Ablaze Publishing 2019
By Mirko Andolfo
Localization by Marguerite Bennett
Lettered by Fabio Amelia of Arancia Studio
The extraordinary talent of Mirka Andolfo (Unnatural, DC Bombshells) brings to life a Heaven (and a Hell) filled with humour and lovable characters! Angelina, a voluptuous angel, and Damiano, a mischievous devil, are madly in love. But, while she does not intend to give in to temptation, he would very much like to... This is the tale of their bizarre and spicy daily life! A sex-positive--and incredibly funny--slice of life...full of angels, devils and gags!
Now I wasn't sure what this was going to be like considering it's sex-positive in nature. Thankfully it's more like those old Playboy cartoons than anything else so we see no actual sex acts taking place here. I am kind of in love with this, the whole idea of it, how Mirka presents it and how we see it, everything about this is amusing, entertaining and full of that real life scenarios that happen ever day. So yeah I think that this is endearing and it might just be one of those that take you but complete surprise and end up being a book you cannot live without.
I am enjoying how this is being told and the story & plot development with the sequence of events unfolding and how the information is revealed is great to see. The opening for example sets up the series beautifully as well. The meeting which is predestined and then to see the whole happen later is the stuff of legends. The character development is utterly marvellous as well. Both our leads personify the good girl and the bad boy to perfection. With the pacing involved here we see the story move through the pages with the most delightful ebb & flow. This feels like we're just going through the life of these two characters together as they navigate a relationship.
There are characters here that we can relate to and whether that's the friends they have or Damiano or Angelina themselves. You'll see folks that you know for sure and how the situations they find themselves in are the ones we face in our everyday lives and that Mirka is able to do this seamlessly and effortlessly makes it all the more fun. While others may have passed on this afraid of the phrase sex-positive it's nice to see Ablaze not afraid to put this out. It is rated R but not for reasons you think and that's what makes it so damn cute.
Oh the interiors here are delightful. The linework we see throughout the book is strong, clean and tight. The utilisation of the varying weights to bring out the attention to detail is sublime. Also the fact that the devil and the angel all have their owns specific looks to them and how we see this as they are next to each other is really extremely well done. The different looks separating heaven and hell really kind of hammer the stereotypes home. The faces and the facial expressions are superb and they add an extra dimension to the characterisation. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show a stellar eye for storytelling. Backgrounds are utilised nicely throughout and really enhance the moments perfectly. The colour just completes this in a way I wasn't expecting it to. The colours, the shading and just the overall utilisation of them perfect.
This is will surprise you with it's levels and depth of the humour and the situations the characters find themselves in. It is easy to relate to and just the overall way men and women are seen is delightfully rendered. You need to find this, I am having a hard time writing this review because looking at it and reading it again and again. It really is that charming and endearing and reminiscent of those Playboy cartoons I used to sneak a look at as a kid.