We’ve finally arrived at the end of this run for Angel & Faith. While Buffy seems a surefire bet for season eleven, there’s been no word on whether or not Angel & Faith will get renewed. If it does, I’ll be happy to see it return. But if it does not, this actually serves as a pretty good ending point.
The issue begins right where we left off, jumping back into the battle. While Archaeus has organized vampires under his control to form a makeshift army, Angel and the gang have a nice surprise when all of the residents of magic town show up to lend their support.
The fight is very solid, a lot of action, and it really harkened back to the big end of the year events that defined the TV shows, particularly Buffy. Archaeus went down a little quickly, all things considered. It’s still a satisfying fight and a nice conclusion to that villain arc, which has bounced around a bit between both titles this season. True to form, it also changes things a bit, much in the way that both previous seasons impacted the direction of the next one. Nadira, especially, is a changed character, probably in more ways than she’s showing by the end of this issue.
It also would have been nice to see Illyria featured in the issue at all, but we did get a lot of focus with her character in the previous issue, examining how she has changed and why she’s been acting the way that she has. I’m very much looking forward to seeing more of her in the future. Both she and Fred, I feel, still have a long and interesting journey ahead of them.
Ultimately, the issue belongs to Angel and Faith, as the title states. After their parting at the end of the previous season, this whole journey has been about getting them back together. Not romantically, mind you. I think one of my favorite things about these two is that the romantic element simply isn’t there, their bond is different and—in some ways—deeper than that. They started season ten off in different countries, it took them awhile to reunite and even then Faith didn’t want to say anything to make it permanent. But now she’s officially back in London and planning on working side by side with Angel for the foreseeable future.
Overall, a great ending to the season, offering up closure. Hopefully not too much, but if this is the end of the road for this particular book, it’s at least a fitting one.
WICKED RATING: [usr 8]
