Angelus is another one of Top Cow's supernatural characters like Witchblade and the Darkness. In fact, the Darkness and the Angelus are the primal forces of light and darkness, and through a truce created the Witchblade together as a balance. Angelus first appeared in the pages of the Darkness in 1997, and received a one-shot in Top Cow’s acclaimed Pilot Season title in 2007. Now Angelus has a new mini-series; let's see if it's worth a look.

Following the events of Top Cow's “First Born” limited series and “War of the Witchblades” storyline, the Angelus force is now within Danielle Baptiste. But unlike previous hosts, she still maintains her free will. And, apparently there are those who have a problem with this in the first couple of pages. After a quick side trip to hell, we join Dani and her companion Finch as they're settling into their new home in New Orleans. Supernatural hi-jinks are not far behind, as Dani struggles to figure out just what is it she's supposed to do now.

As the first issue in a mini-series, this can either make or break what the title's trying to accomplish. Having not read anything with Angelus before, I felt a little lost trying to follow what was going on. I had to search online for answers, some of which I used in the opening paragraph. I'm sure Angelus/Witchblade/Darkness/Top Cow fans knew what was going on, but a brand-new reader like me shouldn't have to find answers outside of the pages of the first issue. I'm sure more answers will follow in the second issue, but I just can't help but feel bothered by this.

Ron Marz and Stjepan Sejic are the creative team behind this, which is not surprising since Marz finds his way to most Top Cow titles. Marz's writing style is true to form, grounding his characters in a felt-reality (as real as you can get with angels and demons), giving real issues to his characters without it feeling like drama-for-the-sake-of-drama. Sejic's artwork hurt my eyes at first, but that always happens with art styles like this. After the first few pages I was used to it and didn't even notice it, and it does help convey the epic-scale story they're trying to tell involving the war between heaven and hell.

Since the Angelus is forever linked to the Darkness and the Witchblade, fans of those works should definitely be checking this out. From what I've pieced together, it seems that the Angelus has been an important part to both titles' recent storylines so it's only fitting that the character gets its own mini. However if you've never read the Darkness or Witchblade before, you probably shouldn't read this unless you plan on following those other titles as well. Overall, not a bad start, but not great either.

Writer: Ron Marz
Artist: Stjepan Sejic
Cover(s): Stjepan Sejic, Eric Basaldua
Publisher: Top Cow
Cover Price: $2.99
On Sale: Now