Angel & Faith Season 9 #2
Script by Christos Gage
Art by Rebekah Isaacs
Colors by Dan Jackson
Letters by Richard Starkings and Jimmy Betancourt
Cover by Steve Morris
Alternate Cover by Rebekah Isaacs, Andy Owens and Dan Jackson
Dark Horse Comics
Release Date: September 28, 2011
Cover Price: $2.99

Vampire drug dealers? Almost, but not quite. Angel & Faith Season 9 #2 opens up to a large fight on the streets of London. Faith and the girls are fighting a horned demon and his vampire cohorts in order to stop what they think is a drug deal. Lots of deaths later we find it wasn’t drugs at all, it’s…(sorry, no spoiler here).

Thanks to Angel stepping in at the end of the fight, one of the girls lives to fight another day. Luckily only Faith knows he was there…he is still persona non grata after the whole Twilight thing (a name that brings to mind other brooding vampires and way whinier cast members). Angel is still on the quest to redeem himself after his many mistakes in the past year. Whereas Faith, for all her faults, is trying to bring some sanity to his plans. His access to the Watcher Files isn’t helping, either. It just sort of feeds the fire that is keeping him going. Against her better judgement, Faith agrees to help him.

Which brings us to Demontown and the sometime fun, sometime goofiness that is the Buffy-verse. After a few connections and conversations (and beatings, of course) they get a lead. A few pages go by and we get another action-packed ass-whipping courtesy of Angel and Faith. Angel seems more at ease when killing demons than he does when having to deal with his immediate problems. Include a flashback of Giles and a visit from Nash and Pearl and you have the makings of a good read.

Christos Gage does a great job of building the rapport between the characters and moving the plot along. Lots of information in this issue that enlightens the reader to what is going on in Angel’s life and how Faith is trying to hold him steady during this trying time. I was going to say that I was a bit disappointed in Rebekah Isaacs‘ art, but I found her redemption in the fact that she features Faith in a Batman shirt on pages 22 and 23. So, considering that, the art is slightly mediocre but gets the job done. Yeah, I’m easily swayed, deal with it…it’s Batman!

I liked this episode/issue. It was action-packed and still loaded with information. We get an insider’s view of the somewhat strange relationship between Angel and Faith, even some of the thoughts that Faith has regarding her current situation. The comic was a quick read and I was shocked to see the “to be continued” at the end. Now I’m Jonesing for the next issue and this one hasn’t even his the shelves yet. If you have any love for the world of Buffy and Angel, grab this series, it won’t disappoint you at all.