Angel After the Fall
OK I know I said I was going to do reviews of both Buffy’s and Angel’s new seasons and here I’ve done reviews on a couple of Buffy books and none of Angel. That’s going to change. This review isn’t of a particular Angel issue it’s more of an evaluation of the series as a whole so far.
First off the series is still relatively new; I mean it’s just on issue 5. The art for the book has been good. The illustration by Franco Urru has been great. I’ve really liked the covers by Tony Harris and Andrew Robinson.
Story wise it’s pretty good taking up a couple of months after the show’s finale. If you didn’t watch the show it ended with LA being sent to hell with Angel and the gang fighting off things in the thick it. Well the comic opens with how Angel got his pet dragon and a little bit on the challenges the new world presents to him.
The comic has so far had several interesting reveals in the situations of both Wesley and Gunn. The situation with Angel is also fascinating; but I can’t say it would be something you’d want to buy unless you were a diehard fan of the show. This revelation came to me after reading issue four of the book. I was excited to Lorne again. Then to bring out Groosalugg; I admit I had a little geekasim I hadn’t thought of the character in so long, but that’s part of the problem. I had to explain who the character was to my husband and he’d watched almost every episode of the show with me. Unless you know the back story of Gunn you won’t know why him being a vampire is a big deal.
Now I’m not saying that it needs a synopsis of the characters histories. The book was built for fans of the show and if you’re a fan you’ve already got it on your subscription list. If you’re not a fan it’s going to be a little hard to start from these issues and understand everything that’s going on.
As for issue five I think it’s the beginning of everything the fans have needed. While there have been a lot of action and the dialog is great there has been something missing with the books. After issue five I finally realized what it was. An ensemble. Joss always said Angel was an ensemble show and so far we’ve seen the little groups. Spike and Illyria, Conner, Gwen and Nina and of course Angel and Wesley; but they’re all separated. I know it works with the story but having everyone together for the big battle is great. The banter between Spike and Angel while they’re fighting the different monsters; I loved that. Hopefully it will continue through the rest of the books. I also have to say the cliff hanger ending was great. Almost makes me want to rush through the next three issues of First Night just so I can see what happens.