A review by joelevard
Angel: After the Fall, Volume 2: First Night by Brian Lynch
3.0
Someone in Oak Park is a kleptomaniac with a thing for Angel comics, because he stole volume 1 and 3 of this series from the library. I can tell because the online reservation system shows they were due on the same day, three months ago. A hex upon thee, library thief!
So I had to order these from other libraries, which is annoying because there is no way to control the order in which they arrive. For example, I got volume 2 first. I checked it out anyway, just in case the thief was planning to strike again, and maybe the first volume would come in before the due date (I was foiled in this for exciting reasons that I might reveal in my review of Spike: After the Fall, because I know everyone is into this library intrigue).
But then I read about the series and it turns out volume 2 takes place before volume 1 chronologically. IN YOUR FACE, LIBRARY THIEF! PLAN: FOILED!
Hmm... except this volume is actually really short (collecting three issues instead of the usual five in a trade edition like this) and rather than actually delve into the story I was doing all that frantic reserving to actually read (which is supposed to be "season six that never was" of Angel, but you already knew that, you dork), it has a bunch of one-off vignettes with various characters, some critical, some not-so-important. Thus some of the stories are interesting and some are not-so-interesting.
Perhaps the thief hadn't carelessly overlooked this volume at all. Perhaps he wanted to leave it behind to taunt future patrons with its... unsatisfyingness. Curse you, villain. I already hate the whole process of comic books enough (Go to the store every month! Because you sure can't subscribe anymore. And then read one issue in 15 minutes. Or wait like a year for five issues at once, which still only takes an hour! I hate you, comics!). Stop making me hate it more.
Three stars anyway. There's a psychic fish and one story is all in rhyme.
So I had to order these from other libraries, which is annoying because there is no way to control the order in which they arrive. For example, I got volume 2 first. I checked it out anyway, just in case the thief was planning to strike again, and maybe the first volume would come in before the due date (I was foiled in this for exciting reasons that I might reveal in my review of Spike: After the Fall, because I know everyone is into this library intrigue).
But then I read about the series and it turns out volume 2 takes place before volume 1 chronologically. IN YOUR FACE, LIBRARY THIEF! PLAN: FOILED!
Hmm... except this volume is actually really short (collecting three issues instead of the usual five in a trade edition like this) and rather than actually delve into the story I was doing all that frantic reserving to actually read (which is supposed to be "season six that never was" of Angel, but you already knew that, you dork), it has a bunch of one-off vignettes with various characters, some critical, some not-so-important. Thus some of the stories are interesting and some are not-so-interesting.
Perhaps the thief hadn't carelessly overlooked this volume at all. Perhaps he wanted to leave it behind to taunt future patrons with its... unsatisfyingness. Curse you, villain. I already hate the whole process of comic books enough (Go to the store every month! Because you sure can't subscribe anymore. And then read one issue in 15 minutes. Or wait like a year for five issues at once, which still only takes an hour! I hate you, comics!). Stop making me hate it more.
Three stars anyway. There's a psychic fish and one story is all in rhyme.