Review by Frank Plowright

Freaks’ Squeele is a complicated series featuring a large cast, so it’s welcome that creator Florent Maudoux starts this volume with pen portraits of eleven characters, and a brief synopsis of where we were when A Tango With Death ended. That was after the first round of a battle between Chance D’Estaing and Angel Saint Just, representative of a rival school for superheroes. Simultaneously we also saw Chance’s sneaky head teacher being called out by her ally on staff, Funeral.

Chance isn’t only fighting a standard battle, as the outcome is dependent on popularity ratings constantly modified by viewers. It’s an example of Maudoux’s idea-rich attitude to superheroes, although his rapid extinguishing of the last volume’s cliffhanger is below his usual standard of creativity. There’s a surprise when the battle ends, though, as the attention switches to the pupils of St Angelus for a few pages, but there’s a reason as Chance is given a difficult decision to make.

The sample page shows the astonishing detail the art supplies, Maudoux’s work rate immense. There’s something similar on most pages, which continue to be formed of packed small panels, the maximum sized illustration rarely exceeding a third of a page. The supporting cast have an interesting variety of personal backgrounds, all explored in this volume, which means the art changes from scene to scene, and again switches between a limited amount of colour pages and greyscaled art. There are so many choices, but the visual highlight is probably a manic car chase involving an old fashioned food truck. The planning involved is extraordinary.

Maudoux’s whimsy is given greater than usual indulgence here, and you’ll either laugh along or feel frustrated. Chance reaches a point where some disclosures are about to happen when Maudoux calls a halt to explain that they’ll form a separate series, so settle down for a brief gangster story instead. He then skips forward to the start of the following school year. Clever? No. Charming? No. Acceptable? Well, if you want the moments of genius from Maudoux you have to take moments like this.

Uncertainty surrounds the end of Chance’s first school year, but through the eyes of new character would-be writer Lynette we begin the second, and it turns out rather than F.E.A.H. losing students, some have transferred from St Angelus. Other new problems are an influx of gangsters and revolution in the air, but the plot becomes a plan to deal with the head teacher. This time there is no cliffhanger, and from the point of his capricious indulgence Maudoux delivers action all the way. It’s visually amazing and brilliantly achieved.