ANGEL - AFTER THE FALL - VOLUME ONE

IDW

Plotted by Joss Whedon and Brian Lynch

Scripted by Brian Lynch

Illustrated by Franco Urru

Angel created by Joss Whedon and David Greenwalt

Angel is copyright 2008 by Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation. All rights reserved. Copyright 2008 Idea and Design Works, LLC. The IDW logo is registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. All rights reserved.

In the graphic novel Angel - After the Fall - Volume One, writers Joss Whedon and Brian Lynch continues Wheedon's TV show Angel after the show's final season, Season Five. The city of Los Angeles has been sent to Hell by the demonic law firm Wolfram & Hart. Angel has lost his vampire powers as a result, although he has become friends with a dragon - who likes dropping off his cars. While Angel continues to try to help people, Angel's team has been scattered - and not all of his team have fared well at all.

With Angel being produced as a series of graphic novels, instead of as a TV show, creator Joss Whedon, writer Brian Lynch, and illustrator Franco Urru are able to expand on Angel's world in ways that were not possible with the limited budget of a TV show. There are more crowds of exotic demons, monsters, crowds in general, as well as dinosaurs. As Los Angeles has become hell for some time since the start of the graphic novel, the normal native humans in Los Angeles appear to have accepted what has happened to their home. Many of the surviving humans are fighting for their own survival, including a surviving cop in an arena. Gangs of demons are at war in this hell realm competing for control of Los Angeles.

While generally you can tell who all the major characters were from the show through the artwork, there were a couple of minor characters that I had no idea who they were until I read the Original Proposal that is at the end of the book. Even then, I can not tell which character is which as they were originally such minor characters and these characters look pretty much alike. I like what they have done with Wesley, although I do not really like the fact that he still has a job with Wolfram & Hart. You can tell the evil law firm Wolfram and Hart still has plans for Wesley and Angel. I am not too crazy about what has happened to Gunn, but I am looking forward to what they will do with Gunn in future graphic novels as there is potential for good storytelling to be done with him now. There is also an art and sketch gallery, as well as the script with the author's notes, at the end of the book.

Pancho
All people smile in the same language.

TERMINATOR SALVATION

TITAN BOOKS

Written by Alan Dean Foster

Based on the motion picture written by
John Brancato & Michael  Ferris

Copyright 2009 by T Asset Acquisition Company, LLC.

The novelization of the movie Terminator Salvation tells the story of human resistance leader John Connor and Kyle Reese both in there own ways fighting the Terminators.

With the novelization, I better understand the characters than what I learned from the movie as there is more characterization with the characters than what can be depicted in a movie. Even the new Terminators I can better understand as they are described in the novelization. You can see the development of Kyle Reese as a resistance fighter as he survives in the city ruins of Los Angeles. With Marcus Wright searching for his engineered experimented origins and for his new acquaintance Kyle, who was taken by the Terminators, the novelization is more about Wright than about John Connor. Connor's conflicts with his own chain of command is rather frustrating and you almost cheer for Connor as he defies command and becomes the leader he is supposed to be.

See movie review:

Terminator Salvation


Pancho
All people smile in the same language.

ANGEL - haunted

SIMON PULSE

Written by Jeff Mariotte

Copyright 2002 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation

In haunted, written by Jeff Mariotte, wanna-be actress Cordelia becomes a contestant on a reality TV series in a haunted house. When Cordelia gets a vision in the middle of the show, she sends a message through the cameras and the webcams to Angel, and Angel Investigations, to search for the girl in Cordelia's vision. Meanwhile, the hauntings in the reality series haunted house become dangerously real in the contestant eliminations - and the TV series is no longer a game.

This book reminds me of the TV series Ghost Hunters, as the characters experience the various paranormal events in the haunted house - while the webcams send the character's images through the net. You also feel for the girl victim of Cordelia's vision as the girl's identity is slowly taken away from her as a result of the lawyers from Wolfram & Hart and their demonic partners.

Pancho
All people smile in the same language.

Terminator Salvation - From the Ashes

Titan Books


Written by Timothy Zahn


Copyright 2009 T Asset Acquisition Company, LLC.


In From the Ashes, Judgement Day has just happened and John Connor and his Resistance group help protect a group of human survivors in Los Angeles from the aggressive robotic Terminators.

Half the book deals with the Marine responsible for security for the survivors in Los Angeles as well as dealing with a teen aged Kyle Reese - but Kyle never meets the famed John Connor in this prequel to the movie Terminator Salvation. Just like with the movie, this is not really a book about John Connor leading the resistance. This book is more about the resistance butting heads with a human survival group that just wants to be left alone.

See movie review:
Terminator - Salvation

Pancho
All people smile in the same language.