Product Description: This special collection compiles five one-shots focusing on different members of Angel's supporting cast, each from a different creative team. Peter David and Nicoloa Scott focus on Illyria. Dan Jolly and Mark Pennington handle Gunn, Scott Tipton and Mike Norton feature Wesley. Jeff Mariotte and David Messina present Doyle. And Jay Faerber and Bob Gill offer up a tale of Conner.
spotlight with spots This centers on the numerous characters from ANGEL. A good idea, and we kick off things with everyone's favorite god-king of the Primordium Illyria. The art is the best comic rendition I've seen of the character yet, and the story is top notch, too. All the stories are good, but my reason for giving it a 4 star rating is because the art in the second installment featuring Gunn just does not do his character justice. Wesley and Ghosted Spike make an interesting duo; this also plays like an unaired episode of ANGEL. Doyle's story is quite good (won't give away surprises here), and rounding out things is Connor, which turned out much better than I thought it would. I just wished that the art in Gunn's story was much better. Still, a must-have.
IDW Continues Its "Angel" Series
After two entertaining (yet imperfect) Angel arcs by IDW Publishing, the company decided to take a break from a continuing miniseries and release five one-shot "Spotlight" issues. Each issue of "Angel: Spotlight" details an adventure in the life of characters that don't often get their own stories. Each section was written and drawn by different writers/artists, making this a very diverse volume. As far as the packaging, the cover was amazing and the binding is strong. I'm impressed with how beautiful IDW's trade paperbacks are.
Part One (Illyria): The art ranged from satisfactory to good, and the story was above average. Not only did the story give some insight into Illyria (a fan favorite who only appeared in the last few episodes of Angel) but it also stayed true to the characters and provided touching and thoughtful moments. The scene with Illyria crying may have taken this a bit too far, but otherwise, good issue.
Part Two (Gunn): The art was horrendous, but the story was okay. Sometimes the story was good enough that I could ignore the art, but not very often. With a better artist, this could have been a better issue. Though it was interesting to see a bit of the "old Gunn" shine through "lawyer Gunn."
Part Three (Wesley): As Wesley is my favorite character in Angel, I'm biased when it comes to rating this story. But I have to say, the art was good--the best so far--but the story could have been better. It, like the Illyria issue, shined some light on Wesley's character, but I thought the story could have been planned a bit better.
Part Four (Doyle): Doyle was Angel's first side-kick, a main character for only the first third of the first season. This comic is interesting because it actually takes place right before the first episode of the series, detailing how Doyle's life was before he met up with Angel. The art was perfect, and the writing was great. Mariotte (who also wrong Angel: The Curse and Angel: Old Friends (Graphic Novel) (Angel (IDW Publishing))) has a real handle on Doyle's language, and he writes this character better than any other he's done. This was easily the best issue of the bunch.
Part Five (Connor): It kind of threw me off that Connor, a character universally hated by fans, got his own Spotlight issue. However, those gripes aside, it was done well. Connor's dorm mate, an original character named Avery, makes this issue what it is. Connor and Avery's banter and research scene makes me--oddly enough--wonder if these two characters could ever get their own spin off. Doubt it, but I'd read. That being said, the art was okay. Not as good as Illyria, Doyle, and Wesley, but better than Gunn. And the writing was good, but nothing special. I still think this issue should have been Lorne's spotlight. Who doesn't love him?
Anything Goes Trivia
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