Become What You Are

The canonicity of this article's subject remains dubious. Though it doesn't contradict official continuity, it has not been referenced in any confirmed canonical material.

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"After the Fall - Epilogue", also known as "Become What You Are", was the twenty-third issue of the Angel comic book series. After fan disappointment with the previous Aftermath arc, Brian Lynch and penciller Franco Urru return to the series in this one shot wrapping up Gunn and Illyria's storylines from After the Fall.

Synopsis

The thing about comas is that you really can wake up from them. Maybe if you’re Cordelia, Buffy or Faith, you’ll snap out of them and also it seems Gunn can too.

The consequences of being a vampire who wanted to end existence in hell is that everyone remembers it and a fair chunk of that everyone also wants you to pay for it in a big way. Illyria is among the many who feel hatred towards Gunn. Of course, she’d take it personally. However the interesting part of all this is that Illyria is conflicted when it comes to putting Gunn six feet under.

There’s the part of her that wants him to pay dearly for the havoc he created but the other part of her has stopped every assassination attempt that Gunn had to endure while he was in a coma. Though given Illyria’s love for dismemberment, I doubt protecting Gunn was all that much of a chore for her.

However when Gunn woke up as happy as Illyria (through Fred's influence of course) seemed to be that he was alive, she still wanted to kill him. Gunn agrees, and wants to die. The characters in this particular verse really do feel guilt when they spectacularly go off the deep end. Gunn merely continues that trend.

Gunn’s waking up however was a bigger surprise. A demon lady, a former Lord woke him up instead. Gunn expected death and clearly wanted it. He wasn’t initially impressed when he realised that she healed him instead. And curious as to why. The lord's motives for waking up Gunn were thankfully straightforward. Known as Non, she believed Gunn to be an impressive warrior for evil and she wanted to reclaim her former glory . The lord also had a very brief interaction with Illyria . She was smart enough to distract the god in her bid to woo Gunn. Illyria and the Lord fight, after some threats. If a T-Rex can’t stop Illyria, then what hope did that girl have of doing so? It’s not surprising how quickly Illyria would go from tossing away an opponent to focusing all of her energies on Gunn. After all, the issue made a point of highlighting that she was Gunn’s constant companion. Gunn and Illyria subdued her and turned her over to the Mosaic Wellness Center.

The issue also highlighted various people visiting Gunn during his coma. Angel was able to forgive him and distinguish between Gunn the soulless vampire and the human, comatose version in that hospital bed. While Betta George told him about a rehab for demons.

Illyria tells Gunn the number of ways that she had considered killing him..She had every right in her own weird way to castigate Gunn for his actions. There is reveal that Wesley and Spike's memories of Fred were influencing part of Illyria’s decisions in relation to Gunn.This also led to Illyria believing that she’s become infected with humanity. Would an Illyria with a human conscience actually be a more interesting Illyria to read about? We see Illyria and Gunn’s get into a car and begin a roadtrip, flashing back to the events of "Aftermath, Part One" . First stop is to visit Mosiac Wellness Center that Betta George suggested was fun. There the woman Gunn was visiting was the Lord that Illyria and he had defeated. Finally Gunn is trying to atone for his actions In Hell and trying to get the Lord redeemed. Angel would be proud of him....

Continuity

The story is set some time after "After the Fall", during "Aftermath", but before "Boys and Their Toys".

Plotlines from this one-shot also set up the limited series Only Human, which spin out of the events in this issue. Only Human was then followed up with an additional four-issue limited series Haunted.

Appearances

Individuals

Organizations and Titles

Species

Events

Fall of Los Angeles

Locations

Los Angeles

Weapons and Objects

Death Count

Behind the Scenes

After negative fan-reaction to the Aftermath story-arc, popular writer Brian Lynch was brought back to this series. This issue is a wrap-up issue of the Angel: After the Fall storyline.