![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Angel Season 6: After the Fall Issue 9- Review
I enjoyed this issue, even if I found the artwork somewhat jarring. Nick Runge drawings are sort of stiff and have too many lines for my taste, I much prefer Frank Urru's softer style, when I look at Urru's pictures - they appear to move, and look like paintings one might see in an animated film. Runge's drawings in contrast feel more like illustrations, stop-motion photographs. The characters frozen under the pencil of the artist. Stuck in time, until he lifts his gaze and tells them they can move. Not that there's anything wrong with that, it's just a style that I find somewhat jarring, and unimpressive, partly because it's how I draw. I'm far more impressed with artists that can capture fluidity of motion.
Georges Jeanty's art is actually much better. And Runge makes me appreciate him, even if Jeanty's women all tend to look like 15 year olds with pudgy cheeks, small busts, and short legs. Runge's characters are at least distinguishable, just a bit stiff. The best part of the comic may be the Wes/Illyria interaction at the end. The worste is the fight sequence at the beginning which because of the artwork is rather confusing. One of the biggest challenges of this particular medium is that - so much must be conveyed by the artist, the setting, the facial expressions of the characters, movement, clothing, action...while in novels the writer can get that across with words, or in film, the actors/set designers/cinematographers get it across. Here - it's the artist. The writer supplies the dialogue, the plot, the explanations, but if the artist is unable to convey expression or movement or even setting, the writer's words fall flat. Runge manages to convey expression quite well, actually. But movement, not as well. It's awkward. And that may be a problem for a series that has so many action sequences.
Regarding the plot of the comic itself...
I read a blog recently, where one of the fans was concerned about how Spike was being portrayed in these comics. Her concerns reminded me a lot of some of the fan backlash I used to see while reading the X-men comics.
The X-men fandom is actually very similar to the Buffy fandom, in that both can be a little crazy and incredibly annoying at times. Both also had a breakout character that caused huge rifts in the fandom and major fights to break out. For the X-men, it was Wolverine. Who was intended to be a minor supporting character, a bit of a wild card, but he eventually became so popular that he started appearing in every Marvel comic, including his own series. Scott Summers fans were less than pleased, particularly when Wolverine suddenly and without warning became Jean Grey's squeeze. For Buffy, the break-out character was Spike. Who in some respects is a lot like the Wolverine character. Short in stature. Attractive. Smokes like a chimney. Loves to drink. A bit of a bad boy. Skilled in martial arts. Rides a bike. And gets all the best one-liners. Also they both started out as aristocratic poets who preferred to read and hated violence. Got programmed by the government. Acted as the bad guy for a while. Got reformed. Tried to be the leader, got really bored. And now struggles with their lone wolf persona. Everyone loved Wolvie until he was romantically linked with Jean Grey, Phoneix. Then people got annoyed. Same deal with Spike - people loved Spike, until he got romantically linked with Buffy. What this proves? People are annoyingly predictable sometimes. [Well not everyone, some folks, mostly the late-comers, jumped for joy because they found the new pairing more interesting and less predictable. In the Scott/Jean case - that story had been going on for over 30 years and had not, unfortunately progressed past the happy marriage stage. People were understandably bored. In the Buffy/Angel case - that story stalled after Angel gave up his gift of humanity in order to be hero like Buffy, except he's a cursed vampire who craves blood and loves the spotlight, but you know, a vampire can always dream. At any rate it became apparent that they would always be kept apart by Angel's curse and Buffy's job. Also boring after awhile. Some of us welcomed the change of pace. The stick in the muds, did not. All out war broke out. People, can't live with them, can't live without them.]
At any rate, in the X-men fandom, it got to the point that one just did not talk about Wolverine, at least not with certain people. In the Buffy fandom? I've learned to stop discussing Spike - which is annoying considering he remains my all-time favorite fictional character, but, I'm sorry, normally sane and intelligent people become complete and utter dweebs when it comes to discussing Spike. It brings out the worste in them. We have the 'holier than thous'/self-righteous activists on one side who have demonized the character to such an extent I can barely recognize him and the romantic/sentimentalist woobies on the other who have placed the character on such a frigging pedestal, I wonder why I liked him to begin with. My personal fantasy is to place these two groups of fans in a room together. Lock the door. Then sit back and watch them destroy one another with fiendish glee. We'd all be the better for it.
Having read the Astonishing X-men series, I'm not completely sure Whedon appreciates his own creation very much. He's certainly not much of a Wolverine fan. Wolvie barely had a story in Whedon's arc. And Spike's a lot like Wolverine. Doesn't matter, he's handed the Angelverse reigns over to Brian Lynch who adores the character and is doing a great job of writing him.
The reason I bring all of this up - is that Spike and Illyria more or less take center stage in episode 9. Spike's by-play with Angel is the comic relief. He explains to Angel what is up with Illyria - that she's Fred one moment and Illyria the next. He also reveals that he has a bunch of lady warriors waiting behind the scenes...ready to jump into the battle when they need them. When Angel asks how he can be certain they won't just take off, Spike laughs and states, have you met me? I'm Spike. Angel rolls his eyes. I can sympathize, I've got a brother like that myself. Say what you like about the Spikester, but the boy has a way with the ladies.
Illyria meanwhile explains to Weseley, that the remanents of Fred that are still inside are infecting her, eating away at her, fighting back every time she sees those she loves. The only reason she doesn't go nuts with Spike, is Spike doesn't let it happen, the switchs, he locks her up when they do, protects her from anything that could do her harm. In some respects Spike appears to be doing for Fred what Fred was trying to do for Spike when he was a ghost, helping her out of hell.
Then there's the brief interaction between Connor and Angel, which unlike the brief interactions we get in the Buffy comics, actually tells us something new about the characters. We find out Connor is dating Gwen. That he has asked Spike about it. That Spike knows Connor is Angel's son and that Connor considers Spike - Angel's brother, and an uncle by proxy. That Spike's advice for what it was worth fell into that wierd Uncle type of advice category. Also that Angel now knows that Connor remembers everything. (yes, including the x-rated parts). And Connor really would like help from Angel on the whole how to handle falling in love with a woman that you can't ever have sex with or touch. Because you know, Angel's a bit of an expert on that - what with both Cordelia and Buffy.
Wes reveals that he's contacted Cordy, but she can't help in hell, all she can do is listen. Apparently she learned from the whole Jasmine experience that interferring was a really bad idea. At least I'm assuming Cordelia is the person Wes was referring to. We aren't given a name. It could have been Fred or Darla. But my guess is it is Cordy, just from the description of only the leaves that were asesthetically pleasing rose into the wind.
We end up in the old Criterion Hotel, again. I'm with Spike - of all the places you have to pick, why that one? Because Angel is a sentimentalist that's why. Not to mention a bit of a control freak. And this is noir. Angel just keeps replaying the same old tune.
Gunn fascinates me. I'm not quite sure what he's up to..except that he appears to want Angel dead and definitely blames the guy for everything that has happened to him and those he cared about. Which to give Gunn credit, he is sort of right about. It was Angel's fault. Angel's the ultimate anti-hero. The guy who is so obsessed with doing the right thing, of being the hero, of his own egotistical urge to be the hero and have the legacy...that he ultimately ends up sending everyone including himself into hell. It's a common trope in noir fiction, particularly noir horror fiction and an enjoyable one. Angel's tale was always the counter-point to Buffy's, it's what made them star-crossed lovers to begin with. The hero and the monster that she must kill, yet chooses not to.
The issue was good, not as good as issue 8, but that's only because I'm missing Frank Urru's art. I know there are folks who disagree, I ran into one at the comic store. Weird people. I'm surrounded by weird people. Some who continue to refuse to read comics, including my entire immediate family and co-workers. What can you do? However, I feel slightly vindicated by the fact that four of the books on EW's 100 New Classic Books List are comic books: The Watchmen, Maus, Persepolis, and Sandman. Granted I don't own three of them, (the Watchmen is at my parents house and I do own it) but I've read at least three (Watchmen, Maus and Sandman), and gave at least three to other people (Maus, Persepolis, and Sandman). So that's something, right?
For those other poor souls out there that also miss Urru, fear not, he's doing the art on Spike After the Fall, expected to be released some time in July. This four part series will hopefully fill in the blanks regarding how Spike became Illyria's protector, found Connor, and hooked up with Spider. Looks a lot more interesting than either the Buffy or the Angel stories at the moment. But then I tend to like the side-chararcters more than the leads. I also preferred the Faith/Giles mini-arc and find myself wanting more of it.
Georges Jeanty's art is actually much better. And Runge makes me appreciate him, even if Jeanty's women all tend to look like 15 year olds with pudgy cheeks, small busts, and short legs. Runge's characters are at least distinguishable, just a bit stiff. The best part of the comic may be the Wes/Illyria interaction at the end. The worste is the fight sequence at the beginning which because of the artwork is rather confusing. One of the biggest challenges of this particular medium is that - so much must be conveyed by the artist, the setting, the facial expressions of the characters, movement, clothing, action...while in novels the writer can get that across with words, or in film, the actors/set designers/cinematographers get it across. Here - it's the artist. The writer supplies the dialogue, the plot, the explanations, but if the artist is unable to convey expression or movement or even setting, the writer's words fall flat. Runge manages to convey expression quite well, actually. But movement, not as well. It's awkward. And that may be a problem for a series that has so many action sequences.
Regarding the plot of the comic itself...
I read a blog recently, where one of the fans was concerned about how Spike was being portrayed in these comics. Her concerns reminded me a lot of some of the fan backlash I used to see while reading the X-men comics.
The X-men fandom is actually very similar to the Buffy fandom, in that both can be a little crazy and incredibly annoying at times. Both also had a breakout character that caused huge rifts in the fandom and major fights to break out. For the X-men, it was Wolverine. Who was intended to be a minor supporting character, a bit of a wild card, but he eventually became so popular that he started appearing in every Marvel comic, including his own series. Scott Summers fans were less than pleased, particularly when Wolverine suddenly and without warning became Jean Grey's squeeze. For Buffy, the break-out character was Spike. Who in some respects is a lot like the Wolverine character. Short in stature. Attractive. Smokes like a chimney. Loves to drink. A bit of a bad boy. Skilled in martial arts. Rides a bike. And gets all the best one-liners. Also they both started out as aristocratic poets who preferred to read and hated violence. Got programmed by the government. Acted as the bad guy for a while. Got reformed. Tried to be the leader, got really bored. And now struggles with their lone wolf persona. Everyone loved Wolvie until he was romantically linked with Jean Grey, Phoneix. Then people got annoyed. Same deal with Spike - people loved Spike, until he got romantically linked with Buffy. What this proves? People are annoyingly predictable sometimes. [Well not everyone, some folks, mostly the late-comers, jumped for joy because they found the new pairing more interesting and less predictable. In the Scott/Jean case - that story had been going on for over 30 years and had not, unfortunately progressed past the happy marriage stage. People were understandably bored. In the Buffy/Angel case - that story stalled after Angel gave up his gift of humanity in order to be hero like Buffy, except he's a cursed vampire who craves blood and loves the spotlight, but you know, a vampire can always dream. At any rate it became apparent that they would always be kept apart by Angel's curse and Buffy's job. Also boring after awhile. Some of us welcomed the change of pace. The stick in the muds, did not. All out war broke out. People, can't live with them, can't live without them.]
At any rate, in the X-men fandom, it got to the point that one just did not talk about Wolverine, at least not with certain people. In the Buffy fandom? I've learned to stop discussing Spike - which is annoying considering he remains my all-time favorite fictional character, but, I'm sorry, normally sane and intelligent people become complete and utter dweebs when it comes to discussing Spike. It brings out the worste in them. We have the 'holier than thous'/self-righteous activists on one side who have demonized the character to such an extent I can barely recognize him and the romantic/sentimentalist woobies on the other who have placed the character on such a frigging pedestal, I wonder why I liked him to begin with. My personal fantasy is to place these two groups of fans in a room together. Lock the door. Then sit back and watch them destroy one another with fiendish glee. We'd all be the better for it.
Having read the Astonishing X-men series, I'm not completely sure Whedon appreciates his own creation very much. He's certainly not much of a Wolverine fan. Wolvie barely had a story in Whedon's arc. And Spike's a lot like Wolverine. Doesn't matter, he's handed the Angelverse reigns over to Brian Lynch who adores the character and is doing a great job of writing him.
The reason I bring all of this up - is that Spike and Illyria more or less take center stage in episode 9. Spike's by-play with Angel is the comic relief. He explains to Angel what is up with Illyria - that she's Fred one moment and Illyria the next. He also reveals that he has a bunch of lady warriors waiting behind the scenes...ready to jump into the battle when they need them. When Angel asks how he can be certain they won't just take off, Spike laughs and states, have you met me? I'm Spike. Angel rolls his eyes. I can sympathize, I've got a brother like that myself. Say what you like about the Spikester, but the boy has a way with the ladies.
Illyria meanwhile explains to Weseley, that the remanents of Fred that are still inside are infecting her, eating away at her, fighting back every time she sees those she loves. The only reason she doesn't go nuts with Spike, is Spike doesn't let it happen, the switchs, he locks her up when they do, protects her from anything that could do her harm. In some respects Spike appears to be doing for Fred what Fred was trying to do for Spike when he was a ghost, helping her out of hell.
Then there's the brief interaction between Connor and Angel, which unlike the brief interactions we get in the Buffy comics, actually tells us something new about the characters. We find out Connor is dating Gwen. That he has asked Spike about it. That Spike knows Connor is Angel's son and that Connor considers Spike - Angel's brother, and an uncle by proxy. That Spike's advice for what it was worth fell into that wierd Uncle type of advice category. Also that Angel now knows that Connor remembers everything. (yes, including the x-rated parts). And Connor really would like help from Angel on the whole how to handle falling in love with a woman that you can't ever have sex with or touch. Because you know, Angel's a bit of an expert on that - what with both Cordelia and Buffy.
Wes reveals that he's contacted Cordy, but she can't help in hell, all she can do is listen. Apparently she learned from the whole Jasmine experience that interferring was a really bad idea. At least I'm assuming Cordelia is the person Wes was referring to. We aren't given a name. It could have been Fred or Darla. But my guess is it is Cordy, just from the description of only the leaves that were asesthetically pleasing rose into the wind.
We end up in the old Criterion Hotel, again. I'm with Spike - of all the places you have to pick, why that one? Because Angel is a sentimentalist that's why. Not to mention a bit of a control freak. And this is noir. Angel just keeps replaying the same old tune.
Gunn fascinates me. I'm not quite sure what he's up to..except that he appears to want Angel dead and definitely blames the guy for everything that has happened to him and those he cared about. Which to give Gunn credit, he is sort of right about. It was Angel's fault. Angel's the ultimate anti-hero. The guy who is so obsessed with doing the right thing, of being the hero, of his own egotistical urge to be the hero and have the legacy...that he ultimately ends up sending everyone including himself into hell. It's a common trope in noir fiction, particularly noir horror fiction and an enjoyable one. Angel's tale was always the counter-point to Buffy's, it's what made them star-crossed lovers to begin with. The hero and the monster that she must kill, yet chooses not to.
The issue was good, not as good as issue 8, but that's only because I'm missing Frank Urru's art. I know there are folks who disagree, I ran into one at the comic store. Weird people. I'm surrounded by weird people. Some who continue to refuse to read comics, including my entire immediate family and co-workers. What can you do? However, I feel slightly vindicated by the fact that four of the books on EW's 100 New Classic Books List are comic books: The Watchmen, Maus, Persepolis, and Sandman. Granted I don't own three of them, (the Watchmen is at my parents house and I do own it) but I've read at least three (Watchmen, Maus and Sandman), and gave at least three to other people (Maus, Persepolis, and Sandman). So that's something, right?
For those other poor souls out there that also miss Urru, fear not, he's doing the art on Spike After the Fall, expected to be released some time in July. This four part series will hopefully fill in the blanks regarding how Spike became Illyria's protector, found Connor, and hooked up with Spider. Looks a lot more interesting than either the Buffy or the Angel stories at the moment. But then I tend to like the side-chararcters more than the leads. I also preferred the Faith/Giles mini-arc and find myself wanting more of it.
no subject
"snorfle" I can't help but agree with this sentiment.