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StumbleuponSpike: Lost & Found
Writer: Scott Tipton; Art: Fernando Goni
There isn’t much critically to say on this one. If you didn’t watch or enjoy the Buffy The Vampire Slayer and Angel TV series, then it’s not for you. If you did watch and enjoy, it’s a pretty good read that feels like a previously unseen episode.
The story is set somewhere in Season 5 of Angel, and revolves around events from the Gem of Amarra episodes in season 4 of Buffy and season 1 of Angel. Evidently a second Gem existed, and is now in use by a rampaging vampire. Spike and Angel do some detective work, find the bad guy, and kill the bad guy. A decent enough, straightforward story.
Tipton does a good job of reviewing the past events for clarity. It takes a lot of exposition to get to the meat of the story, and I think it would turn off a reader who wasn’t already familiar with the characters and events. But all of IDW’s Angel stories seem aimed at the already converted, so it may not matter.
Tipton’s characterization of both Spike and Angel is perfect, and that’s what leads to this one seeming like a new episode. Every time Spike or Angel speaks, Tipton writes as if Marsters or Boreanaz spoke the lines. The scene with Angel and Spike talking about how little pride they have in their pasts is almost a perfect match to the original show’s great moments.
If someone was already a fan of the show, this is worth reading just to experience a little more from a great series. If not, skip it because it won’t mean much.
