Is Aftermath Canon?

[Skytteflickan88]

Hmm, yeah, having Angel say that he's practically made up for all past killings (which I personally never blamed him for, that was Angelus, not him) is out of character. But the Fury quote might have been more about that Angel realized that the good side will never win, but he'll still fight, not about Angel's personal redeemption. It's what Angel realizes in Season 2, when he get's all "Hell's won earth, evil has already won, buhu, I'm going to have sex with Darla now".

Not sure what Joss meant by "Redemption is something you fight for every day". It sounded like it's something we all fight for, not just Angel. What context was it taken from? Did he answer a question?

I very much doubt it's even about mainly about the guilt anymore, more that Angel feels that he can do good, and should, regardless of his past. Not that I think he'll ever say "I saved 10000 people, and tortured, raped, killed 10000 people, the balance is set, I'm retiring."

 

[Buffyverse Fan]

Hmm, yeah, having Angel say that he's practically made up for all past killings (which I personally never blamed him for, that was Angelus, not him) is out of character.

(...)

I very much doubt it's even about mainly about the guilt anymore, more that Angel feels that he can do good, and should, regardless of his past. Not that I think he'll ever say "I saved 10000 people, and tortured, raped, killed 10000 people, the balance is set, I'm retiring."

That's pretty much the point. He didn't say he was retiring, but he indicated the rest of that in the opening of Armstrong's arc.

 

[Skytteflickan88]

Well, in To Shansu in LA he did seem to look forward to there being a time when he had redeemed himself and he could be human, and in Season 5, he still wanted to shanshu, hell, he even raced Spike for it, so it's not completely unbelievable that he always thought he would retire someday, but I figured that was just something he was telling himself, so he could feel like less of a monster. He wanted to be chosen, but I figured that in case The Powers That Be actually said, "You're done", he would say "Nope, I'm not". I'll have to re-read aftermath and see how he's phrasing it, I mean, he's still fighting the good fight in that series.

 

[Crashing Doors]

My question: is the series really worth reading? Or even continuing (in terms of sales and enjoyment)? I finally got into ATF, then Aftermath pretty much bored me to death. I have them all, but I kind of stopped caring about it. The Drusilla story was okay, and I don't know about the Gunn/Illyria story because Aftermath made me very doubtful about other Angel projects.

As far as the canon issue, canon really doesn't have to have anything to do with personal choice. If Aftermath was considered canon (well, first of all, it'd probably have had a better writer) and it still stunk, I wouldn't care how many people said it was canon, I wouldn't have liked it. The fact that it isn't canon doesn't have any role in my indifference to it--it's just a boring story that doesn't make much sense. Canon is just a way to codify a series, to separate the author/creator's vision from other interpretations. Honestly though, for this medium I don't know how much stock I'd put into canon because like some of you are saying, what most of us really care about is the TV show. The comics are just sort of feeding our appetite for new Buffy in a TV world without new Buffy. Anyway, for those of us who do care about 'canon', it is a good way to sort out what to read, what not to read (maybe we don't have enough time!).

 

[Buffyverse Fan]

My question: is the series really worth reading? Or even continuing (in terms of sales and enjoyment)? I finally got into ATF, then Aftermath pretty much bored me to death. I have them all, but I kind of stopped caring about it. The Drusilla story was okay, and I don't know about the Gunn/Illyria story because Aftermath made me very doubtful about other Angel projects.

As far as the canon issue, canon really doesn't have to have anything to do with personal choice. If Aftermath was considered canon (well, first of all, it'd probably have had a better writer) and it still stunk, I wouldn't care how many people said it was canon, I wouldn't have liked it. The fact that it isn't canon doesn't have any role in my indifference to it--it's just a boring story that doesn't make much sense. Canon is just a way to codify a series, to separate the author/creator's vision from other interpretations.

I agree

Honestly though, for this medium I don't know how much stock I'd put into canon because like some of you are saying, what most of us really care about is the TV show. The comics are just sort of feeding our appetite for new Buffy in a TV world without new Buffy. Anyway, for those of us who do care about 'canon', it is a good way to sort out what to read, what not to read (maybe we don't have enough time!).

I don't really agree for myself, but I see where you're coming from.

I strongly recommend you check out Boys and their Toys, #26 & 27. It's the first Buffyverse of any kind that feels like an episode of the TV series to me. It seems like it could have been an above average episode of Angel Season 5.

 

[Skytteflickan88]

Chrashing Doors, in case you want to continue reading the angel comics, but not all, go with the one Brian Lynch has written. The worst response I've felt after reading a comic of his was "That was nice, I'll probably be reading this again soon" and the best is "Oh My F*****G God, that is BRILLIANT!"

So in case you get curious again, try a Lynch comic. I can't wait until he publishes the Spike series, because that's the character he does best.