Angel

Angel has a problem. He’s back in LA and old faces have followed him there, a lot of whom really, really should be dead. Spike has a problem too, he’s back in LA and, again, old ghosts are jumping out of the shadows and attacking him in an all too real, all too painful way. Now, Angel and Spike have come face to face, both are convinced the other is a figment of their imagination and both are looking to exercise some creatively therapeutic violence on the other. Gentlemen, start your engines...

Tipton writes the conflicting viewpoints of the two vampires with absolute confidence, especially in the first few pages. There are some nice nods to both the Buffy and Angel series as Spike in particular revels in the opportunity to take part in what he thinks is a guilt free beating of Angel. There’s a lot of thought behind this. Both men are clearly off balance and both interestingly falling back on their basic dislike of the other. As a result, this fits absolutely with both TV shows without ever overtly name checking them. In this way, Tipton has managed the near impossible, putting together a tie in comic that doesn’t feel like a tie in comic.

Even the actual fight is in keeping with the characters’ personalities. There’s a great moment halfway through where Spike, going against all his instincts, does something unusually subtle and stealthy (for him). It goes wrong, he realises it’s gone wrong and accepts that even as he jumps onto Angel’s face, feet first. The best fight scenes are, on some level, a conversation between the characters and this is one of them, matching Spike’s arrogant brawling with Angel’s more focussed but no less angry style.

The eventual reveal of why they’re fighting and why they’ve been having such a bad time of it is equally impressive, both subtle and absolutely in keeping with what the characters have in common. It also leads to an extended conversation between the two which nicely sets up the next issue and provides a welcome breather from the crunching violence of the previous issues. Once again, Tipton impresses, nailing the rhythms of both characters’ speech and again fitting the scene neatly into the established tone of the Buffy universe.

Tipton is backed up by the excellent David Messina, whose style is reminiscent here of a slightly more proportionate Ed Mcguiness. There’s the same chunky, brawny style but tempered by a keen understanding of the characters and their relative sizes as well as a nice eye for coreography. His Angel is particularly impressive, a brooding, hulking tank of a figure compared to Spike’s smaller, more agile frame.

This is a quality addition to the canon, a tie in which nails the tone, style and look of what it’s based on. Smart, funny and violent, this is a quality entry in a quality series.