May 26 2010
(SPOILER)
For the discussion of Angel #33.
This is out today in the US but *not* in the UK or Ireland - all IDW titles have been delayed a week this side of the pond.
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1)James isn't a angel.We don't know what he is yet but he is evil.He's involved in using the world to farm demons using human hosts.At the end of the issue he sends that freaky lady from the cover of Angel #36 after Angel and Spike.She is a soul eater and Angel & Spike being souled vampires make them look very appetizing.
2)The whole dusting of appendages and growing back limbs is explained in this issue.Angel gets both his hands and feet ripped off by James and they begin growing back shortly afterwards.In ancient times,vampires could do this but not for many centuries.It's speculated in the issue that something very old from the first age of vampires has returned and vampires are now reverting back to their old ways hence the dusting of limbs and the growing back of body parts.Something ancient is causing this.
3)We get more talk about how a large of amount of prophecy and fate surrounds Angel.He's a player on the larger stage.
4)James goads Angel during their fight about how much of Angelus is on Angel's surface and shines through.Angelus informs everything Angel does from every thought to every mood.
5)In the Eddie Hope backup,Eddie goes after Gunn even though he's not on Eddie's list.But Eddie thinks he should be.Even though Gunn isn't a vampire anymore,Eddie feels Gunn is still guilty and needs to pay.
Buffyfantic | May 26, 11:44 CET
Allycat | May 26, 12:14 CET
Having Angel back in the line up changes the feel of the book completely and very much for the better. As much as I appreciated Connor getting some much needed love, the book is called "Angel". I kind of like that dude so, the more I get of him the better, you know?
As previously mentioned, we're getting some answers to nagging questions like "Who the hell is James?" and "What's up with the dusting and regrowing of limbs?". We're also getting what looks to be a big bad finally. I think Bill Willingham is best when he gets to focus evenly between the established Angel cast and the new characters he's creating. One criticism for the writing: there was an awful lot of exposition by way of letters being written between two characters. As much as I want to know more, I don't want to be overpowered by blocks of text.
Frankly, I thought this was the best single issue of any Whedon-related comic all year. It really felt like an episode of Angel to me. The characters, the story, the mood... it all felt right. Kudos to IDW on a job well done.
[ edited by project bitsy on 2010-05-26 21:20 ]
project bitsy | May 26, 12:19 CET
patxshand | May 26, 12:25 CET
Fred_Sonja | May 26, 13:27 CET
patxshand | May 26, 15:01 CET
And while this issue did blow me away as far as the story went and explaining the set ups of dusty vamp limbs and etc., it still feels like he's missing the beat and tones of the characters. Idk. As patxshand stated, "Not Lynch level stuff, but... but good."
The Goose | May 26, 18:07 CET
Lynch got to work with Joss. And every writer for Season 8 I assume is having their work proofed. It's probably not easy trying to immitate tone and having to get, at best, non-authoritative criticism.
Not that Bill didn't...perhaps... burn his own bridge on that score.
[ edited by azzers on 2010-05-27 04:53 ]
azzers | May 26, 19:47 CET
Simon | May 27, 01:42 CET
Although I was scolded by someone on another board about my enthusiasm for the last arc...so what do I know:)
angeliclestat | May 27, 04:29 CET
Vergil | May 27, 06:29 CET
Not to say his first arc was good. It was pretty terrible. I think that most of those who stick with it are sticking with it, though.
Azzers, I do have to disagree. Brian nailed the tone and characters in his SPIKE stuff before he even met Joss.
patxshand | May 27, 11:25 CET
angeliclestat | May 27, 12:32 CET
Also, not to go all conspiracy theory, but between the fact that the contents of the issue have changed from the original solicitation, and what feels like an after the fact explanation of the limb dusting (Spike and Gunn seemed to be expecting his leg to explode originally), does anyone feel like IDW may have moved up their plans in response to readers' complaints?
Whatever the truth of it, I'm kinda excited for the series again....
Alex_Jamieson | May 27, 14:16 CET
For example on Lost (no finale spoilers though:P) originally Ben Linus was originally supposed to only be in 3 or 4 episodes, but they liked him and made him really important. Now some people would criticise this and say it as bad planning. But if I didnt read all the behind the scenes stuff then I wouldnt know and presume it had been planned from the start. Who cares either way when the result was so great.
Same here - maybe the whole 'James being a villain' wasnt planned from the beginning...but who cares? If the result that people like the development then great. If people pick up these comics in a few years they will not know and just enjoy the story.
angeliclestat | May 27, 14:21 CET
Um. I never thought I'd say this after the suckage of his first arc, but... Willingham? Thanks for saving Angel the Series.
patxshand | May 28, 06:53 CET
James actually becoming something interesting is the only thing (probably) keeping me from dropping this series right now. None of the regular characters of the series feel right to me, the new demon types James - or Myr, I guess - name-dropped don't particularly appeal to me, the one original character in the series I did somewhat like has been quickly dispatched... And I cannot stand the Eddie Hope "feature". Ugh.
I will say that I did like the letter-exchange narration, however. I found the interplay interesting, and it ended up making the issue feel more substantial - to the point where I actually went back and counted the pages, to see if it was an extra-length story....
LKW | June 12, 21:29 CET