Rival Angels
Rival Angels follows the story of Sabrina "Ultragirl" Mancini and her three roommates in the fight of their lives as they attempt to battle against the best wrestlers in the world. It takes a look at the relationships that form behind the curtain, as well as the personal sacrifices and victories along the way, all from the perspective of a twenty-something gal.

Hmmmm! I've only recently come to read Rival Angels on a regular basis but I think I've gathered enough to give a review.

Writing: albone keeps it straightforward on writing for a female wrestling team but it's never boring. These are complex characters (except maybe Brooke, and that seems to almost be intentional) with backgrounds and unique personalities. The writing never veers far from the sport, and that's a good thing! Like in real wrestling, not many of us are terribly concerned with the real life activities of sports stars -- we want to see them in the game, doing what they do best! RA does not disappoint in this regard, even though the girls do get some off-time and they enjoy it.
Rank: 4/5

Art: albone has a nice style and he is just as comfortable with action scenes as he is with showing the girls eating donuts at their apartment. He has been experimenting with angles and perspective lately and it really improving an already enjoyable comic. He renders great backgrounds that make you feel like you're right where the girls are. His coloring style compliments his pencils and inks. I like that he's not afraid to take risks, artistically.
Rank: 4/5

Overall: Rival Angels is fun webcomic, loaded with plenty of action and just enough downtime to keep the girls from seeming like "wrestling machines with no life." The writing balances nicely with the art and the overall style is glitzy enough for their costumes but hard hitting for the wrestling and a little softer for their off hours.
Rank: 4/5

Rival Angels is good stuff! Check it out! B)

I liked RA month before it got featured - so much so I got my girlfriend, who is a HUGE WWE fan, reading it. She loved it, too, but sadly doesn't have enough time to keep up with comics.

Anyway, let's get down to the nitty-gritty! I myself are short on time tonight, so I'll read back from the Rookie Rumble Match to present instead of going all the way back.

Writing: First off, I think albone has the commentator's excitement and attitudes down PAT. When I thought of a comic with wrestling, I was fearing that the commentators would be the worst part of it, merely there to unoriginally point out to the reader everything that's happening - with RA, that just isn't so. The commentators have a life of their own (the colour-coded captions help avoiding any confusion, too), and I'd even go as far to state that their full-bodied characters in their own right. He also writes action exceptionally well, which is even more of an asset when you're dealing with an action-sport, where the reader's coming into this with high expectations (after all, they have to find a good reason to keep coming back to the comic when wrestling is so easily accessible on TV and the internet these days). The matches have length, pace, action, twists - everything you could possibly ask for. The out-of-sport segments, the behind-stages parts that portray the stars in their everyday lives are also handled beautifully, and don't drag on for too long so that even the most impatient reader umongst us can't say "Get back to the WRESTLING!"
Rank: 5/5

Art: A very nice and effective style for this kind of comic - the stars have just the right balance of beauty (as every comic heroine should!) and the brawn needed to realistically be expected to pull off the number of moves albone portrays throughout the matches. He draws action very well, as well as having a great eye for speed and angles. Sometimes the art seems inconsistent/different in a few panels, but overall the style is great and eye-catching.
Rank: 4/5

Dialogue: From the commentator's banter to the girls back and forth ranting and shooting, the dialogue not only stays true to the wrestling world when it needs to, but sets itself apart with ease, showing everyone that - behind the brawns and beauty - they're just oridinary girls with ordinary cravings! :P
Rank: 5/4

Overall: A fun, good-looking comic that has a very good chance of appealing to readers of both wrestling-fanship and haters alike I'd definitely recommend it to my friends!
Rank: 4.5/5

And I recommend it to YOU! :D

I've been following Rival Angels for quite some time now, and I must say that - while I don't know how Al does this - the comic makes you feel like you're in the stadium watching these girls pummel the crap out of each other! There's so much energy and great movement on every page, it's fantastic and difficult to describe. You really should experience it for yourself.

But I'm getting ahead of myself.

Writing: The storyline is a pretty standard and somewhat overused premise: small town girl with little ambition but much skill gets recruited into a league that she's technically under-qualified to be in, but the audience wants to watch her succeed along the way. In this case, our character is Sabrina. She's sweet and wholesome and you instantly want to like her. Unfortunately, this also makes her the least interesting character.

Most of the story follows the main character (Sabrina) and her flatmates (less developed but almost instantly more interesting female wrestlers) at home living together and scheming behind each others back (well, some of them do), and then gets us into the good stuff: what happens in the ring. The story in the ring is usually narrated by the announcers at the match, and there's so much energy on every page - you seriously want to pick a girl and start cheering instantly! Because of the increased pacing, better flow, and overall higher level of energy in these pages, the girl's lives are almost a distraction or a teaser between matches! More character development and some mystery outside of the ring might help make the girls more interesting, and help readers pick a player to follow.

Art: Al's undergone some changes in art over the course of the book, and most of it is for the better. The girls look more feminine than in the early shots, and have more distinct physical features. They also have their own set of moves, which are illustrated beautifully during the match sets. Once more matches are shown and we start to see some signature moves used more often, I can totally see myself chanting for moves to start showing up in matches!

As mentioned several times above, Al is able to fit a level of energy into his pages that makes you (the reader) feel like you're at the match watching it live! There's a lot of excitement, and you quickly start to root for a character during the fights. It almost doesn't even matter if it's "your girl," you pick a side and stick with it!

Overall, I highly recommend this comic, and love every time that it updates. Brooke's my girl, and I can't wait to see her get developed more of the course of the story.

4/5

rival angels is something i would not have gotten into had i not seen it here, namely since i'm not too much for actual stories on this site, but it's joined the handful of stories here that i like and plan to follow.

i used to follow wrestling regularly, and i even participated in it myself for a brief stint, which was ridiculously fun. the experience, however silly, will always stay with me as a positive one. anyway, moving along.

the art is fantastic. it's not breathtaking by any means, particularly for the in-between moments (which incidentally never bore, but i'll get back to that), but it's during the matches in which the art aspect truly shines. these sequences are drawn with such remarkable enthusiasm, as trevor mentioned, you actually feel as though you're there. the artist has a real knack for this, and experiments quite successfully with it. the drawing itself isn't the only thing, it's how cleverly the matches are conveyed; it's very easy to not be able to properly draw complex wrestling moves, and here they are clear as day. i for one, was never confused.

the writing is excellent as well. you can tell that albone knows what he's talking about, and that he genuinely enjoys what he's doing. the momentum never lets up, even when the story gets into... well, the story, and deviates from the action. granted, i did find myself more than once thinking "c'mon, i need some more action man MY FIX" but it's not at all to discredit the calm interludes between matches, just to illustrate how well they're done. i actually sat here and read every page in order, and after one hundred i'm still hungry for more. as i touched upon at the beginning of the review, this comic reminds me of a time in my life that i haven't thought about in a good six years, and makes me miss it. a bit biaist i admit, but with this genre (sports) it's hard not to come across as cheesy and over the top, and albone absolutely nails it.

4/5

You guys are way awesome with some extremely helpful tips and tricks. Sorry for being such a slug about posting a thanks, but I um, er.... just found this now.

Thanks again and I am hoping to continue to improve and thanks to the regular readers of Rival Angels, I appreciate it more than you know.