Following the success of the Buffy Season 8 comics from Dark Horse, IDW Publishing approached Joss Whedon to do the same for Angel and the result was "After The Fall". Just like with Buffy Season 8, I'd read the first few issues as scans when they first came out but then lost touch for some reason (I don't remember why). So after I'd caught up with the Buffy stories I picked up the Angel ones as well, but I didn't read them right away. That is because IDW's paperback publishing schedule seems to be much slower than Dark Horse. There are 43 single issues of the comic (not including spin-offs). The first 38 have been split into 8 volumes and released in hardback, but only the first 8 issues (2 volumes) have been released in paperback. There's still no sign of TPB volume 3 on the release calendar but I finally got around to reading the first two volumes anyway.
In a similar way to the Buffy comics much has changed since the TV series due to cataclysmic final episodes. So the situation is very different here but the characters are all here, in some shape or form. Joss Whedon has not been as directly involved with this series as he was with Buffy Season 8 but main writer Brian Lynch is obviously a fan and has done a good job here. Artist Franco Urru does a great job on the main issues here while the guests on the "First Night" shorts offer some nice variations. It's a bit early to tell where the story will be going but these serve as a nice re-introduction. Now if only IDW would just pick up the release pace.
Following the success of the Buffy Season 8 comics from Dark Horse, IDW Publishing approached Joss Whedon to do the same for Angel and the result was "After The Fall". Just like with Buffy Season 8, I'd read the first few issues as scans when they first came out but then lost touch for some reason (I don't remember why). So after I'd caught up with the Buffy stories I picked up the Angel ones as well, but I didn't read them right away. That is because IDW's paperback publishing schedule seems to be much slower than Dark Horse. There are 43 single issues of the comic (not including spin-offs). The first 38 have been split into 8 volumes and released in hardback, but only the first 8 issues (2 volumes) have been released in paperback. There's still no sign of TPB volume 3 on the release calendar but I finally got around to reading the first two volumes anyway.
In a similar way to the Buffy comics much has changed since the TV series due to cataclysmic final episodes. So the situation is very different here but the characters are all here, in some shape or form. Joss Whedon has not been as directly involved with this series as he was with Buffy Season 8 but main writer Brian Lynch is obviously a fan and has done a good job here. Artist Franco Urru does a great job on the main issues here while the guests on the "First Night" shorts offer some nice variations. It's a bit early to tell where the story will be going but these serve as a nice re-introduction. Now if only IDW would just pick up the release pace.
Very nice! It must be reassuring when you can tell the writer is a fan - you don't know where the story is going, but you can trust it will be going somewhere that you can approve of!
ReplyDeleteBut my goodness, you really need your brain firing on all cylinders to cope with all the seasons, volumes, etc. I don't know how you do it, I am very impressed. And when I think that you cope with this not just for Buffy but for many other series as well, then I am pretty stunned.
BTW saw trailer for Thor today, it looks terrific.