Angel: After the Fall, Vol. 5: Aftermath

Angel: After the Fall (collected editions)

by Kelley Armstrong (Writer), Dave Ross (Artist), Stefano Martino (Artist)

Springing out of Joss Whedon's Angel: After the Fall story line, novelist Kelley Armstrong (The Summoning) comes aboard to explore the many repercussions following the explosive last issue of Angel: After the Fall. Artist Dave Ross also comes aboard to present the first arc of "Aftermath," wherein we learn who lived, who died, and who will be forever changed from the experience.

Originally published as Angel issues #18-22

Genres: Graphic Novels, Comics, Fantasy, Vampires, Horror, Urban Fantasy, Fiction

132 pages, Hardcover

First published February 25, 2009

About the author

Kelley Armstrong has been telling stories since before she could write. Her earliest written efforts were disastrous. If asked for a story about girls and dolls, hers would invariably feature undead girls and evil dolls, much to her teachers' dismay. All efforts to make her produce "normal" stories failed.

Today, she continues to spin tales of ghosts and demons and werewolves, while safely locked away in her basement writing dungeon. She's the author of the NYT-bestselling "Women of the Otherworld" paranormal suspense series and "Darkest Powers" young adult urban fantasy trilogy, as well as the Nadia Stafford crime series. Armstrong lives in southwestern Ontario with her husband, kids and far too many pets.

Reviews

[Sophia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Angel must deal with the fact that everyone in L.A. knows they were in hell and that Angel saved them from that fate! It was an interesting story line, one where Angel was desperate to get back to how he used to operate, helping the helpless in the shadows. That doesn't exactly go down well as unforeseen consequences arise and Angel, with the help of some friends, must save the people of L.A., no matter who they are! I enjoyed reading this volume however I felt like the illustrations were trying to make it look like the actors from the show but they just weren't getting them right! It was a little distracting although, their original characters looked pretty good! Overall, it was a good segue from the events of After the Fall into a new story line/series!

[Sesana · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wasn't really paying attention to the writer or artist when I picked up this volume (because, let's be honest, I was going to read it anyway). After reading it, I can't overstate my sheer lack of surprise that this is not the same team that worked on the After the Fall storyline. I miss them.

There was one new element of Aftermath that I enjoyed: Dez. As a character, she's fun, she has a fairly strong and consistent voice, and a were-jaguar is just a cool idea.

And... that was it. The art is just plain ugly most of the time, and weirdly inappropriate. (Why is Kate fighting demons in what looks like a "sexy" cop costume?) The characters aren't just off-model (and boy, are they) they aren't consistently drawn from page to page, even from panel to panel.

The storytelling is mostly dull and uninspiring. Snappy dialog? What snappy dialog? The best characters from the show and previous issues of the comic (Spike, Lorne, and Illyria) are completely absent. Instead, we have the return of Kate. Did anybody really miss her? Because I certainly didn't. On the bright side, the character presented as Kate here only vaguely resembles the Kate from the show, in looks and personality. Unfortunately, I don't like her any better. Gwen's personality is also off. I just don't buy her as creepily needy stalker.

This was a huge mis-step in the Angel comics. Luckily, it seems that this was Armstrong's sole go at the title.

[Craig · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one is very well written but I didn't much care for the art. It's the fifth volume "after the fall," but starts with a very welcome summary of what's happened and where we are, an inclusion that DC and Marvel would be wise to emulate. A very interesting new main character (a jaguar lady named Dez) is introduced, and many of the old favorites are back, including Kate and Gwen. I enjoyed the narrative very much, but found the art didn't stand up to it; Angel too often had no eyes and looked like a painfully constipated Peter Lorre. A band of angels popped up partway through that were a bit over the top, but overall it was a fun read.

[Ivy · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 stars

Enjoyed reading Angel and the gang's next adventure. Also nice to see Cordelia again. Wonder if we will see Spike again.

Can't wait to read more Angel comics!!!

[A Voracious Reader (a.k.a. Carol) · Rating 2 out of 5]

*Book source ~ Library

From Goodreads:
Springing out of Joss Whedon's Angel: After the Fall story line, novelist Kelley Armstrong (The Summoning) comes aboard to explore the many repercussions following the explosive last issue of Angel: After the Fall. Artist Dave Ross also comes aboard to present the first arc of "Aftermath," wherein we learn who lived, who died, and who will be forever changed from the experience.

Originally published as Angel issues #18-22

First off, I hate the artwork. None of the characters are recognizable and half the time Angel looks like a Hulked-out vampire. Blerg. I like that Gwen, Kate and Connor are in this and I like the additions of Dez and Jamaerah. Not sure what’s up with the Elohim and the Potentates, but I’m looking forward to seeing where this is heading. As long as it’s drawn by someone else. Because I hate when characters are unrecognizable. It’s too frustrating.

[Risa · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.25 ish

[Emily · Rating 1 out of 5]

Boo. This was the worst one of the series. There was no humor (not even a little bit), and the plot was boring and nonsensical. The artwork was unappealing, the dialogue dull and some of the characters were changed to the point of being no longer recognizable. Exhibit A-Gwen, as desperate stalker/torturer. Exhibit B-Kate as blue-outfitted super fighter. I'm still shaking my head about that outfit.

Here is my advice to any Angel fans who want to read this series: Read volumes 1-4, skip volume 5 (this one),and finish with volume 6-The Last Angel in Hell. Even that one gets a little tiresome by the end. Don't read anything after that. I know you want to, but don't.

[Bradley · Rating 2 out of 5]

The story was kinda so so, an introduction of a jaguar warrior and an angel named James. That was pretty much the best parts. The art sucked. Everyone had their faces changed so they wouldn't be mistaken for the real ones. It kinda ruined the whole mood, and I found myself wishing I was back in the other sucky art from After the Fall. Yes, it was that bad.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was gratified to see that Angel was continuing post non-fall, and I found the overall arc to be interesting, but I found much of the dialogue and storylines to be a bit flatter then usual in this series.

[Arie ☂ · Rating 1 out of 5]

Utter drivel. I can't believe Kelley Armstrong wrote this.

[Cornerofmadness · Rating 3 out of 5]

So this starts a new arc with a new author and artists. I was a little surprised to see the amount of bad reviews. I didn't think it was nearly as bad as some. On the other hand, I didn't think it was great either. Now compared to the whole 'in hell' arc this is much more straight forward and instead of trying to work in a cast of thousands, Armstrong centers the story on Angel with Connor and Kate (and to a lesser degree, Gwen), a little too much in some ways since we're not even sure where Spike, Illyria and Gunn technically are. What I liked about the story is that it hung together well and wasn't a muddy mess like the in hell arc up to this point. What I didn't like, was it didn't have much humor in it which is a bit of a trademark of the series so...

And honestly I didn't really care for a) that Angel is now sort of a celebrity since everyone remembers being in hell and how he saved them (not how Connor or the others were pretty instrumental and honestly Connor and Spike had done more in many ways than Angel which had been bothering me about the other arc), b) actual Angels. (Not a spoiler, it's in the blurb) . In spite of mentions of heaven and hell and of course demons, Whedon's work is rather secular. Real angels takes it over that line. While the story isn't religiousy I would much rather have had any other villain/hero (and the angels are sort of both in this) than them.


I completely disagree and yet still agree with the complaints about the art. No, it's not awful, especially compared to the previous volumes where it was muddy and in many cases left me wondering if the artists knew what humans looked like. In this case the art is clean and crisp and actually nice (hence the disagree with many other reviewers) on the other hand, it's superhero art. It would be at home in the Justice League or the X-Men. It is all wrong for Angel. I definitely agree with that. Heck half the time I couldn't tell who was who. Is that Connor of Ghost!Cordelia? Why does Kate have superheroine Boobs of Doom? How does she defy gravity with those things and remain upright? (Seriously if they hadn't said it was Kate I would never have known). So great comic book art, completely wrong for this series. Sigh.


Other things to like about this, Connor and Angel getting along. Kate, just Kate. I was always disappointed that Kate was written out.

[Sarah Weiner · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5

I'm sorry, but most of this did not make sense.

The art leaves something to be desired- at least in After the Fall Angel looked liked Angel. Kate acts completely different than her TV counterpart- maybe this is just a different blonde named Kate?

There a big question at the end of the last installment: how does everyone move on from Hell? What does Angel do now that he and Wolfram & Hart are at a stalemate?

Armstrong's answer is: Angel becomes Sam and Dean Winchester - he fights monsters - complete with angels! This makes no sense for his character. The whole point of the last arc was that Angel will always fight for what's right. However, he learned in Hell that the world can get a lot darker and that his allies are capable of a lot of darkness. He might be willing to sacrifice himself, but what happens when he's not allowed to die?

I want him to grow. He knows that Good & Evil are a lot more involved than he did in Season 1 of Angel. He's not just atoning anymore- he's done honest-to-G-d world-saving work (although he did do that after he sent the world to Hell). The point is: he has now accepted that his actions affect more than just a handful of people. He's gained responsibility, and when he tried to fight evil at its source, he damned the world and only barely avoided apocalyptic bloodshed.

So, give me growth! He can't kill evil at its source. He can't mitigate evil - not without sacrificing who he is and everyone he loves. So what's left? Could mean t's back to doing what he did in Season 2 and 3: relentlessly attacking Wolfram & Hart. However, he needs to be placed in a moral dilemma: what if there is no way to do what's right? What if stopping Wolfram & Hart will cause the suffering of thousands of people?

Then what?

[Adam Stone · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an odd chapter of the After The Fall storyline to review.

I enjoyed that it cleared the decks of many characters who were just bogged-down by melodramatic plot after melodramatic plot. This volume was completely devoid of Spike, Gunn, Fred/Illyria, and Wesley. It brought Kate back to the forefront (she popped up a couple of times in previous volumes but never for very long), introduced some entirely new characters, and continued to give Conor the self-awareness that started to creep into his character during the "Origin" episode of the TV show. I also enjoyed more emphasis on Gwen and her relationship with Conor.

I wasn't too keen with the angels storyline but I was curious to see where it went, as well as the whole non-human-animals are now morphing into people arc. I also don't ever need to see Cordelia again. I loved that character but the episode "You're Welcome" was the perfect closure for her arc on both Buffy and Angel.

I did appreciate the art in this volume more than in volumes 1-4. It wasn't perfect but I appreciated that when the author didnm't feel like drawing faces, he angled the characters away from camera or else put them completely in shadow rather than just not drawing their faces like the previous artist(s). It was also nice to see that it wasn't all in the babyshit brown palette used previously.

Unfortunately, this change in direction gets immediately ignored in the next volume rendering it another waste of time in this first post-TV season.

[Ricardo · Rating 3 out of 5]

One of my favorite things from Angel the tv show, besides the whole Scooby gang cast, was when they had the hotel as a base. I was excited to see it return as their base in Angel after the fall. Then immediately disappointed to see it gone again, for no reason this time, in Aftermath.
With the way things left off with Gunn, there was so much that could have happened, but he was nowhere to be seen.
That's not really a big deal because I'm sure it is still covered in a later story arc.
The new characters while cool, an actual Angel, a were-jaguar, would have been cooler as additions to the Scooby-Doo gang, not replacements.
Angel just didn't feel like Angel without Gunn, Lorne, Illyria or even spike at this point.
Not sure if there was an issue with the hardcover version, but some of the pages felt like I was missing panels or something, had to check on two occasions that I didn't skip a page.
Now that the complaining is out the way lol. The actual story was a good idea. I was glad to see actual Angels joining the fight for once.
I always felt in a show with so many monsters, it would be nice to see the opposite for once. So that was a fresh take I enjoyed.

[Ross · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is pretty much a reskinning of Kelley Armstrong's, 'Otherworld' series...

There's vampires, shapeshifters, demons, yadda yadda yada.

After the conclusion of 'A:AtF vol.4', we've got the population of LA knowing just what Angel did to protect them all. Wanting to continue on with the way things used to be, Angel tries to reactivate 'Angel Investigations' in some shape or form.

Kind of hard to do when Wesley and Fred are dead, Gunn is 'finding himself again', Connor wants to be normal, Spike and Illyria are nowhere to be found, and Cordelia is up in Heaven with the Powers That Be. Add to that, the population will lie, cheat, and do almost anything to 'get a piece' of Angel. The old ways won't work.

Enter....Angel Investigations 2.0

- Gwen Raiden - lightning powers, habit of turning on her teammates
- Kate Lockley - former cop, thinks LA is still worth saving
- Connor - son of Angel; human
- Dez - human/leopard hybrid; animal posing as human or human posing as animal?
- former angel potentates ... (yea, it's a thing now)

[stories_and_roses · Rating 3 out of 5]

To be honest, I want to give this more stars. The philosophical questions raised at the end regarding if it made sense to arrest those who had not yet done crimes is something I have debated myself, and is quite interesting. The idea of a necessary cosmic balance between good and evil (the celestial and demonic), and the multifaceted nature of demons was also interesting and raised points relevant both to the BtVS show and AtS.
However, there were two main points that brought this down for me. For one, the artwork, especially of Angel, seemed strange and didn't quite look like him in a way that felt genuine. Second, I felt that the first few chapters of this volume didn't really pay off until the very end (it wasn't very interesting) and in combination, Angel came off like a real a**hole for the first bit, completely contrary to his character.
Overall, interesting edition. High hopes moving forward, but not sure about this one.

[Max Ostrovsky · Rating 3 out of 5]

Animals being turned into people?
Okay, not entirely solid, but introduced another interesting character.
I liked how it dealt with the sudden Fame Angel Investigations has to face. But angels? I like the theme and the play on names. That was solid and fun. But plot-wise, it seems wedged in to force a theme and play on names. Supernatural built up to it and I always thought that Supernatural had the tone that Angel should have had.
That is an entirely new and huge and not right now addressed digression.
Anyway, if in the Buffy-verse, there are demons, then angels make sense. I'm surprised they weren't introduced earlier. And maybe they weren't because there wasn't a good enough story for such a big reveal. And this was no less. As the finale to After the Fall, I was let down (all puns intended).
I did like Gunn's unresolved ending.

[Ainoa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lots of mixed feelings about this one.

On the one hand, I liked the inclusion of new elements in the lore of the series. I'm a sucker for angels and jaguar ladies. It's nice to see Angel struggling in the aftermath of the battle, not knowing how to deal with the fame and recognition than being a hero brings. On the other hand, the art irked me. A LOT. The characters did not look like tha characters at all, and what's worse, they did not behave like the characters. Can someone explain to me what's the point of wearing a bullet vest...that leaves all the rest of your torso (except for da boobz) exposed? I recall a specific page where the three main ladies are portrayed and ALL OF THEM are wearing cropped tops and pants that defy the laws of gravity. Ehm, excuse me?

[Nadia · Rating 1 out of 5]

The previous After the Fall volumes have been a pleasure to read and are in-keeping with the tone and overarching scale of the original show, but this one is plain terrible. Inappropriate content and completely different tone in comparison with the other After volumes (which makes sense considering the alternative creative team). Out-of-character portrayals and embarrassingly bad artwork, with a number of characters seemingly regressing to a version of themselves that don't follow their growth during the previous comics. This story had no bearing on the overall arc of season 6, skip this volume and move onto #6.

[Sammi · Rating 2 out of 5]

to be clear this is a 2.5. after such a good arc in after the fall, this was a disappointing follow up and I can understand why this is not considered canon. bad choices run amok: kate wearing a sexy cop outfit the whole time, Connor goes back to being annoying when the growth he showed in ATF was so good, Gwen being unhinged, a waste of a Cordelia cameo, and a lack of good dialogue from angel in general.

it’s not BAD persay bc it had small bits of interesting ideas (Mayan jaguar warrior who is always naked aside) but it’s not an appropriate continuation of the after the fall series, and is making me consider truly skipping the rest of those non canon s6 stories.

[Hayley (Gory B Movie) · Rating 2 out of 5]

Despite the continuation of a few minor storylines, this book is largely a standalone. It is interesting though it does not read like an Angel story. There is no humor and the character dialogue doesn't sound right. This is the kind of urban fantasy story complete with shapeshifting jaguars and warrior angels that I would expect from Kelly Armstrong. It is fine but it feels misplaced in the Buffyverse.

I liked the shapeshifter storyline. The angel story was boring. The art is terrible. Angel looks like Steven Siegal. The characters are unrecognizable. Angel fans can easily skip this one. This might be for you if you want a more serious-toned shapeshifter story.

[Steven Shinder · Rating 4 out of 5]

You gotta wonder how different season 5 would've looked compared to this. Since it's a comic book, one does not have to worry about whether visual effects will work well enough and can include various types of creatures and beings. And I feel like there's no way Dez would've been as naked for as long as she is here. Still, it's tame compared to Hack/Slash. Thankfully, there's still some plot going on. I like that Angel's actions and the events prior to this are remembered by everyone. I get tired of the reset button in various media, so this is a nice change.

[Aubrey · Rating 1 out of 5]

Six years later and I still feel the same. After the end of the fall, they switched out writers and artists for this volume and ... ugh. The art was just awful. Angel looked like a doped up G.I. Joe. No one was recognizable as the characters they were meant to portray, which is really important when you're talking a medium that is telling a story visually as well. Not to mention the story was week, the dialogue rough and the new characters boring and kind of annoying. I wouldn't bother with this one, even if a fan of Buffy or Angel.

[Kieran McAndrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

The timeline has been reset, but the Los Angelenos still remember Angel's victory and his newfound celebrity is causing him headaches. Things only get worse when the Powers That Be assign a team of angels to help clean up the city, since the angels have a very loose interpretation of their orders.

A nice continuation of the 'Angel' storyline, showing how the plot still has plenty of room to develop. The artwork is clever, well drawn and beautifully coloured.

[Drululu · Rating 2 out of 5]

Un poco aburrido. El dibujo no me ha gustado y varía mucho. Aparte de Angel y Connor no aparecen el resto de habituales (Spike, Gunn, Lorne) y aparece Kate, que sinceramente me da bastante igual y no sentía la necesidad de volverla a ver. A Gwen no me gusta cómo la presenta, como una acosadora. Y la trama un poco meh la verdad, Dez puede resultar interesante pero no demasiado.

[Edward Petersen · Rating 2 out of 5]

This series continues to drift and shows no sign of turning around. The magic the TV series had, and even the first few volumes of The Fall, seems to be completely gone. I'm honestly only here just to see how this links into Buffy Season Eight, at this point.

[Rubén Martínez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great episode, really a transitional episode
It is a little distracting the fact that Angel looks nothing like David Boreanaz, he looks like a random Italian or Hispanic guy. Same with Connor and Gwen.
I did love the new jaguar girl

[Love_booksforlife Jen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked and didn't like this volume at the same time. I enjoyed Kate being back but at the same time wishes the women of the story had a bit more clothes on them. She never struck me as the scantily clad type. The story was okay but had a bit too much lead up in my opinion.

[Leah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kate is back! Yay! I liked Kate. They made her pretty badass in this story so, that's pretty cool. The author did a decent job with characterization. Connor was just as whiny in this story as he was in the show.

[Rachel · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was SUCH a letdown compared to previous volumes. Gwen's and Kate's characterizations were horrendous, and even putting Kate in crop tops doesn't make her any less unlikable. Jaguar lady was whatever I guess, but angels? Seriously? I haven't been this annoyed since Supernatural brought them in.