So not only do we get a new season of Buffy, but also a parallel story of the ongoing adventures of Angel and Faith, in the appropriately titled series Angel and Faith. No longer are the continuations of Buffy and Angel handled by two different comic book publishers, with the latter not having much in the way of Joss-involvement. But now, both series are from Dark Horse comics and have much Joss. Well, he's an executive producer on Angel and Faith, at least -- perhaps not ideal, but better than before.

When we last saw our dynamic duo, Angel was recovering from being possessed by Twilight, while Faith had inherited Giles' apartment and all that contains (as Giles had been unceremoniously killed by Angel himself at the end of Buffy, Season 8). This first issue shows how the two of them have been going through Giles' Watcher Files in order to find out ways that they can help the helpless (Angel, 'cause he feels like he needs to, with all the blood on his hands from being Twilight) and Faith, 'cause she wants to help Angel and 'cause she likes punching things).

Of course, there is only so much that can be done in a single comic book, particularly one that starts and entire "season", but this particular episode does do a pretty neat job at lining up potential plot lines. Besides the good character motivations of the leads, we also get a glimpse at a) two potential big bads, Nash and Pearl, who had been working for "Twilight", b) the return of Angel’s onetime demon handler, Whistler, interestingly working with said potential-big-bads, c) a Slayer who has significant issues with said big bads and their original boss Twilight (and thus, with Angel), and d) an interesting statement by Angel himself at the very end which raises intriguing possibilities. "Intrigue" is a good term here, as it turns out: there wasn't so much in the issue that it felt crowded or convoluted. A good little story in and of itself with just several hints to future things. Rather well done, really.

The writing, however, left a little to be desired. It's fine, certainly, and helps with the aforementioned intrigue, but it doesn't have that trademark Buffy-style wit. Reportedly the entire season of Angel and Faith will be written by the same author, Christos Gage, who has quite a history with writing comics in recent years, so here's hoping that he finds the wit and humor one would expect.

The art, however, is top notch. In discussing the Season 8 comics of Buffy (and even the first issue of Season 9), there were a few instances where the art style made it more difficult to tell certain characters apart than I would have preferred. Not a problem here, with the art by Rebekah Isaacs. The lines were clean, characters recognizable, and it all just fit.

So, yes, the first issue of Angel and Faith is worth checking out. Heck, when is more Faith ever a bad thing?!

   -- K. Burtt