MadCap's Comic Reviews - "Angel" #6: Time and Tide Part Two

Okay, I know what you're thinking. "Hey, Madcap! The last time you did a comic that promised a prize fight, you became the laughing stock of the internet! Because at no point in that comic did either of the two people who were listed on the marquee ever in a fight and, in fact, only had one exchange in which they called each other douchebags!"

Well, I say, "Shut the hell up, voices in my head that compel me to shout random things onto the internet! I actually checked this comic and the title is, in fact, not a lie!"

...I'm secretly very lonely. If you're reading this, please send help.

 Previous issues (ha!) aside, Angel #6 - "Time and Tide, Part Two" - picks up right where #5 left off, with Fred at the mercy of Angelus and Darla. However, her bandana-faced hero enters the fray (no, not that one) in the form of Angel...wearing a bandana to conceal his identity from Angelus and Darla...which would make sense if vampires didn't have an acute sense of smell that lets them identify individuals. Although the disguise is rendered pointless when Angelus pulls it off during their fight...and yes, there is a fight.

It's short and there's really no meat to it...although that's more from Angel's want to not pollute his own timeline any further than he needs to. It may not have the glorious depth and intricacy of their combat in "Orpheus", but at least the two actually do fight. Instead of, y'know...that other comic!

After Fred and Angel manage to escape, Angel notes that he now has two sets of memories, showing that there has actually been a change in the timeline after Darla, rather than Angelus, kills the deckhand from last issue. However, likely due to the eidetic memory that all vampires possess, Angel retains both sets of memories. Using some whiskey to check on a flower (it makes about as much sense in context), they determine that their efforts have not put them on the right track.

Before they can muse on it more, however, it seems that the deckhand isn't doing so bad after all. He's upright, frenzied, and obsessively looking for the beetle. The struggle that follows sees Fred accidentally drop the box...and it bites another sailor, and another beetle erupts from his head and the two insects begin to bite other members of the crew...turning them into a sort of zombie.

And if things couldn't get any worse, it seems another spot of trouble has made itself known...the pirates Angel mentioned earlier have arrived. With Fred acting as a morality chain, Angel tries to convince the crew to abandon ship...only to be denied by the Captain and more beetles to be spawned from the zombified crew...and for Angelus and Darla to corner the pair of them as they try to escape. Angel and Angelus prepare to square off again as Darla tackles Fred into the lifeboat.

Unfortunately for Darla, one of them has an Outer God living inside of them, and it isn't her.

Illyria throws Angelus and Darla into the lifeboat and casts it off into the sea...with Angel pointing out that Illyria just threw the pair - including his past self - into an open-air boat...and it's two hours before the sun rises!

Once again, as with last week's issue, I enjoyed Time and Tide, Part Two. It's a good story that honestly feels like it'd fit in as an episode of the TV show. Buffy and Angel both were known for flashbacks, particularly surrounding any character who has three digits in their age, so doing an episode where the modern characters actually go to the past is an interesting change while still having that feeling of familiarity.

And, again, we have the ripe potential of being stuck on the boat with no escape, but now with the beetles multiplying from within and the pirates coming in to add another factor. While neither of those things would affect Angelus and Darla, Angel knows well that sunlight is another matter...and we'll see if he manages to keep himself from seeing the light...next time!

Angel is currently published by Dark Horse Comics.

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