Angel: Old Friends

    (IDW, 2005-2006)
™ and © Idea + Design Works LLC

After years of fighting evil supernatural menaces, and once again averting Armageddon at the end of his TV series, Angel, the vampire cursed with a human soul, is enjoying a much-deserved retirement… alone, and very far away from his friends and enemies alike.

Naturally, that’s about to change. When a series of vampiric slayings—with witnesses describing a pointy-toothed cocky Brit in a trench coat—bloodies the streets of LA, Angel reluctantly returns to the city expecting a final showdown with his sometimes ally Spike.

But his reunion with his old team—Gunn, Wesley, and Illyria—is marred by the realization that someone very powerful is once again playing tricks on them. When nothing is quite what it seems, and your friends aren’t necessarily who they appear to be, then how do you know who to trust? And if you can’t trust anyone, how do you know when you’ve won?

— Joseph Self

From the Comics Buyer’s Guide:

Angel: Old Friends finds everyone’s favorite vampire with a soul taking a break from demon slaying and world-saving. Holed up in a cabin in the snowy mountains, Angel just wants to be left alone. Unfortunately for him, ex-partner Charles Gunn invades his sanctuary with a simple request: to help him take down a familiar-looking vampire who is terrorizing the streets of L.A. While in Southern California, they hook up with a pair of former colleagues and battle a particularly fearsome creature.

Fans of the dearly departed Angel television series will find these issues agreeable enough, since the snarky dialogue (left over from Buffy the Vampire Slayer) remains intact and the characters look and behave about as they should. The art, though sparse at times and rarely better than ordinary, does manage to capture the basic likenesses of David Boreanaz, J. August Richards, and company. Regrettably, the plot is simplistic in the extreme and sadly missing much of the richness and moral ambiguity found in some of the better episodes of the show.

— Brett Weiss
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  • 1/A
    #1 Variation A
    Cover A by David Messina
    Dec 2005
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    W: Jeff Mariotte  ·  A: David Messina, Elena Casagrande
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  • 1/B
    #1 Variation B
    Cover B by Zach Howard
    Nov 2005
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    W: Jeff Mariotte  ·  A: David Messina, Elena Casagrande
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  • 1/C
    #1 Variation C
    Nov 2005
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    W: Jeff Mariotte  ·  A: David Messina, Elena Casagrande
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  • 1/D
    #1 Variation D
    Cover D by Lee Kohse
    Nov 2005
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    W: Jeff Mariotte  ·  A: David Messina, Elena Casagrande
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  • 1/E
    #1 Variation E
    Retailer Incentive photo Cover E by Frank Ockenfels III
    Nov 2005
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    W: Jeff Mariotte  ·  A: David Messina, Elena Casagrande
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  • 2/A
    #2 Variation A
    Cover A by David Messina
    Dec 2005
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    W: Jeff Mariotte  ·  A: David Messina, Elena Casagrande
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  • 2/B
    #2 Variation B
    Cover B by Neil Vokes
    Dec 2005
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    W: Jeff Mariotte  ·  A: David Messina, Elena Casagrande
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  • 2/C
    #2 Variation C
    Cover C by Sean Phillips
    Dec 2005
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    W: Jeff Mariotte  ·  A: David Messina, Elena Casagrande
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  • 2/D
    #2 Variation D
    Cover D by Lee Kohse
    Dec 2005
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    W: Jeff Mariotte  ·  A: David Messina, Elena Casagrande
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  • 2/E
    #2 Variation E
    Retailer Incentive photo Cover E
    Dec 2005
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  • 3/A
    #3 Variation A
    Cover A by David Messina
    Jan 2006
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    W: Jeff Mariotte  ·  A: David Messina, Elena Casagrande
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  • 3/B
    #3 Variation B
    Cover B by Russell Walks
    Jan 2006
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    W: Jeff Mariotte  ·  A: David Messina, Elena Casagrande
    1 copy for $2.34
  • 3/C
    #3 Variation C
    Cover C by Tone Rodriguez
    Jan 2006
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    W: Jeff Mariotte  ·  A: David Messina, Elena Casagrande
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  • 3/D
    #3 Variation D
    Cover D by Dustin Evans
    Jan 2006
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    W: Jeff Mariotte  ·  A: David Messina, Elena Casagrande
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  • 4/A
    #4 Variation A
    Cover A by David Messina
    Feb 2006
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    W: Jeff Mariotte  ·  A: David Messina, Elena Casagrande
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  • 4/B
    #4 Variation B
    Cover B by Tone Rodriguez
    Feb 2006
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    W: Jeff Mariotte  ·  A: David Messina, Elena Casagrande
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  • 4/C
    #4 Variation C
    Cover C by Russell Walks
    Feb 2006
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    W: Jeff Mariotte  ·  A: David Messina, Elena Casagrande
    1 copy for $1.49
  • 4/D
    #4 Variation D
    Cover D by Lee Kohse
    Feb 2006
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    W: Jeff Mariotte  ·  A: David Messina, Elena Casagrande
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  • 5/A
    #5 Variation A
    Cover A by David Messina
    Mar 2006
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    W: Jeff Mariotte  ·  A: David Messina, Elena Casagrande
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  • 5/B
    #5 Variation B
    Cover B by Tone Rodriguez
    Mar 2006
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    W: Jeff Mariotte  ·  A: David Messina, Elena Casagrande
    1 copy for $4.98
  • 5/C
    #5 Variation C
    Cover C by Russell Walks
    Mar 2006
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    W: Jeff Mariotte  ·  A: David Messina, Elena Casagrande
    2 copies from $2.34
  • 5/D
    #5 Variation D
    Cover D by Lee Kohse
    Mar 2006
    Cover: $3.99
    W: Jeff Mariotte  ·  A: David Messina, Elena Casagrande
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  • Bk 1
    Book #1
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    W: Jeff Mariotte  ·  A: David Messina, Elena Casagrande
    Collects # 1–5; ca. 2006
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