ANGEL: SURROGATES

Written by Christopher Golden
Pencils by Christian Zanier
Pencil Assists by Marvin Mariano
Inks by Andy Owens, with Jason Minor and Curtis P. Arnold
Colours by Guy Major
Letters by Clem Robins and Amador Cisneros
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Published by Titan Comics £8.99

This is the first comic collection set around the Buffy spin-off show Angel. Christopher Golden, who has written eight Buffy novels and Buffy The Vampire Slayer: The Watcher's Guide, has brought his understanding of the Buffy mythos and his feel for the show to bear on a story idea he admits he had some time ago. Backed up by some reasonable pencilling, hindered by drab colouring, this book is, much like the Buffy comics, quite good.

The story is strong (nasty beastie disguised as stunning fertility clinician uses human females as a host for her own daemonic young), and the dialogue is very much in keeping with the spirit of the show. That said, the impact on Doyle of one of his visions is woefully dismissed. That is, however, a minor quibble.

Golden's previous Angel comic book story, The Hollower, was better. The art and colouring in Surrogates is better, but that is saying nothing. There is lots of talk at the moment on the Buffy and Angel comics becoming more closely linked with the series'. This is a good thing, as the plots are more than strong enough.

However, the artwork is really going to have to shift up a gear to keep up. The likenesses in Surrogates are atrocious, everyone has Superman physiques or Barbie meets Baywatch bodies. Oh, and when Doyle sneezed, he went spiky. In this comic, he just gets orc teeth and elf ears. That is a basic mistake that really should have been picked up at approvals.

Here's hoping the art improves with time. Drastically. It would be a shame if it didn't, as this is, as with the Buffy comics, a series worth persisting with.

Angel: Surrogates gets a 6 out of 10.

Review by Iain Lowson.