Bill Willingham's attempt at writing an Angel Comic - Review

So, I'm back in Brooklyn, more or less. Got back on Sat. Took Monday off, and I'm glad I did.
Gave me time to get my house in order. Also picked up the latest comics, finished Connie Willis' Doomsday Book, and watched the latest episode of Dollhouse as well as my netflix of The Incredible Hulk.

Regarding the comics: picked up Bill Willingham's Angel, Issue 28 (out of curiousity), Lynch's Last Angel in Hell (aka what Hollywood would have done with a film version of the Lynch Angel comic - also out of curiousity), and Buffy S8, issue 31, The Willow One-Shot by Whedon.

Have only read the Willingham to date. And, a lot of other reviews regarding it - one by ComicsForum (who liked it a lot more than I did, but then I think the reviewer may actually be Connor's age, which would make sense - this is clearly written and marketed for a young male demographic), flake_sake, and shapinglight (who liked it more than I did, but less than ComicsForum - at least I think it was comics forum.)

First off, I'm not anal about a lot of things, actually fairly flexible - or I wouldn't watch or read half the things that I do. Ecletic tastes, big time. Also when it comes to adaptations of stories from one medium to another, I sort of go with the flow. Same deal with fanfic.

But, there are a few things that I require in an adaptation, fanfiction or derivative work of an original:

1. characters should be recognizable - if they aren't, I start wondering why the person didn't write a story with brand new characters.
2. the characters should be explored in a new and interesting way - tell me something I could not find out by just rewatching the series, some new angle, new point of view, otherwise this is a waste of my time. Especially since the series probably did it better the first time around.
3. If you have decided to continue a story from the original series, book or work and you are calling your story a continuation of that one, and stating that it is a continuation of those characters based on the original canon and canonical to that story - continuity is important.
(Granted some flexibility must be allowed here - since each writer may view what happened before differently. I've seen and read too many serials that have changed writing teams too many times, not to be somewhat flexible in this regard. And, my memory is far from perfect. But, you should stick at least to a degree with what happened in the original, and you might want to make sure you've read or seen all of the original before writing. Because your audience has done so and will pick up on inconsistencies that take them out of the story. ETA: Note to Willingham and future Angel writers as well as IDW? You might want to take the time to actually watch the full series of Angel and Buffy, as well as read the comics that came before before attempting to write a new chapter in it - just saying. (Willingham apparently just read the comics, and watched part of the Angel TV series and the early seasons of Buffy.))

If you feel the same way that I do about the above three items? I'm guessing you are going to have problems with Willingham's take on Angel.
( Review of Willingham's attempt at Angel - Spoilers galore. )