Season 9 news #2

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THE SUMMARY

The issue begins with the review pages. Buffy's roommates take a vote on whether they should allow Buffy to stay with them or not. And both of them are confused and surprised at the other when they realize that both of them want her in the apartment. It's actually safe to live with a slayer, she has a crossbow and she could teach Tumble how to use one and she's actually a cool person. They just had overreacted. But when they both go to her room to announce her the good news they realize that Buffy has already gone, finding only her stuff packed there.


We go to Buffy. She's on top of the spaceship, which is flying over the city. She looks sad and she's thinking. Spike comes telling her that her suitcase is in the cabin and that the bugs can pick up her things whenever she wants. She says when the roomies are not home, Tumble is too scared of cockroaches which have the size of an actual cockroach, imagine what would happen at the view of a giant one. Spike worried asks her if she's sure about it. Yes she is, her roomies look at her now the way people look at Spike whenever he gets his vampire face. Another proof of how messed up she is with ordinary things. But that isn't what Spike wanted to know. He was actually asking her about the pregnancy. He called the doctor as she had asked him to do and arranged an appointment for her for the following day. And Buffy doesn't want to postpone or cancel it, she is sure about it and she wants to get through with it once and for all. For the first time in her life she feels that she must do the right thing considering her life and choices.


We're leaving them for the moment and we go inside a police car where Dowling with his partner are.They hear on the police radio that help is needed on the Pioneer Park. There is a vampire threat. And Dowling has some stakes hidden inside his car after meeting with Spike the previous night. And they decide to move and go to help.


Back to Spike and Buffy this time in the spaceship cabin.
"Is that all the closet space you have?"
Buffy complains while she tries to put her clothes inside it. But it fits all of Spike's clothes.
"You have like one jacket".
"What makes you think I don't have doubles?"
and the snarking between them has already begun. But Spike wants to get things right to the point and wants to know if it was true that he was her first choice to run away with when she found out she was pregnant.
"We would have just ended up in some apartment just like this. Cramped. Dingy. Slightly less steampunk. And definitely sans the molting legs",
is Buffy's reply. Lol, bug!Sebastian wasn't careful when he/she/it was cleaning up the place. If Buffy had thought of getting away from her calling forever, who would have been a better option to consider doing it with? But she believes that things wouldn't have worked up between them. And that makes Spike complain, he says she has never watched him with kids before and he has certainly done a great job looking out for Dawn the 147 days she was dead.
"But Spike, if I were trying to have a normal life, you'd be exactly what I'd be running away from"
she says, which makes Spike totally angry and gets out of the room. She has already regretted saying that, but it's too late. Spike is so furious that he lets it out on bug!Sebastian while he/she/it tries to apologize for losing a leg in Buffy's cabin.
"Want to lose another?" he says and his phone rings.


It's Dowling on the phone. Spike still frustrated tells him that he doesn't have any time right now to tutor him about vampires. But Dowling admits that he's not ready for a vampire nest and now he knows why. He is looking at one this very moment and that makes Spike get back to reality and forget his anger and to run for help. The detectives are alone on this for the moment. Their back up is already dead. A crashed police car and a scene full of blood. And the attack on them begins. A zompire goes for his partner.


Back on Spike in the ship. He orders the bug to get to the park ASAP. Goes to Buffy to tell her what's happening while she's having a hard time trying to realize why the bugs use European sockets.
"Real question is why do Europeans use alien's sockets"
says Spike. And he tells her about the nest and that he's going to help the detectives. Buffy wants to go as well but Spike wants to hear nothing about it. Until she does the abortion, slaying is forbidden to her.
"Understand?"
he says while we see Buffy's angry eyes.


Back to the detectives. Dowling's partner is in a very bad position and Dowling can do nothing but just watch her getting attacked while he hides behind the crushed car. But unfortunately more zompires arrive and they go straight to him. He runs inside the tower and locks himself there. Just right when Spike arrives and jumps out of the spaceship attacking the zompires. Two can play this game so he puts on his gameface as well and starts dusting. Meanwhile back inside the tower building, Dowling tries to remember what he learned the previous night.
"Pointy end out. Aim for the heart."
Buffy is watching everything form the spaceship. She sees the zompires climbing the tower trying to get to Dowling and orders the bugs to take the spaceship as close as they can so she can jump in for help. The zompires have reached Dowling and he's in a truly bad position. Just in time Buffy comes and helps him and he does his very first dusting which certainly won't be his last. While Buffy is getting ready to slay the rest of them, Dowling is surprised to see her living inside the spaceship as well.
"It's a new arrangement"
she tells him.
"When did you and your vampire boyfriend decided to play spaceship?"
"Spike is not my boyfriend. Did he say that?"
Buffy says while slaying the zompires. But Dowling didn't have to hear that from Spike, it's written all over his face that he's in love with Buffy.
"Get on that spaceship and don't touch anything. Not that you'd want to. It's crawling with bugs"
Buffy orders him and runs to help Spike because things get tough for him down there. But Buffy pretty easily eliminates the threat and helps Spike who thanks her for that.


"Is it true Spike? Are you still in love with me?"
"You really going to make me say what everyone else already worked out?"[/I]
But Buff is terrible at everything besides slaying and wonders why he didn't tell her. How could he? She has more serious things to work out and he touches her belly. But he understands now how things are between them. So when he knows she's fine he'll take the spaceship and run away from her and from her life.
"Because I don't want to be the dark place you run to when things aren't working. That's not why I fought to get my soul back. That's not why I've been sticking up for you about the seed. And that's certainly not why I've stuck around this bloody city."
And Buffy is very surprised to find out that he's been sticking around there for her.
"I didn't stay for cable cars and rise-o-roni. I can give you what you need"
he says and he touches her jaw.
"I want normal too. And I want it with you"
he continues while they're getting closer and closer ready to kiss. And suddenly...


A zompire attacks out of nowhere tearing apart Buffy's arm. Spike attacks the zompire and slays it. He grabs Buffy's arm while she still hasn't realized what has happened and wonders if that's her arm! But right now her arm is the least thing that should worry her because as Spike says, she's gone all mechanical and he signals the bugs to come and pick them up. The panels change and for a while we go to Dowling who talks to the bugs surprised to find out that in their home planet they step on little humans, just like we humans do here on Earth stepping on little cockroaches. But of course the bugs are just kidding.

We go back to Buffy and Spike.
"I don't understand. I'm me. I'm Buffy. I'm not a robot!".
But Spike knows what it's like to be around a robot and she's certainly one.
"I think this means I'm not pregnant. Spike...I am a f@#$ing robot!"

End of issue.
 
Wait! So she doesn't even know she's a robot? It doesn't know it's a robot? It thinks it's Buffy? It thought it was pregnant? It goes to kiss Spike? I don't understand any of this. Um... why?

Also...
On one hand, so so so so mean to say those things to Spike, it breaks my heart. That's pure evil. Angelus is a daisy compares to that. On the other hand, if that's not really Buffy... it's not true. All the things "she" said to him. So my Spuffy heart will have to take that pain, Spike's pain, and suck it, because it's not Buffy who's that mean to him. Even the real Buffy can't be that mean to him, and she's been VERY mean to him before.

Oh my, I'm very terrified. And I thought Buffy losing an arm was bad...
 
Please use spoiler tags. We have several members here who read the comics who want to keep up with s9 news without being spoiled. Thanks!

🙂
 
Okay, I've been thinking, I couldn't stop thinking about it for the past 45 minutes (seriously, I have a headache). How it would make sense. So tell me if I'm crazy. And I'm probably wrong, and it's probably just the headache talking....

What if both are Buffy, the robot and the real Buffy? Like with Xander in season 5, but with a robot. They split up somehow and sometime along the way. And they have the same memories, they both think (and are) they're Buffy. How do you explain the positive pregnancy test Buffy took? A robot can't be pregnant, but the test was positive, but Buffy/robot was positive she/it was pregnant. The real Buffy could be pregnant, while the robot can't and isn't. Maybe that's why Buffy's gone, maybe it has something to do with the pregnancy. And maybe the robot is a decoy to protect the pregnancy or something else.
And since it might be something like what happened to Xander, each Buffy has her own properties. The things Buffy's not good at, the robot is. The things Buffy thinks or feels, the robot doesn't. Say Buffy loves Spike, the robot will tell Spike all those mean things, and so on.

Just my theory. It bothers me too much.
 
One more reminder: this is a season 9 news thread... Lets keep on topic in here.

If you would like to discuss a certain issue feel free to do so in that issue's thread if it has one. If it doesn't have a thread feel free to make one for it. 😉
 
Buffy - the real one - didn't bother to tell Spike what's going on... a very uncaring attitude. It doesn't fit well with the behavior of a woman in love, does it?
 
Buffy - the real one - didn't bother to tell Spike what's going on... a very uncaring attitude. It doesn't fit well with the behavior of a woman in love, does it?

Uncaring? no. She must have a good reason. Protection maybe. She didn't tell Xander either, does that mean she doesn't love or care for him? Go figure what's the real reason. But don't you think there's more to that? She did tell him (Spike) she was pregnant. She did ask him to go to have the abortion with her. She did tell him she wanted to ask him to run away with her. Is that not caring/not loving? Most of all she needed his support, his understanding, she trusts him like she doesn't trust anyone.
 
Uncaring? no. She must have a good reason. Protection maybe. She didn't tell Xander either, does that mean she doesn't love or care for him? Go figure what's the real reason. But don't you think there's more to that? She did tell him (Spike) she was pregnant. She did ask him to go to have the abortion with her. She did tell him she wanted to ask him to run away with her. Is that not caring/not loving? Most of all she needed his support, his understanding, she trusts him like she doesn't trust anyone.

Protect a strong vampire?! I don't think so.

The love for Xander is way different from what Spuffies claim there's between B/S.

And for what I have just read, I think the pregnancy thing is as fake as Buffy-robot.
 
Protect a strong vampire?! I don't think so.

The love for Xander is way different from what Spuffies claim there's between B/S.

And for what I have just read, I think the pregnancy thing is as fake as Buffy-robot.

When I say protect I don't mean him necessarily, I leave that open. She could be protecting the baby for some reason, or the situation, maybe the world. We don't know. She could also be protecting Spike, but not physically, not so he won't get hurt, not because he can't hold his own. I'm not talking anything literal here.

There's a difference between Spuffy love and and Buffy/Xander love. That doesn't mean either or none is love. That doesn't mean that if Buffy and Xander are just friends, her love for him shouldn't be enough for her to tell him what's going on with her. The fact that the kinds of loves are different, has nothing to do with the fact that Buffy tells him or him, or not.

All we know right now is theories. You think doesn't mean it is. Could be, but it could also be that the pregnancy is not fake. Which has nothing to do with what I said, because whether the pregnancy is real or not, the fact is, Buffy told Spike. She does care for him, she does trust him.
 
All we know right now is theories. You think doesn't mean it is. Could be, but it could also be that the pregnancy is not fake. Which has nothing to do with what I said, because whether the pregnancy is real or not, the fact is, Buffy told Spike. She does care for him, she does trust him.

No, it means Buffy robot did what you mentioned above.
 
Just read my issue, and had a good laugh out of it. Reminded me strongly of the episode in S5 when Buffy pretends to be the bot with Spike, but then shows genuine emotion. Here we have a somewhat opposite scene - and I say somewhat , because I got a strong vibe of
the mind behind the robot's actions being that of a real Buffy . Perhaps real Buffy's body was hijacked by Andrew sometime between issue 6 and 7 ? - after the scene when the human Buffy sits with her feet in the pool - I guess a robot would not be doing it for fear of a shorted circuit.
🙂

Other than that humor part the issue was pretty - meh. I still feel that Chambliss dialogs are rather awkward , when they are not overly corny. Dowling has no personality to speak of , beside being a prop for continuous exposition of Spike's feeling. And the zompire fight scenes were too extensive and kind of pointless - as they were there only to provide a way of
exposing the bot being a bot by tearing an arm off
 
IMHO, what
robot
says is pretty consistent with what Buffy was saying in #6 - when she was sitting with her feet in the pool. About normalcy and all.
Robot would hardly put its feet into the water without a shorted circuit.
So yeah, I agree with MW - likely it is all Andrew's tricks and Buffy did not suspect a thing herself until that stuff with an arm happened.
 
And for what I have just read, I think the pregnancy thing is as fake as Buffy-robot.

Well, from what I have just read, I think that this entire series has gone completely to crap, and Joss has been smoking something WAY stronger than he can handle. Season 9 is beginning to read like barely mediocre fan fiction, and that has nothing whatsoever to do with Spuffy, Bangel, Giles, the seed, or the guy who delivered the pizza last night. Joss Whedon is supposed to be a professional writer, with a very large fan base. Granted, he doesn't have to cater to their every whim and wish, but if he keeps f***ing with what is passing for a story line, that fan base is going to start finding better ways to spend their money. At least this old, beat down ex-sailor is.

(Okay, I feel a little better now. But, Joss, if you're reading this, fair warning. The White Avenger is not someone to be trifled with. I've got bad friends in high places. B-A-D friends. Remember Jimmy Hoffa? You could be next.)
 
I was just spending the day thinking how disappointed of Joss I am. I mean, more than up until now. He's ruinning the show. I stopped reading season 8 back then because it wasn't Buffy. And I had high hopes for season 9. I read issues 5 and 6, and I'm about to read 7, because I seriously thought it would be better. But today... this is not what we were promised, and I'm not sure I'm going to keep up with season 9. I will leave it just like season 8 comics.
 
Well, from what I have just read, I think that this entire series has gone completely to crap, and Joss has been smoking something WAY stronger than he can handle. Season 9 is beginning to read like barely mediocre fan fiction, and that has nothing whatsoever to do with Spuffy, Bangel, Giles, the seed, or the guy who delivered the pizza last night. Joss Whedon is supposed to be a professional writer, with a very large fan base. Granted, he doesn't have to cater to their every whim and wish, but if he keeps f***ing with what is passing for a story line, that fan base is going to start finding better ways to spend their money. At least this old, beat down ex-sailor is.


Welcome to the club! Now you are where I have been since s8.
 
http://persephonemagazine.com/2012/03/interview-with-buffy-editor-and-writer-scott-allie-part-one/
Interview With Buffy Editor and Writer Scott Allie: Part One

March 14, 2012 in Pop Culture

Spoiler Warning: Major plot points from Season 9, issues 1-7 are discussed in this interview. If you are not up to date, do yourself a solid and hit the back arrow key on your browser. You’ve been warned!

If you’ve been following the comic book continuation of the much beloved television show, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, you know that a lot has happened in Season 9 of the series. (Once again, major spoilers for issues 1-7 ahead!) Our favorite slayer is finally living a somewhat normal life as a waitress in San Francisco after the defeat of Twilight and the end of magic, the scoobies have disbanded, and vampires have gone public thanks to Harmony Kendall’s smash hit “reality show.” While Buffy has faced monsters, demons, vampires and more than one apocalypse, in the recently released issue, “Slayer Interrupted,” she faces something that she is enormously unprepared for—pregnancy. After weighing her options, Buffy chooses to get an abortion. On the eve of the release of issue #7, Persephone caught up with Dark Horse editor and Buffy writer, Scott Allie, to chat about what’s been going on in the Buffyverse and how fans have responded to several recent (and extremely startling) revelations.


Persephone Magazine: Obviously there is a major plot point in #7 that we want to discuss, but before we get to that, let’s go back and talk a bit about issue #6, and the events leading up to it. Has there been any backlash against the pregnancy/abortion storyline from the right? From fans in general?


Scott Allie: No more than we’d expect—I’m not put off by the backlash. We knew we’d upset people by even using the word. We knew that some people would think, because of their own feelings on the topic, that Buffy would never seriously consider the option. And we knew that some people would decide that this was the end between them and Buffy, them and Joss. We knew there’d be some sort of consequences. People avoid the subject generally in entertainment because it’s polarizing. But it’s something you need to talk about. The topic of abortion brings out really strong feelings, and it brings out so much venom from the right—even the idea of contraception is getting heated up in ways I didn’t think possible in this century. As our attention spans get shorter, we seem to want simpler, more extremist stances, things that will play great in sound bites, where there’s no room for nuance or respect for the other person. When you have such loud voices on that side of the argument, pushing the “Every Sperm Is Sacred” thing so far as to call a girl a prostitute for suggesting birth control be considered part of health care, it’s useful to remind people that these are viable and legal options, that these are within our rights. Abortion’s been legal for almost forty years. It’s strange that these people that want to push government out of every other part of our lives—certainly out of the business of helping people—want government involved in all these decisions about the most personal and private aspects of our lives. And obviously the experience of going through with an abortion isn’t something most people are going to want to celebrate or proclaim on a bumper sticker, but for some people, it is going to be the best option, and even the most responsible option, in some situations. And Buffy feels that right now it’s the right choice for her.

Buffy becomes pregnant after getting black-out drunk at her own party. Were there ever any misgivings concerning her ability to properly consent to sex?

I know this is something that bothered a lot of readers, and I’m not gonna say we’re right and they’re wrong. For Buffy, inside the story, dealing with the reality of it, from her perspective—she thought she had let herself get black-out drunk at a party in her own house. She remembered drinking, she remembered waking up hung over—not apparently hurt in any other way, when she woke up in her own bed in issue #1, but just extremely hung over. I don’t mean to diminish the reality of statutory rape when a woman’s under the influence, but when Buffy got the positive result on the pregnancy test, she assumed that whoever she’d had unprotected sex with was in a similar state, and that she needed to deal with the problem at hand—figuring out what to do about the pregnancy. We talked about how much energy should go into the search for the guy she had sex with, but we just did not think that that’s what the focus would be for her in the situation.

Why was it important for Joss and the writers to show Buffy visiting Robin Wood in issue #6, before deciding to have an abortion?

Fiction’s all about choice, right? Characters are defined by the choices they make, choices move plots forward. So it was important for us to show Buffy going through the process of making a choice—giving the choice a whole issue. We wanted to show that it’s not an easy choice, that it’s not a choice made lightly—it’s hard to imagine this choice is ever made lightly, but all I know is that it wouldn’t be made lightly by Buffy. And we didn’t want her decision making to be internal, because that doesn’t make for good comics. So when you’re wrestling with a big decision in real life, it’s good to talk to someone who has a useful perspective, one that you’re going to respect, and hopefully learn something from. Robin was the clear choice. Buffy doesn’t have a lot of examples to talk about pregnancy, or motherhood—and certainly no one in the Slayer community. Robin has the most useful perspective on the idea of a Slayer having a baby. Maybe Angel would have been a person to talk to, in light of Connor, but she’s not ready to talk to him yet. And I think she wanted to give someone the chance to talk her into going through with the pregnancy. That’s the most mature thing to do with such a huge decision—if you’re leaning one way, hear the other side out, see if you can be swayed. What she heard from Robin only made her more certain she wasn’t ready to go ahead with the pregnancy, even if Nikki Wood had been.

To expand a bit on the recent attacks on women’s reproductive rights and how that ties in with what Buffy is going through—it’s very encouraging that the comics show Buffy dealing with this choice, as you point out, in a clear-headed manner, especially when certain politicians imply that women are not capable of making that choice for themselves. Whether or not intended, Buffy has become something of a feminist icon. Would you say that the writers had these political issues in mind when writing the story, or does the story come first?

Well, Buffy became a sort of feminist icon because Joss had the radical notion to present strong female characters, not for political reasons, but because it’s truthful. It reflected his experience. And because of the world we live in, that’s considered a political statement, with so much of popular entertainment putting forth a different version of womanhood. The artist has something to say, and maybe that’s political, maybe it’s not. The world frames the argument for him. Abortion is a political issue because people politicize it. It’s actually a really personal issue. So the story is personal, and the story comes first, and the story can’t help but exist within a political context. Also, because Joss feels, as I feel, and Sierra and I think Andrew feel, that this reality deserves to be expressed in stories. A young woman makes a choice about her life and her body.
Buffy and Spike

Although she does seek the advice of Robin, Buffy ultimately turns to Spike. Why do you think that is?

Well, Robin offered the most useful perspective for her, spoke with an experience no one else close to her could offer. But Spike was going to offer the most unflinching support. If things were solid with Willow, if Willow hadn’t left right before this came out, she might have gone to Willow. But Robin had made his opinion clear, and given her what she wanted, his perspective. Spike was in the forefront of her thinking for a number of reasons, but ultimately she needed a friend.

In #7, Spike more or less states that he’s in love with Buffy and believes that he could give her a normal, happy life. We don’t want to start a “shipper war,” but do you think we’ll ever see these two get together? And could they ever be normal? Is normal even what Buffy really wants anymore?

You clearly want to start a shipper war. Rather, you’re describing the shipper war. These are really good questions, best answered by the story … or never.

OK, OK. So, changing the subject—after learning Buffy is pregnant, Spike tries to keep her from slaying when Detective Dowling is attacked by zompires. Do you think this is a bit condescending?

Well, I can see what you’re saying, but I think it’s natural—until the moment that she’s no longer pregnant, it makes sense to want her to take it easy. Every pregnancy is different, each one affects the woman differently—this is not a small thing. Earlier in the issue Spike gives her a chance to change her mind. One can imagine a certain self-interest for Spike in the idea of her going through with the pregnancy, should Buffy change her mind. Maybe she’ll go through with the idea of running away with him. This pregnancy showed a glimmer of her seeing him as more than just her dark place. If she starts fighting vampires, it might get harder for her to change her mind. So I think Spike simply thought it made sense to not complicate matters further by throwing her in to the thick of it.
Buffy and Spike Fight

It just seems a little over-the-top perhaps, especially when one considers that Nikki Wood was pregnant with a baby while slaying, and also during her Cruciamentum. At any rate, Buffy didn’t seem too happy with this decision being made on her part.

Um, Spike probably doesn’t want to think about Nikki Wood.

Very true. All right, so let’s finally get to the real question that is on everyone’s minds right about now…Buffy is a robot!!!???

Well, yeah, it looks that way.

Is this what the First Slayer/Underground Pixie meant in “Slayer Interrupted,” when she said Buffy wasn’t the slayer?

She’s a robot!!!

Was there any symbolic meaning to cutting off Buffy’s (if in fact, it is Buffy) right arm? You know that people are going to yell “metaphorical castration!” People love yelling “metaphorical castration.”

Buffy’s body is the landscape of the story in this arc. Her body and her mind. So yeah, there is symbolic significant in the dismemberment, but not college-class symbolism, not, “The arm represents the child that might have something something.”

Considering that the image of Buffy’s arm being cut off was also spoiled in the teaser release of the cover art, has there already been a reaction?

Yeah, but the reaction’s great. I mean, it’s not all positive, but that part didn’t lead to people threatening to stop reading. I don’t think, anyway. We spoiled the arm thing in a fairly calculated move, I think it’s safe to say. And we cheated it a little bit, so as not to totally spoil the story point. But that cover took a long time to get right—we went back and forth about how best to portray the mechanical arm getting hacked off, and then we came up with the idea that it should be the bloody version people see in advance.

So, if Buffy is a robot, does this mean that she is definitely not pregnant?

We’ll want to wait till issue #8 is out to really get into that.

The name of this arc is “On Your Own,” but as Robin points out, Buffy isn’t alone. Although Willow has left for the time being, Dawn makes it clear that she and Xander will support Buffy, and even Buffy’s roommates want her to stay. Is there a deeper meaning to the arc title?

In one of my favorite bits from Season 8, Xander said something like, I think fearless leader needs some alone time. To which Buffy replies, Is there any other kind? Good stuff, Joss. I imagine even if Willow, Xander, and Giles were right there by her side, she’d be feeling a little alone through this. And, of course, they aren’t.



Stay tuned to Persephone Magazine for another Q&A with Scott Allie in April, on the release of Issue #8 of Buffy Season Nine!

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http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=37542

Chris Samnee Rips Into "Angel & Faith"

Artist Chris Samnee joins the party on the Christo Gage-scripted "Angel & Faith" #10

Artist Chris Samnee didn't realize it at the time, but he had a major impact on the creation of Dark Horse's ongoing "Angel & Faith" comic -- part of the publisher's expanded "Buffy The Vampire Slayer: Season 9" world.

Samnee had worked with writer Christos Gage on 2010's "Area 10" graphic novel from Vertigo, and, as Editor Scott Allie explained, "In a way, it's Samnee that led me to Gage. I've been a fan of Samnee's for a long time, and that got me reading 'Area 10.'"

The editor was so impressed by the OGN that he hired Gage to write "Angel & Faith," and the trio come full circle with May's issue #10 where artist rejoins writer for a special one-off story that plays with some up until now unknown parts of the "Buffy" universe -- including characters and ideas from the never produced "Ripper" spinoff show.

"I was already on Samnee to get him to do that 'Serenity' graphic novel last year, so the idea of pulling him on here was a real natural one. I'm a big believer in the idea that certain teams just work. The sum is greater than the parts," Allie said. "I think the two Chrises did incredible work together on that one graphic novel, so putting them back together here is personally exciting to me. When I like a book as much as I liked 'Area 10,' I do everything I can to work with the creators, and to work with both together is especially exciting."

Getting the band back together did, however, prove something of a challenge. Gage explained that he'd been hoping for the team-up from day one of the series. "From the first day, when I was talking to Scott about the book and how Rebekah [Isaacs] is doing both pencils and inks, we had the idea that every fifth issue would be a one-and-done story by a guest artist. And I think one of first names I brought up to work with was Chris. I had a fabulous time on 'Area 10,' and the chance to get even more out there with him and the supernatural stuff -- the demons and the monsters -- got me really excited. What I've seen of his work on this is just beautiful. I'm psyched to do this. Rebekah is a dream collaborator, but I get to have my cake and eat it, too, because every fifth issue, I get to work with another amazing artist."

As Samnee recalled, "I've been really busy. Marvel's been keeping me busy, and I've got ad work on the side -- it's always something. So I never really got a chance to do anything with Scott after 'Shepherd's Tale' except a short little thing for 'USA Today.' He asked me if I could do an issue of 'Angel & Faith' and get back together with Gage, and I thought, 'There's no way!' But at the same time, I couldn't say no. So he gave me a deadline that was really far out, because Chris and Rebekah were so far ahead, I had plenty of time to get this done. To get the chance to work with guys I love and characters I'm crazy about, I couldn't pass it up."

The series' off-kilter fifth-issue stories are a throwback to the TV show's lighter episodes

Allie noted, "The script for #10 is amazing. It's a great, dramatic beast, but it's also got parts that are laugh out loud. I got a hold of Samnee and said, 'You've got to do this.' We gave him the script, and that's when he committed. I imagined him doing it as I was reading. Of all the stories in this arc, this one is right up his alley."

The artist said that working on "Angel & Faith" specifically is an assignment tailor made for him since, "I actually kind of prefer 'Angel' to 'Buffy.' My wife got me watching 'Buffy' when we first started dating, and 'Angel' was on at the time. I watched the first episode, and I was like 'This is Batman! It's way better!' So I got into that show a whole lot faster."

Of the issue the two worked on together, Gage told CBR, "We've got a couple of new characters that are actually new characters given to us by Joss from the 'Ripper' TV show that he was trying to set up on the BBC for a time. That didn't work out for a variety of reasons, so Joss said, 'Let's take some elements of that, and you can feel free to us them with Angel and Faith.' These characters have been a tremendous amount of fun to write. They have a link to Giles."

"They're catty British gals from olden times," Samnee said of the new cast members. "Rebekah had drawn them in a portrait on one of the walls in the first few issues. It's from Giles' library, and the image is really small, but it gave me a jumping-off point. I went with that, and then the cover artist for my issue did his take on it. My take is a mish-mash of those two, and I wanted to give them each their own look. They play off each other in that they are so similar, but I wanted to differentiate between the two -- I don't think Joss had ever said, 'They look like such and such.' I just wanted to build on what Rebekah had done."

The franchises requisite monsters and demons will also be on full display under the artist's pen. "There's a whole lot of that in this issue," Samnee said. "Chris would just say, 'Draw a snot monster in this panel,' or, 'Here's a guy with a battle axe,' or, ' Here's a huge fat guy.' I got to stretch a lot of muscles that I don't get to use everyday with superhero comics. I draw a whole lot of guys in tights, but I don't get a lot of monsters or to create new things. There were some pages here where I took my brush out and started designing characters on the page as I went. It was really fun to see how far I could push things. It's still a little bit like the 'monster of the week' stories on 'Angel' and 'Buffy,' but there weren't any budget concerns."

Another hallmark of the TV show was its penchant for slightly off-kilter one-off stories, something Gage is very aware of when crafting his special fifth-issue tales. "I do like the idea that sometimes a change of tone -- like they'd do in the show with, say, Harmony in Season 5 of 'Angel' -- can make it very funny," Gage said. "But the flashback to Giles is also pretty poignant. It's a key moment in Giles' life as a boy. Hopefully, it'll be one of those issues that makes you laugh and cry at the same time."

"I get a kick out of being able to push emotions a bit and not just draw sad men in tights," Samnee laughed, as Allie added, "One of the things I love about Joss' work is the way that when he did an episode that felt like a lark or a little silly, it would feel goofy, but you'd realize that that goofy element was there specifically to do something that he couldn't have done in any other way. I think Harmony showing up in issue #5 the way that she did was a silly detour where she got the opportunity to say something to Angel that he really needed to hear. And nobody could have said that but her. But in a way, that issue could have fallen anywhere in Season 9, whereas #10 is something that has to happen at this moment. It's a bit of a turning point in Season 9. It pushes the big story along in a way that #5 didn't, and aside from these two characters from the 'Ripper' show, there are little game changers that it's nice for Chris to be able to do with Samnee."

Ultimately, Samnee is happy to have made the time to take on this one-off issue as the "Angel & Faith" experience is teaching him a lot. "I don't have one particular page or moment I love. It's the whole story," he said. "I've been having a great time working with Chris again, and I've actually loved working with Rebekah. She has a great sense of design, and her costumes are really 'real world.' I know it's silly to think of clothing as being real world, but a lot of comics artists today don't think about a character's personality and how that affects what they'd wear. Rebeka's issue come around mine, and I didn't just want to draw people in t-shirts and then have her issues look like they were in a different universe. We've been bouncing ideas back and forth, and that's been a really experience for me. I've never worked with another artist since I pencil and ink. I'm kind of a one man show until it gets sent to the colorist, so this has been a fun change of pace."

---------- Post added at 04:00 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:04 PM ----------

http://www.icv2.com/articles/news/22381.html

Top 300 Comics Actual--February 2012

68 BTVS SEASON 9 FREEFALL #6 29,878

113 ANGEL & FAITH #7 17,852
 
Do we have any solicitation info or artwork on issues beyond #11 & the FCBD flip-book? I just can't keep track of all of the info releases beforehand so I can't remember.
 
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