Volume 1 – 1st printing. "Live Through This!"
Collects Angel and Faith (2011 Dark Horse) #1-5. Written by Christos N. Gage.
Art by Rebekah Isaacs and Phil Noto. Cover Art by Dan Jackson and Steve Morris.
"Angel has made bad choices in his life. Most recently? While possessed, he
killed Giles. However, he believes he's found a way to make amends, by bringing
the Watcher back from the grave! Cue Faith-rebel Slayer, and Angel's only
ally-who only supports this harebrained scheme in order to keep her friend from
catatonia. New threats emerge as this unlikely duo struggles against real and
personal demons alike, while hitting the dark streets of London!" Softcover,
full color, 136 pages
The Good
Easily, the
1st thing that stood out to me was the beautiful piece by Joe Chen
in the front of the book. Just breathe taking.
The humor.
From the start, you can see that the book will be filled with pretty great
humor. Both blatant and dry. Honestly, that is something I wasn’t expecting.
The humor just added so much to the story. It helped just keep the story
flowing very smoothly. And within the 2nd story, the Doctor Who joke
made me smirk.
The “real
life” aspect. I am new to the Buffy world, so the idea of a world with demons
and magic bound by rules was greatly entertaining. So many daily ideas are bound within the 1st
story. A class system amongst demons, what happens when violence no longer
bothers you, having great skills and talents but not having an outlet for them,
sanity. I was surprised to find all these ideas within this book. Even minor
characters having “real” problems was very interesting to see.
The Bad.
Story
1-“Live Through This”. Once the main plot came to a close, the story just
seemed to go on a little too long. It went on for four pages longer than I
expected. The story was good, just could have ended sooner.
Back story-
I am brand new to these characters. A quick summary of who people are would
have been nice for the readers. I didn’t know who everyone was and I didn’t
know who was supposed to be alive at the beginning of the story.
Most of story 2. The entire book
just seemed so out of place. Where the 1st story made me want to
read, the second just irritated me. In my notes, I wrote the word “fluff”. Maybe it is just that I do not know the Buffy
world, but the story just seemed too silly to follow the “Live through this”. I
rolled my eyes at the zombie vampires.
The art in
story 2. The characters did not really resemble Angel and Faith. I know that it
is difficult to make to resemble real people but some of the pictures were not
even close.
Summary
On my own,
I probably wouldn’t have ever picked up this book, just because it wasn’t my
style. However, after reading it, I am wondering if the still open plot lines
will come to an epic conclusion. The potential of the villains is pretty great
and I’m still not sure if I’m supposed to like Angel or not- and I find that a
good thing.
Overall, it
was a good read with great art for the most part. I am a fan of Christos Gage’s
work and he continued to keep me as a fan. I’m sure this book fits well with
the Whedon vampire universe. I found it interesting and I’m sure the fans would
like it even more.
For more information about this book, check out its page on Dark Horse!
---Walter---
Life With Katie received a copy of this book for the purpose of this review. All thoughts, comments and opinions belong to the author and not the site or publisher.
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