Freak Angels Live

By John Freeman on March 20, 2008

While we’re on the subject of digital comics (see Elfquest story below), just a reminder that Warren Ellis and Paul Duffield’s new digital project via Avatar Press, FreakAngels is now live.

FreakAngels is a free, weekly, ongoing comic, which Warren himself describes as an open-ended, longform story told in the equivalent of five pages a week.

“I never got to do weekly comics, unlike many of my British peers,” he explains, “so this is fun for me.

“I wanted to take a crack at something open-ended in the webcomics mode, and I’ve also been wanting to play with steampunk styling. And also, as has been my wont of late, I wanted to do something British.

“So welcome to Whitechapel, some years from now, just barely above ground in a flooded England. (I pored over speculative floodmaps to see what’d stay above water if the Thames burst its barriers.) Whitechapel is, among other things, home to a clan of unrelated young
people with purple hair and purple eyes: the Freakangels of the title.

“And the Freakangels have a secret: something bad is their fault.”

• Drop by the Whitechapel Forum to discuss the week’s installment. Initially conceived as a place to discuss the upcoming webcomic FreakAngels by Ellis and artist Paul Duffield, Whitechapel has since grown into Ellis’ new home on the net.

My website, warrenellis.com, is where I work and speak,” says Ellis. “But Whitechapel is now where I live. If the place looks a bit weird, especially in comparison to my previous online communities, it’s because I wanted this one to reflect my interests, rather than just force you to buy stuff or attempt to take over your mind. Frankly, mind control is easy. It’s having to look at all that weird crap in your head that’s hard.”

John Freeman

The founder of downthetubes, which he established in 1998. John works as a comics and magazine editor, writer, and on promotional work for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He is currently editor of Star Trek Explorer, published by Titan – his third tour of duty on the title originally titled Star Trek Magazine.

Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine, Babylon 5 Magazine, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics. He has also edited several comic collections, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”.

He’s the writer of “Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies” for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs” with Dave Hailwood.