SPOILERS, DUH! I'm a big Angel fan. I'm very interested in the plot for "After the Fall." However, I can't afford to buy the books. For that matter, while I enjoy comic book stories, I've almost never been able to get into the medium. (Watchmen is the only comic book that I've ever really enjoyed.) To me, comic books are like TV that doesn't move or prose that keeps distracting me with too many pictures. I've been able to pick up a few issues of "After the Fall" but I grow impatient. Can someone summarize its story for me, please?
This is off the top of my head, so I hope others will correct my often faulty memory where applicable. In (very) brief... We pick up some weeks after Don't Fade Away. L.A. is in Hell, Angel is human and has adopted the dragon he was going to kill when last we saw him. Gunn is a Vamp. Spike and Illyira have set themselves up as Lords of Beverly Hills(?) and Lorne has done the same in Silverdale. Gunn has a vamp posse and a plan to kill Angel and thereby save L.A. (if that doesn't make sense, realize that Vamp!Gunn is being manipulated by W&H.) Ghost Wesley helps Angel at the behest of W&H. Illyria is having Fred flashbacks and freaks when she see Wes. Angel challenges the various Lords of Hell, and with the help of the Fang-Gang defeats them. In final battle with Gunn, Angel the human is mortally wounded and is met by Cordelia, who is to escort him to the afterlife. However, in order to save his son, he returns to life. Back in L.A., Angel and Wes realize that if Angel dies, the plans of W&H will be foiled as they want Angel to suffer eternally. Rather than let Angel die, W&H reset everything to the moment that L.A. went to Hell (no jokes). This time Angel is able to save Gunn before he dies and is vamped. In an unusual twist on the contrived "re-set button" ending, everyone-- heroes, villians, dragons and innocent bystanders alike all remember what happened and Angel is looked upon as a hero. In what might be something of an "unofficial" crossover with the Buffy comics, the existance of Vamps and Slayers becomes public knowledge at roughly the same time in both books.
^ I understand in a comic form the stories become a little more OTT its just how they are written but thats also why I never read em. I would of loved to see a Whedon season 6 follow on TV but then again Joss pushed for early renewal back in 5 so he probably had a total different finale planned with no demon army and LA not to fall.
May or may not be relevant depending on your budget, but I noticed that IDW have finally started releasing the series in Trade Paperback format, instead of offering only bulky-assed (and more expensive) hardcovers. So far only the first compilation is available, but I'm sure the rest will come. Fictitiously yours, Trent Roman
Replace every instance of TPTB with Wolfram & Hart, and that's a fairly good summary. TPTB are the good guys.
The above info relates to After The Fall. That was written by Brian Lynch and the story planned out by Whedon & Lynch. Thus like Season 8 its considered canon. As for "Aftermath" Whedon had zero involvement, and its not by the great Brian Lynch. Its a 5 issue arc written by Kelly Armstrong, and though she claims to have seen Angel the TV show, by reading it it really does seem like she and the artist have never seen a single minute of the show. It's pretty bad IMO. Awful art (why does Angel look like the Hulk muscle wise? What the hell is Angel wearing throughout?) Terrible & very clunky dialoogue, panels that don't sync up, crap plot, badly written dull new charatcers, etc. Kate Lockley comes back in it, but her reunion with Angel is over and done with in about two panels, and the way she looks and talks throughout the book isn't anything like the Kate in the show. I gave up after the first three issues and just skimmed the last two in the comic shop. Glad I did too, and I certainly won't be wasting any money on the TPB. This isn't just my opinion either, most folk on the SlayAlive boards agree it kinda sucked. So After The Fall yay. Aftermath nay.
Thanks. A few follow up questions: Does Connor die? I'd heard somewhere that he dies. What roles do Gwen Raiden, Kate Lockley, Nina, & Groo play in the story? What exactly is Wolfram & Hart's plan? What's the deal with the whole Fred/Illyria thing?
Connor died but got better when time was reset. Everyone got better except for Wesley, who was already dead before LA was sent to hell. Gwen, Nina, and the others were background characters involved in the resistance. None had starring roles. Wolfram and Hart's goal was to make Angel suffer for eternity. Killing him quickly in the alley was too easy, so they sent the entire city of Los Angeles to hell. That didn't work out. When LA returned to normal space/time, the W&H building was gone. (This was actually Whedon's plan had the show not been cancelled, Angel roaming through post-apocalyptic LA). While in hell Illyria lost control (again) and had severe Fred flashbacks. Dead Wesley hanging around didn't help matters. The new writer says that won't happen again. Fred is gone for good.
Gwen actually had an important role in betraying Team Angel to help Vamp!Gunn, but got a bit of redemption by sacrificing herself in order to save... Angel? Can't remember exactly, but save whoever from W&H retribution. She came back in the reset along with Connor, who she was actually in a relationship with. Illyria also got released from Fred's "shell" by Vamp!Gunn towards the end of the arc and went on a rampage. Team Angel killed her/him/it, and then the reset happened.
I read all of After the Fall but reading it in spurts always made it very confusing. So in the final analysis... as far as the rest of the world is concerned, the LA-Is-Hell thing didn't happen, right? It took place in a sealed little bubble and then at the end it time traveled back to the instant it started? 'Cause the entire I'm wondering why isn't Buffy and the Slayer army trying to save LA...