Everyone's favorite vampire with a soul is back for a new adventure. Today, SYFY WIRE can exclusively reveal the launch of BOOM! Studios latest Buffyverse comic, Angel, a new eight-issue series from Eisner-nominated writer Christopher Cantwell (Halt and Catch Fire, Iron Man), artist Daniel Bayliss (Labyrinth: Coronation), colorist Patricio Delpeche, and letterer Becca Carey. Like previous Angel adventures, this story sees the vampire-turned-detective stalking through the bright lights of Los Angeles, but in an intriguing alternate reality twist, this time he's leading a double life as a real-life supernatural detective...and a guy who plays one on TV.

Yes, Cantwell and Bayliss have centered the action of their new tale -- the latest in a line of rebooted Buffy comics that BOOM! launched back in 2018 -- on Hollywood, as Angel and Cordelia film their own detective TV series, then walk off the set into a real-life world of monsters and cases at Angel Investigations. It's a tricky balancing act, and once that might end up getting Angel's friends in more trouble, as a dark new threat looms in the shadows. 

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

In the exclusive look below, you can get a taste of exactly what that reshuffle feels like, as Angel and Cordelia work on a scene from their TV show that has Cordelia playing the role of Kate Lockley, a character fans of the Angel TV series might remember from way back in Season 1 of the TV series, when she was played by Elizabeth Röhm.

“I love what BOOM! Studios has done with this series and especially what our incredible writer Chris Cantwell is doing with this story," Bayliss said. "Here you will see all of our favorite characters in a slightly different reality and yet they all maintain their core and humor in a story that is highly entertaining and with unexpected turns. This has given me the opportunity as an artist to represent great action scenes, creepy creatures and demons, but what I love the most is that Chris also goes a little deeper with the characters and the interactions between them, with more personal situations with which we can relate more closely with the characters. For me, these are the heart and soul of the series, and they have been my favorite scenes when putting ink on the page.”

Angel #1 arrives January 2022 from BOOM! Studios.

Check out a full preview of Angel in the gallery below: