Ezekiel is one of the characters that appears in Sins of the Black Flamingo series created by Andrew Wheeler and Travis Moore. His features and physique are undeniable in their stunning beauty. As the wings attest, there is more to Ezekiel. The story of his entrapment traces back to around the time period of the founding of the United States and writer/ creator Andrew Wheeler uses the origin as an allegory for the country’s legacy of bigotry and racism.
A clandestine meeting is held with a select few proud and arrogant patriots in attendance. Having knowledge of the world’s dark secrets, their goal is to ensure God’s blessing upon the country, by which I mean themselves to obtain power and riches over other people, especially those people who are not white. Their plan is to trap one of the Heavenly angelic hosts and bind it to the body of a newly deceased man is successful but the consequences of their arrogance is quite horrific. Only two survive: the angel trapped inside a human body and Thorndike Scar, the man who was contracted by the schemers.
The seraph is named Ezekiel though the name may have belonged to the man in whose body the angel is trapped. The name Ezekiel (“God is strong”) references the prophet Ezekiel of the Torah and Old Testament who encountered four angels. As with other seraphim, Ezekiel has powers to command, which is why a potent magical collar is used for restraint. Writer Andrew Wheeler devised a method by which Thorndike Scar further restrains Ezekiel to ensure his longevity into the 21st century which is how the jaded and smug thief Sebastian Harlow (AKA the Black Flamingo) encounters them. That obliquely explains the how and the why for their meeting won’t be spoiled here for anyone who has yet to read the story. Perhaps the greatest power Ezekiel has is his gentle and loving ability to undo completely Harlow’s hardened outlook.
Wheeler and artist Travis Morre keep to the Judiac and biblical tradition that angels are genderless and without human form. The panels that show Ezekiel in their true form is depicts the seraph having multiple wings, encompassed by fire and energy, and encompassing wheels within wheels within wheels, each wheel bearing multiple gazing eyes. Arguably, this state of being is an example of being non binary in its purest form. It is only by being trapped inside the body of a dead man that causes the angel to present as male.
Ezekiel first appears in Sins of the Black Flamingo #1 and was created by Andrew Wheeler and Travis Moore. Art by Moore and Bonvillain from Sins of the Black Flamingo #3.
Please read other profiles of characters from Sins of the Black Flamingo: Sebastian Harlow, Abel & Zayde Steinem, and Ofelia Grace.
All rights reserved Andrew Wheeler and Travis Moore.