The Good
 
Rupert Giles scores ten points for Gryffindor! I won’t spoil too much, but we get a fantastic flashback scene in this issue that takes place during the ‘70s, when a young Rupert Giles was enlisted in the Watcher’s Academy. While it’s always enjoyable to see Giles reappear in the comics, Gage crafts a particularly engaging scene that fits amazingly well into the known Buffy/Angel canon. This one little flashback is so perfect, it left me wondering…where the hell is my Watcher’s Academy TV show, Joss?   It’s this ability to seamlessly blend the comic world of Angel & Faith with the TV series we know and love that makes Christos Gage my personal hero.

Familiar faces for Angel & Faith. I can’t really say much here, but I will say that if you dig hard enough through that internet thing out there, you should be able to come up with the identities of the special surprise guests in this issue. There are two of them, just so we’re clear! (Pssst! They’re on the variant covers!)

The Bad

Angel reads Douglas Adams? Really?  Every now and then, a bit of dialogue that Gage writes for Angel doesn’t feel right to me. In Issue #5, it was the Raymond Chandler reference that had Angel reminiscing about how much he liked to play detective, with beautiful woman walking through his door. In this issue, it’s Angel’s confession about his love for The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.  Does this really seem like something Angel would pick up? I know he has had some oddball passions (Manilow’s “Mandy!”), but this just seems too geeky for the Angel I know.
 

Angel & Faith #6 is a must-buy, Scoobies, and it’s out in comic book shops on Wednesday! Don’t miss it!

’Till the end of the world,
-Bryant the Comic Book Slayer