BLOG Angel & Faith # 1
None
Weekly digests, tales from the communities you love, and more
You are now subscribed
Your newsletter sign-up was successful
Want to add more newsletters?
Every Friday
GamesRadar+
Your weekly update on everything you could ever want to know about the games you already love, games we know you're going to love in the near future, and tales from the communities that surround them.
Every Thursday
GTA 6 O'clock
Our special GTA 6 newsletter, with breaking news, insider info, and rumor analysis from the award-winning GTA 6 O'clock experts.
Every Friday
Knowledge
From the creators of Edge: A weekly videogame industry newsletter with analysis from expert writers, guidance from professionals, and insight into what's on the horizon.
Every Thursday
The Setup
Hardware nerds unite, sign up to our free tech newsletter for a weekly digest of the hottest new tech, the latest gadgets on the test bench, and much more.
Every Wednesday
Switch 2 Spotlight
Sign up to our new Switch 2 newsletter, where we bring you the latest talking points on Nintendo's new console each week, bring you up to date on the news, and recommend what games to play.
Every Saturday
The Watchlist
Subscribe for a weekly digest of the movie and TV news that matters, direct to your inbox. From first-look trailers, interviews, reviews and explainers, we've got you covered.
Once a month
SFX
Get sneak previews, exclusive competitions and details of special events each month!
Will Salmon checks out the first issue of the relaunched Angel comic
As first issues go, this is a success. For readers who have been following the comics, it feels like an exciting change of direction. For newbies who maybe know the show but not the comics, it’s perfectly clear and understandable – though Christos Gage’s script is a little info-dumpy in places.
It’s not, however, an entirely clean break…
WARNING: Big spoilers from the end of Buffy Season 8 from here on in.
So, the world has changed. Earth is cut off from the mystical dimensions and magic is no more. Angel is more or less back to normal after all of that confusing Twilight business. And Giles is dead. Murdered by Angel…
This is all big, game-changing stuff that needs to be addressed. And it is – to the extent that it overwhelms the story of the month. Angel is so consumed with guilt that he has decided to finish off the work that Giles started, by taking on the Watcher Files. He’s also moved to London and rocked up in Giles’ old house. Yeah, nice one. Kill a guy and then steal his pad, why don’t ya?
Faith has changed too. She’s still fond of fighting and dancing, but she’s calmer, more in control now. It’s a neat inversion of Angel season one, with her helping the angsty vamp to come to terms with the terrible things that he’s done.
Weekly digests, tales from the communities you love, and more
The phrase that Whedon and Dark Horse have been trotting out about Season 9 is that it’s “back to basics”. That’s the right decision, I think. As entertainingly mad as Season 8 was, it took Buffy away from the show’s core idea: a group of likeable young characters dealing with real life, and battling monsters that reflect their inner turmoil. The back to basics approach is very clear from Angel & Faith (and hey, it’s their ampersand, not mine). It didn’t have me jumping out of my seat with excitement, but it’s a very strong start, with a very intriguing cliffhanger.

Will Salmon is the Streaming Editor for GamesRadar+. He has been writing about film, TV, comics, and music for more than 15 years, which is quite a long time if you stop and think about it. At Future he launched the scary movie magazine Horrorville, relaunched Comic Heroes, and has written for every issue of SFX magazine for well over a decade. His music writing has appeared in The Quietus, MOJO, Electronic Sound, Clash, and loads of other places too.


