Angel: After the Fall, also known as Angel: Season 6, is a comic book published by IDW Publishing. Written by Brian Lynch and plotted with Joss Whedon, the series is a canonical continuation of the Angel television series, and follows the events of that show's final season. Angel: After the Fall was prompted by IDW Publishing and Joss Whedon after the success of Dark Horse Comics' Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight which is the official comic continuation of Angel'''s mothershow, Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Angel: After the Fall sees the heroic vampire, Angel, coping with the apocalyptic aftermath of the television series after he took over and subsequently betrayed the demonic law firm, Wolfram & Hart. The city of Los Angeles has since been sent to hell by Wolfram & Hart as a result of Angel's actions. The series follows his attempts to rescue the people he has sworn to protect. The first issue was released on November 21, 2007.
Originally intended as a 12-issue limited series, After the Fall expanded into a 17-issue Angel series. After the Fall was then followed by an ongoing series, with rotating writers and artists but without the input of Joss Whedon. In addition to this, After the Fall has also spawned multiple spin-offs of its own. Spike: After the Fall bridges the gap between Spike's "First Night" mini-arc and his first appearance in After the Fall over four issues. A second five-issue spin-off, Angel: Only Human, picks up after #23, following Gunn and Illyria. A four-issue mini-series, Spike: The Devil You Know was released, teaming up Spike with Eddie Hope for a story set between Angel issues #32 and #33. A fourth four-issue spin-off featuring Illyria, titled Angel: Illyria: Haunted, was released beginning in November 2010. IDW also announced an ongoing Spike title, another "canon" title featuring explicit Buffy Season Eight crossovers.
In the editor's column in the back of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Riley one-shot released by Dark Horse Comics, editor Scott Allie announced that the Angel comics would return to Dark Horse in late 2011. It was officially announced on August 19, 2010 that the series would come to an end with a six-issue arc titled "The Wolf, the Ram, and the Heart," and Dark Horse reacquiring the license to publish Angel titles, beginning with a new line of comics named Angel & Faith (co-starring Faith, 25 issues) in August 2011, tying in with a launch of Buffy Season Nine. The planned Spike ongoing spin-off instead became an eight issue mini-series.
Publication history
Following the success of Dark Horse Comics' ongoing series Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight, an official continuation to the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, series creator Joss Whedon wished to continue the story of Buffy spin-off Angel in the same medium. In September 2006, comic book writer Brian Lynch met Joss Whedon by chance in a restaurant near his home where he told Whedon about the imminent release of a spin-off comic by himself and artist Franco Urru, Spike: Asylum, published by IDW and based upon the character of Spike, a central character in both Buffy and Angel. To Lynch's surprise, Whedon was thrilled with Spike: Asylum, and Joss felt confident he had found a writer capable of capturing his characters' voices in the new medium, and was impressed with Franco's unique style. Whedon would later email Lynch, asking to meet up with him again in the same restaurant. Working together, the two plotted the events of a now 17-issue limited series for a continuation of the Angel saga, drawing from elements of Whedon's plan for a sixth televised season of Angel and several ideas proposed by Lynch. Whedon gave Lynch the freedom to write the series himself, only overseeing the project as if in the role of an executive producer.