With his evil alter ego, Twilight (it was before those dumb books and movies), in the past, Angel has been trying to do more than just atone for his mistakes. He's trying to set things right. No one in the Scooby circle knows about wanting redemption more than Faith. She also owes Angel for getting her on her atonement path.
The "death" in the "Death & Consequences" story arc is that of Rupert Giles. After the fall of Sunnydale, Faith had no real direction. Giles took her under her wing and mentored her. They forged a bond to the point that Faith had what she had been missing since the Mayor, a father figure (bonus that Giles wasn't an evil immortal that became a giant snake). Without a soul, Angelus had slaughtered half of Europe. But he was ensouled when he snapped Giles's neck (just as he had Giles's girlfriend, Jenny, in Buffy's second season). Giles left his home in England to Faith and they have been using it as their base of Operation: Bring Giles Back.
They have just located the Crown of Coils, which allows the deceased wearer's body to be restored from decay. The two have already located most of Giles's soul, so they go to dig up Rupert's body, only it is missing. Back at the flat, they regroup with Giles's witchy aunts when Nadira and her fellow England-based slayers come a-knockin'. You see, Angel is lamia non grata among the slayers these days. Killing a bunch of the girls and, eventually, their watcher will make for one unwanted vampire - soul or no. They have a dead body of their own, a slayer killed by Drusilla. Chalk another one up for Angel. They know of Angel's plan and want him to restore their fallen comrade. Angel explains that it will only work with Giles because his life was so steeped in magic (like tea, how British). They troop takes off and seeks help from...Giles?
There's a good old helping of back story of Giles twenty or thirty years ago when he was more than dabbling in the dark arts in these issues, including the summoning of Eyghon (BVS Episode 208 "The Dark Age") with Ethan Rayne and company. Eyghon is back to reclaim their bodies, as well as any others he can inhabit. In the first encounter, Eyghon tried to possess Angel but could not as there was already a demon inside there. When Angel and Faith show up, his pot of revenge just gets sweeter. The good guys manage and an escape.
Cutting to the quick and without further spoiling, they call reinforcements of the awesome variety and kick evil in its stupid face. But victory is not necessarily what you can call it. There are still major obstacles to their ultimate objective.
Christos Gage really understands these characters and has done a great job of reintegrating past characters into his narrative. The fact that he has written all 19 issues to date allows for consistency of vision and quality. Rebekah Isaacs's art is fun and recalls the original Buffy comic art.
This storyline comprised Angel & Faith issues 16-19 and is on sale now.
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