Live Through This ~ Part Two

I do realise that my blog has taken a strange turn to comic reviewing but until I get time to get back to working my own stuff the least I can do is appreciate the fine examples of comic art.

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Angel and Faith issue #2

Overall impression... it's a slow start. Where are the other people?! I do hope however that when the other characters roll in that their intros are damn good!

I'm gonna kick off with the covers. The benefit of Season 9 under one house is that the cover artist is the same for both A&F stream and the B stream (forgive the shorthand) or at least thus far. We have official covers by Steve Morris. I didn't talk about the cover Live Through This ~ Part One last time but, frankly, a part from the murky atmosphere I wasn't so intrigued. Part Two, however is a lot better. The composition, rendering and colour scheme work nicely. We have Angel, Demon and Faith one after the other on top of each other in a tussle. Faith is upside down in mid action of a back flip over the horned demon, one hand pushing down on its head and the other grasping a swinging... (I've drawn a medieval blank on weaponry, sorry, so for now it's a spiky-ball-on-chain). Her wild, brunette  locks are even flapping to one side. She looks concerned. While Angel is keeping his cool in his black trench coat, having an intense stare down with the boney faced demon right at his back. The demon has the hands, body and outfit of a Dementor and the skeletal head of a buffalo, save for pinky flesh coloured skin and creepy, yellow eyeballs. The faces of the characters are submerged in detailed clarity contrasted with the out of focused action about.     

The alternative cover, this time by Rebekah Isaacs has our heroes in the middle of another sticky situation. Angel and Faith back to back wielding all their weaponry of preferred choice as suggest from there character histories. Angel and his beloved broad sword. Faith with her trusty stake for her slayer identity in one hand and a crossbow in the other. It's a full moon on the paved streets of London, not a civilian in sight, of course, and our saviors are surrounded. The illustration is clean and well done for this cover which is not what I can say for Isaacs' illustrations that follow in the comic. The art in the comic is less neat than the cover and a lot more messy than the first issue. It's like the first issue is the "maker or breaker" so it must be perfect but after that dropping the ball is permitted. But surely, not to this standard. The quality of the drawing in this issue is somewhat, in my view, deteriorated from the first issue. Frankly a little more care would have been appreciated, we're not just here for the story, it's a package deal, the story is told through the quality of the illustrations.

Not saying there wasn't some good action scenes. The full page dramatic entrance of the heroes literally crashing a demon den through the glass ceiling was quite a sight; and would have been the most memorable page of the issue if it had been rendered carefully with a touch of realism like the full page introducing Nash and Pearl in the slaughtered bar of the last issue, which was the most memorable page of  Part One. Moreover to disappointment was how poorly drawn the villains Nash and Pearl were done in comparison to their opening appearance.

The art was not a charmer in this issue but the story has still got the reader interested to find out how things pan out for Giles' resurrection. From this issue the reader only gains a small bit to nibble on in Angel's grand scheme but nothing further. I reiterate, it's a slow start... hope it picks up in the next one.