Angel and Demon

In many graphic novels and books of a saga in comics, the author and artist usually incorporate their version of a director's commentary. Given that I've tried to replicate such a comic style, I'll proceed in a similar manner.

So here we have the cover of my comic. I thought that slightly altering the title of the popular book "Angels and Demons" by Dan Brown would be appropriate for my comic since the superheros are an angel and a "demon." This cover picture is pretty important since I use it to establish both characters and their tendencies. If you check out the next pages, you won't see a detailed picture of the angel with his wings out (a mistake I noticed after I finished the drawings) so this picture connects the face to the hero. As for the two heroes, they are based of off Islamic mythology in which there are angels and jinn (ie. genies). In the mythology, jinn live on this earth but are made of a sort of fire and therefore invisible to the human eye. Jinn also have free will and so there are Muslim jinn, Christian jinn, etc., a characteristic unshared by angels, who must always follow God. Additionally, jinn have the power to possess humans, which is the case for the jinn in my story, allowing him to shuffle between human and jinn form.

On the first page, we get to see the jinn in action. I got the idea of him killing a pimp from Frank Miller's "Batman and Robin." I like the set up of the middle panels because it narrows the perspective to focus on the flame behind the pimp. This page also establishes the jinn's powers as well as his mercilessness.


On the second page, I use the angel's actions to contrast those of the jinn. The angel captures the mugger and drops him off to the police. The bottom panel was a challenge since I wanted to show that the two cops describing the angel to the rest of the police force (hence why one of the officers is waving his arms). Also, in the corner, we see the comic's antagonist--an officer who seems to despise the actions of the vigilantes. As a result, he talks with the mugger in order to figure out the identity of his capturer. The scene cuts to show the officer making a phone call while looking at a file.

This scene was my personal favorite since it really compares and contrasts both heroes. The pages show that both characters as Muslims, washing for prayer and subsequently praying. I have the jinn drinking a beer as he washes his feet (he was also smoking on the cover and first page) to show him as a more liberal Muslim in contrast to the steadfast angel. These pictures were the most enjoyabe to draw due to the power they have for me.




The left side of this page was the one of my biggest challenges. I hate drawing guns and automobiles, but I knew they'd be necessary to show the capture of the heroes. Basically, this page is the result of the phone call made by the antagonist. On the other side, I have the jinn, eyes ablaze with rage, about to fend for his freedom. I think I portrayed him well--very fierce and angry. Behind him, the angel reassures him and as a result, the jinn unhappily retreats. (I am actually not a fan of this ending--I'd rather draw the heroes battling the SWAT team but this ending works better due to its simplicity and for the overall message of the comic book).

On the last page here I have the court scene in which the antagonist argues that the angel is a terrorist. He provides no argument against the jinn even though the jinn is Muslim and killed a man earlier in the comic. The policeman is using the stereotype of a Muslim terrorist against the heroes and, as the final panel shows, is successful in getting the angel convicted. As a result, the fiery eyes of the jinn are stronger than ever, showing his fury at the results. As is usual for superhero comics, the story never really ends but is "to be continued..."

The back cover here is a pretty simple design, showing the heroes' sudden departure (to be reminiscent of Batman).