Angel : After The Fall

The finale of Joss Whedon’s Angel left half of the fandom in awe at how the lack of resolution was brilliant and fitting and the other half wondering what the hell happened after the screen cut to black. Wesley was dead, a depressed Lorne exited stage right, Connor was told to stay out of the fight, and the rest of our heroes—Angel, Spike, Illyria, and a mortally wounded Gunn—were in an alley, facing an army of thousands of demons that Wolfram & Hart had sent as punishment for Angel’s rebellion. Among those demons? A big damn dragon.

The moment Angel charges, delivering the iconic line “Let’s go to work,” the screen cuts to black in a Sopranos-esque symbolic ending. Joss Whedon said, “…the point of the show is that you’re never done; no matter who goes down, the fight goes on” (Whedon, TV Guide Interview). The theme of Angel as a series is that the fight never ends, so of course the show had to end in the middle of Angel’s biggest brawl yet. Personally, the ending made me glad to be a fan of such a smart and daring show. “Fans want to know if Angel and Co. survived? Pshaw!” I said pretentiously in a faux British accent. “Don’t they know that that’s not the point?”

Despite the apparent finality of the ending, the moment it was announced that Angel would be continued in comic book form by Joss Whedon, creator and all around ginger-haired genius, and Brian Lynch, the writer of the hilarious and spot-on Spike: Asylum (also, very tall), I was among the fans squealing and whooping. Not to mention, the series was to be penciled by a roster of fantastic artists, including Franco Urru, Stephen Mooney, Nick Runge, John Bryne, and many more. All of the academic interest in Angel’’s ending was forgotten, as we would finally know what happened in the alley!

In a move of sheer brilliance, however, Joss and Brian’s story opens after the fight is over. Angel: After the Fall opens in an alley, but there isn’t an insurmountable horde of demons. There are a few demons, though, and just as they’re about to feast on some people, Angel jumps in and does what he does best—saving lives. Only this time, he’s got a little help in the form of a giant, fire-breathing dragon. Angel says, “(The dragon) was part of (Wolfram & Hart). Two minutes into fighting him, I realized he was as misled as I was” (After the Fall #1). Once the demons are sliced, diced, and nice and crispy, Angel gives the civilians directions to a safe house before he hops on the dragon’s back for a ride home. They fly over L.A., which looks a bit different than the last time we saw it. Fire shoots from the ground, tentacles and mouths sprout from buildings, and the sun and the moon are out at the same time. All in all, not your average Tuesday. Angel says, “My friends stood by me. Wolfram & Hart sent an army. There were losses on both sides. And then Wolfram & Hart sent Los Angeles to Hell” (After the Fall #1). And that’s quite literal. L.A. is in Hell and the city has been divided among demons who saw “the Fall” as an opportunity to come to power. These so-called lords have claimed Compton, Burbank, Century City, Downtown L.A., Santa Monica, Sherman Oaks, Weho, Westwood, and Beverly Hills as their territories.

Los Angeles isn’t the only thing that has dramatically changed. Wesley has been resurrected by Wolfram & Hart… but with a catch. He’s a ghost, which is bad enough, but he is also being used by W&H as their last official representative of the L.A. Branch, just to hurt Angel. Wes spends most of his time playing the role, secretly doing what he thinks is best for Angel, who is being kept alive by Wolfram & Hart for their own unknown purposes. Wesley wants to know why.

Spike and Illyria are the “co-lords” of Beverly Hills. They put up the front that they’re engaging in the same human-slave-keeping activities as the other lords, but they’ve really been housing up at the Playboy Mansion (in the prequel spin-off Spike: After the Fall, Spike stakes Hugh Hefner…who was clearly a vampire) giving shelter to humans who need it. Spike has been spending as much time as possible keeping these humans safe, but most of his efforts have to go to babysitting Illyria, who has been going through some… changes. The atmosphere of Hell affects all demons, but especially her; it has been tapping into some of her old power, making her and the people around her shift through time… often causing her turn back into Fred at inopportune times.

Connor is running the safe house that Angel mentioned to the civilians. He operates it with help from Nina and Gwen, who have both been affected by the Fall in odd ways. The L.I.S.A. device that Gwen had been using to control her electricity since the Angel episode “Players”4.16) has been rendered useless, and she’s full-on electric girl again. Nina’s problem is a bit stranger; when she, caught up in the moment, begins licking one of the people she is supposed to be guarding, she says, “It’s the sun/moon situation! They’re both out at once. Do you have any idea what that does to a werewolf?” (ATF #I).

Lorne is making the best of the hellish situation. In order to combat the depression he suffered in the last season of Angel, he turns Silverlake into a sanctuary for humans and benevolent demons. With some help from a sorceress, all the nastiness of Hell was removed from Silverlake and a bubble was formed around the city, protecting Lorne and his friends from the wicked environment. Lorne, however, has not abandoned Angel and his other friends. He keeps a watch over them through… well, a crystal ball.

Gunn has changed the most. He’s still trying to be a hero, to find a way to rescue Los Angeles from Hell… but the thing of it is, though, he didn’t quite make it out of that alley alive. Moments before the Fall, he was dragged away by a gang of vampires; Angel was oblivious to this, as he was busy freeing the dragon from Wolfram & Hart’s spell. Gunn wakes up, devastated and furious to find the changes that went on overnight. Simultaneously, he discovers that L.A. is in Hell and that his worst nightmare has come true: he has been turned into a vampire. Quickly killing his sire, Gunn claims the vampire gang as his own and begins his quest to return L.A. to normalcy. Gunn takes down Burge, the Lord of Westwood, in order to kidnap a telepathic fish named Betta George whom he feels is key in unraveling the mystery of Wolfram & Hart. He also steals a mystical item from Burge called the Eye of Ramras, which he takes back to his home and adds to a shrine he is building as a part of his plan. When Betta George—who was a character from Brian Lynch’s Spike: Asylum that Joss Whedon wanted to include in this story—calls Gunn a vampire, Gunn protests, saying that he is not. He says:

“I spent a good part of my life dusting them. The best part, actually. And then. I was fool enough to trust one. Led me into a battle that ended with me being dragged away and turned while he played goddamn dragon-whisperer. But even now…with this disease…I’m making things right. See, someone fancies himself a white hat because he’s got a soul. Thinks he gets in touch with the man he was. Makes him good. Funny thing, though. Maybe the man he was wasn’t all that good to begin with. But at the end of the day, he gives up. On everything. On us. But it’s fine… I’m going to save us all” (ATF #2).

What complicates Gunn’s hero complex, however, is the fact that he kills and eats humans for dinner due to the whole not-having-a-soul thing.

And then, there’s Angel. He wants to make a move, but he’s been separated from his friends. He knows it’s his fault that Wolfram & Hart has sent Los Angeles to Hell, and that just adds endless weight to his already insurmountable guilt. In a desperate move actually to do something, he challenges all of the demon lords of L.A. to a battle. Angel will fight their chosen champions in an all-or-nothing match for control of L.A.. It’s strikingly similar to Angel’s assassination of the Circle of the Black Thorn members that led to this situation in the first place, only this time, things are—if possible—more dire…Angel is alone. Also, another aspect of Wolfram & Hart’s punishment is revealed by Angel’s internal thoughts after he makes the challenge:

“A rash decision? Yeah… Two days to figure out how I’m bringing down half a dozen of hell’s most brutal minions. And to heal from normally mortal wounds. Another thing about hell. Doesn’t alter a vampire’s healing faculties, so a vamp can still mend quickly. Which, of course, would mean so much more… if I were still a vampire” (ATF #3).

In order to make him defenseless, Wolfram & Hart made Angel into a human. His greatest wish was granted at the worst possible time.

And, naturally, when Gunn discovers that Angel has been granted humanity… he isn’t so happy.

The series reaches its first climax when Angel faces off against the lords’ chosen warriors, alone at first… until Connor, Spike, Nina, Gwen, Illyria, Lorne, and Groosalugg join him. Angel says, “This was my fight. I was never going to ask anyone to help. Turns out… I didn’t have to” (ATF #5). In the midst of the worse crisis the gang has ever faced, they rekindle their friendships.

After the lords are taken care of, things get even hotter in Hell. As the gang investigates what has been going on with Illyria/Fred, Angel finally faces off with Gunn, which leads to a fight, an ancient demon returning to its original and monstrous form in the middle of Hell, a few major character deaths, the devastating revelation of the true nature of the Shanshu Prophecy, a betrayal, and the biggest and most important fight of Angel’s life.

Brian Lynch has written, with plotting from Joss Whedon, the biggest and perhaps best Angel story ever told. While the stakes are higher than they’ve ever been for Angel and his friends, the focus never veers away from the characters. It’s the exploration of Angel’s dedication to the good fight; Spike’s passion to be his own man and follow his heart; Connor’s maturation; Illyria’s confusion and fall; Wesley’s need to be released; and Gunn’s broken heart that make this story what it is. Angel: After the Fall does the impossible; it does justice to the brilliant finale that came before it, tells its own epic story, and sets up things to come for IDW’s excellent on-going Angel series. Angel might have had one of the best and smartest endings to a television series, but it is continued by an equally smart comic book. If you have yet to read the series, take the trip to your local comic shop or bookstore. The series is collected both as a giant oversized hardcover volume and as four smaller books.