Angel gets his own Buffy the Vampire Slayer alt-reality in new title

page from Angel #1
(Image credit: Boom! Studios)

Buffy the Vampire Slayer spin-off star Angel is going Hollywood in a new comic book from Boom! Studios, written by Christopher Cantwell with art from Daniel Bayliss. Colorist Patricio Delpeche and letterer Becca Carey round out the creative team.

(Image credit: Boom! Studios)

The eight-issue limited series, simply titled Angel, sends the titular antihero to Los Angeles to become a TV star - but even farther than a move to Los Angeles, the story actually takes place in a totally alternate reality where Angel is the star of a show called Detective Angel alongside who else but Cordelia. 

But Angel and Cordelia aren't just TV stars in this new reality, which also brings in other Buffy-verse characters in new 'Variant'-esque versions of themselves. They spend their free time as actual monster hunters, setting out on the trail of an "unexpected and mysterious world," and a supernatural threat unlike anything he's ever faced.

"I love writing character ensemble stories, stories about seemingly random individuals who suddenly find themselves trapped in the orbits of others. Angel has one of the best ensembles to ever grace the TV screen, and theirs is a story about a family of choice," Cantwell states in the announcement. 

"When Boom! approached me, I leaped at the chance to honor and celebrate the original series in a fresh way, pulling on some loose threads and weaving new ones," he continues. "It takes all the characters and plays 52 card pick-up with them, reshuffling their roles and identities into a literal alternate universe that looks and feels like Angel, but is also something else entirely."

Cantwell is uniquely poised to take on a meta-TV-comic book mash-up story, as the current writer of Marvel's Iron Man, as well as the former TV showrunner of the AMC period drama Halt and Catch Fire, and current showrunner of Amazon Prime's adaptation of Brian K. Vaughan and Cliff Chiang's Image Comics title Paper Girls.

Angel #1 is due out in January. In the meantime, here's a gallery of covers and interior pages:

Angel's monster hunting adventure doesn't start till next year. But if you're in a Halloween mood, check out the best horror comics of all time.

George Marston

I've been Newsarama's resident Marvel Comics expert and general comic book historian since 2011. I've also been the on-site reporter at most major comic conventions such as Comic-Con International: San Diego, New York Comic Con, and C2E2. Outside of comic journalism, I am the artist of many weird pictures, and the guitarist of many heavy riffs. (They/Them)

Read more
Buffy: The Vampire Slayer
More than 20 years later, Sarah Michelle Gellar returns to play Buffy the Vampire slayer in a revival series from Marvel director
Sarah Michelle Gellar in Buffy
The Buffy the Vampire Slayer reboot news was always going to be divisive, but it could be exactly what TV needs right now
Henry Blackheart, the hero of Lost Fantasy.
Final Fantasy meets horror monsters in new Image title Lost Fantasy
The cover of SFX issue 389, and some of the features inside.
Discover the greatest TV shows of the last 30 years with the latest issue of SFX
Buffy: The Vampire Slayer
Sarah Michelle Gellar breaks silence on Buffy the Vampire Slayer reboot: "We will only make this show if we can do it right"
A sinister clown.
Rick Remender and Paul Azaceta's new horror comic The Seasons feels like Tintin meets Wes Anderson in Hell
Latest in Comics
Fantastic Four: 1234 #2 cover excerpt
Sue Storm and Namor are officially both in Avengers: Doomsday, and fans are wondering if Reed Richards has something to worry about
Captain Planet #1
Captain Planet is back after 33 years with a "sexy" makeover and a message that's as important as ever: "Reality has gotten a lot less subtle"
Daredevil: Born Again
Marvel may have just sneakily confirmed one of the biggest Daredevil: Born Again fan theories
New Champions #4
Meet Gold Tiger, the young Wakandan hero whose origin will be revealed in New Champions #4
Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman.
DC June 2025 solicitations: 10 must-have comics to pre-order this month
Batman and the Jason Todd Robin leap into action.
Sweet Tooth creator Jeff Lemire revisits the early days of Batman's second Robin, Jason Todd
Latest in News
Final Fantasy 16 protagonist Clive uses magic in closeup screenshot
Despite fans begging for Tifa, Final Fantasy 16's Clive is "significantly more popular" than any other Tekken guest fighter
Spider-Man 4
There might be an obvious reason why Tom Holland's Spider-Man wasn't announced for Avengers: Doomsday
Patrick Stewart in X-Men
Marvel fans are already theorizing how Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, and James Marsden's X-Men will be integrated into Avengers: Doomsday
Daredevil: Born Again episode 6
Daredevil's Charlie Cox isn't in the Avengers: Doomsday cast list – but Marvel fans have an idea about how he might still show up
Simu Liu in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
Simu Liu had the best reaction to Shang-Chi’s announcement for Avengers: Doomsday, but fans think it's "criminal" there hasn’t been a direct sequel
Fighting a dragon with a sword and shield in Skyrim
Former Skyrim dev says "a lot of the great stuff" in the RPG came from the devs having "quite a bit of freedom" to create what they wanted, even if it wasn't "on schedule"