Angel: Old Friends is a five comic book series based on the syndicated TV show Angel, created by Josh Whedon and David Greenwalt.  Angel is a vampire cursed with a soul and a conscience by a band of Romanian gypsies in retaliation for his killing one of their women.  Angel tries to make amends for his brutal past by saving humanity from themselves or supernatural beings.

This collection follows Angel: The Curse, also written by Jeff Mariotte, illustrated by David Messina, and published by IDW.  In this new series, which is a stand-alone comic with no added fiction, former friend and associate, Charles Gunn, visits Angel, who at first resents the intrusion, at a remote mountain cabin.  Gunn asks Angel to return with him to Los Angeles to help him kill a vampire rumored to be Spike.  Angel is only too happy to fight his former enemy.

When Angel and Gunn arrive in LA, they find that things aren’t as they seem.  The vampire menacing the streets is a Spike clone, killed in front of them by Spike himself.  Together the three of them meet with old friends Illyria, Fred, Wesley Wyndom-Pryce, Lorne, and Cordelia Chase, some real and some not.  Eventually, Angel, Gunn, and Spike figure out the source of the clones and go there for a final showdown.

The snappy dialogue and high quality artwork mirror that of the first series.  However, unlike Angel: The Curse, I found parts of Angel: Old Friends confusing, particularly for those unfamiliar with the TV show.  For example, Illyria disappears from the story without explanation and the old friends are introduced without much background information.  Still, this comic series is entertaining and well worth the price.  I recommend it.