Everyone’s favorite villains from Season Five of Joss Whedon’s ANGEL are back and better then ever! I’m talking about the vampire-with-a-soul Spike who crossed over from the television show BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER to it’s spin-off ANGEL and who has now gone solo in several IDW series in particular this one SPIKE: SHADOW PUPPETS which pits Spike against the puppet demons of the kids television show Smile Time (also villains from the fifth season of ANGEL).
If you remember from that episode of ANGEL (self titled “Smile Time”) Angel went up against the soul stealing demon puppets and was himself turned into a puppet by a giant egg-like, soul-stealing thing. After being destroyed by Team-Angel in that episode the demons of Smile Time return to menace the children of Japan. Lorne has enlisted the aid of Spike to help him bring down Smile Time once and for all before the demons are able to send all the children of the world into mindless and comatose children.
Spike and Lorne get into more trouble then they bargain for when the demons of Smile Time release a horde of evil mini-Ninja puppets with only one desire, which is to kill Spike at all costs. If you’ve been following the Spike series then you’ll recognize many of the supporting characters that come to Spike and Lorne’s aid but not in time to prevent them from being turned into puppets themselves. Great fun and hilarity is had at the expense of seeing Spike & Lorne turned into puppets. More fun is had when, in order to defeat puppet-Spike, the demons of Smile Time create puppet versions of all Team-Angel including the infamous Angelus (one of the greatest moments in any of Spike’s solo series).
Writer Brian Lynch has the Spike & Lorne characters down flawlessly and even if it’s hard to believe at first that Spike & Lorne would go off on their own adventure, you just end up going with the flow as this is one of the best adventures Spike has hard out on his own. Artist Franco Urru is the perfect artist to bring the world of Joss Whedon to life and translates the world of Smile Time to the comic book medium effortlessly. This is by far one of the best graphic novels for both fans of the Whedon universe and fans of the comic book medium in general.
As an added bonus you also get a “Writer’s Commentary” at the end of the book detailing the inside jokes and references (if you failed to pick up on them the first time around). Also, many of the original covers are presented here for those (like me) who only buy the books in graphic novel form rather than as single issues.
If you remember from that episode of ANGEL (self titled “Smile Time”) Angel went up against the soul stealing demon puppets and was himself turned into a puppet by a giant egg-like, soul-stealing thing. After being destroyed by Team-Angel in that episode the demons of Smile Time return to menace the children of Japan. Lorne has enlisted the aid of Spike to help him bring down Smile Time once and for all before the demons are able to send all the children of the world into mindless and comatose children.
Spike and Lorne get into more trouble then they bargain for when the demons of Smile Time release a horde of evil mini-Ninja puppets with only one desire, which is to kill Spike at all costs. If you’ve been following the Spike series then you’ll recognize many of the supporting characters that come to Spike and Lorne’s aid but not in time to prevent them from being turned into puppets themselves. Great fun and hilarity is had at the expense of seeing Spike & Lorne turned into puppets. More fun is had when, in order to defeat puppet-Spike, the demons of Smile Time create puppet versions of all Team-Angel including the infamous Angelus (one of the greatest moments in any of Spike’s solo series).
Writer Brian Lynch has the Spike & Lorne characters down flawlessly and even if it’s hard to believe at first that Spike & Lorne would go off on their own adventure, you just end up going with the flow as this is one of the best adventures Spike has hard out on his own. Artist Franco Urru is the perfect artist to bring the world of Joss Whedon to life and translates the world of Smile Time to the comic book medium effortlessly. This is by far one of the best graphic novels for both fans of the Whedon universe and fans of the comic book medium in general.
As an added bonus you also get a “Writer’s Commentary” at the end of the book detailing the inside jokes and references (if you failed to pick up on them the first time around). Also, many of the original covers are presented here for those (like me) who only buy the books in graphic novel form rather than as single issues.
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