"Comics and novels are such different beasts that it's almost not like doing the same thing at all. In novels I need to be much more aware of the continuity, because even a throwaway line"”if a character, for instance, remembers a birthday party because his mother baked a special cake"”can be entirely wrong if during one episode of the TV series it was mentioned in passing that the character's mother died in childbirth, or the character is allergic to cake, or never celebrated birthdays."
And we all know who the toughest critics are, "That might have been a throwaway line on TV, but if I didn't catch it and put that reference in a novel, fans are going to call me on it." He goes on to explain, "Comics are less internal, and more external"”we see what happens but we don't spend as much time inside the character's heads"”so there's less chance for that sort of problem to crop up. It doesn't mean the writer of tie-in comics can be unaware of the TV continuity, but he or she doesn't have to be as immersed in it as the novelist."
Buffy/Angelverse: "Can you vague that up for me?"
While Cordelia, Jeff admits, is his favorite character to write for, but there is another character who he fondly remembers revisiting in Whendon's world. "In the Buffy/Angelverse, I have worked with everyone that I wanted to. Doyle was always a favorite, and I not only got to do him as a living character in the early books, but then brought him back as a ghost in "Haunted," and then got to do a one-shot, the "Angel Spotlight" issue, that explored what he was up to in the hours right before he met Angel for the first time." Jeff was glad to have that opportunity, and thought it made a good bookend to his Angel-writing career. "And then I came out of my self-imposed retirement to write a Puppet Angel story, fulfilling my other career goal," he laughs. We must keep that perspective.
On the new IDW Angel comic series Jeff had the opportunity to work with artist David Messina, whose drawing talents would bring Jeff's tale to life. "When I wrote the first Angel comic book miniseries, I had never seen David's art, and I'm not even sure when he was brought on board." He goes on to praise David, "By the second series, it was a relief to know he would be there and be able to capture what I was after, but the first time out I was flying blind." Great artists often gel together on that cosmic plane.
The pleasure Jeff found in revisiting all the characters when writing Angel's "Old Friends" was like a long awaited visit home. ""Old Friends" was the story I wanted to do in the first place, but Joss wanted to hold off on using the other characters from the show, which meant beginning with "The Curse." That one was strictly Angel as solo superhero, which was a direction Joss has said he might have taken the show if it had continued. When I finally got to do "Old Friends," it was a kind of family reunion."
Whedon has always kept a tight rein on his characters in the novel and comic expansions, and one would think that Jeff was allowed a little more creative leeway with Angel since the series had concluded. "Actually, it was more difficult, and a little frustrating creatively," he admits. "The show had ended but Joss hadn't yet settled the question of whether or not he would make some post-series TV movies. It was apparently a strong possibility, so I was yanked in different directions"”first told to set the comics post-series, then not to, and finally to make the setting post-series without actually saying they were post-series." Jeff goes on to elaborate, "This meant I couldn't address the battle in the alley directly, for instance, or even come right out and say this character is alive and this one is dead (although I implied it, if you look closely you'll see that it's all left vague). With the novels, I always knew when they were set and what the status quo had to be atthe end of the book, but with the comics I was operating under restrictions that straight jacketed me to a great extent."
