Cover of the final issue of Angel from IDW
This past week a sad day came to pass. IDW Publishing has brought to an end the “Angel” comic book series, after 44 issues. Fans of the franchise will have to get our fix from other sources. However, from where I sit, this might mean better days for Angel and his team.
Truly, for a last story for the series, the recent issues have been a bit disappointing. I was first worried with issue #40, as the artwork had changed to a style that was reminiscent of a bad cartoon. Fortunately, that only lasted for the one issue, as it was drawn by a different artist, but even when the regular artist returned, the look was just not the same.
The larger problem for me was that I don’t think the story was worthy of ending the series. A series of this nature, no matter the medium, should have a world-ending “big bad” for the final battle. While that may have been the concept behind the whole “James” arc, I don’t think it was successful. The characters of James, Darrow, and the others written for this story seemed two-dimensional and flat. They were too much like any average demon that the gang had faced before. Not to mention the fact that James was drawn to look way too much like Spike. That is bad in a comic, as there should be no chance for the characters to be confused by the readers (unless of course that is the intent of the story).
If you are having the final battle of a series, I think you want to have your best characters, the most important members of the team, to be involved. While Illyria was involved some, I would have liked to have seen her in the “present” as well as the “future”. However, the big absence was Spike. I realize that he and Illyria are on their own adventure in Las Vegas in “Spike” but this was poor planning. Perhaps the series was not originally meant to end here, and if that is the case, it would have been nice if somehow things could have been changed to allow everyone to be present for the end. This final chapter simply did not seem right.
The concept of the final panel was nice, with Angel remembering the people he has lost, and walking into whatever his future holds, ready to “get back to work”. However, while the artist did a nice job on most of the images, especially Lorne, I was not pleased at all with Cordelia. It simply did not look nearly enough like the actress.
There are some other nice things in this final arc. Perhaps the most important are the developments with Connor. Not just that he has come into his powers (I think that aspect was not well written), but that he has finally matured into a leader. His time leading the team was far from perfect, but that is a positive thing. It would be corny if he was suddenly a great leader, but he is at the point where he needs to be to start. He has an inner strength, and a desire to learn, and he recognizes his limitations. I also like how this story brought Angel and Connor closer.
Strange as it may sound, I also liked the death of Polyphemus. Now, I liked that character, and thought it was unique and well written, and his death was sad. However, this is the perfect example of the fact that death is a fact of life for the Angel Investigations team. I also liked that it was not a human that was chosen for this fate. In the world of these characters, all lives have meaning, regardless of the type of being they are. Polyphemus was a valued member of the team, and his death had meaning.
So, what does this mean for Angel, Connor, Gunn, and the others? I hope that their stories are continued, if not by IDW then perhaps by another publisher. I hate to see the series end, but perhaps good can come of it, if a new creative team can start fresh and bring us exciting and compelling stories once again.
