Thank you Scribd for getting my passion for Btvs and Ats back.

Los Angeles has been transported to hell and Spike, happy that he survived another fight, decides to retire from fighting evil. 2 minutes later he is back in business saving humans with Fred/Illyria by his side.

I enjoyed this volume quite much. It's been ages since I watched Ats and I think I actually need to rewatch the whole series. Should probably finish rewatching Btvs first. Anyway, great volume. Nice art, lots of action. Some Spike & Illyria smooching, me like very much.



Review also posted on And Now for Something Completely Different and It's a Mad Mad World ( )

More of a set-up piece than anything else. The story was already sort-of told in earlier Angel comics, but it gives the background to Spike's becoming a lord in hell. It was all right, but nothing to write home about. Although the constant jabs at having only one tv show to watch in hell was funny. I can see the point. Nothing but Charmed, for months. Pure hell. ( )

*Book source ~ Library

Follows Spike and Illyria after the series finale of Angel where they battled Wolfram & Harts demon army in the alley behind the Hyperion and then W&H sent Los Angeles into a Hell dimension. Not sure of the timeline, but it’s not immediately after. It seems a bit of time has passed.

I love Spike. Seriously. He’s my favorite character next to Buffy. I also was quite liking Illyria, but she didn’t get a whole lot of screen time before the show ended, so I like seeing how she’s handling being in a Hell dimension. Not very well, it seems. She keeps switching between Fred and Illyria and that can get dicey considering she’s vulnerable when she’s Fred. I’m wondering why she’s just now having such problems, but it’s great that Spike’s there to help her. I’m not liking Gunn at all, but then I was never really a fan of him in the show either. I am liking Connor better than I did. The villain of this piece is interesting and very hateworthy. I enjoy the artwork very much. ( )

I love Spike. He's my favorite Buffy character next to Willow. However, I was a little disappointed with this spin-off series. And despite the claim in the synopsis, I have not viewed the events in Angel: After the Fall any differently. It just explains how Spike got to the position he was in at the beginning of A:ATF.

While the dialogue was pretty faithful for the characters that we know so well, I found that the story was lacking that thought provoking and sometimes heart-wrenching aspect that I have grown accustomed to with anything Buffy/Joss Whedon related. It was a pretty generic storyline with cameos by other key characters that didn't need to happen and felt like a desperate attempt to keep our interest. Also, I actually became a little more confused about the situation with Gunn because of these cameos since he popped up at some point and then kind of disappeared. I felt like some background on him would have cleared up some lingering questions, but his cameo failed to do that and left me disappointed. I also felt that the moments the story was getting deeper emotionally became cliche and slightly overdone. I missed the subtlety that I've come to love from the Buffyverse.

Since it is a graphic novel, I feel that a note should be made on the art. However, other than saying that the art was just fine, there really isn't much to say. The characters looked much like the actors, which is a plus, and the new characters were drawn pretty well. Nothing overtly distracting, but also not anything particularly new or stunning.

Basically, it was all right. If you really want to know Spike's story right after everything goes to hell (literally) than go ahead and give this a read. However, it won't change A:ATF for you very much, and the whole story honestly could have been explained in a couple of panels in A:ATF. It didn't really need a whole series, even though you can never have enough Spike. ( )

Jokes and wit in the middle of the horror inflicted on the city of Los Angeles, Spike continues to fulfill his role as the 2nd Vampire with a Soul and try to save as many people as he can from the numerous demons who've taken over the city. As a side-series to the Angel: After the Fall, this one definitely stands on its own two feet - which is not that surprising considering how strong a character Spike turned out (or grew) to be from his first appearance in Buffy. A good (and somewhat horrific) tale. ( )