Buffy The Vampire Slayer: Angel #1 - The Hollower (part 1 of 3)

Written by Christopher Golden - Pencilled by Hector Gomez - First released on May 12, 1999

Synopsis - Creature Feature - Cool Quotes - References - Continuity - Goofs - Trivia - The Morgue - Cast - Points Of View

Special thanks to Ness of the Watcher's Diary writing the vast majority of
this comic guide and supplying the interior picture scans. Way to go Ness!


Synopsis

Cover 2 Cover 1 The Short: The past comes back to haunt Angel as a demon called the Hollower comes to Sunnydale to feed on the local vampires. Among the vampires who are defending themselves from the demon is a woman named Catherine who Angel sired in the late 1800's.

The Long: (See Continuity #1) The story starts in San Francisco with two vampires, a female and a male named Johnny Lee, are hunting. They find a pair of humans and quickly make a meal of them. As Johnny Lee is savoring his kill, a strange tentacle appears from the sewers and grabs him. The female vampire watches, crying ''It can't be! Not here! I don't think I have the strength to fight it again.''

Chaos Demon Cut to Sunnydale, two months later. Buffy and Angel are fighting a chaos demon in the cemetery. After a few exchanged blows, Buffy stabs the demon, effectively killing it. Angel burns the body then the two leave. Unknown to them, the female vampire from San Francisco is watching them from the shadows.

After a quick stop at the library to report to Giles, Angel walks Buffy home. After an exchange of words, Angel makes his way into the woods. There, he encounters a group of vampires, the female vampire from San Francisco leading them. Her name is Catherine and Angel was her sire back in 1892.

(see Reference #1) Flashback to Vienna, Austria-Hungry. We see Spike driving a carriage with Angelus in back with a dead girl and the original driver. After offering Spike the last girl, the two return to their current home. There, Drusilla greets them with a surprise for Angelus. A girl who just happens to be Catherine.

Flashforward to present day. Catherine's men are attacking Angel. He puts up a fight and manages to stake one of them. Begging, Catherine asks Angel to stop so he will listen. She tells him of the problem at the hand. The Hollower is back.

Flashback to Vienna. Angelus is teaching Catherine how to hunt. After managing to kill a man and wife, the two go in search of another meal. When they spot a boy, two other vampires come to claim the kill. Angelus throws one vampire off the bridge they are on and attacks the other who is choking Catherine. The vampire runs off, talking of the Hollower. Angelus and Catherine let him leave, wondering what he meant.

Flashforward to present day. Angel accuses Catherine of being a lair, saying that he, along with her, Spike and Drusilla, destroyed the Hollower. Catherine convinces Angel otherwise. She tells him most of the vampires in town are either dead or had left. The two strike up an alliance, hoping to stop the Hollower before the whole town becomes vampires in one night. Continued in part 2.

Creature Feature

Hollower The monster Buffy and Angel are fighting in the cemetery is a chaos demon. According to Giles, its name was Perispere. From what we have learned off the show, chaos demons have antlers and are covered in slime. Though the one in the comic is different from what is described on the show.

The tentacle that attacked Johnny Lee in San Francisco, according to Catherine, is called the Hollower. Angel mentions that he, Catherine, Spike, and Drusilla have killed it before.

Cool Quotes

  1. Buffy: ''No really, I mean it, I'm the Chosen One pal. The Slayer. One girl in all the world chosen to fight the hordes of darkness. Blah, blah, blah. You know the drill.''

  2. Buffy: ''You sure know how to show a girl a good time.''
    Angel: ''Fighting demons is an age-old rite of courtship.''
    Buffy: ''Maybe where you come from, where I come from, there's pretty much "school dance" or "dinner and a movie," but hey, fighting demons works for me.''

  3. Angel: ''No, no. Don't say it. Threats. Bragging. I hear it all the time. Just keep quiet. Bring it on, and die.''


References

    Vienna
  1. The flashbacks in this issue take place in Vienna.
    Vienna is the city and Bundesland (federal state), the capital of Austria. Of the country's nine states, Vienna is the smallest in area but the largest in population.


Continuity

  1. This story is set during season 3 of the television series. Since Rupert knows Angel is back is must happen some time after Revelations.


Goofs

  1. Unfinished.


Trivia

The Morgue

  1. Anonymous guy: In San Francisco, drained by Catherine.
  2. Anonymous girl: In San Francisco, drained by a male vampire.
  3. Johnny Lee the vampire: In San Francisco, killed by the Hollower.
  4. Perisphere the chaos demon: In a Sunnydale cemetary, stabbed with a jagged end of a broken cross by Buffy.
  5. Anonymous young girl: In Vienna, drained by Spike (in flashback).
  6. Anonymous vampire: In the woods of Sunnydale, staked by Angel.
  7. Anonymous man: In Vienna, drained by Angel (in flashback).
  8. Anonymous woman: In Vienna, drained by Catherine the vampire (in flashback).


Note: In the flashback Angel is shown sitting next to the bodies of a man and woman, who it would appear he killed just before the scene. Also it is assumed that he drains and sires Catherine after Drusilla gives her to him.

Cast

Starring:
Angel, Buffy Anne Summers, Rupert Giles

Guest Starring:
Spike, Drusilla

Co-Starring:
Catherine the Vampire, Johnny Lee the Vampire
Perisphere the Chaos Demon, The Hollower

Points Of View

Ness:

Good story line. I enjoy anything Christopher Golden writes. The plot is good and I liked how they flashed back to when Angel was still Angelus. Spike and Drusilla were also a pleasure to see again. Marks off for the addition of Catherine. Her character was forced into the story and we learn too much about her. I like how on the show they introduce things about the characters slowly over time. The Hollower is interesting and I hope for information on it in the next part.

8 out of 10



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