But we'll get to that book in a few days.
Angel & Faith #14, 15, by Christos Gage (script), Rebekah Isaacs (art, #14), Lee Garbett (pencils, #15, pgs 1-13), David Lapham (line art, #15, pgs 14-22), Derek Fridolfs (inks, #15, pgs. 1-13), Dan Jackson (colors), Richard Starkings & Jimmy Betancourt (letters) - If there isn't a specific issue listed, that means they fulfilled that role on both. I like this strategy of having Isaacs draw a four issue arc, then doing an issue that stands alone and getting it drawn by someone else so she can stay on schedule and maintain quality. It's a good idea. Thirdly, we will have to discuss that cover eventually. Next week, probably. The reviews are going to take awhile.So, Willow's eyes have gone black. That's never good, but at least she knows it and wants to get gone. Angel convinces her to stay and fight, because she's the only one who can stop Quor'toth. Except it takes no time at all before she's off on another power trip, blathering about becoming the new god of this realm. So Angel bites her, which calms her down. But he can't push the demon back down. Oh noes! Will Faith have to kill him? No, because WIllow talks him down. There are hugs, Connor's followers escape, Willow sets off on her magic journey, and the rest go home. Just as word has gotten to the London Slayers that Angel's around, and whoops! Faith is working with him.
15 is split between two chapters, each titled "The Hero of His Own Story". One is Angel and Whistler having a conversation, Whistler explaining where he came from, what he's doing, and how he'd much rather be working with Angel. Angel naturally turns him down, offers to help him get his head straight, and gets his stomach punched out. The other story details Pearl and Nash's existence, how they came to be, how they're trying to carry out their mother's wishes even after her death. If they weren't loons out to slaughter a bunch of people and help Whistler with his plan, I'd almost find their devotion sweet. As it is, I just find it creepy. Lapham's art helps with that. They're so wide-eyed, and have such open faces, it's spooky. What was that movie with the telepath kids? Village of the Damned? Like that. But the openness of the emotion makes it actually work a little when they cry over their demonic offspring. I'm not sure it was supposed to, but I felt a twinge. Maybe that was just my knee.
Lee Garbett didn't get to draw anything nearly as interesting, unless you count a Power That Be ruttin' with a demon. There is one panel where the way he frames Whistler's face makes him look like the Timmverse version of the Mad Hatter, with the severe overbite. Which was amusing, since I don't take Whistler seriously anyway. He uttered the phrase 'greater good' as part of his explanation for his actions, and I've adopted the GrimJack philosophy towards that phrase. Which is, "Replace 'greater good' with 'personal gain'", since the people uttering it are inevitably never the ones doing the suffering. Certainly not in this case. I did like the muted color scheme Dan Jackson used for that chapter. Lots of muted beige and green for Angel and Whistler's conversation. He switched to brighter colors for the sequences set in the past, and for that quick vision of the world Whistler hopes to create. That one panel isn't necessarily bright, but the pinks and golds are a much warmer tone than what's in the restaurant. His vision of what's coming wasn't colored much darker than the world he and Angel are in at the moment, so I guess that's all support for his argument.
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