Just
as his earlier ANGEL novel BRUJA featured a face from Angel's past, so Mel Odom's sees the vampire
come up against someone he knew back when he was the scourge of Europe.
But when he painted Darla in 1815, Gabriel Dantz seemed human, so what's
he doing in 21st century Los Angeles?
Dantz
isn't the only artist that Angel Investigations are interested in. A young
street artist named Faroe Burke is just about to hit the big time, but
she's got a bunch of demons and our old friends Wolfram & Hart after
her.
There's
also a rather tedious subplot involving a Hollywood studio and a blackmailer
that provides some humour with a stripping demon, but that's about it.
To be honest, the novel could have done without this storyline, which
would have allowed the author to concentrate on the artists and Cordy's
vision of a young boy threatened by a demon.
There
are some interesting concepts in Image. The idea of the Weid Deus talent is interesting, although at first glance it seemed little different
from the CHARMED episode PAINTED
WORLD (which has always reminded slightly me of SAPPHIRE & STEEL: ASSIGNMENT FOUR). There's also a flashback
to Angel and Darla in Switzerland, where Mary Shelley was inspired to
write Frankenstein.
Sadly,
neither of these is really exploited to their potential. The idea of Angel
meeting Byron is potentially fascinating, except that they don't meet
and events in Geneva are reduced to a bit of night-time skulking around
the villa.
Another
problem with Pocket Books' ANGEL and BUFFY novels has been continuity with the television series. Okay, so we
know that IMAGE must be set towards the end
of season 2 (there's no Kate, Darla is confined to flashbacks and they
haven't met Fred yet), but exactly when? Wesley isn't the pratfalling
comic that he was in the past, but Cordy should have been a lot sharper
in my opinion. She's also rather dense when it comes to her mobile.
All-in-all,
a couple of potentially good ideas spoiled by the inclusion of a tedious
subplot, some rather average writing and far too many fight scenes. One
of the weaker ANGEL novels. back to the top
