After the fall #6 - First night

[rogin]

So here are my five cents about the new issue.

Ok, I’ll go through it part by part.

Spike’s story is barely more then an intro, but interesting nonetheless. 

We see that all his wounds are healed, when L.A. is transferred to hell. Strange. Maybe the same force restored Fred inside Illyria. I don’t know what to make of it.

Does Spike think he died in the beginning? I’m not sure. If so I think his ramblings about giving up championship make sense. After all Spikes motivations always were totally different from Angel’s. I never got the impression that he fought just to be the good guy or to atone either. Spike sure is sorry for what he did without his soul but I don’t think he wants to measure up his bad deeds with good ones. Spike was evil as a demon because it was his nature. A nature he overcame on his own by achieving a soul. Getting the soul was an act of freeing himself from a predestined career as a villain. He wants to decide for himself now, not fulfill another role.

When he took up the champion gig it was to impress Buffy and in S5 to compete with Angel. With Spike it’s always about the people around him. He fights because he loves to do it and for those he loves. With everyone gone and him on his own in hell it’s quite ok that he would “retire” and just look to make the most of the situation (The dawn line was made of brilliant, heh) . Of course the second he sees someone he likes all that goes all down the drain.

That he took the elevator only showed that he was a little thrown of his game by the whole hell gig. For Spike being the cool guy is a century old carefully crafted mask to hide the inner dork. That he forgot to be cool when he saw Frellyria down there is adorable, I think.

From the moment he has someone to fight for he’s back to being the champion. That’s perfectly Spike for me. And hopefully he’ll get an interesting plotline in Spike: After the Fall

For the art: Hm. For my liking Messina’s lines are to hard where Urru’s are a bit too soft. I’ll just stop nagging. It’s nice art.

Now on to Connor:

After the Fall-Connor is the best version of him yet. After reading his inner monologue about his three fathers I’m even more convinced of this. It’s just perfect. He’s still very twisted but in the end the fake memories gave him the stability he needed to deal with the real ones. They gave him perspective and a sense of self-irony (see the Oedipus-line ^^).

They also enabled him to finally see Angel for what he really is: His biological father who has faults and good sides like everyone else. Before the new improved childhood,  Connor never seemed to grasp the concept that Angel genuinely loved him. The love he got from his fakerents makes it possible to accept Angel’s. So cheers for less fucked up Connor!

What I found a bit strange was the scene where he threw up because he suddenly remembered everything. I thought he already did that? I’m interpreting that the memories were blurry before and hit him with full force when he was transported to Hell A., maybe because of the restoring/healing thingy or because it reminded him of Quortoth.   

The artwork by Stephen Mooney: I disliked that he used so many shadows. Some of the faces looked terrible (the first shot of Cordelia mad me want to run and hide). On the plus side he did a brilliant job with Connor’s facial expressions.  The pictures fit the voices perfectly. I liked the mad glare on page 13 best, it was pure destroyer.

Lorne’s story:

I loved that it came in verses.  Lorne needs to be on the bright side and by the end of S5 he had the most tragic story of them all. Lorne is a very adaptable person. He is used to deal with shitty developments like the hostility of his home dimension, the transport in to this world and the destructions of Caritas. The only thing that really got to him was to make him a murderer, to destroy his own pacifist integrity, his good karma. It’s nice to see him getting it back. Lorne makes the world around him a better place, even if it’s hell (or better H-E-double hockey sticks, loved that one). The parallels to caritas are obvious and wonderful. Again he created a place where humans and demons live in peace in a world where it’s all about the fight between good and evil.

The only thing I disliked was that sorceress who came a bit out of the left field. Huh? She makes Lorne’s slice of heaven and then she sods off? That’s a bit of a lame explanation for silver lake.

The art by John Byrne: Was fun and thus fit the story. Nothing I need to see more often though

Betta George was a fabulous narrator of course and I wish him a soonish rescue.

The issue leaves me wanting more, which is always a good thing!

Comments

Re: from your angel community

[moscow-watcher.livejournal.com]

It's so amazing how Gunn became one of the most interesting characters in AtF.

Yes, absolutely unpredictable and fascinating!