A review by pantsreadsbooks
Angel & Faith: United by Joss Whedon, Kel McDonald, Cliff Richards, Will Conrad, Victor Gischler

3.0

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.