The “Angel” monthly writing team of Christopher Golden and Tom Sniegoski deliciously digs into Buffyverse lore and smoothly ties together the two titles with the comics’ first major crossover story. “Past Lives” (January-February 2001) goes from “Angel” Issue 15 to “Buffy” Issue 29 to “Angel” Issue 16 to “Buffy” Issue 30. Prolific “Angel” artist Christian Zanier contributes some great monsters and launches the character of Alexa Landry, a rogue Watchers Council operative who wants revenge on Angel. Her sexy skintight outfit is cleverly designed with a cross cut into the front.
Golden was coming off “Spike and Dru: Pretty Maids All in a Row,” and he remains intrigued by the idea of Council operatives, who were introduced in the Faith quadrilogy of “Buffy” Season 4/“Angel” Season 1, which takes place not long before “Past Lives.” Taking up the reins of a vampire-hunting ancestor (who perhaps inspired the “Angel” TV show to invent Holtz for Season 3), Alexa aims to kill Angel – but first she’s gonna sic some monsters on him and beat up Cordelia and Wesley. The authors nicely intersperse flashbacks to Angel’s twisted psychological torture of the vampire hunter in 1845, gradually giving us a full picture of why Alexa is roping Angel’s friends into this conflict.
It might’ve been neat if Alexa had openly targeted the Scooby Gang in Sunnydale, too, but I don’t mind that Wes calls Giles – who had dated Alexa in an untold past story — to help with this bigger-than-usual threat. And I like that Quentin Travers visits Los Angeles to track down his rogue agent. The interactions are spot-in, including Buffy/Giles and Travers expressing their mutual dislike, and Buffy explaining to Riley why he should hold down the fort in Sunnydale – although Anya has her own view of the situation: “Buffy doesn’t want Riley to come to Los Angeles because she used to have sex with Angel, and she has sex with Riley now.”
It’s a daring approach to mix two art teams; Zanier does the first “Angel” issue (thus setting the prominent tone for the series), Cliff Richards does the last “Buffy” issue, and on the middle issues they trade off, with Zanier focusing on “Angel” characters and Richards on “Buffy” characters. Consistent inking and coloring tie together Zanier’s crisp figures and dynamic layouts with Richards’ looser, flowing work.
While Alexa’s rogue villainy is in some ways similar to Faith’s, “Past Lives” is a less nuanced story than the Faith quadrilogy, and that actually works well for this medium. While this villain is personal to Angel, he and Buffy are on the same page: They can’t pull their punches with Alexa, who has expanded her personal vendetta to include innocent people who are allied with Angel, not Angelus. “Past Lives” ends with Buffy and Angel on good terms, which allows us to let out a breath we may have been holding after their spat in “Sanctuary” (“Angel” 1.19).
Click here for an index of all of John’s “Buffy” and “Angel” reviews.