With Covid still doing a number on the comic schedule, we’re still an issue behind with Willow. But Angel and Spike, as well as Buffy and Kendra, are still muddling through their own storylines and it looks like this month some more familiar faces are joining the fold...
Angel issue 15
The latest issue of Angel & Spike has unfortunately, once again, failed to actually pique my interest. Anyone who’s been keeping track of my reviews will know that I’ve not exactly been blown away by these comics even when there were snippets that held my interest, but it seems that even those snippets have disappeared now. I had known before my issue arrived that some people had been really quite unimpressed by the issue, but now with a copy of it in my hands I think ‘unimpressed’ is perhaps a bit of an understatement.
Frustratingly, the comics are continuing to push the Angel and Kate story of Kate being a reincarnation of some woman Angelus turned and killed with, and they’re also doubling down on Fred having some sort of demon inside of her. Apparently, it wasn’t enough for Baphomet to try and take her over, now it seems that she has a being called Mura inside her, and Fred’s merging with her will make her into a goddess. Honestly, I find myself really wondering what the point of this plot is, and why neither Kate nor Fred is allowed to simply be their own woman. Kate must be a long-lost love of Angelus, who seems to occupy the space Darla held in Angel the series, and is therefore elevated to a higher importance, and Fred is being turned into some higher power rather than being allowed to exist as a flawed woman. Angel the series didn’t exactly have a lot of female characters to draw into the comics, and as such I’d hoped that more effort would have gone into giving the characters they do have some really great storylines. Lilith has vanished, Lilah doesn’t seem to do much except praise Baphomet/Fred, and Fred and Kate are... Well, they’re not exactly being strong, independent women when their storylines are being dictated by men in the shape of Baphomet and Angel. I know that not every female character has to be the strong, independent type, but currently it feels to me like none of the female characters in Angel & Spike are even close to it. Given that Angel is a spinoff of Buffy, you’d think feisty female characters would be pretty damn important.
Kate is somewhat of a controversial- or, at least, opinion dividing- character as it is, and so linking her so intrinsically to Angel still seems a bit of an odd choice. As I’ve already mentioned, she seems to have taken Darla’s place in Angel’s narrative even if it’s just a little, and it’s leaving me confused about the brooding vampire’s backstory. Not only that, but Spike’s suggestion that he would prevent Angelus getting out again suggests he thinks Kate and Angel are moving towards their characters turning dark. Cutting both Buffy and Darla out of Angel’s narrative is strange, and while it’s not exactly off-putting it is making me wonder why writers are bending over backwards to repeat storylines from the show but with a questionable character few people seemed to love in the show.
Meanwhile, Fred’s body has been hijacked by another mystical being, only apparently we’re supposed to trust this one. Not only that, but she’s apparently connected to other dimensions, which feels like the comic’s way of getting around the fact she was never in Pylea. Essentially, they’re trying to give us the feel that she has the experience and trauma of being trapped in other dimensions without her actually having had that happen. Why exactly they felt that Fred’s character had to have this sort of thing built into her storyline, I’m not sure. If they can toss out entire chunks of Angel’s storyline to squeeze Kate in, why can’t they create a brand new backstory for Fred too?
Oz, too, was a huge disappointment. Frankly, beyond the name and his being a werewolf, I see no real resemblance to the fan-favourite Buffy character. I’d already felt it was a little odd that they’d felt the need to include him in Angel & Spike given his singular Angel the series appearance, but this issue cemented for me that, really, they’d have been better off either making a character up entirely or using Nina from season 5 of the show. None of the dialogue really sounded right for Oz, although he is admittedly a difficult character to write seeing as he can be quite non-verbal and dry-witted. Then there’s the fact they decided to put him on a leash to take him to track down the other werewolves. Other than Spike having a kink for it, I can’t really see the logic behind this move, and again I couldn’t help but question why the writers felt it necessary. Perhaps it’s supposed to be a funny joke that didn’t quite land with me, but honestly it just seems like another strange choice to add to the pile of strange choices.
My issue with the Angel comics has long been that they’re simply not grabbing my attention because I can’t really figure out what things from the show have been carried over or dropped. With the Buffy comics, it seems so much clearer; Buffy moves to Sunnydale after problems in L.A and being kicked out of school, she attends Sunnydale High where she befriends Willow and Xander, her Watcher is one Rupert Giles. Sure, there are twists and turns- Joyce has a boyfriend, Willow has a girlfriend named Rose, Anya runs the Magic Box and helps them out, Buffy meets Spike and Dru much earlier and isn’t all that impressed by Angel- but on the whole I can easily understand what’s changed and what hasn’t. With Angel & Spike, I’m mostly just confused. Everything- the storyline, the art, the backstory- feels murky to me, like I’m trying to make shapes out in the dark. There are very few familiar elements that I can latch onto and say ‘oh, I recognise this!’, and while I appreciate the writers trying to create some new settings and such, they are twisting themselves in knots trying to convince us that Angel and Kate had an Angel-and-Darla-esque relationship, and that Wolfram & Hart are still a big threat in 2019 despite us really having no idea what they’re planning and Angel having very little contact with them. The pace seems slower, I’m constantly struggling to understand where things are going, and while with the Buffy comics I find the unknown exciting, here it’s just annoying.
I gave these comics a chance. In fact, I gave them more of a chance; they’ve had fifteen chances, and I believe they’re getting a sixteenth as I cancelled my subscription after the next comic was processed. I think it’s time for me to admit that these comics simply aren’t doing it for me, and what they’re doing instead is frustrating me to no end.
I think I’m going to stay in Sunnydale.
Buffy issue 19
Buffy issue 19 picks up where the previous issue left off, with the astral projection of Willow stumbling across Vampire Xander’s lair. Meanwhile, Buffy’s seduction of Wood at the end of the last issue didn’t go down as well as she’d like, Wood seeks advice from Giles, and Kendra and Rose take a step forward in their relationship.
Starting with Willow’s and Xander’s parts, I was relieved to find that Bellaire and Lambert seem to be taking a very different approach to the Angelus storyline I feared we’d be repeating. While Jenny herself wasn’t seen in this issue, her life is potentially still hanging in the balance as Xander refuses to let her go, but Willow seems to be wavering when it comes to deciding if her former friend really is evil. Discussions of souls and morality filled the initial pages of this issue, and interestingly Xander doesn’t seem all that malicious anymore, allaying some of my fears that he will become as evil as Angelus. Instead, he seems intent on bringing Willow into his fold purely because of their years-long friendship, and he seems quite forlorn by the whole vampire thing. His attempts to persuade Willow that he’s still her friend don’t exactly fall on deaf ears, but she manages to stand her ground and not give in quite so easily. Still, she assures him that she’ll help only if he lets Ms Calendar go. This wasn’t exactly where I was expecting this storyline to go, but it is an intriguing one, particularly because Xander seems to be more like Spike- both vampires are capable of feeling sadness, jealousy, and loneliness unlike Angelus who simply delights in it all.
With that said, I’m not entirely certain we should be discounting Xander as a monster, seeing as he even refers to himself as ‘the big bad of the season’, and he of course sent some minions to try and kidnap Buffy and Joyce last issue. While it’s possible he was doing all of that just to lure Willow back to Sunnydale, it feels like torching Ms. Calendar’s house was a lot just to get our favourite witch to return. Then again, if Xander really feels that strongly about Willow, maybe he’s willing to do whatever it takes.
But Willow’s astral projection chat with Xander was interrupted by an upset Buffy showing up anxious that she and Wood were through. With the last issue showing her calling Wood to the hotel she was staying at and the pair of them getting hot and heavy, this seems like quite a u-turn. It turns out that Wood turned Buffy down, and she tearfully confesses to Willow that she’s convinced she’s messed everything up. Despite the depressing nature of the scene, it was nice to see Buffy and Willow just have a non-supernatural disaster and support each other through relationship troubles.
Buffy then goes on to ignore Wood whilst at school, and after waiting for her in the library to no avail, the frustrated teen finally lets slip his concerns about Buffy to Giles. Despite not wanting to get involved in his Slayer’s love life, it was a relief to see that Giles didn’t exactly shy away from giving the younger man some advice. Wood’s main concern for Buffy is that she should focus on slaying, and that anything else would be a distraction; basically, Buffy doesn’t get to have a normal relationship with her boyfriend because of her powers. We’ve done this dance before, many times in the show, and its appearance in the comics is sad if expected. While Wood seems to have good intentions, particularly as his concerns were simply that neither of them was ready for such a big step, Giles makes a very good point that Wood needs to re-evaluate the relationship if he is concerned their dating will ‘distract’ Buffy from slaying. Right now I think it’s simply a matter of two teenagers getting things a little wrong and being anxious and confused with everything that’s happening, but if Wood continues down the path he’s on it could spell the end of his and Buffy’s relationship. Giles goes on to tell him to give Buffy time and trust that she knows what’s best for her, and that in the meantime he should patrol to get his frustrations out.
Kendra and Rose, meanwhile, are having a romantic evening together away from the madness that seems to be consuming everybody else’s lives. Rose mentions wanting to go to Jamaica with Kendra the following summer, and the pair admit to being in love. While it was a lovely scene, everybody knows that Scoobies in a relationship tend to have heartbreak heading their way. Does this mean we’re being geared up to lose Rose, or has that storyline been left in the television show?
The issue wraps up with Wood following Giles’s suggestion and going patrolling, while Willow attempts another astral projection- this time without Rose’s help as she’s too busy declaring her love to Kendra. Willow stumbles across a hooded figure and a mystical creature in the woods, with the creature stating that the council will fall. Perhaps this is whatever has been bumping off Watchers and Slayers, the same creature that was brought up in Wesley’s issue. Even Willow doesn’t recognise the creature, which doesn’t seem to bode well for the Scoobies. Meanwhile, Wood gets himself into trouble on patrol, only to be rescued by a very familiar slayer.
As Faith Lehane enters Sunnydale, what does three Slayers on the Hellmouth mean for what’s coming? I had, of course, mentioned that Faith could be called due to Kendra entering the Hellmouth to help Buffy, and Giles is still researching Buffy’s predecessor after Anya hinted that the older Slayer might still be out there. We already have Buffy and Kendra, and Faith’s arrival is going to be interesting given that we’re in the middle of some pretty intense plot. Will they be able to persuade Faith not to kill Xander? And where, exactly, is Wesley in all this? So far it looks like Faith has yet again reached Sunnydale alone, which begs the question of where Wesley and Ethan are. It is very possible that they’re already around and Faith has slipped out for a patrol, but it certainly looks like we’re pulling together more of a team. And does this mean a Giles versus Ethan showdown is coming?
Overall, this was a really interesting issue that has laid the groundwork for the next chunk of story. We’re still missing Anya and Cordelia, which I’m starting to get a little fed up with, but hopefully as things get pulled together they’ll reappear. And besides, right now I’m much more concerned about whether we’ll be able to get all the characters out alive. Maybe, for the time being, Anya and Cordelia are safer kept out of it...
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