Angel & Faith #18
So one thing about being sick is that it give me time to both read and care about comic books. I'm not entire sure if that's a good thing, but there you go!
I read Angel & Faith #18, and I have thoughts. They're mostly profoundly shallow thoughts, but I have time to write them out so here you go!
Angel & Faith started out for me as the strongest of the four current Buffy-verse series. I liked the early parts of Buffy: season 9 quite a bitStudent loans, bad jobs, complicated roommate situations, estrangement from your friends, and feeling a little lost are all things I can relate to, you know? I wasn't a huge fan of the pregnancy scare storyline, and the robot thing was just silly. But IMO things didn't get eyerollingly bad until Billy-Sue slayer showed up.And it's still nowhere near season 8 levels of apocalyptic badness!
Angel & Faith have had (IMO) a consistently tighter plot and better writing. Angel did Very Bad Things in season 8, and he's dealing with guilt and with the loss of the respect from the people who's opinions of him matter. Faith is dealing with her grief. I've always like their relationship. They make good mirrors for each other, and I think that for the most part the powers that be are handling that friendship pretty well.
I had been becoming concerned that Angel's season 8 actions were being retconned-- it wasn't Angel who killed Giles (not to mention all those slayers, etc), but rather Twilight. Twilight possessed poor innocent Angel. It's become clear though with the advent of the other London Slayers-- particularly Nadira-- that the "Angel was controlled by Twilight" is just Angel's opinion, not actually canon. Angel's in denial. Faith may feel the same way, I'm not sure that's clear. I can see that caring about Angel at this point would be tricky without playing some mental games. My thought is that she's more skeptical that Angel, but cares too much about his opinion to directly challenge him.
Issue 18 opens i"London, many years ago" with teen rebel Giles and his Punk Band on stage
Giles' Grandma has come to rescue him from his Electric Koolaid Funky Satan Groove; and of course Giles' Eyghon issues are discussed. This leads directly and logically into Nadira and her London slayers battling with the resurrected Giles and the other zombies controlled by Eyghon. The zombies are hard to stop, in part because (Like Jenny in The Dark Age) if they knock any of the slayers unconscious Eyghon can take over the slayers over too. Superpowered zombie slayers for everyone!
Angel and Faith jump in to help, with Angel covering the slayer's retreat. Angel was able to beat Eyghon in the Dark Age, and it's relevant here. Angel already has a demon on board; he's the one guy Eyghon can't take over.
It turns out that Eyghon "burns out" his hosts. He burned out Philip and Deirdre in Dark Age, and he's burning out his zombie hosts in season 9; Giles and Ethan Rayne are somewhat protected by their innate magic. (this actually doesn't make logical sense: Philip & Deirdre were magic users too) Eyghon want to take over the world.
It's apparent that the slayers shouldn't try to take him on, as they'll just become Eyghon's super-powered puppets. Angel's going to have to take him on all alone-- or will he?
A couple questions:
First: we saw Spike he was stranded on Rapa Nui/ Easter Island AKA one of the most isolated places on earth. And he was newly without his steampunk bug ship. Angel's shown to make that phone asking for help just a few panels ago; how the heck did Spike get there so quickly?
Second: Xander: Well, excuse me, Mr. 'I spent the sixties in an electric-kool-aid-funky-Satan groove.'
Giles: It was the early seventies and you should know better. (from Beer Bad)
Why did the writers move Giles' Electric Koolaid Funky Satan Groove from the canon early 70s to the punk era? They apparently didn't even tell the artists, as this was the cover.
Just to make Giles a few years younger? I've always assumed that Canon Giles is about the same age as Anthony Head, who the internet tells me is 58. That works put about right for his wild period to be more Ziggy Stardust than Joe Strummer. But if the goal is a younger Giles, why punk? He would still be in at least his 50s if he were college age in the late 70s. Do the artists just think punk looks visually cooler? I'm puzzled.
Finally, I'm a little curious as the changing Mark of Eyghon AKA the tattoo that lets Eyghon control them.
Screenshot from The Dark Age, lightened a tad as shot was pretty dark.
They get it right on the cover
but in the comic itself the tattoo for some reason is different
I'm probably over-thinking this last one though!
At any rate I'm enjoying the heck out of Angel and Faith. I just like Angel best when he's around people who don't let him take himself too seriously. In canon that's Cordelia and Spike.And since I'm pretty sure that Cordelia is still dead in the comic-verse yay for Spike coming to save the day! And more importantly, to snark with Angel!
I read Angel & Faith #18, and I have thoughts. They're mostly profoundly shallow thoughts, but I have time to write them out so here you go!
Angel & Faith started out for me as the strongest of the four current Buffy-verse series. I liked the early parts of Buffy: season 9 quite a bitStudent loans, bad jobs, complicated roommate situations, estrangement from your friends, and feeling a little lost are all things I can relate to, you know? I wasn't a huge fan of the pregnancy scare storyline, and the robot thing was just silly. But IMO things didn't get eyerollingly bad until Billy-Sue slayer showed up.And it's still nowhere near season 8 levels of apocalyptic badness!
Angel & Faith have had (IMO) a consistently tighter plot and better writing. Angel did Very Bad Things in season 8, and he's dealing with guilt and with the loss of the respect from the people who's opinions of him matter. Faith is dealing with her grief. I've always like their relationship. They make good mirrors for each other, and I think that for the most part the powers that be are handling that friendship pretty well.
I had been becoming concerned that Angel's season 8 actions were being retconned-- it wasn't Angel who killed Giles (not to mention all those slayers, etc), but rather Twilight. Twilight possessed poor innocent Angel. It's become clear though with the advent of the other London Slayers-- particularly Nadira-- that the "Angel was controlled by Twilight" is just Angel's opinion, not actually canon. Angel's in denial. Faith may feel the same way, I'm not sure that's clear. I can see that caring about Angel at this point would be tricky without playing some mental games. My thought is that she's more skeptical that Angel, but cares too much about his opinion to directly challenge him.
Issue 18 opens i"London, many years ago" with teen rebel Giles and his Punk Band on stage
Giles' Grandma has come to rescue him from his Electric Koolaid Funky Satan Groove; and of course Giles' Eyghon issues are discussed. This leads directly and logically into Nadira and her London slayers battling with the resurrected Giles and the other zombies controlled by Eyghon. The zombies are hard to stop, in part because (Like Jenny in The Dark Age) if they knock any of the slayers unconscious Eyghon can take over the slayers over too. Superpowered zombie slayers for everyone!
Angel and Faith jump in to help, with Angel covering the slayer's retreat. Angel was able to beat Eyghon in the Dark Age, and it's relevant here. Angel already has a demon on board; he's the one guy Eyghon can't take over.
It turns out that Eyghon "burns out" his hosts. He burned out Philip and Deirdre in Dark Age, and he's burning out his zombie hosts in season 9; Giles and Ethan Rayne are somewhat protected by their innate magic. (this actually doesn't make logical sense: Philip & Deirdre were magic users too) Eyghon want to take over the world.
It's apparent that the slayers shouldn't try to take him on, as they'll just become Eyghon's super-powered puppets. Angel's going to have to take him on all alone-- or will he?
A couple questions:
First: we saw Spike he was stranded on Rapa Nui/ Easter Island AKA one of the most isolated places on earth. And he was newly without his steampunk bug ship. Angel's shown to make that phone asking for help just a few panels ago; how the heck did Spike get there so quickly?
Second: Xander: Well, excuse me, Mr. 'I spent the sixties in an electric-kool-aid-funky-Satan groove.'
Giles: It was the early seventies and you should know better. (from Beer Bad)
Why did the writers move Giles' Electric Koolaid Funky Satan Groove from the canon early 70s to the punk era? They apparently didn't even tell the artists, as this was the cover.
Just to make Giles a few years younger? I've always assumed that Canon Giles is about the same age as Anthony Head, who the internet tells me is 58. That works put about right for his wild period to be more Ziggy Stardust than Joe Strummer. But if the goal is a younger Giles, why punk? He would still be in at least his 50s if he were college age in the late 70s. Do the artists just think punk looks visually cooler? I'm puzzled.
Finally, I'm a little curious as the changing Mark of Eyghon AKA the tattoo that lets Eyghon control them.
Screenshot from The Dark Age, lightened a tad as shot was pretty dark.
They get it right on the cover
but in the comic itself the tattoo for some reason is different
I'm probably over-thinking this last one though!
At any rate I'm enjoying the heck out of Angel and Faith. I just like Angel best when he's around people who don't let him take himself too seriously. In canon that's Cordelia and Spike.And since I'm pretty sure that Cordelia is still dead in the comic-verse yay for Spike coming to save the day! And more importantly, to snark with Angel!