If you've been hankering for a beautifully-illustrated, free steampunk webcomic, then today's launch of FreakAngels may be just the thing you're looking for. The six page launch episode of the weekly strip by Warren Ellis and new artist Paul Duffield may currently be full of familiar Ellis-isms, but is worth your time for the art alone. But don't expect the plot to move quickly, Ellis warns. More preview art below the fold.

Expect future episodes of FreakAngels to feel as interestingly insubstantial as the first. Ellis talked about choosing the webcomic format because,

I realised that if I did it as a web project, I could let it find its own shape, like a novel, and that if anyone complained that they weren't getting six plot points in a single chapter — well, I'm not charging them for it, am I? I'm figuring that, in a free model, enough people will just come along for the ride...

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