The excitement of After the Fall continues in this latest offering from Whedon and Lynch. With truths revealed, master plans laid out, and people dying, it's clear evil is winning the fight in Los Angeles. In this decisive collection, a final climactic battle will see Angel live free or die for the final time. Soon the "fall" will be concluded, and the Aftermath will be revealed!
Book Details
ISBN 10: 1600104614 ISBN 13: 9781600104619
132 pages. First Published:7/28/2009 List Price:24.99 FREE to rent with membership
What can I say about Angel: After the Fall that hasn't been said already by countless fans (myself included)? Brian Lynch crafted an epic, tragic, hilarious, and smart tale that was true to the characters and the story that had already been established. It referenced, ran with, and paid off plot threads that have been part of the mythology since the first season of the show. It kept the momentum of the series finale, "Not Fade Away," which I consider to be the best hour of television ever produced. It's by far my favorite comic (and this, specifically, is my favorite volume of the series).
I'll start with the art. Stephen Mooney does the first two issues and Franco Urru does the last three, and their styles are so utterly different, but the different styles here don't clash. They're both crazy good in their own right, with Stephen getting the likenesses and the dark tone of the series across in his pencils, and Franco getting the fluid action and the raw emotion across in his. Both of them are fine artists, and I'm glad that they got a chance to work on this series. They did Joss Whedon's world and Brian Lynch's words justice.
And speaking of those words. Brian Lynch manages to bring his own quirky writing style to the world of Angel without it being intrusive. His style completely compliments these established characters, and he has come to know them so well over these seventeen issues that they wouldn't sound more in-character if we had the actors themselves reading the lines. His writing is at its most emotional here, giving us both the saddest of tragedy and the happiest eucatastrophe of an ending. Like any Buffyverse finale, there is triumph, there is loss, there are tears, and there are a whole load of epic fights. Brian Lynch has given added a beautiful chapter to Angel that sums up everything great about the series, gives it a great ending, and sets up everything that is to come. Since Spike: Asylum, the first comic I ever loved and the first time I realized this medium can be as exciting as television, Brian Lynch has become my favorite comic writer, and if you don't think he's one of the best in the business, well... I don't know, you're wrong. And you smell.
In short, I love this story. It's my favorite book, and it makes me laugh out loud, feel all tense, and even tear up every time I read it.
The After the Fall arc is brought to a satisfying end with Angel defeating Wolfram & Hart and restoring Los Angeles and its inhabitants back from the hell dimension it found itself thrown into at the beginning of the arc by a W&H wanting to punish Angel for his murder of all of the members of the Circle of the Black Thorn in the final episode "Not Fade Away" of Season 5. Josh Whedon has been reluctant to call this a Season 6. It is really an extended conclusion to Season 5, showing what would have happened during that climactic fight in the alley behind the Hyperion hotel between the remains of Team Angel against the army of W&H had the WB network changed its mind about cancelling the series.
