By my count there were 17 collected editions of IDW stories
featuring the crew from Angel. I decided to reread them then I decided I should
review them because I never did the first time around.
Angel: After the Fall
Volume 1 by Joss Whedon, Brian Lynch, and Franco Urro
Beginning months after the final episode of Angel, we find
that Wolfram & Hart sent Los Angeles to Hell. That isn’t the only huge
change masterfully handled by Brian Lynch. This volume is packed with twists
and turns: Angel is human, Wes is an intangible emissary for Wolfram &
Hart, Gunn is a vampire, Spike has taken up Angel’s role as champion, and
Illyria and Lorne are both ‘lords’ of their respective territories.
Angel is doing his best to protect humans and find a way to
pull Los Angeles out of Hell. He kills the son of a Lord and decides that
instead of waiting for the father to take his revenge, Angel challenges all the
Lords for control of Los Angeles. Angel doesn’t ask his friends for help but it
turns out he doesn’t need to as the gang (sans Gunn) reunite to help Angel beat
back the forces of evil once again. Meanwhile Gunn is plotting something big.
Good: We get to see Angel, Wes, Gunn, Lorne, Illyria, Spike,
Connor, Nina, Gwen, and even Groo. The story is great, and the way the characters
act feels like the show.
Bad: The artwork. I know Urro was handpicked, but it’s not
great to look at. In one panel, where Gunn is looking at a photo, you can’t
tell which character is Fred and which one is Cordelia.
Angel: After the Fall
Volume 2: First Night by Joss Whedon, Brian Lynch, David Messina, Stephen
Mooney, John Byrne, Nick Runge, Fabio Mantorani, Kevin Schmidt, Scott Tipton,
and Mirco Pierfedericic
Brian Lynch shows us what happens to Angel, Wes, Gunn,
Lorne, Illyria, Spike, Connor, Gwen, and Kate on their first night in Hell. For
all the twists and turns in the first volume, we learn how Angel discovered he
was human, Lorne helped make Silverlake a utopia, and what Connor and Gwen were
doing the moment everything went to Hell.
Good: The best story was Lorne’s, done all in rhyming verses
but Gwen’s was great too. I appreciated Gwen getting a little attention since
she was a character I wished we’d seen more on the show. I loved Wes ‘going to
Heaven’ to be reunited with Fred and seeing it for a Wolfram & Hart trick.
Wes was always the smart one (except for that one time with kidnapping Connor
and stuff).
Bad: Some stuff is just extraneous and didn’t need a back
story. Concerning the “Civilians” chapter, Kevin Schmidt’s art is horrible and
the story’s not that great.
Angel: After the Fall
Volume 3 by Joss Whedon, Brian Lynch, and David Messina, Stephen Mooney, and
Nick Runge
Team Angel defeats the Lords of Los Angeles. Now that
they’ve been reunited they need a place to go since Gunn blew up the offices of
Wolfram & Hart (in volume 1) so they set up shop at the Hyperion. Angel is
back on the trail of a vampire sitting on a lot of power. Unfortunately, that
path leads directly to Gunn who is convinced he has visions from the Powers-That-Be
and wants revenge on Angel for not saving him from being turned. While Spike
and Connor try to get past Gwen who has cut a deal, Gunn gets his revenge.
Close to death, Angel has an out-of-body experience and is reunited with
Cordelia who wants to make his passing easier.
Good: Gwen a traitor? Nice twist. It’s always great to see
Cordelia and there’s a lot of great stuff with Wes and Illyria.
Bad: Nothing. This volume perfectly capitalizes on the
storylines introduced in the first volume.
Angel: After the Fall
Volume 4 by Joss Whedon, Brian Lynch, Stephen Mooney, and Franco Urro
Wolfram & Hart believe that Angel is prophesied to be
evil’s MVP. Sending Los Angeles to Hell was more about Angel watching Connor,
his friends, and his city suffer than it was about killing Angel. In fact, the
Lords of Hell were under strict orders not to kill Angel. They even made him
human so he’d be a less effective hero. What they didn’t count on was Gunn
taking him to the precipice of death so Wolfram & Hart throws everything
they’ve got at Team Angel to rescue their future MVP.
A mostly restored Angel has to then take on the most
powerful being in Hell: Illyria. With Connor, his friends, and innocents dying
all around him, Angel comes up with a solution that gets Los Angeles out of
Hell. While the remnants of Team Angel keep Wolfram & Hart’s demons away,
Angel uses Gunn’s hatred of him to get Gunn to kill him.
Wolfram & Hart cannot let Angel die so they pull Angel
from the time stream during that epic battle at the end of season five and
before they went to Hell. Not only does Team Angel remember everything in Hell
but so do the citizens of Los Angeles. Angel saves Gunn from being turned and
is reunited with a Connor who now remembers everything about his life. In the midst
of Angel’s newfound notoriety (most people in Los Angeles know who he is
because they saw him in Hell) he restarts Angel Investigations and gets back to
the business of helping the helpless.
Good: So many moments in this volume. There’s a panel where
Team Angel is walking toward the reader and Angel says “Cue the music.” There
are two great scenes with Connor: one while he’s dying and one when he’s
reunited with Angel. One of the extras the original outline for issue #1 and
overview of the series that Brian Lynch gave Joss. The difference between that
first proposal and what you see are a lot different but make for an interesting
read.
Bad: Angel gives Groo his dragon. Exactly where does Groo
take a dragon and a Pegasus where they won’t stand out? And Angel’s “Cue the
music” moment would have been cooler if the artwork was better.
Angel Volume 5:
Aftermath by Joss Whedon, Kelly Armstrong, Dave Ross, and Stefano Martino
While Spike, Gunn, Illyria, and Lorne go their own way,
Angel assembles a new team to fight the forces of evil. Angel, Connor, and Kate
are joined by redemption-seeking Gwen, the mysterious Dez, and the real-life
angel, James. Angels are on earth doing a little demon clean-up but step over
the line with they kill helpless humans. (IS THAT TRUE? CHECK AGAIN)
Good: I like meeting new and interesting characters and
seeing them interact and bond with established characters. Dez and James both
have unique origins that I haven’t seen in the Whedonverse. Plenty of laughs as
Angel and Kate (the founding members of this incarnation of Angel
Investigations) try to figure out how to screen jobs as they keep falling into
ambushes and plots to get Angel’s autograph.
Bad: Nothing. Great characterizations, great stories, and
interesting new characters made reading this volume a lot of fun.
Angel Volume 6: Last
Angel in Hell by Brian Lynch, Franco Urru, Juliet Landau, and Stephen Mooney
In this volume, Non, a former Lord of Hell, restores Gunn to
full health and has to face Illyria over what happened between them in Hell.
Fortunately for Gunn, they’re both seeking a better understanding of who they
are post-Hell. This single-issue story leads directly into the “Angel: Still
Human” mini series. Drusilla is in a psyche hospital where some of the employees
know she’s a vampire. The flaming sword that killed Angel in Hell is being
auctioned at a sci-fi convention in San Diego. Suspecting that a winner will be
someone who wants to kill him, he travels to San Diego with Groo and runs into
Spike. Together they have to not only kill demons but keep the convention goers
safe when they become the characters that they’re dressed as. And we get to
read the adaptation of “Last Angel in Hell,” Hollywood’s film about what
happened in Hell.
Good: I like the standalone issue that leads into the
“Angel: Still Human” mini-series. The stuff with Angel and Spike at the sci-fi
convention is funny but when Spike becomes Angel (thanks to a spell) the funny
gets cranked up to, “I’m crying, please stop, it hurts.” Groo is consistently
hilarious here. It could be that the two issues with Angel and Spike at the
convention are the two best issues of the series.
Bad: Juliet Landau helps pen a tale that made me flip back
and forth between pages as I tried to understand what was going on. The
flashbacks were confusing and when the demon army comes for her at the end, I
don’t understand why they attacked her or if she died (is she supposed to be in
heaven at the end?).
Angel Volume 1:
Immortality For Dummies by Bill Willingham, Brian Denham, Bill Williams, and
David Messina
When Angel is captured by an evil corporation bent on using
his blood to create vampires, Connor takes control of Angel Investigations.
With his father missing, a mysterious army of women who claim they are his army,
the return of Gunn, Illyria, and Spike to Team Angel’s ranks, Connor may have
bitten off more than he can handle which will result in Gunn quitting the team.
And Eddie Hope is a blue devil hunting down people who he has a score to settle
with from his days in Hell.
Good: Finally Gunn says all the things to Connor that
Connor-hating Angel fans have been wanting to say for a long time. Angel has a
very uncomfortable conversation with Illyria Laura Kay Weathermill is an
interesting addition to the Angel team and has a Watcher background. Great art
throughout from Brian Denham & David Messina.
Bad: Dez and James get very little to do and are virtually
ignored by the established characters.
Angel Volume 2: The
Crown Prince Syndrome by Bill Willingham, David Tischman, Mariah Huchner, and
Elena Casagrande
It turns out that James isn’t an angel and he wants Team
Angel dead. A soul eating demon goes after the team and reveals that Spike has
no soul and kills Dez before being killed. And Eddie Hope goes after Gunn for
his crimes in Hell and Angel Investigations comes to the rescue.
Good: Great final fight at the end with all of Team Angel
including Gunn.
Bad: After a great introduction in volume 5 and being almost
virtually ignored through 2 more volumes, James is a villain and Dez is dead.
These last few volumes have suffered through different writers who seem to
focus strictly on the characters who appeared on TV instead of embracing all of
the characters on the team. And Anne, a character who appeared on Buffy a few
times (she was the vampire worshipper who got stuck in a demon dimension with
Buffy and appeared over on Angel where she runs a teen shelter) dies. James
pops in and has minions kill everyone in her teen center. The killing happens
‘off screen’ so she’s either dead or playing host to a demon that will have to
be killed later. And no Groo? What’s up with that?
Angel Volume 3: The
Wolf, The Ram, and The Heart by Mariah Huehner, David Tischman, Elena
Casagrande, Stephen Mooney, and Jason Armstrong
Angel leaves Connor in charge of Angel Investigations and
heads off into the sunset only to be ripped out of the timeline by Wolfram
& Hart. Angel finds the future Los Angeles has become a collection a demon
breeding farms and humans are the bottom of the food chain. Angel locates
Illyria, the one person who can send him back to the past and help him stop
James once and for all.
Good: The IDW series is over.
Bad: Darrow (a lawyer for Wolfram & Heart) starts as a
powerful, jerk of a character who becomes a nice guy as he’s dying. After Rowant
kills James, she tells Angel he’ll be in charge of Los Angeles. With a ‘god’
more powerful than James standing five feet from Angel, he asks Illyria to send
him back through time and leaves without conflict. Connor’s new power allows
him to take Anne’s pregnancy and transfer it to James to kill him. How about
Connor’s new power in general? What does it do? What is it? This is a lousy
story with too simple (or convenient) a solution to a promising premise.
Angel: Only Human by
Scott Lobdell & David Messina
Illyria and Gunn are trying to sort themselves out
post-‘After the Fall’ when Fred’s parents call to say her Uncle has passed
away. Illyria and Gunn travel to Fred’s birthplace and Gunn finds himself between
the Scourge and the Stygian demons they’re trying to kill while Illyria battles
an old enemy who has a portion of her power thanks to the same mutari generator
that took that power from her.
Good: The story was great from start to finish. The
beginning reminds you of the things that happened between Gunn and Fred and his
involvement in making Illyria possible. Gunn has always been one of the most
badass members of the Angel team (he’s the guy who TWICE willingly put on a
charm that caused him to get the heart ripped out of his chest every day) and
this series reminds you why. Illyria is a compelling character made more
interesting because the Team Angel can’t help but see Fred in her. The mini
series is pitch perfect and Scott Lobdell should be doing more stuff in the
Buffy/Angel universe.
Bad: Scott Lobdell should be writing more stories in the
Whedonverse – he obviously loves the source material.
Spike: After the Fall
by Brian Lynch & Franco Urru
Spike survived Wolfram & Hart’s siege only to find
himself and Los Angeles in hell. The events of this mini series occur before
the first issue of Angel: After the Fall.
Spike has been reunited with Illyria and together they’re
rescuing and rounding up human survivors. Illyria keeps slipping back into the
more vulnerable Fred so Spike tries to keep her Illyria. But when Non and her
demon army show up, Spike is captured and tortured for over a month while Non
sucks the life-force from his human followers. By the end, Spike has killed
Non, freed her demon army, reunited with Connor, and lost every one of his
human followers.
Good: Brian Lynch has a great grip on the characters, their
personalities, and it seems like he wrote this before the first issue of Angel:
After the Fall. This TPB isn’t just a companion to the main series, it’s the
beginning of it and you should read it. Jeremy proves to be a fun character and
his death is a true Whedon-inspired tragedy.
Bad: Spike kills vampire Hugh Heffner – RIP.
Spike Vol 1: Alone
Together Now by Brian Lynch, Franco Urru, and Nicola Zanni
To tackle Las Vegas’ many demons and the local branch of
Wolfram & Hart, Spike assembles a team: Betta George, Beck, Groosalugg,
Cordelia the Dragon, a possessed Jeremy Johns, and…Drusilla??
Along the way, they save Twi-hards, battle a demon made of
Elvis impersonators, and burn the Wolfram & Hart building to the ground.
During Spike’s battle at Wolfram & Hart, he runs into John, a ruthless
killer whose soul was taken to give to Spike. When the group makes their escape
they discover there’s an invisible barrier keeping them in. So while the team
lays low and regroups, Spike decides to add another member to the team: Willow.
Good: Brian Lynch takes full advantage of the character’s
histories and many in-jokes. For example, Spike tries to call Angel at one
point and the caller ID identifies him as Captain Forehead. And Brian Lynch
perfectly sums the character’s complex history up in two pages and shows a
“Twilight”-like movie that was made where the main vampire character was
modeled after Spike. Franco Urru and Nicola Zanni’s art was fantastic. Urru’s
artwork has either grown on me or the inker is really good at making his
pencils work.
It’s good to see Jeremy again even if he’s being possessed
by one of Wolfram & Hart’s demons. I don’t know who Beck is but I’m liking
her. Groo is always a welcome sight because almost everything out of his mouth
is hilarious. And Spike’s reunion with Dru was passionate and unexpected. But
with their complicated history, I guess Spike wouldn’t just kill her as soon as
he saw her.
Bad: Nothing. Brian Lynch makes great use of the characters
and the mythology to craft a story that’s fun and further adds to the
mythology.
Spike Vol 2: Stranger
Things by Brian Lynch, Stephen Mooney, and Franco Urru
The Las Vegas branch of Wolfram & Hart rallies under
Lilah Morgan’s leadership and change tack. Instead of continuing their efforts
on Earth, the senior partners would like an spacecraft capable of
interdimensional transport – and they get it. Meanwhile, Spike’s team is joined
by Willow in time to take on John. But John has created a seal that when
stepped on, removes a person’s soul. Willow tells Spike that the owner of the
soul gets to decide who gets the soul and he chooses Drusilla. With Drusilla in
incredible mental anguish, she gets back on the seal and gives Spike the soul
back. Then Spike meets the bugs.
Good: Willow and Spikes reunion and their goodbyes were
great. It’s a nice reminder that, with everything else going on in these
character’s lives, there was always time for quality, meaningful interaction.
There’s some nice stuff with Willow and Dru when she first gets the soul and is
freaking out and Willow holds her. Spike is a certified bad ass who should have
his own series.
Bad: It’s over. While I was happy that Dark Horse was
uniting all the Buffy-verse characters under one roof, Brian Lynch is a genius
with the Angel characters and great at introducing new characters. When Spike
is standing on the seal carrying Dru, the seal is all pixilated like it was
blown up to a size that was too large. It should have been drawn or at least
cleaned up.
Spike: The Devil You
Know by Bill Williams, Chris Cross, and Marc Deering
When a night on the town for Spike turns into an
assassination attempt, he goes looking for answers. Tansy Fry, a vampire Spike
is acquainted with from his days running with Angel, Darla, and Drusilla has
resurfaced with a plan to open Hellmouths large enough to allow demons to come
through but not big enough to attract Slayers and she plans to keep moving and
opening Hellmouths from city to city. Tansy has an army but it’s not enough to
keep Spike, joined by Eddie Hope, from closing her franchise before it beings.
Good: Eddie Hope and Spike have a lot of great dialogue as
they go through the adventure together and watch each other’s backs. While they
might not be best friends, they have a lot in common. The writing and the art
were on point here.
Bad: When Eddie becomes a demon the tail rips out the back
of his pants so when he changes back from human he changes pants. At one point
he says he’s staying in demon form because he’s out of pants. Then a demon
attacks and for no reason he changes back to a human. He tries to attack the
demon but he’s swatted. Flying through the air you can clearly see his pants
are intact in the back – what happened to the hole the tail left? Then he
changes back to demon to help Spike out. It was just a weird moment where I
thought, “Did the artist make the mistake changing him back to human and the
writer had to go with it?”
Angel: Blood &
Trenches by John Byrne
Angel reads a newspaper article about bodies being drained
of blood in Europe and sees a drawing of the symbols found. Angel pokes around
and discovers the symbol belongs to Kakistos. Kakistos is taking advantage of World
War 1 by cutting a deal with the Kaiser and using the war as cover to recruit
and feed. In order to stop him, Angel has to deal with soldiers who have had to
defend themselves against vampires and know how to kill them, dodge a team of Watchers
led by Geoffrey Wyndam-Price, and kill scores of vampires.
Good: The artwork in this book is all pencils with the only
color being red blood. For John Byrne fans this is a unique book because of
that. Usually all artwork is inked. And it’s cool to see Angel in action
without the mention of atonement. Of course for people who aren’t fans, Angel
kills vampires for no apparent reason. While the vampires talk about his
history, there’s no clear accounting of his history. But since I’m a fan, I
didn’t need the reminder.
Bad: The story jumps around a little bit and while it tells
you things like “a week ago” you lose track of the time period as it either
shows you a few weeks ago or a few hours ago. You can do jump back to periods
before Angel got to Europe, but once there jumping around during his adventure
in Europe gets confusing.
Illyria: Haunted by
Scott Tipton, Mariah Huehner, and Elena Casagrande
Illyria is confused. She was once a god worshipped by
thousands and able to slaughter anything that got in her way. Now she’s trapped
in a shell with only a fraction of her power and all of Spike and Wesley’s
memories of Fred in her head. She has no clear purpose in the world and no way
to get back her former glory. Spike suggests she visit the Deeper Well which
was her prison for so long. She gains some clarity of purpose in time to take
on an ‘old one’ who she inadvertently helps escape from the Deeper Well.
Good: A lot of great stuff with Illyria trying to come to
terms with her place in the world. There’s a really nice dream sequence with
her and Spike where they are drawn in but all of the backgrounds are drawn in
crayon. The artwork is some of the best in the Angel series and so is the
vibrant color throughout. It’s good to see Illyria treated as a character and
not something that delivers threats or literal statements because she doesn’t
have anything to do in a story.
Bad: Her narration square is pink until she touches a gem in
her old cell. Suddenly the narration square is blue and she’s thinking that she
suddenly understands. What was the gem and what did it show her that made her
whole?
Fallen Angel: Reborn
by Peter David and J.K. Woodward
Illyria is trapped by a weak shell in a dimension in which
she isn’t the all-powerful entity she used to be. When a stranger offers a way
to get that power back, Illyria goes on a journey to find her two scythes and
helmet. With those three items reunited, Illyria will be restored. When Illyria
travels to Bete Noire she meets/fights with Fallen Angel and her son. Fallen
Angel is forced into an uneasy alliance with Illyria while trying to convince
her that being restored to her former glory will mean destruction for the
Earth. But with all the pieces assembled, Illyria decides if she becomes what
she was, everything will be the way it was when what she really wants is
change. She destroys the helmet.
Good: The painted art was a nice change – I don’t see
painted art very often. A nice addition to Illyria’s story, by crushing the
helmet she eliminates any possibility of being the all-powerful god she used to
be. I liked the dynamic between Illyria and Fallen Angel as they tried to get
along on the way to uniting the three items.
Bad: I didn’t know anything about Fallen Angel going in but
this story didn’t really endear me to any of them. I didn’t get a sense of who
that character was and I didn’t get a clear indication of what her mission was
in Bete Noir.
