Angel: After the Fall (Maxi-Series)

Creator: Brian Lynch, Joss Whedon
Publisher: IDW Publishing
Genre: Fantasy, Drama, Horror, Comic
Rating: C+

I’ve long been a fan of Joss Whedon’s Buffyverse, to which the series Angel belongs.  While I never loved Angel as much as its predecessor, I did pretty much enjoy all five seasons of it and was also happy to hear about the continuation of the series via a comic book.  In my opinion, the medium of comics is pretty much perfect for works like those that come from Joss Whedon’s mind as you’re restricted not by money or the limitations of technology but rather by your own imagination.  Whedon and his crew have amazing imaginations, thus when I heard about Angel: After the Fall I was really excited.

The story picks up shortly after the events of the series finale, and following Team Angel’s attempt to eliminate Wolfram & Hart and the Circle of the Black Thorne, our favourite group of evil lawyers retaliated by sending Angel, his crew, and all of Los Angeles to Hell – literally.  The bulk of the old crew is back, but each has been transformed in some way or another by the final battle, and it’s up to Team Angel – or perhaps just Angel – to figure out how to get L.A. out of Hell, or at least just make it a better place for the many humans now enslaved by the demon population.

I liked the overall arch of the first half of this series, and the way that Angel’s problems are both the same things that he’s been dealing with since the time he was on Buffy while also being completely knew.  The Buffyverse world has completely changed, and After the Fall really shows how it’s changing.  It’s a fun world to watch, although certainly not a fun one to be in.  Another thing that I liked was the fact that the first half of the series did retain a lot of the Angel elements, notably the tone and humour, while embarking into this new world.  The things that attracted me to the show are still here, just slightly different.

What I disliked, however, was the fact that things were confusing.  The introduction of the series is a bit confusing and things are presented out of order – I liked the First Night arch, but as a reader who is potentially waiting for monthly installments it took way too long to get there.  Furthermore there’s the introduction of new characters, characters who appeared in Angel, and characters who have appeared in previous Buffyverse comics but neither TV series.  A lot of this gets really confusing, leaving the reader going ‘who the hell is that’ a lot of the time.  Even when this does get clarified, if it gets clarified, it’s still a bit jarring at first.  This is particularly annoying in regards to the Angel regulars; the people who we should be able to recognize but don’t do so quickly because of the way they’re drawn.  Making matters worse is the fact that the art itself isn’t always consistent, thus Angel in one issue might look different from Angel in another issue, and thus you have to reintroduce yourself to even major characters every few issues.  The only exceptions here are the characters who really stand out – Lorne (who is green and has horns), Illyria (who has blue hair), Gunn (who is black), and Spike (who is Spike).  This is something that really gets worse as the series continues and more characters are introduced.  It’s not a good sign when the main character of your series is not easily recognizable.

To end this arch on a good note, however, I did really like the dragon and the way that his name was alluded to but not revealed for so long. It was a nice running joke as different people figured it out, and then more so as the reader finally figured it out. There are nice hints and I think the name in general really shows the way  that Angel has evolved over the course of the series.