Buffy/Angel: La bocca dell’inferno

Buffy the Vampire Slayer (2019) #12.5

by Jordie Bellaire

BUFFY E ANGEL IN UN EVENTO POP ATTESISSIMO Buffy e Angel – i due protagonisti del Buffy Universe – faccia a faccia, in un confronto destinato a spalancare le porte dell’inferno. Buffy e la sua Scooby Gang sono chiamati ad arginare una grave minaccia per le vite degli abitanti di Sunnydale: una Bocca dell’Inferno. Nel frattempo, Angel – il vampiro maledetto che possiede un’anima – arriva in città alla ricerca della propria redenzione che passa proprio per la chiusura di quell’entrata infernale. E nessun essere umano, demone o Cacciatore potrà fermarlo. Gli sceneggiatori Jordie Bellaire e Jeremy Lambert, affiancati della disegnatrice italiana Eleonora Carlini, fanno finalmente incontrare Buffy e Angel, due icone pop create dal leggendario Joss Whedon. Un grande evento editoriale per tutti i fan di BUFFY.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Fantasy, Horror, Vampires, Young Adult

128 pages, Hardcover

First published July 15, 2020

About the author

Jordie Bellaire is an American comic book colorist and writter who lives in Ireland and works for DC, Marvel, Valiant, and Image comic book publishers. She has colored Pretty Deadly, The Manhattan Projects, Moon Knight, The Vision, Magneto, Nowhere Men, Hawkeye, Batman, among other titles. As a writer, her most famous works are Redlands and the reboot of Buffy The Vampire Slayer.
Bellaire is credited with starting the "Comics are for everybody" initiative to make the comic book community more inclusive and compassionate.

Reviews

[Chad · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was put together awfully. This is like the worst of a Marvel or DC event. What's in this book is all very generic. It's Buffy and Angel walking through the Hellmouth for 4 issues before the Scooby gang shows up to save the day.

Eleonara Carlini's art is good. It's very anime influenced. But in the last issue, once a bunch of characters show up, I couldn't tell them apart. I had no idea what happened in that final battle or who was who.

If you want to know how to read this, read Buffy Vol. 3 and Angel Vol. 2 first to see what's going on with the side characters while Buffy and Angel are in the Hellmouth.

I'm not a fan of that epilogue either. This new Buffyverse has been around for a year and now they are establishing a multiverse? How about establishing the existing universe first. It's like Bellaire is already bored. Bellaire just keeps bringing the worst of Marvel and DC to this series. It's a real shame. The Buffy reboot started off so strong and Bellaire writes really snappy dialogue.

[Artemy · Rating 1 out of 5]

Pretty much everything I said in my review of the corresponding Buffy volume applies here, as well. A terribly planned and structured nightmare of a crossover event that brings everything you hate about Marvel and DC crossovers to a smaller, much less profitable property. The story was dull and devoid of any charm you'd typically associate with Buffy, opting instead for generic bad guys doing generic evil things and giving generic bad guy speeches. Why it had to be this way, I'll never know, and it's a real shame that the series that started out so promisingly devolved into this pathetic mess as quickly as it did.

[Shannon · Rating 2 out of 5]

I hated this event and honestly it kind of soured me on the whole series.

Individual issue reviews: #1 | #2 | #3 | #4 | #5

Total review score: 2.1

[Mitticus · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5

Buffy and Angel goes down during Halloween party to Hell. She wants to stop what is happening but without any plan nor research and not even her friends or Watcher knows where is her. Good work, Buffy! Angel is an unknown, but in brief relies in him. Yep.

There found demons and alike. She wants to stop Dursilla, but... well.



In all, I'm not impressed by this work. Nor the art.

[Ashley · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was kind of a mess.

[Mikala · Rating 2 out of 5]

overall though I felt like this dragged and was a bit repetitive as well as some parts felt missing (...like what happened to Xander, the way everyone acts at the end i think a huge portion was left out or something.)...and that ending confused the heck out of me! (I can see how this is moving into some kind of multiverse thing. However, I don't think it was tied into this storyline in a way that made any sense).

The one thing I DID like and thought was a really interesting set up for the future volumes was the whole aspect of that lake that the doppelganger buffy enters and says something like you'll understand eventually. And the real buffy asks after something like where does that lead down to....and it was VERY intriguing to me...(however after continuing on in the series I don't think that this plot point EVER comes back into play even though they built it up like it would LOL)

I will forever love anything set in the Buffy-verse but honestly this comic was convoluted and confusing 😕
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(Okay after reading other reviews I guess you are supposed to flip between the issues in this event and issues within the regular volumes?...idk just doesn't make sense to me why they would construct the bind up like this then?)

[Cristina (bibliotecadepueblo) · Rating 2 out of 5]

Primer evento del nuevo reinicio y es un fail total. Simplemente no funciona bien. Es que la historia es demasiado floja, básicamente es todo el rato lo mismo salvo en el último número, y ni así se salva.

Y aunque no estoy muy a favor de un multiverso tan pronto, tengo que decir que el epílogo me ha dejado con ganas de seguir. Además me ha gustado el dibujo de Marco Renna. No puedo decir lo mismo de Eleonora Carlini, a cuyo cargo corre el dibujo de la historia principal.

Un evento bastante olvidable, en general.

[Valery Tikappa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Buffy mi regala sempre gioie, in qualsiasi forma io lo veda o legga.
Devo ammettere di preferire la serie principale rispetto a questo volume, che comunque non mi ha delusa, ma l'ho trovato un po' scollegato, forse perchè alcune informazioni si troveranno poi nel volume 3 della serie principale.

Con La bocca dell'inferno ci troviamo davanti un crossover Buffy/Angel in cui i due protagonisti si trovano faccia a faccia per impedire l'apertura della bocca dell'Inferno. Ovviamente le cose non saranno facili nè facilitate dai tanti segreti che ci sono fra i due protagonisti.

Come sempre i disegni mi sono piaciuti, sono perfetti per una serie come Buffy: sono per la maggior parte cupi ma quando serve i colori ci sono, sono ben definiti e molto fluidi. In generale è uno stile che apprezzo.

Mi è piaciuto anche lo sviluppo della storia, la discesa negli Inferi e le varie prove che sia Buffy che Angel devono affrontare prima di ritrovarsi. Bello soprattutto il finale, contiene tutto ciò che la serie TV ha sempre professato: amicizia, etica, unione e girl power, che non guasta mai.
Peccato solo che in alcuni punti sia leggermente confusionario, altrimenti sarebbe stato perfetto.

[luciana · Rating 3 out of 5]

5.14/10

RTC

[Micko · Rating 2 out of 5]

A well crafted final issue after four issues that missed the mark and didn't move the story forward, except for establishing an uneasy alliance between Buffy and Angel

The Buffy reboot has fallen far from grace since the first potential-filled arc that felt so fresh.

The story of the main series and this spinoff has been torn into messy pieces by going in a hundred directions at once, leaving interesting developments unfinished, introducing new characters left and right and leaving all characters underdeveloped as a result.

The first four issues of this series and collection achieved very little as they reduced Drusilla to a sidelined minion and introduced an unoriginal main villain in the form of the Hellmother, who took up a lot of space. These issues did however manage to establish a somewhat interesting relationship between Buffy and Angel.

The very last issue managed to show a glimpse of potential for the series moving forward with a cool (and insane Cordelia) and an amazing Anya, but it is too late, and establishing a multiverse seems over-ambitious for a series that has not yet accomplished the basic development of its core characters.

This is the end of the road for me with this series for now. I may catch a legacy edition or two some ways down the road, if things get better.

[Nixi92 · Rating 2 out of 5]

Confusionario, per nulla fedele ai personaggi e ai loro limiti. Per quanto ami Cordelia, da quando possiede la forza per distruggere gli Ubervamp? Nella serie originale, anche le cacciatrici trovavano difficile combattere contro queste creature. Come è possibile che Willow sia già una esperta di stregoneria? Quando ha acquisito queste skill? Come è possibile che la cacciatrice precedente si sia ritirata, dato che una cacciatrice subentra in carica solo quando muore quella precedente? Quanto è inutile Robin Wood? Potrei andare avanti, ma lasciamo perdere...
Che delusione.

[Roxanne · Rating 2 out of 5]

**1.5 stars

Yikes. That was a fucking mess. It's been a long time since I've been this disappointed in a comic, honestly. But what was I expecting? This crossover happened so quickly with barely any build up for the Buffy and Angel titles. The plot is boring and sometimes things just happen that don't make sense. I didn't enjoy Buffy and Angel's interactions - no chemistry there at all. I hate ragging on art, but I really couldn't stand the art here, either. It's a weird mash of manga and comics and it was not my cup of tea. I could only stand it slightly more than the art in the Buffy title. Very disappointing. Highly questioning continuing the series.

[JJ · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was better. I really liked the epilogue.

[TJ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another mediocre addition to the new Buffy continuity, but the ending was surprisingly fairly solid. 3.4/5 stars.

[David Cowpar · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh,

If this is the best Buffy 3.0 can do I don't have much hope for it.

I don't like the new series all that much!

[Jillian French · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this in literally 15 minutes, it’s a quick and easy read and it’s setting the foundation for the other graphic novels within the series. I enjoyed the short time I read it.

I don’t feel like it’s fair to even give this a rating just because it was so short and it was just setting the plot up for the rest of the series, but I feel 3 stars is fair for what I got.

If you have never heard of Buffy The Vampire Slayer you will have absolutely no clue who these characters are, which is fine, you’ll learn who they are throughout this series but I think you’ll have a better reading experience knowing the characters and their back stories, but that’s just my opinion.

[Madison · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a chaotic event that made me feel bitterness about the fact that I had to buy extra issues to follow the series. I did like the art style much more than Lopez's work for BTVS -- he's undeniably talented, but it's absolutely the wrong tone and look for the series. The text and the art fit much better together here. However, the story is all over the place, and the ending is sudden and neat in a really frustrating way.

[Maude Fleurent · Rating 2 out of 5]

2,5
Euh... j'ai rien compris de la fin, mais bon c'était juste nécessaire à ma compréhension en attendant le volume 4, mais j'apprécie que grâce à ce livre j'ai découvert la BD de Willow. Donc, un mal pour un bien ?

[Robert · Rating 1 out of 5]

Read it out of order since I didn't know it existed, and it still doesn't make any sense. Plus, any story that just deus-ex's a gang of saviors into the third act without any establishment within the work itself is a piece of shit. So this is a piece of shit.

[Anna Quilter · Rating 3 out of 5]

Then go read Willows miniseries

[Сисилота А. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Meh. This reboot is really butchering the characters and the story is just okay.

[Scott · Rating 3 out of 5]

For those of you who are Superfans of my reviews (all of you), you'll remember that I said if this crossover event didn't absolutely kill, I'd give up on the Buffy and Angel reboots altogether.

Well it didn't absolutely kill. But I kinda liked it I guess? I dunno, at least I knew what was going on the whole time. But honestly, the climax just highlighted how much of a mess the series became, just trying to do way too much all at once.

The art was a fair spot better, though, so thank you Eleonora Carlini for not being that other guy.

If this were an event in the middle of a strong series, I'd forgive it as a weak episode with an underdeveloped villain but continue following the series. But as an event in the middle of a weak series, I'm inclined to praise it as the promise of something better... and continue following the series.

Maybe some new writing talent would reinvigorate things. Not where where this has gone since the crossover. I guess I'm still on board.

[Rosa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I know a lot of people were disappointed with this comic event, but as a person who isn't much into comics as a whole, this actually really delivered for me. I walked away emotionally Jossed, and that's what I hope for and expect from a story crafted based on a Joss Whedon property. Did much happen in the first 4 issues of the 5? Not really. But I didn't really expect it to because it's an action based story where they're fighting a mostly unknown enemy inside of the Hellmouth with a brand new ally. And while it may seem tiresome to long term fans of the franchise to deal with a Buffy and Angel who don't know or trust each other, I found it a fun change. Felt very much in line with what I would have expected from Buffy and Angel being forced to work together in early season 1. They even had a variation on the famous exchange between them in "Welcome to the Hellmouth."

Buffy: Who are you?
Angel: Let's just say...I'm a friend.
Buffy: Well, maybe I don't need a friend.
Angel: (with a smile in his voice) I didn't say I was *yours.*

While the oomph from this darkly playful exchange is slightly dampened by having Drusilla give the famous Angel retort, it was a fun nod. And, as a person who was never really onboard the Buffy/Angel ship train (a rarity, I know!), I like that they're definitely just uneasy allies in this, building toward a light friendship.

For me, the only real downside to this event is that Angel and Drusilla just disappear after the final battle. We quickly switch to the emotional fallout of Buffy finding out post-battle that Xander has sacrificed himself so that Willow will be able to fully fight back with her complete soul. I love that the focus switches to this because, despite the rise of Xander hatred in the fandom, I remain a Xander stan, and I think character deaths of best friends deserve their moment of emotional recognition. We needed those panels and pages to deal with Giles' guilt and Willow's trauma and Buffy's sadness.

But that doesn't negate the fact that we go from a battle sequence to Angel and Drusilla just disappearing from the comic altogether. And it's not addressed at all by Buffy and the gang regarding where they went to. I know you're supposed to be reading the event, the Buffy comics, and the Angel comics in tandem, but I have a limited number of checkouts per month from my e-library, so I'm waiting to start the Angel line after I've read through the Buffy line, and so it'll be about a year before I can see if what happened is addressed in the Angel comics. (I'm going to guess it is.)

But I look forward to discovering where the Buffy story goes in the coming issues. With Xander dead and Willow having left town and Buffy left in Sunnydale to deal with the fallout, it has the possibility of having some real emotional gravitas in the coming issues. I know most comics tend to skip over that sort of thing, but I live in optimism. As it goes here, I can see why people who were massively excited for a crossover event may have been disappointed with their expectations, but as a Buffy fan who is just reading for a Buffy-centric story, I don't have any particularly strong criticisms to offer to this issue.

[Rhiannon · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5
I'd definitely say that this was a step up from Buffy Vol 3, especially in terms of the art (Well except for Dru). But the story had pacing issues and what the hell was that ending??? I'm wondering whether or not I should even bother with the rest now

[Mandy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read Buffy Volumes 1-3 first then this, then 4-7, then Angel. This was almost weird being a separate series, it felt like it didn’t particularly match up with the other two titles.

I did like this story, maybe since it felt more classic Buffy. It did make me want to continue reading the next Buffy volumes.

But, the Girl Power moment at the end felt a little pander-y.

[Chris Lemmerman · Rating 4 out of 5]

More of a 3.5, but we're in a rounding up mood today.

Hellmouth is ambitious, especially at this early juncture for both Buffy and Angel's new Boom! series. It tries to be both intensely personal (for Buffy and Angel), and much more wide-reaching in terms of impact, but it only really manages the first one.

The villain(s) of the piece feel a bit flat; without the built-up relationships between them, Drusilla is relegated to ranting, while the Hellmother is a generic monster without much character to her. It makes the conflict feel arbitrary, when Buffy and Angel's villains have always been well-rooted in the characters themselves.

The first meeting between Buffy and Angel goes about as well as can be expected. While both try to keep secrets from the other and inevitably fail, there's definitely the sense of unfinished business here. Again, their relationship is very different to what we've come to expect (although it's far better than that whole Twilight debacle back in Buffy Season 8), so it can take you off-guard for a second, but I'm intrigued to have the pair reunite again in the future.

The art is predominately by Eleanora Carlini, whose major Boom! work has only included some Power Rangers before this, so it's a nice step-up for her. Her work is clean, although the characters can sometimes feel pasted onto the backgrounds, like they're on two entirely different layers. Think those Scooby Doo episodes where the clues were so obvious because they were drawn entirely differently. It's not a major problem, just something that I remember sticking out in my mind, especially inside the Hellmouth itself.

Hellmouth shoots for the moon and kind of crash lands among the stars. It's not perfectly executed, but it's not bad either. Hopefully it's a blueprint for future events, and everyone involved can learn what worked, and what didn't, before the characters meet again.

[Emma · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ok, so this Hellmouth event is a WHOLE mess if you’re reading the trades. In order to truly understand what’s going on, you need to skip between Buffy Vol 3, Angel Vol 2, and this volume, in the following order:

Buffy the Vampire Slayer #8 (aka the end of Buffy Vol 2)
Angel #5 (The Road to Hellmouth)
Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Angel: Hellmouth #1 (of 5)
Angel #6 (Tie-in)
Buffy the Vampire Slayer #9 (Tie-in)
Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Angel: Hellmouth #2 (of 5)
Angel #7 (Tie-in)
Buffy the Vampire Slayer #10 (Tie-in)
Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Angel: Hellmouth #3 (of 5)
Angel #8 (Tie-in)
Buffy the Vampire Slayer #11 (Tie-in)
Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Angel: Hellmouth #4 (of 5)
Buffy the Vampire Slayer #12 (Tie-in)
Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Angel: Hellmouth #5 (of 5)

I started Buffy Vol 3 coming off Buffy Vol 2 and was SOO confused, but it all made sense once I picked up this trade. (Also read the Buffy: Chosen Ones one-shot before this and just know that the Buffy in there is from another dimension.) But you need to finish Buffy Vol 3 to understand this end here. It’s ROUGH.

That said, I want to like this but the art is such a horrible mess that I can’t even enjoy the story. This volume has the best art of the event, I guess? And it’s still Not Great, Bob! Drusilla is a particular low point, especially in game face. (Honorable mention to Angel being possessed by the Hellmother. I was like, “oh the Witcher! 🤣” but GENUINELY didn’t realize it was supposed to be Angel for like three pages.)

I do like the interactions between Buffy & Angel more than I ever have on the show. 🤷🏻‍♀️ 2.5 stars rounded up.

[Ashley · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 stars rounded up - as of this writing Hoopla lists this collection as separate from the main Boom Studios storyline BUT it’s actually a special event that takes place in between the regularly numbered issues. Despite inadvertently jumping ahead a bit I was able to follow this storyline fairly well and it’s actually one of the better written arcs I’ve read so far. They’ve hit a stride where they are having fun with the IP again and delivering on some bigger payouts.

That being said I have a lot of questions so I’ll probably have to continue reading the main storyline while continuing to be unimpressed with the decision to have so many plot and story elements take place outside of the main story line, especially something as big as Angel and Buddy meeting for the first time, the Hellmouth opening up and whatever is going on with Xander (I honestly couldn’t keep track or figure it out.)

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

The good: Buffy and Angel working together. I am easy to please when it comes to these two. So good so good.

The hmm: I think I might have screwed up the reading order a bit? But even setting that aside the plot was confusing.

There is a lot that could be said about like... how strong everyone is... like Buffy has superpowers but how the heck did Cordelia and the rest of the gang hold their own fighting demons inside the hellmouth? I also stay confused about who is who.

Basically: this reboot continues to be a lot of fun. I’m not sure if everything is working but I’m more than content to keep reading and find out.

[Aaronlisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

This works best when read with the third collected volume of the Boom Buffy comics series. The problem with the two volumes is that they don’t work as stand alone volumes. Also the art is a bit of a mess. At times the characters look a bit generic so it’s hard to tell who is who.

I still think that the writers are trying to do too much way too fast with the assumption that the readers are familiar with the Buffyverse. I will continue with the series for now. But I can see why readers are being turned off, we barely know this Buffy to be able to understand her choices.