Sky Doll: Religion and Androids

   World renowned publisher Marvel and French publisher Soleil, have teamed up to introduce a stunning work of art to English speakers of the world.
   Sky Doll, originally published in French in 2000 is available in few stores, but thank goodness for Amazon.com!
   Conceived by Alessandro Barbucci and Barbara Canepa, Sky Doll takes place in a world, Papathea, where religion and sexuality have collided full force, where two papacies of two women, Agape and Lodovica once stood strong and a sweet android named Noa gets swept up in the madness.

Let me break it down for you:

What is a Sky Doll?
    A Sky Doll is an life-like android that is used for company and pleasure...but mostly pleasure. The way they are drawn leaves little to the imagination and even less to one's self esteem. It is a world where busty and curvaceous robots have no rights and no free-will. However, the main character, Noa, is different. She has feelings, suggestions, she tries to create memories to remember things. Witty and intelligent, she stows away on the ship of two missionaries and embarks on a journey to discover the ups and downs of the world she's been missing out on and learns a few things about herself on the way

Religion:
   To those that are religiously sensitive HEED the MATURE CONTENT WARNING. If I had to describe the religious tones of this story, I would personally think that Papathea is catholicism on five days of acid rolled up into one day and then smeared on an entertainment magazine.
   As mentioned before, there were two papesses, Agape and Lodovica. Agape represents spirituality while Lodovica represents the carnal side of all beings. Agape has mysteriously disappeared and Lodovica in all her, bloody glory rules her world with a skewed idea of religion and a blatant animosity to her former sister in faith. She hides her true nature behind outrageous public apparitions which are powered by nothing more than strings, blood guns, mass media and animatronics.
    There are those who believe Agape is coming back and they protest Lodovica's reign with demonstrations and even assassination attempts.

    The issue you see to the above is a compilation of three individual comics: "The Yellow City," "Aqua," and "The White City." BUT in 2011 a 4th issue will be released titled "Sudra."
Am I irritated?
Slightly.
But relieved that the story isn't over yet. I would recommend buying the above issue as opposed to the individual issues because you bypass the confusion of variant covers and just get all the tasty artwork in 144 colourful pages.
Sky Doll is funny, question inducing and beautiful to look at, the artwork is beyond lovely. My favourite is the cover art for "Aqua."
I am anxiously awaiting the English release of "Sky Doll Spaceship" which delves more into Noa's past encounters.
-Sabina Gallier

Cover art for The Yellow City, Aqua, and The White City.