Angel: The Curse #1

Timeline

Unspecified time after Angel series finale “Not Fade Away”

The Sitch

When you went onward on this ended action,
I look'd upon her with a soldier's eye,
That liked, but had a rougher task in hand
Than to drive liking to the name of love:
But now I am return'd and that war-thoughts
Have left their places vacant, in their rooms
Come thronging soft and delicate desires,
All prompting me how fair young Hero is,
Saying, I liked her ere I went to wars.

- Claudio, Much Ado about Nothing

IDW has taken over Angel, and their first offering follows the apocalyptic battle with the Wolfram and Hart senior partners’ in “Not Fade Away.” We don’t have a specific timeframe after the battle nor does it reveal any of the other Fang Gang’s fates.

Where we catch up with Angel is the first big surprise – running through a forest, battling vampires. His objective? We have to wait a bit for that. First, Angel tackles several vampires with a surprising amount of monologuing about the anti-social nature of Angel himself and the other vampires (as well as giving thought to issuing some Melrose fashion tips, including his trademark sleeve-loaded stakes, which he shares with two vamps).

Just as he is ready to finish the vampires off, another round numbering double or triple the original group gets called up. Angel is now the pursued, avoiding a barrage of stakes (except for one in the shoulder). The pain from the stake reminds Angel that he hates Romania, the source of one of his greatest pains. He makes it to a nearby castle just as the sun rises and dusts a few of his pursuers.

The Romanian castle he enters takes us back in time for a quick synopsis of Angel’s journey. Cut to Angel’s birthday, 1898, where we’re taken through some familiar territory. Darla offers him the Romanian Kalderash gypsy girl, which he obliges. The curse is laid on Angel, restoring his soul, and setting him on a 100-year run of antisocial behavior, tortured by the faces and voices of those he murdered.

That run was ended only by a girl, a slayer, in a place called Sunnydale, where he discovered that the curse had one more tricky clause. Angel notes that it didn’t work out too well, so he left for LA, put together a new team to continue his redemption. Again, one of them was more than a friend, and again, it didn’t work out too well.

And now, with the battle kind of won, like Claudio in Shakespeare’s Much Ado about Nothing, his heart finally turns to love and the thing that has eluded him for a century - happiness. It’s finally time to find happiness, and this time, things won’t go to chaos when he does. Who has caught his attention? Nina, the Werewolf. His commitment to either Nina or another future woman that he can find happiness with is the reason that he has returned to Romania after all these years.

He’s come to ask the Kalderash clan to lift the curse.

Like Claudio, though, there is one more battle to fight before love can be realized. Unlike Claudio, though, it’s going to be a nightmare. Angel realizes that he will have to do something to present to the clan for their favor. He has decided to take out a warlord, Corneliu Brasov, who has been terrorizing their area. The trade seems reminiscent of tactics from Wolfram and Hart’s playbook.

As Angel manages to escape into the castle at sun-up, the vamps wait in shadow for nightfall. Angel believes himself safe, until he turns to see a group of men and women, armed with guns and stakes.

End of Issue #1

Thoughts

Honestly, I wasn’t too sure when I had heard that IDW was taking over the Angel series. I’m not overly familiar with their books, though they are starting to show their strength with entertainment properties from television, including comics based on CSI, 24 and The Shield. This issue of Angel is a definitely a tick in the win column. Here’s what’s good about this book:

First, it continues the story, and I mean really continues it. Sometimes comics based on shows or movies tend to be tales that are more about placing the character in a specific situation. In other words, it feels like the writer is telling a tale just to tell it, regardless of where the characters have been. This first Angel story doesn’t do that. It takes the character on a path that is a logical progression from where he’s come from.

Jeff Mariotte paints a tapestry of the Angel’s saga. The backstory provides a continuum of Angel’s life from his fall and redemption. Even though it feels like a rehashing of the origin story, it is used to forward the character’s full reasons for pursuing the actions he is.

And, this is an intriguing twist on Angel’s story. I had honestly never given thought outside of the Shanshu that Angel could have happiness. And with a werewolf? All references to Underworld aside, it fits. A slayer. A half-demon. And now a werewolf.

Second, the dialogue is pitch-perfect. Brooding, sometimes-halting patter when reflecting or slighting comments about his enemy (think “I was there for the first Carol Burnett show taping. Conway was on fire that night” even as death looms) fill Angel’s word balloons. I could hear Boreanaz reading Angel’s lines as well as Julie Benz’s Darla lilt.

Third and perhaps most of all, I dig the theme of love and war. It resonates, no matter what generation we live in. The hero or heroine goes away to battle, and when it’s finally done, they can turn their attention to love. One of the most iconic pictures in American war history was Alfred Eisenstaedt’s “VJ Day” photo in LIFE magazine. It’s the one of the soldier kissing the nurse in Times Square.

I don’t know of too many other places that this theme is so eloquently stated as in Shakespeare’s “Much Ado About Nothing” when Claudio, a young nobleman serving Don Pedro, declares his love for young Hero, whom he disallowed any feelings for prior to going to war. Now as the hardness that battle wears off, his thoughts can finally turn to her. And, even as I write this, I have just completed Harry Potter and the Half-blood Prince. Without spoiling anything, Harry is faced with the same decision, to harden himself to love before going to battle.

And so it is with Angel. His epic battle with Wolfram and Hart done, he finally turns his eye to love and the accompanying happiness. Having battled so many external foes, he is left with a final battle, though external first, ultimately within himself. If he can win this final battle, there is finally a chance he can find happiness with Nina or another love.

My primary question at this point is when does the other shoe drop? Joss isn’t big on requiting love, and it feels like he has a good hand in this story. Will Angel make it and will the Curse finally go away?

Now, is there anything not so good? For the most part, I thoroughly enjoyed this book, flashbacks included. Usually flashbacks to scenes already known are pretty lame unless they serve to drive the character. In this case, they were good. My one issue with the book is that the actual action of the storyline pretty much stays the same throughout – attacking and escaping vampires.

The action is fine and it serves as a good backdrop for allowing us to see that Angel’s mind is so focused on his task at hand that he can drift through memories and hopes all the while defeating his enemies. If the comic is read just at the level of plot, though, there’s not a lot that happens except a fight through a forest and an escape into a castle.

Cover Art

There were three covers for this issue (in order of my ranking) – plus special variants and the like.

#3 – Ben Templesmith

There’s nothing to criticize in any of these covers, mind you. Templesmith does an excellent painting of Angel’s face close up with a menacing scowl. It just isn’t my favorite of the three.

#2 – Tim Bradstreet

Bradstreet does an amazing cover of Angel standing in front of the Romanian forest with ancient symbols invoking a sense of the curse overlaying its place of origin. Bradstreet does amazing work with photo-realistic art. Initially, I thought Boreanez was on the cover until I realize it was a painting. I discovered Bradstreet’s work through The Punisher. If you get a chance, check his stuff out.

#1 – Igor Kordey (Kordey? Cordy? Hmm…)

Brilliant cover. This one is in direct dichotomy to Bradstreet’s photo-realistic Angel. Instead, it’s artwork worthy of a children’s book with Puppet Angel. My local comic shop owner said that the Angel puppet cover was so requested that he had to put back a few for his regulars, and that it outsold all of the others. Excellent artwork! Note the subtle and cool addition of the black cat in the background. Excellent touch.

Variants – Angel: The Curse #1 has sold so well it’s going into a second printing! For this printing, a photo cover of the fang gang is used. Graham Crackers comics also managed to get a custom printing (limited to 1,000 copies) done with a photo of Angel on an alley with their comic shop name on a beat-up billboard. Look for these around. The Graham Crackers cover is definitely the most unique of all the covers.

What's My Line?

I might just hang around. Give ‘em some style tips. What’s trendy on Melrose.

Hurts like hell. I mean that literally. Got the t-shirt.

You don’t really think about the literal meaning of the word “mortified” until it happens to you.

Rating:
4 of 5 (a great new restart)

Main Credits (as listed in the issue)

Writer - Jeff Mariotte
Artist - David Messina
Letterer - Tom B. Long
Editor - Chris Ryall

Published July, 2005