Writer: Various
Artist: Various
Publisher: IDW Publishing
Price: $7.49
Release Date: October
Before the review proper, one thing must be said – look at that cover! Look at the widdle puppet Angel! Awwww! Isn’t he just ADORABLE! He’s so cute and cuddly and sweet and…
*ahem*
Angel: Masks is IDW’s Halloween special – although the Halloween links pretty much stop with the pumpkins on the cover. (Mind you, as most Buffy/Angel fans know, the real monsters usually take Halloween night off. To them, it’s “amateur night”) Instead, we are treated to 4 short stories based around the theme of “masks”.
The first story, and one of the main reasons for this book’s existence, the comics debut of the wonderful puppet version of Angel from the season 5 episode “Smile Time”, and follows immediately on from the end of that episode, with puppet Angel going out on for a meal with Nina the werewolf.
Written by Buffy/Angel novelist Jeff Mariotte and drawn by Stephen Moody, this captures the essence of the character from his TV appearance, and makes a satisfying mini-sequel. Let’s hope this doesn’t lead to too many return appearances for the character. One return appearance is fine, but many more could lead to overkill.
The second story, by Scott Tipton (of the website Comics 101) and David Messina, features Illyria’s first solo assignment for Wolfram & Hart. It’s a simple debt collection job, which she takes on with her usual zeal. Wesley, on the other hand is not too happy with the situation. While the story is interesting, and all of the characterisations spot-on, the likenesses were slightly lacking.
Far stronger likenesses come in the third story by Christopher Golden and Steph Stamb – although not in the very first panel, where Cordelia looks slightly more like Juliette Landau than Charisma Carpenter. The story fits in about halfway through season one, with Cordelia still adjusting to her visions and how to interpret them. It’s a fairly straightforward story, but still an enjoyable one – and one with a great looking monster.
Finally, we have the return of Lindsey McDonald, by James Patrick and Sean Murphy, in a story set between season 2’s “Dead End” and Season 5’s “Destiny”. It seems poor Lindsey is struggling to adapt to a life without daily supernatural intrusion, but a less than-chance-encounter with a future ally gives him something to think about. Another reasonably strong story, again let down by very poor likenesses – the on-page Lindsey bears almost no resemblance to Christian Kane.
On the whole, an enjoyable collection - although at $7.49, it should be. Price will probably be a deciding factor for quite a few people, so take a look once again at that cover.
It’s Puppet Angel! He’s back!
Chances are that for most of you, that’ll probably do it.
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Russell Hillman was born in London but now lives in Coventry. His hobbies include precious little. He doesn’t get out much, but thinks reading a lot of comics makes up for it. He’s wrong.