7
Feb
2010
Spike: After the Fall by Brian Lynch and Franco Urru
Poor, poor Spike. He gets a made a vampire, gets dumped by his sire after more than 100 years of love and mayhem, falls in love with a slayer, gets a chip put in his brain by the government, gets a soul, gets the chip out, dies in the Hellmouth, gets brought back to Wolfram & Hart but is incorporeal, gets all corporealized, saves the world (again), and lands, with the rest of L.A., in Hell.
And that, as fans of the shows Buffy & Angel know, is before the book begins.
Well, not that all of L.A. gets sunk into Hell. But that’s what happened after the end of Angel, when Angel is all, I want to fight the Dragon (and then CW–or was it still the WB?–cancelled the show. Bastards).
And the whole time, he’s been in the shadows of either Buffy or Angel. But now here he finally gets his own spotlight.
What makes this a really good stand alone book, though still part of the Angel: After the Fall storyline, is that it’s a prequel to the Angel books. This is what happens with Spike before we hear about him in AAtF, before he meets up with Angel in Hell. It’s just him, and Illyria, who for her own good must stay Illyria and not turn back into Fred, trying to keep the bewildered humans safe from some seriously evil bitches. Gunn and Conner make cameos, too.
Oh, but it’s still sad! Though written by Urru and Lynch, Joss Whedon mapped out the story (I guess he was too busy working on awesome shows that FOX cancelled to write it out himself). It’s dark. Really dark. As dark as Angel ever was, which was never as light as Buffy.
As for the illustrations, I’m not a big connoisseur of graphic novels, but the pictures were good by my uneducated standards. Though a few times I got a little confused about who was who among the bad guys, and REALLY confused when Illyria became Fred momentarily, because I was all, who’s that chick? But they were pretty. You know, as far as Hell goes.
Buy Spike: After The Fall on Amazon
If you like this book/author, you might like:
(my reviews in blue)
Angel: After the Fall, Vol. 1 by Brian Lynch and Franco Urru
Angel Omnibus by various
Buffy the Vampire Slayer Omnibus, Vol. 2 by various
Buffy the Vampire Slayer Omnibus, Volume 4 by various
Buffy The Vampire Slayer Omnibus Volume 5 by various
Buffy The Vampire Slayer Omnibus Volume 6 by various
Buffy The Vampire Slayer Omnibus Volume 7 by various
Spike: Shadow Puppets
Spike: Asylum
Spike Omnibus
Spike vs. Dracula by Peter David
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Spike & Dru by Christopher Golden, James Marsters, Ryan Sook, and Eric Powell
Spike and Dru All’s Fair by Christopher Golden and Eric Powell
Buffy The Vampire Slayer: Spike and Dru: The Queen of Hearts by Christopher Golden
Spike and Dru: Pretty Maids All in a Row by Christopher Golden
Other works by Brian Lynch*:
Angel: After the Fall, Vol. 1
Angel: After the Fall: First Night Volume 2
Angel: After the Fall, Vol. 3
Angel: After the Fall, Vol. 4
Angel: Smile Time
Spike: Shadow Puppets
Spike: Asylum
Spike Omnibus
Other works by Franco Urru*:
Angel: After the Fall, Vol. 1
Angel: After the Fall, Vol. 4
Angel: Smile Time
Spike: Shadow Puppets
Spike: Asylum
Spike Omnibus
*Note: I’ve done these a little differently. Usually when there’s two authors, if they’ve collaborated on other projects, I list what they’ve done together, separately, and with other people. But for these graphic novels, it seems like someone pulled names out of a hat and assigned various people randomly. So this lists any published works they’ve done, regardless of collaboration. Also, Urru may have done more than this. Not sure. He has worked in Italy for a long time.
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When I briefly watched Buffy, he was always one of my favorites.
I haven’t read any of the graphic novels from Buffy or Angel. I loved the shows so much and keep thinking they wouldn’t be the same. I should give them a try!
Poor Spike. Can he ever catch a break?
I always have a sort of hard time with comics of films/movies, because I’m not always sure who’s meant to be who. The Buffy comics are usually good about this, but on the other hand, I watched seven seasons of Buffy and can usually tell from the dialogue.
I am so behind in my After the Fall reading! I had picked this one up but haven’t caught up with Angel enough to start reading the Spike one. I gotta hand it to the IDW people though: the Angel and Spike hardcovers are pretty snazzy! I am more caught up with Buffy than I am with Angel….