Everyone’s got a family they love…and some have a family they’re not so proud of.
Creative Staff:
Scripts: Christos Gage
Pencils: Rebekah Isaacs
Inks: Rebekah Isaacs
Colors: Jordie Bellaire
Letters: Richard Starkings and Jimmy Betancourt
What They Say:
“Family Reunion”
Following his impossible quest to resurrect Giles from a natural death, Angel has been living on the edge of right and wrong as he gathers remnants of Giles’s soul into himself. As Faith keeps a weary eye on her friend, she has her own problems, reeling from a visit from her estranged father and resentment from her Slayer comrades. As if things couldn’t get any weirder, a familiar face arrives with a special request and a bargaining chip…
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
As much as Angel is about redemption, this comic has been about fixing what’s wrong at the core. Angel the TV show was about doing good to counterbalance the bad. We’re hitting home here, and we’re hitting hard.
Faith’s dad was the first step, but Angel’s got a son that he hasn’t done right by. Wesley was manipulated into stealing Connor away and Holtz holed up in Quor’toth to train him to fight. Now, a small fraction of Quor’toth hails Connor as a god. This is as much a family as any, as a religious group can be seen as family to a lot of people. Connor is their “father” for showing them the right way of life. Or at least the less evil way of life.
But to do right for the world, Willow’s trying to get magic back. To do that, she has to travel to anywhere with magic and the only way to do that easily to go to Quor’toth and the only way to do THAT is tear a hole in reality. Simple, really. Tear a hole in reality, get in, let Willow gather some magical energy, travel somewhere else, and then everyone else gets out.
Yeah, not so simple.
The beings of Quor’toth fear Connor, but they know with numbers they can win. As they enter, they’re faced with flying skin-eye-mouth things. They run, but they come back with numbers and that’s when they meet the red-lizard-dog things that save/worship them.
We’re getting to the heart of something, though, and it’s not through that monster’s stomach. No matter what’s happened in the past with your family, sometimes it’s what you need to heal. Faith’s dad showing back up allowed her to grow past that. Angel and Connor reconnected after being estranged from each other, and they’re better off for it.
We also get to see what Angel goes through every single day. Quor’toth gets to the worst parts of you and brings them to the surface. Faith and Connor are living with the worst What if’s they can ask and they don’t do that every day like Angel does. They’re not used to it and it could easily break them. Really, it shows how strong Angel is, but also how weak people can be.
It leads us to the Slayers Faith’s helping. They can’t move past what changed them and they’re still asking those What if’s. Drusilla, the vampire that Angel and Faith let go, killed some of the Slayers. And Nadira knows that Angel and Faith are working together. All’s not well with the world.
In Summary:
Angel’s moving forward at a really nice pace and it’s good to see the consequences in actions. Both Buffy and Angel try to fix what they caused, but it doesn’t always work. In Buffy, it seemingly works for maybe a second. Maybe a few years. But in Angel, it almost never works. Angel’s work is only less dark and it’s a better story for it. It’s trying to tell a very mean thing, and that’s that the world’s a cruel place. Buffy’s trying to make hers good while Angel’s trying to make his better.
Content Grade: B+
Art Grade: B+
Released By: Dark Horse
Release Dates:
Issue #11: June 27, 2012
Issue #12: July 25, 2012
Issue #13: August 29, 2012
Issue #14: September 26, 2012
