Street Angel Volume One: the Princess of Poverty

You are required to love a comic that features a rogue geologist as a villain. Yes.

Street Angel is the story of a homeless 13-year old world-class skateboarder and ninja fighter. She lives in a world of (the aforementioned) ninjas and scientists, but her world is also chock full of Aztec gods, Conquistadores, Irish astronauts, Satanists, and the headaches that come with being homeless. This volume collects the five issues of the series as well as short stories, covers, and a wealth of pinups and sketches. And it is a thing of beauty.

The stories in Street Angel happen free of context and, blessedly, continuity. Each story seems to happen in its own little universe of fun. I suspect that Rugg (artist and co-writer) and Maruca (co-writer) show more weren't so interested in telling a grand, linear story; they were mostly concerned with figuring out how comics work. They needed to figure out the rules, and then they needed to break them completely.

The collection I own is called "volume one" in the indicia. I pray that there will be a second some day. show less

I love the sense of humor behind this rather violent comic about a crime-fighting, skate-boarding orphan. The stories are short, unrelated and they take every opportunity to poke fun at familiar themes. My favorite line is said by a Spanish conquistador who has traveled forward into Street Angel's time. When she asks what their deal is, one of them says, "We come from your distant past." and the other says

Or possibly from your future...you know...if there was some kind of apocalypse and mankind lost all of its technological prowess, had to start over from scratch and civilization followed roughly the same path a second time around.

The character profiles in between each story, outlining their abilities (such as strength, intelligence show more and skateboarding skills) were fun, and there's a great cover gallery at the end of the book. show less

I didn't think I would like this but I was proven wrong! It has just the right balance between kick-ass fighting and heartwarming storytelling. And it has ninjas, skateboarding, and a cat. All this and more centering around a preteen, homeless, orphan, superhero. Who can argue against that?

This is such an offbeat crazy comic, but in the best possible way. It's funny, but I hesitate to call it a humor book, perhaps just because it approaches the humor with such a straight face. But it's certainly a lot of fun!

From the back cover: "In the worst ghetto on earth, a young, homeless orphan rules the streets with her fearsome kung fu and deadly skateboarding. Jesse "street angel" Sanchez fight ninja gangs, evil geologists, nepotism, ancient gods, homework, and hunger while perpetually seeking the Holy Grail of cardboard boxes."
I found this at half price books, saw the pink cover and that it was about a girl skateboarder who fights crime and had to get it. weird and slightly bizarre humor, and short action packed stories. really funny villains.

Yeah, I wasn't charmed by this and even had ninjas. I like ninjas! I hope the sequel's better.