I Reads You Review: Angel: Blood and Trenches #1

ANGEL: BLOOD & TRENCHES #1

IDW
CARTOONIST: John Byrne
LETTERS: Chris Mowry
COVER: John Byrne with Tom Smith/Scorpion Studios (colors)
32pp, B&W, $3.99

Angel: Blood & Trenches is a 2009 comic book miniseries starring Angel, the character from the television series, "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and the spin-off, "Angel." Written and drawn by John Byrne, one of the most important comic book creators of the last 40 years, Blood & Trenches has Angel on the trail of experiments by the WW1-era Germans in the use of vampires as soldiers.

Angel: Blood & Trenches #1 (entitled “Over There”) finds Angel as an ambulance driver for the Allies during World War I, just before the United States entered the war. What brought him to France? The mystery of the unsolved murders of large numbers of British and French troops sends Angel across the Atlantic, where he sneaks into France. He eventually befriends a doctor, Lady Margaret D’Ascoyne, who helps him. However, the activities of the English Colonel Geoffrey Wyndam-Price and the Germans force Angel into the open.

Apparently, Angel: Blood & Trenches ties into “Why We Fight,” the 13th episode of Angel Season Five, but even readers who are only casually familiar the “Buffy universe” can enjoy this rollicking comic book. Byrne tells the story using black and white pencil art that is not inked and not colored (except for a few panel). Byrne’s art, which is usually quite fluid and so evocative, is even more so, as presented in this fashion. It would seem a shame to embellish this pencil art storytelling with inks and cover it with colors.

The textures created by this layered penciling create a unique mood for this series; Blood & Trenches looks like a historical drama with the colors washed out, but it also feels like a good horror thriller. Byrne does killer work on the characters’ clothes and costumes, but his pencil stroke is even better at capturing the characters’ emotions – from loud to subtle. I enjoyed reading this and recommend that even non-Buffy fans find it just because it is a good comic book.

A-