Sweet Paprika #1 // Review
It’s a world where angels and demons work together. So it’s a lot like ours. Only here, the horns and halos and wings and barbed tails are all quite visible. There’s a woman who is in charge of her own office. She’s a demon. She’s the title character of Sweet Paprika #1. Writer/Artist Mirka Andolfo cleverly casts traditional concerns of the contemporary white-collar world and tosses them in the conventional iconography of heaven and hell in a delightful, little mash-up the makes a charming debut. The opening issue of the mini-series firmly establishes the contemporary fantasy world and Paprika’s place in it.
Paprika is a monster at the office. Maybe it’s the drive that sees her clawing her way to the top as a CCO in the Triple-A publishing industry. (Maybe it’s in her nature. She IS a devil.) She’s been through emotional hardships in the past, so she’s not exactly open to others. Angels and devils alike try their best to please her. No one seems to get the job right except the one guy in her immediate circle who isn’t working for her: a delivery angel named Dill. His daily appearances are burdened by so much charisma that he causes a disturbance in the office every single day.
Andolfo doesn’t spend a great deal of time world-building in the first issue of the series. A world in which angels and devils work together is a lot more interesting than the central plot of the chapter. An urban fantasy world of expensive office furniture and glass doors only serves as background for a story about a woman trying to have it all and the working-class guy who seems to be totally happy just delivering packages. It’s fun, but it fails to ultimately deliver on its potential as of the first chapter.
Andolfo’s iconically beautiful exaggeration works remarkably well with the angel and devil milieu that she’s building it around. The fantasy/horror iconography nestles quite well into the metropolitan office rom-com feel of Andolfo’s story. Once the reader’s eyes get used to the visual shorthand of what Andolfo is putting on the page, it’s an entertaining visual world to hang out in. The subtle intricacies of a romantic drama are casually discarded in a fun over-the-top metropolitan fantasy with some savvy moments of characterization thrown in.
The contrast between Paprika and Dill is enjoyable enough in the first issue. Still, a long-term run with these two characters will have to develop a bit more substance if it’s going to be able to develop into much more than Archie-for-adults. Andolfo has proven that she can do this before on more than one occasion, so there’s really no questioning that this is worth investing the time in. It may seem silly. It may seem goofy. It may even seem kind of sexy. But it’s definitely worth a reader’s time.
