If you are anything like me, then you egarly wait for new issues of Joss Whedon’s Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel. Season 9 has been different. Unexpected, but not completely fulfilling- yet I still run to the store when new issues are released. 

Angel & Faith has been the better of the two titles, it has a clear focus and I feel like it is progressing towards something big. Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 9 on the other hand, like Buffy herself, lacks a real focus. (mild spoilers) The pregnancy scare was intriguing and it was great to see Robin Wood again along with bits and pieces of his mother’s past. Yet the book took a detour that I wouldn’t describe as good and opened up a lot of plot holes which I doubt will ever get filled. And am I the only one who doesn’t enjoy Spike’s alien ship with giant bugs? I hated the giant psychic fish at IDW, but these guys (save for a few very funny one liners) are just as bad and useless.

Anyhow, previews for both title’s issue 10:

ANGEL & FAITH #10 (above left, cover by Rebekah Isaacs)
Angel and Faith are forced into battle, less by choice and more by circumstance, when two mysterious women from Giles’s past call on the unlikely duo for help. But that’s only the beginning of Angel and Faith’s troubles as the ladies settle in for the night! Series writer Christos Gage (Avengers Academy) and guest artist Chris Samnee (Thor), the creative team of Vertigo’s Area 10, reveal more about Giles’s past and further Angel’s quest in bringing the Watcher back from the dead! Samnee and Gage reunite!

BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER SEASON 9 #10 (above right, cover by Georges Jeanty)
While Buffy is undertaking an away mission with Spike and Andrew, the SFPD is starting to really feel the effect of the rapid zompire population growth . . . With Buffy out of town, as the only Scoobies in the vicinity, Xander and Dawn have been approached for guidance. Buffy needs to get herself back together and home to SF quick, but facing Slayer Simone and her unexpected ally is going to make it a rough job! Zompires attack the SFPD! Executive produced by Joss Whedon!

Angel & Faith hits stands on May 30th, while the new issue of Buffy comes out on June 13th.