The top 25 ‘Buffy’ and ‘Angel’ comic book arcs
Comic book list: From Dark Horse to IDW, John scours the long boxes to find his 25 favorite “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and “Angel” comic book arcs.
‘Buffy’/‘Angel’ flashback: ‘Monster Island’ (2003) (Book review)
With “Buffy” and “Angel” on different networks, massive crossovers weren’t in the works on TV, but “Monster Island” (March 2003), by Christopher Golden and Thomas E. Sniegoski, rectifies that. Not surprisingly, the mixing of the two character groups leads to continuity errors (more on that later). Most of the novel, set in the early part
‘Buffy’ flashback: ‘Chaos Bleeds’ (2003) (Book and comic book review)
The most heavily marketed “Buffy” video game, “Chaos Bleeds,” got both comic book (June 2003) and novel (August 2003) adaptations. Usually video game tie-ins are red flags for readers, because there’s a danger they will be the literary equivalent of watching someone play the game. On the other hand, authors are often aware of this
‘Angel’ flashback: ‘Soul Trade’ (2001) (Book review)
Although Thomas E. Sniegoski is a prolific Buffyverse writer, “Soul Trade” (May 2001) – the seventh original novel in the “Angel” series – is his only solo work. The other entries on his resume are collaborations with Christopher Golden. That’s not to say Golden does the heavy lifting in those collaborations; for example, Sniegoski notably
‘Buffy’/‘Angel’ flashback: ‘Past Lives’ (2001) (Comic book review)
The “Angel” monthly writing team of Christopher Golden and Tom Sniegoski deliciously digs into Buffyverse lore and smoothly ties together the two titles with the comics’ first major crossover story. “Past Lives” (January-February 2001) goes from “Angel” Issue 15 to “Buffy” Issue 29 to “Angel” Issue 16 to “Buffy” Issue 30. Prolific “Angel” artist Christian
‘Angel’ flashback: ‘Angel’ Classic Issues 8-17 (2000-01) (Comic book reviews)
Since Tom Sniegoski joined Christopher Golden as a co-writer, and once Wesley joined Angel and Cordelia in the crime-solving trio, the “Angel” comic hit its stride. The back half of the Season 1 comics would turn out to also be the back half of the entire first volume from Dark Horse, as Joss Whedon –
‘Angel’ flashback: ‘Angel’ Classic Issues 1-7 and Dark Horse Presents Issues 153-155 (1999-2000) (Comic book reviews)
Christopher Golden is arguably the elite “Buffy”/“Angel” spinoff writer, but the early issues of Dark Horse’s classic “Angel” series prove he’s not infallible. I assume he wasn’t given enough time to get a good feel for the Angel-Cordelia-Doyle dynamic, because Issues 1-7 – which comprise the entire Doyle era of the series – mostly rely
‘Buffy’ flashback: ‘Annual ’99,’ ‘Giles’ (2000) and ‘Lover’s Walk’ (2001) (Comic book reviews)
In addition to the main series and miniseries, in the early days of the “Buffy” license, Dark Horse was good for at least one one-shot per year. Here’s a look at three of the early ones (reviews of others are coming in later posts):