Fred Burkle

Angel and Faith #18 has all the elements of a good Whedon-y tale, including female characters with agency that aren’t necessarily Amazon warriors (Fred and Mary in this case.), some witty dialogue, and a nice use of monsters of metaphors. It doesn’t hurt that this metaphor is driven home by a formidable and entertaining villain in Drusilla, whose role as Mother Prior in the last Angel and Faith series gets expanded upon in this issue. Some of Cliff Richards’ figures seem overly posed, especially in the fight scenes, but his storytelling is clear, and Michelle Madsen adds a special fiery “Oomph!” to vampire staking parts.

While Angel is off dealing with Old Ones, demon lords, and Spike actually dating Buffy over in Buffy Season Ten, Angel and Faith Season Ten #16 focuses on Faith, Fred, and Magic Town’s (An area of London where demons and various magic and “special” folk live) top cop Brandt’s more “low key” work. Victor Gischler writes Faith as both wistful and sassy as she moves out of the apartment she and Giles used to share and starts to investigate some mysterious killings at a prep school. She and Fred have a nice buddy dynamic, but Cliff Richards draws their faces in a similar manner and it is hard to tell them apart. Richards’ combination of hyper detailed figures and less detailed backgrounds give the art a static feel, and there isn’t much in the way of facial expressions even if his anatomy and monster designs are on point.