I Am So Confused

The Ferg

The Ferg

Scooby
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I haven't been on here in like forever, and who knows, I might stay on for a while, but I just really need this favor.

I am so friggin confused about After the Fall/aftermath/drusilla/only human nonsense... There are just so many spin-offs and one/two-shots. Can someone just lay out for me what's been released, and what's going to be released, including the volumes that they are collected in? I'm not buying the single issues because, 1) I don't have a dealer close enough to get to every month and 2) I started reading them too late. So far I have After The Fall Volume 1-4 (as in 4 different hardcover collected editions), Aftermath is coming for my birthday, and I also have Spike: After the Fall.

Thanks for anyone that happens to help out. 🙂
 
Joan the Vampire Slayer
Joan the Vampire Slayer
We missed you :(
After the Fall was issues 1-17 and unquestionably canon. Volumes:
One: 1-5
Two: First Night: 6-8
Three: 9-12
Four: 13-17

Spike: After the Fall is four issues and I'm not sure when they were released, but they take place before Angel meets up with Spike. It also answers a rather big plot point in ATF (Fredllyria) that, in ATF, is only given a brief line much later on. There is a hardcover for these. Considered by most to be canon, though that is debated.

Aftermath was 18-22 (with no word being specifically expressed on its canon-status), with 23 being debated as to whether it's part of it because it's technically an epilogue to ATF. It was written by Brian Lynch and follows Gunn rather than Angel. 23 is widely accepted as canon, despite not being confirmed by Joss. Volume 5 includes all of these.

Only Human is 5 issues and follows Illyria and Gunn on their own journey post-23. Since it is a spin-off, it is being released as a separate volume. Timeline:
post-23, with Gunn and Illyria deciding to return home at the end. They are seen back with the group in issue 28 of the main Angel comics.

The main Angel comics: They aren't really "Aftermath" anymore, more of just a continuing Angel series that takes place after ATF. Kind of like a season of the show, with arcs having separate names:

Drusilla "“ 24 and 25 (cowritten by Brian Lynch, but even he doesn't call them canon)
Boys and Their Toys "“ 26+27 (same)
The Crown Prince Syndrome "“ Ongoing, though apparently the name will change at part 3

There is also a special coming out in March dedicated to retiring the character of Lorne. 🙂:crying2🙂

And there was "Last Angel in Hell" aka Angel annual #1: the comic form of a really bad Hollywood movie of After the Fall.
 
Amanda lays it out pretty well.(Spike after the fall was released during Angel After the falls run)

Would I suggest reading Angel after the fall, issue 1-17, then issue 23. Then continue with either Only human (the TPB is released this month) or spike after the fall (buy the hardcover). [Or simply just read the After the fall HC(one big collection of Angel after the fall is planned soemtimes, but I don't know if it will have spike after the fall or issue 23 in it)]

Then onto Aftermath which are issue 18-22, and continue with the ongoing series (24+)

It's a bit more complicated than just reading the HCs and then Only human, but that's how I would read it. Spike after the fall isn't necassary to follow Angel after the fall, I would actually suggest you read it after Angel after the fall (or atleast the flashback stories in issue 6-8 of angel after the fall).

Then there's a lot of other other spin off and one shots, released both before and after Angel After the fall, but you don't really need to care about the continuity in all of those. Just buy what sounds interesting.

Spike Asylum and Spike Shadow puppets have characters that later show up in Angel after the fall, and a one(or a few) will show up in the ongoing spike series, released in a few months (sometime during the summer), so if you might want to read those, but they're not mecassary so far.
 
Does anyone know how this fits in the timeline with Buffy S8, especially given the Twilight spoilers?
 
T
TheGrandmaster
I have been thinking the same thing.
The Ferg
The Ferg
I was actually wondering kind of the opposite. How does BS8 fit into AS5, if at all.
I don't know about the ongoing series since I'm not reading that anymore, but the first issue of ATF picks up roughly six months after "Not Fade Away", the Angel TV finale, but there's a major spoiler concerning the timeline so I'm not giving it out. It definitely takes place prior to Buffy S8 though.
 
After the fall is said to be before Season 8, but the rest of the series is "fluid" and uncertain. I haven't read the lastest issues, so something new could have been said about the time, but even if we're given a date in the comics, who knows when Season 8 plays out(the first issue was about 18 months after Chosen, but who knows where we are now?). I doubt this Twilight-deal will have any effect on the Angel comics, considering that in that case, Joss would have talked to IDW before he set it into motion, which he did not.
 
Ok, I have one more question just did clear things up some more.

Angel: After the Fall – Volume One 1–5
Angel: After the Fall – First Night 6–8
Angel: After the Fall – Volume Three 9–12
Angel: After the Fall – Volume Four 13–17
Angel: Aftermath – Volume Five 18–22
Spike: After the Fall 1–4
Angel: Only Human 1–5
Angel: Last Angel in Hell – Volume Six 23–27

So after looking at this graph on Wikipedia, and simply typing in "Angel 23," "Angel 24," "Angel 25," etc on TFAW.com, I've deduced that I just need to wait for the inevitable release of the hardcover collections of these issues. My question is, is this ok to do? I really want to stick to the canon, but if in a couple of years Joss says it's bullcrap and makes something new I'm not going to be very happy. From my perspective, I can personally see the continuing series as canon since they are still numbered the same following ATF, but will this be a problem? Idk, maybe I'm just making too big of a deal, and I just need to go with the flow and buy the hardcovers that happen to be released. So, if anyone can actually pull a question out of this it'd be great. 😛 Thanks.
 
Well, ATF 1-17 are definitely canon (and are a finished story) as they had Whedon as the executive producer. He doesn't have any say in the on-going series, says he doesn't follow it so it's not canon. BUT he also says they're not going out of their way to contradict it (although I don't know how he's going to do that if he doesn't read it), and I, personally, gave it a chance since I like comics but I found the writing of Aftermath really horrible and Angel out of character. That most of the regular characters got shipped off and were replaced by Kelley Armstrong's original characters didn't really help matters so I sort of fell off the wagon. You could give it a try and if you don't like it, drop it. Easy as that 😛
 
Alright, I will. I got Vol. 5 (Aftermath) for my birthday, so I guess, depending on if I like that or not, I might keep going.
 
B
Buffyverse Fan
Skytteflickan88 is right, don't go by vol. 5, it's abysmal, but the latter issues are much better
Remember that the writer for Angel After the fall and Spike After the fall returned for issue 23-27, so even if you don't like Aftermath, you might like those issues(if you liked Angel Atf and Spike Atf that is).
 
^So, I actually kinda liked Vol.5 :/ Yeah, I'm a weirdo. But I think I'm just gonna buy every new hardback that's released. Thanks for the help everybody 🙂
 
S
Skytteflickan88
It does have a nice smale-scale-detective-agency-feel that I've missed.
I need help too. ^_^ In this hardcover book, how many issues in it? And will I get all the variant covers? It's so expensive so I really have to think about it carefully. Thanks. 🙂

AngelATFvol1_HC_medium.jpg
 
S
Skytteflickan88
I think it's issue 1-5, so it's expensive, but it I think it has extras the signles and tradepaperback doesn't have. I think it has all the covers too, but I'm not sure. I can check for you.
That volume (vol 1) has issue 1-5 of Angel After the fall, some extras (notes from the first issue, a gallery, a pitch) and some variant cover (maybe all, but definitly some). The tradepapckerback only has the issue, cover gallery and a note from the writer, but I think it's cheaper than the HC.

But I would suggest waiting for the complete hardcover. No release date or details yet, but one is coming with all the Angel After the fall issues (maybe Spike after the fall too)

---------- Post added at 06:02 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:02 PM ----------

I should probably mention that I read this online, I don't have the volume, so I can confirm.
 
Thanks so much again. 🙂 If there's gonna be the complete ATF in a bigger HC, I'll totally wait and buy it.
 
B
Buffyverse Fan
Personally, I think it'll probably be a big box set rather than a single big book--since cramming AtF, S:AtF, and AtF Epilogue into one book using those heavy pages would be like a 1ft.+ thick unreadable book, and absurdly heavy :P
Is Only Human canon? I've pretty much decided on getting AtF (which I already have), Spike: AtF, and the epilogue, but what about Only Human?
EDIT: Oh, and the Lorne one-shot. I don't care if it's canon or not, it's Lorne.
EDIT2: Is this the epilogue?
 
The Ferg said:
Is Only Human canon? I've pretty much decided on getting AtF (which I already have), Spike: AtF, and the epilogue, but what about Only Human?
EDIT: Oh, and the Lorne one-shot. I don't care if it's canon or not, it's Lorne.
EDIT2: Is this the epilogue?
Click to expand...

Yep, that's the epilouge. Not actually named Aftermath, it's Become What You Are (but they got the issue number right).

Only Human hasn't been said to be canon by anyone that I know off (IDW, Joss, anyone from the show, you know, people that matter in the canon question) so I don't count it as canon, and probably wouldn't accept it as canon unless Joss called it canon. Still a decent read tough.
 
Skytteflickan88 said:
Only Human hasn't been said to be canon by anyone that I know off (IDW, Joss, anyone from the show, you know, people that matter in the canon question) so I don't count it as canon, and probably wouldn't accept it as canon unless Joss called it canon. Still a decent read tough.
Click to expand...
Well Chris Ryall is IDW and he says it's all canon. He's IDW's Chief and he says all of the Buffyverse material produced under him is canon. I don't agree with him, but IDW does say Only Human is canon.

In my opinion, Ferg, I don't think Only Human could even be considered canon since it states that Evil Demons also have Souls which contradicts a huge principle in the Buffyverse.

Aside from that huge quibble, I thought OH was okay. But as I was saying to Frketson, OH is almost like a less fun Fallen Angel Reborn which is another IDW comic about an Illyria/"Fallen" Supergirl team-up.

The Ferg said:
Oh, and the Lorne one-shot. I don't care if it's canon or not, it's Lorne.
Click to expand...
Same principle holds with IDW claiming it's all canon. Imo, the Lorne issue was a brilliant story, not written especially well. But the epilogue written by Mark Lutz (Groo) about Andy was heartwarming to say the least.
 
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