Somebody’s First Comic Book: Angel-After the Fall #5

Wondering what Somebody’s First Comic Book is all about? The explanation is on this page!

Plotted By: Joss Whedon & Brian Lynch
Scripted By: Brian Lynch
Illustrated By: Franco Urru
Colors: Jason Jensen & Art Lyon
Letters: Robbie Robbins
Editor: Chris Ryall
Cover: Rebecca A. Wrigley
Publisher: IDW Publishing

PRIOR KNOWLEDGE: Angel… Angel… wasn’t that the Buffy the Vampire Slayer spin-off? Okay, so there’ll be vampires. Cool.

IMPRESSIONS: we start off with this guy Wesley floating in an empty void and having his mouth taken away by some unseen person he’s talking to about Angel. Creepy stuff. Then we see a green guy talking to girls with different colored hair and this Angel guy getting a shave and going out of what looks like a blown-out K-Mart. Wait, is he going out in the day? Isn’t he a vampire? Shouldn’t that kill him?

And why is he flying on a dragon in Beverly Hills? The book looks like it’s set in Los Angeles, but the characters keep talking about it like it’s Hell. What is this, social commentary?

Okay, finally something I can latch on to. These monster-looking guys talking about eating people, they’re the bad guys, right? I’m even more positive about that when Angel shows up and decides to start fighting them. The fight scene is pretty good – flaming swords are always cool. And when all these other people jump into the fight, it’s easy to figure out whose side each of them is on. But then the book ends with Wesley coming back to Los Hellgeles from wherever he was and this girl we’ve never seen before being totally surprised by his arrival. I guess I’d be surprised if a guy in a three-piece suit just popped into the middle of Hell too, but are we supposed to know who she is?

I can pretty much follow the story, I suppose, but I’m still not really sold on why they’re in Hell or who everybody is. Good thing we’ve got cannibal monsters, or I wouldn’t even be sure who the villains are.

GRADE: C