month."
Cheeky Warren... 3 episodes later, volume three begins with a "One week later" heading.

The FreakAngels that surfaced in volume two are given special prominence, particularly Kaitlyn.
And in the very last page...

[Brad · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book keeps getting better. I may just be saying that because it's fitting within comic conventions a bit more. The opening pages serve the same function of those one-page recaps in Marvel comics from the late 1990s, reminding you who all the characters are, and most of the plot that's happened. Kait's policework on the mystery at the center of the plot is interesting, though it's frustrating that it isn't resolved by the end of the book. The cliffhanger at the end is probably also reminiscent of floppy comics from the late 90s and other eras. I guess I'll just have to go online to see how it ends.

[Marie Graßhoff · Rating 5 out of 5]

Woah, was für eine miese Stelle, um den Band zu beenden! Das war am Ende nun wirklich spannend, ich hatte eigentlich gar nicht damit gerechnet, dass Luke es noch schaffen würde, sich zu befreien. Wahnsinn, und wer ist das hinter Kait? Doch nicht etwa Mark? Ich wäre ja unheimlich gespannt darauf, ihn endlich sehen zu können.

Ein sehr spannungsgeladener Teil, auch wenn er für meinen Geschmack am Anfang etwas ZU eklig war. Dieser tote Mensch mit den heraushängenden Gedärmen, in den ganzen ersten Kapiteln - hui. Ich hätte vorher nicht so viel essen sollen. Sonst aber wieder sehr spannend, unterhaltsam und toll.
(Vor allem die Sache mit den Hühnern und den "Früchten" diese legen.)

[Todd Johnson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I heard it put that Warren Ellis's writing is like 70s prog rock and I think that is an apt description. It takes some time to get there, but if you stick with it and you're in the right mindset you'll end up enjoying it.

I'm enjoying FreakAngles mostly due to the strong art and deliberate story telling. He's taking the time to build characters and has given me enough to be engaged with where he's going.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

The is the third collection of Warren Ellis's post-apocalypse web comic. I admit dropping myself into the middle of of the story made some aspects difficult to grasp, but I got the gist of things pretty well. This is a beautifully drawn, well constructed world with interesting characters I want learn more about. A gripping mystery is set up here and the volume ends with a good cliff hanger. Good enough to make want go online and read the entire comic in its original form.

[Angelina Justice · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ahhhh....talk about an evil cliffhanger. It has to be Mark, right?

The tension is ramped up in this episode. As if the struggle for survival were not hard enough, now there is murder and mayhem in the FreakAngel's domain. Absolute power definitely corrupts, and not always in the way we expect.

[Микола · Rating 4 out of 5]

Круто. На третьому томі нічого не треба пояснювати, можна розгортати історію. Після полегшення наприкінці попереднього тому напруження зростає. Так, що хочеться якнайшвидше продовжити.
Щодо арту, цього разу мене знову вразило, який обсяг має видавати художник регулярно. Тому прояви економії зусиль радують.

[Leslie · Rating 5 out of 5]

The intrigue is increasing as more violence and conflict start breaking apart the non-so-happy FreakAngel family. With the inclusion of a couple of different mysteries, both in the past and present, and yet another of the 'angels going rogue, the story is well setup for an interesting volume 4.