Spontaneous Musings

A couple of posts ago, my friend MASQ, asked us if she should read or would like Angel After the Fall. I responded, ask me after this arc is over. Partly because my friend is a huge Connor fan and I wasn't entirely sure what the writer was doing with the character.

Now that the arc is almost over, with one more issue to go, I'd say, sure read them but keep in mind that this is a graphic novel and while it is plotted by one of the original creators of the series, it is written by an outsider - who is a huge fan of the series but may not view it the same way you did.

Brian Lynch is an interesting writer - but limited. He's not into the layered moralistic and philosophical themes that Whedon and Minear were. And he gets a bit lost when he has one too many characters to juggle. Also comics by the very nature - aren't that detailed. We don't have a bunch of actors, we have one artist. And if you don't like the artist or find the art vague, too abstract, or disorienting, you won't be able to read the comic. I loved the art, but that does not mean you will. Frank Urru doesn't draw so much as paint his comics. His style is almost impressionistic. It's not as lined and detailed as the artists on the Buffy comics. And there's a lot going on - sometimes too much to be able to tell what it is.

Also, I do not envy Brian Lynch's task nor his soon to be successor Kelly Armstrong. Sure it sounds like a great gig, but the fandom is a diverse and vocal bunch, with polarizing views on how the characters should evolve and proceed. When you write these stories, you tread a delicate line - sure you will piss people off - that's inevitable. The trick is not to piss the majority off. Scott Allie on the Buffy comics appears to be doing that all by himself.
Luckily no one seems to pay the "editor" of the work much attention.

Speaking for myself, I've found the Angel comics an interesting and enjoyable read. Often more enjoyable than the Buffy comics. For a lot of reasons, not the least of which being the small fact that I'm still somewhat fascinated by the character of Spike. We all have characters that grab us, some more than others and some longer than others. Spike was mine. The other reasons I enjoyed it - is that it moved quickly, the dialogue was snarky and tongue-in-cheek - often making fun of itself, and Lynch delivered on emotional moments and brought back characters I liked and was interested in seeing again. I also enjoyed his take on the character of Spike - while not perfect, was satisfying enough to keep me entertained.
As for Angel - the title character - Lynch tread a delicate line - having finished all 16 issues, I do not believe that Lynch or Whedon meant us to see Angel as a straight up-hero, so much as a tragic anti-hero who desperately wants to be a hero, the chosen one, who is still after all this time - striving for approval and some eternal award. some redeemption or sign of redeemption - except when he gets it, whether it be a shanshue or adorations, he is miserable and upset about it.

Angel - the character - from my perspective is a metaphor for the human condition. We are selfish beings, ruthless survivors, but at the same time, beautiful souls who want to do good and obtain respect and approval. As well as leave our mark on society. Yet, are not quite sure we deserve any of the accolades or approval we achieve. Is there a higher being? Is there any meaning to this world? Does it matter? And if it does, if that is so, am I good? Am I forgiven? Can I be redeemed?? And what is my role or place in it?

The story is told in Angel's pov, and Angel sees the world after the fall of LA as being his fault.

( Cut for major plot spoilers - Angel After the Fall 1-16 and Spike After the Fall. )

Quite the relaxing day. Got my pop culture addictions, a massage, hung out with Wales (who tolerates my pop culture addictions but woefully does not share them - if she or anyone else I know did, I wouldn't come online), had a glass of white torronges wine via Argentina, and an Aero chocolat bar. Life is good.

Regarding the pop culture addictions....

Angel After The Fall: First Night, Issue 6.

Unsurprisingly good. Actually better than I dreamed it would be. In my post on pop culture, I had discussion with embers_log about short stories. She stated that what she enjoyed most about them was the economy of language - the precision, while novelists have a tendency to drone on and on. (Okay, those weren't her exact words, I'm paraphrasing, it's my journal - I can do that.) At any rate, as a writer, particularly one who does a lot of "business" writing - I appreciate the economy of language. Business people read too many emails - they want it clear and concise and to the point, cut the crap. (Not that you can tell by reading this journal, but what the hell, I've got to let loose somewhere occassionally.) Lynch is a master at economy of language. ( for potential spoilers - since my definition is different than some )

In Spike's tale - he tells us three things in a short period of time: How Spike handled the battle in the alley, what he intended to do once things went to hell and the battle was over,( spoiler ) and why he changed his mind regarding his intentions. His choices? Completely in character. The author did not change the character to benefit the plot or make a joke at the character's expense or be politically correct or for shock value. That's good writing.

I'm trying to keep this more or less spoiler free, so am not going into depth as to what happened. You can read stormwreath or shapinglight for that stuff.
This is just a general albeit somewhat subjective review, impossible to be anything but that.

The art? Not as good at Urru's but those who don't like Urru's (weird people, but they exist and many on my flist, believe it or not)[ETA: this was meant as a tongue in cheek joke - I personally think my own pop culture addictions are the height of WEIRD. I'm weird.], art may well enjoy these artists and may be psyched to learn Urru has jumped to the spin-off: Spike -After the Fall, so there will be a new artist doing Angel. Apparently this type of work is more time consuming for artists than writers, since Lynch is still doing both. Makes sense, Urru has to draw ten to twelve panels, many without dialogue, while Lynch has to provide the equivalent of two pages of dialogue. Comics is not really a writer's medium, it's an artists medium, which begs the question why are the writer's the rock stars here?

I did like the different styles, though. And I loved John Byrn's innovative comic strip take on Lorne's story. It fit Lorne perfectly. The style of the artwork and the dialogue fit each character - it's a hard thing to do without jarring the reader in the process. I know, I've tried it.

If you are a Connor fan - you should pick this comic. ( spoilers )

Overall rating? A + (Better than the last issue - which may be partly because I find Angel a tad boring as a character at the moment.)

Buffy S8, Issue 13 - Wolves at the Gate.

(As an aside, I had an interesting conversation with mother over the phone the other night. (It has to be over the phone, she lives more than a two days drive or an hour and a half plane flight away). It was a brief conversation. She was stating that in her book club, people were complaining about how puritanical Americans were about sex. My mother retorted - no, if anything they are obsessed with sex. It permeates everything. Newspapers. TV news. TV shows. Films. Books. Even Dancing with The Stars - they crack sex jokes. In this day and age, it is impossible to date someone without them assuming that you should have sex if the date goes well. Or at least that's what books, tv shows, and everything else tells us. Also, if you aren't having sex, are celibate, happen to be a "virgin" by choice - you are made fun and people think something is wrong with you. They also think something is wrong with you if you have had multiple lovers - although in today's world that is often considered bragging rights. I miss the old days when it was less prevalent. When you didn't see everything, when people didn't assume you had sexual intercourse after knowing someone 48 hours or two or three weeks, if that, as long as they were hot. One of the things I loved most about the Kim Harrison novel I just completed - was there was not one sex scene. Not one. The novelist was able to write a compelling story about a strong and sympathetic heroine, without talking about sex constantly. Shocking. )

I state this because Whedon and all's preoccupation with lame sex jokes is beginning to grate on my nerves. Methinks the man has been watching too many reruns of Sex and the City. Or someone has. Sure the show always had it as well, but for some reason it didn't grate as much, they seemed more subtle somehow, more tongue in check, more witty, and less in bad taste and the expense of the characters. Was that the female influence? Possibly.

( there be spoilers in these here parts )

My biggest problem with the arc so far is that these characters aren't evolving. They aren't moving forward. And I'm not learning anything new or different about them. I feel frustrated by the storyline. It feels at times like reading someone online's lame fanfic about the ongoing sexual and other misadventures of their favorite characters.

Not all the issues are like this by the way, if you are wondering why I keep bothering.
Some are quite good. I rather enjoyed the one in which Willow and Buffy visited the other dimension. The Faith arc had its moments. I also liked The Chain. These past few issues however annoy me the same way that Girl in Question annoyed a lot of Angel viewers. They are written by the same writer, so this should not surprise me, except I enjoyed Girl in Question a heck of a lot more - because it did provide some insight in the characters and was a clever take on Roderscrantz and Guilderstern - that old Tom Stoppard play.

I was unable to avoid spoilers in this review. Sorry about that. Not that I revealed all that much, unless of course you've been hiding under a rock and did not know about Satsu and Buffy.
(By the way - the Palely Festival discussion of that almost made that issue worth it. Marsters/Gellar and Brendon's banter was a hoot.)

The art is improving by the way. Or it's growing on me. Can't tell which. I liked it better than the writing.

Overall rating? B-

Interesting. I preferred Buffy the tv series over Angel, but I much prefer the Angel comics over Buffy. They are in my opinion 80% better overall not to mention much more satsifying. Maybe there's something to be said for being forced to tell your story in 12 issues as opposed to 44? 44 issues is giving the writers far too much time to drone on and on - reminiscent of a daytime serial - you get flashes of brilliance, but you have to wade through oodles of crap to get there.

Also picked up the latest Dresden novel by Jim Butcher - 20% at Barnes and Noble. Wales watched me buy these items in bewilderment. She doesn't understand why I spend money on such things. Nor do a lot of people apparently. I read a touching letter in the Angel After The Fall issue - from a solider stationed in Iraq, complete with photos. He was stating how these comics and the DVD's of the series had kept him going in Iraq and provided relief from stress.
He also stated that he had given up comics, sold his collection, when he got married. It was either his comics or the girl. But she made an exception for Buffy. I've been trying to wrap my mind around this. Why do women tell their boyfriends to give up their comics collections?
I mean it's not like he's telling her to stop buying shoes or jewelry. Actually shoes have a purpose. Jewelry? Not so much. I'd rather waste money on books or comics - you got a story that you can reread. Jewelry gets tarnished, is easily lost, and gets caught on things.

I'm a strange woman, I know.

[Made it to the gym finally - which killed a good percentage of the irritability and made me feel a lot better.]

Finally read Angel:After The Fall by Brian Lynch, Joss Whedon, and Frank Urruh. [Got one of the *variant* covers - the one with Tony Harris' art sans the credits at the top, and on the back no ad - just a photo of David Boreanze as Angel with the title below it. This is pretty rare - there's only one of these in each box of 25. There are two other variant covers - one with the whole team (Gunn, Angel, Illyria, and Spike) in the alley. And one with Angel and a bunch of skulls behind him (which I would have preferred -since I prefer that painting of Angel- you can find it at www.grahamcrackers.com) I find it incredibly amusing that I got a variant cover with a pic of DB - because a) I honestly don't care and b) I no longer consider David Boreanze all that physically attractive so much as sorta funny looking. (I know people's mileage differs on this.)]

Will you like the comic? Ah that depends on a couple of factors.

1. Did you like Season 5 of Angel?
2. Do you like noir?
3. Do you like Brian Lynch and Frank Urru?
4. Are you a fan of the Angel Universe?
5. Were you at all curious about what might have happened after the season finale of Angel S5, even if you liked the idea that they all died in the ally?

Not surprised I enjoyed this comic, since Lynch and I are pretty much on the same page regarding which season of Angel that was the most enjoyable. (We both loved Season 5 the most.) I've discovered that it helps a great deal when the writer perceives the characters and world the same way you do in your head. Also helps if their writing style is either similar to your own or one that you find enjoyable. Lynch's writing style is not only enjoyable but makes me laugh.

In a comic book - it is imperative that you like the art or that the art clicks for you on some level. It's like any visual medium or style - if you don't like a cinematographer or an actor - you will have a hard time liking the film or tv show regardless of how well it is written. Novels that are not dependent on graphics do not have this problem. Graphic novels or comic books on the other hand...do. If you don't like the artist, you aren't going to like the comic book. If you do like the artist but hate the writing, you are likely to at least enjoy it a bit. Luckily for me, Frank Urruh is amongst my favorite comic book artists. I adore his style. It resonates for me and in some ways fits how I'd draw the characters in my own head. He doesn't so much draw the characters as paint them, with long flowing strokes. They move across the page in my head. I see the layers in their characterization through his brush strokes. And he manages to reproduce the pulp noir feel of the old Raymond Chandler dime novel covers with their dark blacks, brilliant navy's and blood reds.

As an aside, from the smattering of reviews I've read regarding the book, the people who love Georges Jeanty's style aren't crazy about Urruh's and make the same complaints about Urruh's art that those of us who aren't crazy about Jeanty's artwork make about Jeanty. The two styles are VERY different. So - IT is highly unlikely that if you love one, you'll like the other, although I know people who like both. I'm ambivalent about Jeanty's. It is growing on me and reminds me a great deal of the female line of Japanese Magna - where all the women have very round faces and big eyes. Urru's art, which I obviously prefer, reminds me more of Frank Miller's, Jai Lee (Gunslinger), Alex Ross, and to some extent the artist who does Terry Moore's Strangers in Paradise books. It's contemporary yet also somewhat traditional.

The only thing that bugged me about the comic was my favorite character won't turn up until the second issue - but that makes sense, since he is a splashy character and you really can't introduce him too early...you have to set up the main or lead character's position first. If you introduce Spike in the first issue, he might steal the limelight away from the lead - Spike was good at doing that. And it is Angel's book afterall. (*grin*) Seriously, all joking aside (sorry couldn't resist doing that), what Lynch gets from the outset is the story centers on Angel - he's at the core - everyone we come into contact should in some way or other reflect on Angel, either be a choice he hadn't taken, a price he's paying, someone who he condemned, etc. When you write from that perspective, you start with the guys Angel would be closest too. I'm not saying he doesn't care about Spike. But hey you're in a fracas with you estranged kid brother, your girlfriend, your son, your best friends...who are you going to think about first? The annoying, estranged kid brother, thorn in your side - who you wish would go away? Anyhow, don't worry Spike fans - Lynch adores the character and has a great arc planned for him. I trust him - after reading his take in both Asylum and Shadow Puppets.

The plot and its surprises, and there are a few, worked for me. I'd heard about some of them before the issue came out - so was not that surprised. Lynch also does an excellent job of reintroducing key characters from Angel's life in the comic. I'm an odd fan, I actually liked all the characters in Angel. One of the hazards of posting online about a tv show, film series or series of novels is you have to deal with people who like to bash characters or tell you how much they hate your favorite character and why you are (fill in the blank) for liking it. I got a confession - I honestly don't care if you hate a character. It's fictional and liking/hating is highly subjective. You aren't writing it. You don't control that character's fate (thank heavens). And if you hate characters in a series I'm into, I got news for you - it is highly unlikely I'll ever wast my time reading any fanfic you write about that series. I know you can't write a good representation because you don't appreciate the universe or the characters fully. The writers who created it - on the other hand - adore all the characters - so I can trust them to do a good job. (Or they usually do. The one's they dislike or hate usually disappear pretty quickly.) End of the spoiler-free part of the review.

( Angel After the Fall Plot Spoilers - or basically my synopsis and analsys of the story as a whole ) (End spoilers and analysis)

Lynch does a marvelous job of capturing these characters voices and attitudes. Reading the comic reminded me of watching the show, in some ways I preferred it. Because they can do so much more.

I look forward to the next issue. And will definitely continue reading.

My Rating? A