Angel & Faith

Honestly, if you’re a fan of Buffy or Angel, you’re going to want to pick this up. Period. Angel & Faith takes off at the end of season eight of Buffy. For those of you that were unaware, there were only seven seasons on TV. The eighth season was done via comic series after the show was canceled. If you haven’t read the eighth season yet – go read it. Now. There were some huge developments. Quite frankly, if you haven’t read the eighth season yet, you’re not going to have any idea what’s going on in Angel & Faith at all. Considering how epic it looks to turn out, you might want to give it a try.

Angel and Faith are probably two of the most popular characters in the Whedonverse, so naturally it was only time before they got their own comic arc, right? I have to say, they do make a pretty good team for a vampire and a Slayer, except for one thing. Their need to right the wrongs off their past cause their emo natures to feed off of each other. When I heard they were doing this series at San Diego Comic Con, I was a little worried about this. It is true, they’re still our Emo King and Queen, but it’s not quite as bad as I thought it would be. Oddly enough, it seems that Faith has stepped up a bit to help Angel deal with his guilt over the Twilight fiasco and killing Giles. For awhile he’d do nothing but sit and stare at the wall while Faith attempted to read Giles’ Watcher files to him. Apparently it worked, because he’s back to kicking supernatural ass again.

What’s a good storyline without a decent villain, right? With Twilight vanquished and no magic left in the world, along with no Slayers, that leaves a pretty big gap as far as evil villains go. The duo to fill in are called Pearl and Nash. They’re a team of half demons that were formerly under the employ of Twilight. Their mother specifically mated with a demon and after birthing them, told them they were a new level of evolution – a demon Adam and Eve. They feed off of negative emotions like fear and lust, so their purpose is to cause as much chaos and death as possible. Twilight kept them under control by telling them they were fulfilling their destiny. They’ll probably keep things interesting in Angel & Faith.

I was pretty pleased with the artwork. It was neither the best or the worst, but I did like the depictions of the main, beloved characters like Angel, Faith and Giles. You could easily tell who everyone was and it was decently detailed. For the most part, it stuck with the darker tones, which was befitting of a horror/drama comic. Something that revolves around supernatural creatures shouldn’t be done in neon colors. It’s just one of those unspoken rules. The cover art was gorgeous, probably one of my favorites out of the Buffy comics. I liked how it had both Faith with her stake and Angel gripping a cross with steam coming off his hand. Very visual symbolism of who they are and what separates them, but also that they’re clearly partners.

Overall, I loved the comic. I like the direction Buffy has been taking ever since the end of the TV show. At first I was on the fence about the Twilight ordeal, but Angel & Faith makes it worth it. They make the perfect team; they compliment each other in every way by being both similar and complete opposites. It’s like when one falls, the other steps up. The only way they could possibly ruin this series is if they try to pull a relationship between the two. Since there seem to be no inclinations of that so far, I’ll be picking up every issue until they do. The universe has been turned upside down – there’s no more Slayers, Giles is dead and Angel has more blood on his hands than Angelus. It’s a breath of fresh air and provides the perfect break from Buffy and her mini Slayers. It’s hard to predict what’ll happen next, but that’s not exactly a bad thing either.

Felicity Gustafson was born in Ohio and, after the astounding realization that there was more to do than look at trees and cows, she decided to become a nerd and got into comics, anime and video games. New to Comics Bulletin, she sticks mostly to reviewing things out of the horror and comedy genres. She spends most of her time working in the manufacturing industry, finishing her computer degree and steadfastly avoiding ham fat at all costs.