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crystalm17's review
4.0
I have one word/name and it's all I'm going to say about this volume: Drusilla!!!!
onceandfuturelaura's review
4.0
“Daddy issues.” Snort. These issues deal with daddy issues. I get it. Faith’s daddy comes back, having figured out she’s one of those “warrior princesses” (snort) and wants her to do a little killing for him. Drusilla comes back sane and possibly on the right side of an issue Angel is in the wrong side off. Angel is having flashbacks to Giles’ worst moments, which often involve his father. Drusilla aside, the world is ketting crazier. And it’s possibly because of what Angel did one bright day.
A lot of fun and well punctuated with a knock on Giles’s door.
A lot of fun and well punctuated with a knock on Giles’s door.
slipperbunny's review
4.0
I've read most of the previous volumes so I wasn't completely lost while reading this. I really liked this volume, I think the story was interesting (and emotional) and I like the art most of the time. The only one who looks weird to me is Angel but maybe it's just hard to draw him? I don't know. But I love Faith, I always have and I always will.
introworded's review
5.0
The Angel & Faith series are so good and by far my favorite Buffy comics I've read so far. The artwork by Rebekah Isaacs is so beautiful; nobody does it like she does. Gorgeous throughout. I feel like a lot of heart went into making these, rather than just making dough as I feel when reading some of the others. I love Faith and Christos Gage really brings her witty and sarcastic character to life. The stories have a lot of depth: facing external as well as internal demons and the Giles story-line is particularly moving. I love that we get to see more of Faith and learn that she has become the person we were all rooting for in the tv-series.
theartolater's review
3.0
This series continues to underwhelm me. I really like the backstory here, the overall plot, but the execution is really leaving a lot to be desired for me. I really don't have a ton to say about it beyond that, but my expectations are not matching at all so far with this.
library_hungry's review
3.0
It's good storytelling, the art's fine, and I mostly don't mind the characters. But Angel is a bizarre guy, and that throws the moral center of these books way off. I don't mind a story where I can't tell the good guys from the bad guys, or where the good guys aren't all good. But I mind quite a bit when I suspect that the story and I disagree about who the good guy is. I don't mind if Angel and I disagree about right vs. wrong, but I get nervous when I worry if Cristos Gage and I disagree on that subject.
sparkleboymatty's review
5.0
Loved it! The Angel and Faith stories have been much better than Buffy season nine. It was great to see Drusilla again, and the demon was really cool. Good stories for Faith, Angel and Giles. I can't wait for the next collection to come out.
shanbear16's review
5.0
Drusilla appears! I love her story line! And I really like the emotional journey that Faith goes through in this volume.
jenniferbbookdragon's review
4.0
I think it is no surprise Faith has Daddy issues, but she's not the only one. A must for those who love these characters, or the Buffyverse in general.
dr_matthew_lloyd's review
3.0
There's a line in part one of Angel and Faith: Daddy Issues in which Faith encapsulated the series - and the television series Angel which somewhat preceded it:
The basis of the entire character of Angel is, of course, that he has done many Bad Things and, cursed with a soul, he fights for "redemption". In Faith's case, she has done fewer bad things, but she also already had a soul - in her case, the fight for redemption is limited by mortality while in his, it will go on as long as he does.
Daddy Issues is something of a mixed bag as far as quality is concerned. The story is pretty interesting - Faith's long lost father and Angel's long lost "daughter" show up, reviving past traumas and mistakes. Meanwhile, Drusilla has allied herself to a Lorophage demon fought by Giles some time ago. This particular demon feeds on trauma, but under the new post-magic rules it is capable of doing so without destroying the human from which it feeds - thus offering Drusilla, Angel, and Faith escape from their pasts. It's an intriguing prospect, and much of the action is believable. I think Faith runs too quickly back to her father, although perhaps the confines of a four-issue comic book arc made that necessary; the trope of the returning absent father also holds few surprises, although its importance is more for its consequences. The story is fine, as is the follow-up short "Women of a Certain Age".
Where this volume really goes wrong, however, is in its overall scope. The issues at hand here are huge, and cut to the core of Angel and Faith as characters and their relationship to one another. Rather than embracing the fact that this series is the canonical follow-up to the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel, it seems content to use the notion of Angel and Faith's battle for redemption as the background radiation which informs the entire series. But the concept, that the Lorophage demon removes the painful memories of trauma, harks right back to season 2 of Buffy and the introduction, in "Surprise" and "Innocence" of the possibility that Angel can lose his soul. While subsequent storylines largely focused on the "one moment of perfect happiness" part of the curse, the actual cause of Angel's soul-loss is complacency - that the soul with which he was cursed as a punishment no longer troubles him. The soul in Buffy serves as a metaphor - there's no such thing as a soul. As Joss Whedon put it in this edition of Radio 4's Front Row (around the 10:30 mark), "I also don't believe in vampires [...] the soul is a convenient way of saying 'is this person trying to be better? Is this someone of substance?'" In Angel's case, if he is not troubled by the misdeeds of his past he is not a "person of substance", he won't try to be better. Angel never explains that he is worried that Faith will "lose her soul" if she loses her trauma - the fact that she should feel guilty for brutally murdering someone never comes up. But this is what Angel and Faith (and Angel and Faith) should be discussing, as Buffy's successor. It seems to just be assumed that Faith is a better person with her troubles, and I suppose I agree with that in Faith's case, but a convincing reason why that is true of Faith and especially why others shouldn't have their trauma "cured" is never really given, only hinted.
If you want a continuation of the storylines of the television shows Buffy and Angel then Angel and Faith suffices; if you want something which grapples with its themes in an intelligent way, then it probably isn't for you. I'm pretty keen on both, although I'm not sure you can really have the former without the latter. It's enjoyable, but I'm always hoping for more.
"Yeah, I know the song. Everything's your fault."
The basis of the entire character of Angel is, of course, that he has done many Bad Things and, cursed with a soul, he fights for "redemption". In Faith's case, she has done fewer bad things, but she also already had a soul - in her case, the fight for redemption is limited by mortality while in his, it will go on as long as he does.
Daddy Issues is something of a mixed bag as far as quality is concerned. The story is pretty interesting - Faith's long lost father and Angel's long lost "daughter" show up, reviving past traumas and mistakes. Meanwhile, Drusilla has allied herself to a Lorophage demon fought by Giles some time ago. This particular demon feeds on trauma, but under the new post-magic rules it is capable of doing so without destroying the human from which it feeds - thus offering Drusilla, Angel, and Faith escape from their pasts. It's an intriguing prospect, and much of the action is believable. I think Faith runs too quickly back to her father, although perhaps the confines of a four-issue comic book arc made that necessary; the trope of the returning absent father also holds few surprises, although its importance is more for its consequences. The story is fine, as is the follow-up short "Women of a Certain Age".
Where this volume really goes wrong, however, is in its overall scope. The issues at hand here are huge, and cut to the core of Angel and Faith as characters and their relationship to one another. Rather than embracing the fact that this series is the canonical follow-up to the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel, it seems content to use the notion of Angel and Faith's battle for redemption as the background radiation which informs the entire series. But the concept, that the Lorophage demon removes the painful memories of trauma, harks right back to season 2 of Buffy and the introduction, in "Surprise" and "Innocence" of the possibility that Angel can lose his soul. While subsequent storylines largely focused on the "one moment of perfect happiness" part of the curse, the actual cause of Angel's soul-loss is complacency - that the soul with which he was cursed as a punishment no longer troubles him. The soul in Buffy serves as a metaphor - there's no such thing as a soul. As Joss Whedon put it in this edition of Radio 4's Front Row (around the 10:30 mark), "I also don't believe in vampires [...] the soul is a convenient way of saying 'is this person trying to be better? Is this someone of substance?'" In Angel's case, if he is not troubled by the misdeeds of his past he is not a "person of substance", he won't try to be better. Angel never explains that he is worried that Faith will "lose her soul" if she loses her trauma - the fact that she should feel guilty for brutally murdering someone never comes up. But this is what Angel and Faith (and Angel and Faith) should be discussing, as Buffy's successor. It seems to just be assumed that Faith is a better person with her troubles, and I suppose I agree with that in Faith's case, but a convincing reason why that is true of Faith and especially why others shouldn't have their trauma "cured" is never really given, only hinted.
If you want a continuation of the storylines of the television shows Buffy and Angel then Angel and Faith suffices; if you want something which grapples with its themes in an intelligent way, then it probably isn't for you. I'm pretty keen on both, although I'm not sure you can really have the former without the latter. It's enjoyable, but I'm always hoping for more.