but if Joss hasn't actually said that this story isn't canon, that's not the same thing as saying that it isn't.
I think it is.
Doesn't Whedon have a quote out there that only stuff he's directly involved with it cannon. He was a writer in season 8 of Buffy and Executive Producer in season 9/10, which is why their canon isn't disputed.
The problem with defining canon is there is like 3 types of canon.
Canon - actual officially part of the story
Fits Canon - doesn't disrupt the canon story but no involvement from Joss.
Not Canon - not official story
Something like that book Queen of the Slayers "fit canon" at the time it was written, in that it didn't disrupt the official story, but it was never official. Once season 8 came out, it was completely not canon.
Authors like their books/comics to be in the "fits canon" category, as it sells better, and when asked if it's canon you'll often see them say stuff like "well it doesn't go against anything in canon so people can take it as canon", which doesn't make it canon.
Nothing should be taken as canon, unless Whedon actively says it is, silence or the absence of an answer should mean it's not canon until proven otherwise.
The really big problem with this Spike comic, is James has a connection to Whedon, probably more then the other authors of non-canon stuff do.
There seems to be a lot of confusion over this being the story for the Spike movie, which it never was. Joss asked James about doing a movie, but had no ideas what to do with Spike, James told him his idea and Joss did nothing with it. It was never really an option for the movie, Joss and James just have a connection, so James was able to tell him his idea, not even pitch it, he basically just mentioned it as an idea in passing.
Then James has been mentioning that becasue he mentioned the story to Joss and he sent him the script and wasn't told no don't do that, that it's approval for the story.
Dark Horse also announced the book the same time they were giving news on Season 10, but they've said the two are separate, Spikes book isn't under the season 10 banner. The mini-series and one shots have been under the season 8/9/10 banner and part of the canon story, but Spike:Into the Light is just being published at the same time.
It is approval, but just approval to publish it, same as any other non canon work. To be canon Joss has to be actively involved and have his name on it, which isn't the case clearly from interviews Scott Allie has done:
BF: Heh! And regarding the story, was it based off Joss's idea for the TV movie? Because that was to take place after the series ended.
SA: No, this was all James's idea. It's a story that I think he's been kicking around for a long time.
SA: We sent him the script and he said we could do it, but he hasn't really contributed or chimed in specifically, so it won't bare his name as exec producer. I told him the story in a nutshell, I think he had heard it from James before, and he gave it his blessing, but that's the extent of it.
http://buffyfest.blogspot.ie/2013/11/exclusive-dark-horse-responds-to-james.html
He gave the story his blessing in the same way he has approval over all stories published, the fact his name isn't on it makes it not offical.
I just dont think that someone who thinks canon "is key, as is continuity. If you are massive nerd. Which I am. I believe there's a demarcation between the creation and ancillary creations by different people. I'm all for that stuff, just like fanfic, but I like to know what's there's an absolutely official story-so-far, especially when something changes mediums, which my stuff seems to do a lot."
http://www.whedon.info/Joss-Whedon-Angel-Season-6-Comic.html
As far as I'm concerned, and everyone else should be concerned, that quote is the end of the discussion on canon, he says it himself there is a difference between the stories he makes and the stories made by others, and only stuff by him is canon.
There are other grey areas that he's invited into canon, like The Origin comic, which he basically said was good enough for a story he wasn't going to revisit. Or characters from non-canon which he's made canon by having them in a canon book, but that just makes that character canon and the story they came from fit canon, but if he later went back and said Spike got his bug ship by building it, that official canon overrides the story that fit canon by IDW - they didn't do that to be respectful to IDWs stories, but they also wouldn't say the stories were canon, they just said they'd leave them alone. Completely different to actually making something canon.
For someone who thinks Canon is key, I can't see him inviting a story were Spike gets back to sunnydale crazy, gets over that and then heads off to have a fling with another women and go shoe shopping between not liking fighting any more and getting triggered all over the place, into canon.
