Buffy The Vampire Slayer and Angel were the best live-action super-hero series to ever grace television screens.
Never mind that neither character wore spandex nor fought traditional super-villains.
Reluctant teen hero Buffy Summers was essentially Spider-Man without the web-shooters, while brooding vampire Angel bore more than a passing resemblance to the night-skulking Batman.
Given the characters’ super-heroic origins, however, neither series has translated all that well to comics.
Aside from Joss Whedon’s Fray, the Buffy and Angel books published by Dark Horse were substandard at best. Recent Whedonverse offerings from IDW haven’t rocked the world either.
Peter David’s Illyria one-shot, however, is a notable exception.
A skilled hand at translating stories and concepts from television and film screens to the printed page (i.e. Star Trek, Babylon 5, too many film adaptations to mention…), David’s Illyria script effectively captures the spirit of perhaps the most intriguing figure to emerge from Angel’s doomed fifth season.
For the unfortunate ones who missed the series, Illyria is an ancient goddess who possessed the body of Angel confidant Winifred “Fred” Burkle - tragically consuming the young woman’s soul in the process.
The character, masterfully portrayed by the rockin’ Amy Acker (who also voices The Huntress in Justice League Unlimited), spent the remainder of the season adapting to her newfound humanity and awkwardly interacting with Fred’s surviving friends, who deeply mourned Burkle’s passing.
David picks up that plot and crafts a strong story that easily could have been an unaired episode. He captures Illyria’s voice perfectly, conveying the character’s confusion and menace.
Without spoiling the story, David also opens up new possibilities in Illyria’s relationship with her human alter-ego. (Illyria can perfectly imitate Fred at will, a skill that underlines the sadness the other characters felt losing their friend, confidant and - in one individual’s case - lover.)
Needless to say, the Illyria comic was an unexpected treat for this Buffy fanatic. Hopefully, David’s exclusive contract with Marvel won’t prevent him from revisiting this character again.
