Well I am REALLY confused by this turn of events.

“Remember that lame Angel & Fred Ireland adventure one-shot in season 10? Well let’s make season 11 ENTIRELY that. Except then we’ll make Illyria throw them in the past. Because of a flower? And some bugs? And cause she has personal shit to deal with.”
“What about Faith?”
“Eh, no one cares. Let’s not even MENTION her. Just throw in an aunts cameo for good measure.”
“What about Magic Town? What about all the shit going on across the pond in Buffy season 11?“
“Not important. Prehistoric demons!”
“Ok, well this will at least be related to previously mentioned Illyria drama, right? Her guilt over killing Eldre Koh’s family maybe?”
“Nope! New Illyria drama! Unrelated prehistoric demons!”
“Okay, we’ll at least get someone who can really write Fred this time, though? And keep Conrad, or get an equally good artist?”
“Nahhh. Fred can just sound like everyone else. And look like everyone else too. And we’re definitely hiring this guy who can’t draw Boreanaz for shit.”

Angel season 11 isn’t getting any better. This volume they’ve brought on artist Zé Carlos, who is a slight improvement but draws the most generic versions of these characters possible that don’t look anything like their real counterparts. Fred looks like generic cute woman, Darla looks like Harmony, and Angel looks like he belongs in the old 90s comics or Witchblade/similar. The story isn’t much better— Angel & Fred go forward in time and end up on a boat with Angelus & Darla, whose actions actually were the right ones for once, so of course our intrepid heroes fuck it up. Honestly, more than anything, this whole arc/season is BORING. Bechko hasn’t gotten any better at writing these characters (at least in season 10, Gischler had Angel & Faith down relatively okay?) and I can’t believe I’m taking the time away from Buffy Season 11 to read this, but I’m just going to finish it and be done with it.

Scott Fischer’s cover art of Angel & ship-dress!Darla is absolutely gorgeous. Nothing else here holds up to that— not even his other covers, to be completely honest.

Season 11 takes the happy Scooby Gang from the end of season 10 and throws a literal tsunami at them. And stays brilliant throughout the dark turns of Buffy, Spike & Willow’s misadventures in the magical creatures internment camp.

Jordan the Slayer is an interesting new villain. I do wonder about Riley’s take on all this, but also what came of the Magic Council from the end of season 10? There’s a throwaway line about Buffy having been on it, but shouldn’t it have still been functioning? And how could that dragon just show up with the portal restrictions? Hoping some things get answered in volume 2. I will say, I’m preeemptively disappointed at how short this season is.

A stellar conclusion to season 10— although the Free Comic Book Day one-shot at the end is completely unnecessary and can just be skipped, thanks.

Should we all have seen D’Hoffryn’s heel turn coming? Absolutely. And yet I was still surprised. Somehow I just thought his aims aligned enough with the Scoobies. Of course disappointing that copy!Anya and copy!Jonathan would join him, but I love that Anya showed her true loyalties in the end.

Xander & Dawn’s multidimensional walkabout was great, and honestly the best Xander stuff to date. I still can’t stand him, but Nicholas Brendon manages to write him palatably, and I was even on board(ish?) for him & Dawn getting back together after all of that.

Gage’s writing and Isaacs’ art can’t be beat. Best combo this series has ever had, and I’m glad they’re sticking around for 11. All the thumbs up.

Gah, losing Gage & Isaacs to the Buffy side of things caused a huge dip in quality for the Angel & Faith comics. I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again: Gischler does not know how to write these characters. It’s particularly obvious with Fred and Drusilla, whose voices are totally lost here, but when original comics character Eldre Koh makes a big speech towards the end, I realized he really has none of them down. Certainly not Giles’ aunts or Nadira either. And Archaeus, who was such an interesting villain when he started out on Buffy, just putters out here. Plus Magic as a character, the incessant insistence of the importance of Magic Town, family vs family, and the weird Endgame moment at the end, make the whole thing cheesy and almost unintelligible.

Read after Buffy Season 10 Vol. 4: Old Demons

A really mediocre entry in what’s been a great season. Cliff Richards cannot distinguish between Faith, Fred and Dru who all look the same, despite being wildly different and distinct looking women in real life. Conrad does better, particularly with Dru. I would’ve given three stars for the storyline, but Gischler still hasn’t found his Fred-voice, and now is butchering Drusilla. Isn’t she supposed to be crazy again? Cause she certainly doesn’t sound it at all. OCs: Brandt’s still meh, Nadira picks up here, and Koh, Sophie & Lavinia are all not given enough to do.

I mostly enjoyed the reunion of Angel & Faith, but I gotta say that I’ve found the returns of Fred & Illyria to be disappointing. Gischler doesn’t have Fred’s voice down at all, and Illyria loses any growth she’s gained since she first appeared in season 5. I think it’s weird too that aside from one line from Angel, there’s no acknowledgement of the camaraderie Illyria herself created with the team. Plus with Illyria reverted to her all-God/don’t-care status, her betrayal of Koh seems cheap. I would have much rather see Koh get angry and Illyria be repentant than the way it went down. And Fred talks about coexisting with Illyria, but in the end it seems like nothing’s changed, and she’s still dealing with repressing her. The one-shot last issue does a better job of capturing Fred’s spirit, but the whole concept of the issue is weird. I don’t think Angel would want to go home and I don’t think Fred would ever push him to do so.

Conrad’s art is great, but really inconsistent on Amy Acker’s face, which is surprising since she’s pretty distinctive, and he’s been so good on other characters (especially female faces) that ended up more generic when drawn by other artists.

Also, I don’t know how to feel about Nadira as a character, but she’s just entirely unrecognizable from the character we met in season 9– and I’m not just talking about her swirly magic makeover, but I AM including the lack of colorful clubwear and her move into witchy boho skirts. To the extent that it’s weird when she talks to Faith or Koh about what went on last season.

Season 10 is a JOY that’s worth all the ups and downs of season 8 & 9. I can’t imagine the happiness will stay, but I’m going to enjoy it while it does.