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angel
At the end of the review of the first part of EARTHLY POSSESSIONS, I hoped that the plot for the remaining two parts, didn't resort to the usual 'guy-possessed-by-a-demon' one. Fortunately, in this middle installment, Christopher Golden and Tom Sniegoski manage to spring enough surprises to keep things moving along nicely. After a quick recap of the main protagonists, we pick up from the cliff-hanger to chapter 1. As expected, the priest turns out to be the de-frocked Father Gaetano Noe, who proceeds to exorcise the demon inhabiting Sam Stewart's body. The, an encounter with a possessed actress leads Angel to cross paths once more with Father Noe, and once again there's the implication that the ex-priest isn't all he appears to be. In addition, there are also one or two nice touches. Firstly, the story takes place both before and after Doyle's death in HERO. Obviously this would have to be addressed at some point if the comic strip is going to be even apocryphal, let alone anything approaching canonical, but even so, it's still a little surprising to see Doyle and Cordy commenting on their apparent closure of the Stewart case on one page, followed by Cordy reflecting on Doyle's sacrifice on the next. Secondly, there's a brief reappearance by Rachel Hammerlin, who we first saw back in the opening three-parter. BUFFY as a TV series hasn't been afraid to reuse the odd character, and it makes sense that someone who's been helped by AI in the past would seek them out again. As the second part of a third part story, the issue manages to retain the reader's interest and sets things up for next month's conclusion. |
EARTHLY POSSESSIONS,
CHAPTER 2 |
