War Angels Volume 1

Centuries after the world is devastated by a nuclear conflagration, mankind finds itself under the heel of demonic beast-men who enslave men and force women into being their unwilling sexual playthings and brood mares. Opposing this tyranny are a group of superpowered warriors known as Angels, agents of a Christian empire on a mission to save the church’s abducted Holy Mother, and woe unto any miscreants who get in their way. The narrative moves briskly with nothing on its mind but bringing the mayhem and giving the reader furious action sequences, rendered in competent style while never skimping on gory depictions of dismemberment, concussive punch-outs served up by borderline-homoerotic leather boys, and gratuitous cruelty. But if most of this sounds familiar, it should; this series is a bald-faced clone of the seminal postapocalyptic superhero epic Fist of the North Star , right down to its Sergio Leone-esque wasteland and raven-haired, knuckle-cracking badass in a sleeveless leather jacket. Imitation may be the sincerest form of flattery, but there’s a very fine line between being influenced and crafting a shameless knockoff. (July)