Whedonesque : Comments on 13128 : It's the Joss Whedon comic book day!

Boy, the big purple J sure worked hard lately!
I can't wait to read those. The Buffy cmics has been great so far, and astonishing has me at the edge of my seat!

I guess that's why he hasen't been around here lately :) Come back, Joss! we miss you :)

[ edited by lordsketch on 2007-05-02 11:24 ]

lordsketch | May 02, 14:24 CET

I've seen a couple of places (e.g. Amazon) suggest that the Runaways Vol. 3 hardback is also out today but it's not on the shipping lists so i'm doubtful (it'd bring things up to the start of Joss' run which would mean I could actually start reading the singles).

Dark Tower #4 and the end of 52 as well. Not a bad week for the flimsies all in all.

Saje | May 02, 15:04 CET

The timing of this is perfect. As we go into our comic book stores today in Toronto, we are giving flyers to the stores for our Can't Stop the Serenity showing. With 3 comics out today, the stores can't argue that the movie has nothing to do with them or their customers.

Lioness | May 02, 15:44 CET

Lioness, Saturday is 'Free Comic Book Day' so a lot of people (even those that normally might not) will be passing through comic shops in the next few days. Maybe you could ask the store owners to put the flyers inside (or just near) the free titles ?

(anyone know if there are any titles which would be particularly appropriate ? I remember a 'Runaways' one last year, are they doing the same thing again ?)

Saje | May 02, 16:12 CET

The books at the top of this page, maybe? Don't see anything super appropriate. I think one of them is a Liefeld BSG book /shiver.

zeitgeist | May 02, 17:00 CET

See, what I should have thought to myself is "I bet the 'Free Comic Book Day' homepage would know if there are any appropriate titles" ;).

Yeah, nothing really leaps out does it. Pity it's 'Pirates vs Ninjas' and not 'Cavemen vs Astronauts' - though that has to be the only way 'Pirates vs Ninjas' is a less than perfect concept ;). Definitely a few i'll try to pick up (probably better start queuing now for the Spidey one ;).

Saje | May 02, 17:16 CET

Unfortunately due to work I won't be able to get these until Sunday. :(

Derf | May 02, 17:16 CET

I can expect TFAW to send me mine - oh - in about a month, maybe two... :(

Nebula1400 | May 02, 17:58 CET

There are so many good comics coming out today (not just Whedon's) that it kinda feels like a Christmas morning where I have to wait 10 more hours before I can rip open my presents.

And if there are any Supernatural fans out there, Supernatural: Origins #1 comes out from Wildstorm today, too. It takes place right after Sam and Dean's mother dies, and John Winchester learns how to become a hunter.

Saturn Girl | May 02, 18:38 CET

Whedon Wednesday!!! I'm not reading these until this weekend, so goodbye Whedonesque and all of your spoilery goodness, until next week. :(

Sunfire | May 02, 19:09 CET

so goodbye Whedonesque and all of your spoilery goodness, until next week. :(

If it's any help we'll be having clearly marked spoiler discussion threads for these issues in the next few days.

Simon | May 02, 19:13 CET

I think one of them is a Liefeld BSG book /shiver.

*shudders*

Liefeld had that licence once, but years ago, and only of the original series. If you watch the new series, this new comic is definitively worth picking up for free.

Other recommendations for FCBD books I'd make:
Dark Horse has a comic with stories of three entirely new series in it--looks promising.
Marvel has a brand new Spider-Man story from high-profile creators.
And Devil's Due has a Family Guy and Hack/Slash flipbook that should be cool.

Everyone find your local store to pillage!

Niels | May 02, 20:38 CET

Got it, read it, and WOW! :) Joss is unbelievably awesome..

Dang, Runaways - Volume 3 has been delayed until May 23rd! Argh, I really want to catch up so I can read the new ones!

kevingann | May 02, 20:40 CET

It's Whedon Thursday in Britain. Damn it.

Craig Oxbrow | May 02, 20:59 CET

Well, I've read both Buffy and Runaways and I can say that both are AWESOME! :D

I love how the Punisher gets dealt with. Hee.

And it's great how Joss is keeping the action and suspence up throughout "The Long Way Home." Even though it's a month between issues, I feel like Buffy needs a breather. Even though she got a bit of a breather in this issue too. It's a lot of action.

blueanddollsome | May 02, 21:11 CET

It's so funny that all the comics I'm reading right now in individual issues are written by the Whedon.

Is it weird that I've had Runaways #26 since last week? Or is my comic guy just that good?

Emma | May 02, 21:18 CET

Yays! I got and read both Buffy and Runaways this morning.

I am really becoming endeared to Runaways. I love Chase. He's so cocky. And Molly hurting the Punisher was priceless.

I found this issue of Buffy not quite as kick-ass as the second one, but chock-full of interestingness.

Quick review:
-Ethan took me by surprise.
-Loved Buffy's dirty dream. LOL! Joss said he would use Angel and Spike sparingly, but for one panel he sure gave us a lot of them. The imagery was fantastic.
-How is Warren alive? He was burned to a cinder. Where'd his body come from? Yeah, yeah, he was magically flayed and burned. But I thought that Buffy's death was "mystical" because it was the magical energy of the portal that killed her. In Warren's case, it was the removal of his skin that killed him. Magic just happened to be the means by which it was removed. It all feels very retconny to me.
-Yay! Renee's not dead!
-I've been expecting Banderiness ever since the release of the cover of issue #2, and I'm still expecting it to materialize eventually, but I don't know what to make of the whole kissing-thing. If Xander is in love with Buffy why not show the kiss? What is to be gained by continuing to string us along like this? Unless Xander isn't the kisser. In the panel where Buffy wakes up Xander looks kind of shocked, while Willow looks happy. Maybe Willow is in love with Buffy? Which would be a twist. To the best of my memory she's never shown any indication of being attracted to Buffy before. Maybe it's one of the potentials? I think that's even less likely though. And is Xander flirting with Renee or just being friendly with her?
-Love Giles doing business with the demon, but I seriously need more Gilesiness than two pages per issue.

About the XXX thing:
I think that thing with the x's in Buffy's dream is interesting. I think Ethan being in the cage of x's may be symbolic of him actually being held captive somewhere (by the military, still, which is how he would have found out that Buffy was in trouble. Maybe he's thinking if he helps her she'll help him?)

My sister pointed out to me that the "X" is also St. Andrew's cross, which, as we all know, is the flag of Scotland, and also carries on the crucifixion motif from issues #1&2, albeit in a less overt way (St. Andrew was crucified on an X-shaped cross by his own request, deeming himself unworthy to be crucified in the same way as Christ. In issue #2, in her dream, Buffy was pierced through her hands and feet and posed spread-eagle as if hung on a Saint Andrew's Cross). If it turns out that Giles is Kyiv, as I have been hoping, rather than somewhere else in Eastern Europe, that would be cool because Kyiv, according to legend, is as far as St. Andrew himself traveled. It was a sparsely populated area at the time, and it's said that he erected a cross there and prophesied the foundation of a great Christian city.

Ethan's comment about Romans, meanwhile, may very probably mean that the x's stand for the number 30. Why that number would be significant, I have no idea.

My sister sister also pointed out to me that Ethan's comment about Romans and Danes is a Shakespeare reference.

lorelei_frolick | May 02, 21:26 CET

Some retailers get advanced copies at the same time as reviewers (one of my local shops had Runaways #26 and the Sensational Spider-man Annual in last week). Technically, i'm not sure they're actually meant to sell them (the ones I saw were clearly marked 'Not for Sale' but you could ask and take a look inside). Still, a win's a win Emma ;).

(I also noticed they have a Whiteout #1 in the freebies list, anyone know if they're just being re-released or is that an all new Whiteout story ? I'm aware there's a film in the works so maybe it's a sort of semi-promotion for that ?)

Saje | May 02, 21:27 CET

I've created a discussion thread for Buffy #3 over at Whedonesque.org.

Link:

Feel free to discuss it there in all spoilery goodness until a relevant review can be linked to on the front page here (hopefully Herc at AICN will have his recap up shortly).

Simon | May 02, 21:28 CET

Nebula1400- exactly why I've got one more "delivery" to suffer through. After that, I'm just picking the new issues up.
It took me so long to get #1 I thought I was going to die.

mifeng | May 02, 21:59 CET

I called the comics shop and asked them to pull Buffy for me, and the guy was like, "I have 50 copies on the rack, you don't think you can make it in today?" Jeez, I just want to make sure I have mine waiting for me, and I don't even know if I can make it in today.

He kind of intimidated so I only asked for one copy of the variant and one copy of the regular, unlike my usual two for the regular. *sheepish*

[ edited by UnpluggedCrazy on 2007-05-02 19:19 ]

UnpluggedCrazy | May 02, 22:19 CET

Briefly: Best Buffy book yet, and X-Men steadily increases in awesomeliness.

ETA: Runaways: Fugilitastic! Too good for words, so made one up.

[ edited by Pointy on 2007-05-02 20:19 ]

Pointy | May 02, 22:55 CET

About the Buffy Kiss (spoilers written in invisible electrons):

I'm thinking it was Willow who kissed Buffy. First off, Buffy yells "Cinnamon Buns" when she wakes up. Smelling of cinnamon suggests perfume, and perfume suggests girl. Let's not forget Willow looked rather happy, too, and she was pulling back her hand around waist level, which suggests she might've been leaning on it.

Does Willow love Buffy romantically? Possibly, in a unrequited sort of way. She knows Buffy doesn't swing her way, but if the original slayer did, I'd bet Willow would make a play for her. Assuming, of course, Willow wasn't working on getting her soulmate back, or wanting to rekindle things with her stand-in-slayer-girlfriend.

And the cliffhanger:

Ahhh, Mr. Meers is back. Willow killed him by using mystical forces (i.e. the skin didn't come off and the rest of him ignite by just wishing hard). Also, even if that weren't a factor, there are other ways to bring back the dead other than using Osiris. Amy probably brought him back through another vector, cause hey, no skin still.

And Relationships:

Loved the "Kennedy is dead" quip. I guess it was a bone thrown to all us W&T shippers. Still wondering about Willow's TARA-BLUE eyes...

quantumac | May 02, 23:00 CET

I have issue three of Buffy too.Lots go on it with some big reveals.

Buffyfantic | May 02, 23:03 CET

Saje--I am heading to the shop in a few minutes, I'll find out about the Whiteout question. Love that book.

I actually met Steve Lieber at a comic show a few years ago and he thanked me for NOT asking about Whiteout. He said he's asked about that one quite a bit. I did ask him about his work on Gotham Central. He was very friendly and drew a sweet Renee Montoya for my sketchbook.

alexreager | May 02, 23:55 CET

Did TFAW send anyone's yet?

I got Issue 2 uber quickly, but Issue 1 took at least a week, and now shipping of Issue 3 looks like it'll be pushed back.

After Issue 4, I'll just go to the store.

TheZeppo | May 03, 00:10 CET

For those of you who've been to the stores, did they have the new printings of the first and second issues? I need to get copies for a friend and I was hoping I'd be able to get them all at the same time. Thanks.

hacksaway | May 03, 00:49 CET

Did TFAW send anyone's yet?

I got Issue 2 uber quickly, but Issue 1 took at least a week, and now shipping of Issue 3 looks like it'll be pushed back.

After Issue 4, I'll just go to the store.

It took 6 weeks for them to send me the first issue, and a month to send me the second one. They have yet to notify me when they will send me #3. If I had the time to go out to a comic store each time an issue came out, I would - but since I don't have the time, I'm going to have to either be very patient, or come up with another way to get them.

[ edited by Nebula1400 on 2007-05-02 22:13 ]

Nebula1400 | May 03, 01:12 CET

Saje--I am heading to the shop in a few minutes, I'll find out about the Whiteout question. Love that book.

That'd be great alex. 'Whiteout' is excellent and 'Whiteout: Melt' is, if anything, even better IMO (despite the sparser plot). It's like Jack London, Ian Fleming and Raymond Chandler all sat down and wrote a story together. The sense of place that Rucka and Lieber create between them is phenomenal, Antarctica itself is truly another character in the story. And how utterly cool (no pun intended ;) is Carrie Stetko ?

I suspect it's just a re-issue/promotion but if not this really would be a great week in comics (and i'm still hopefully gonna snag one either way).

Saje | May 03, 02:31 CET

"I'm going to have to either be very patient, or come up with another way to get them."
Nebula1400: I've been really happy with midtowncomics.com, they will only set up a subscription if you are signing up for ten subscriptions, but you can go on-line once a month and request the comic (with the variant cover, and no huge mark up price on that either) and they will send it out quickly. I ordered from both midtown and TFAW but the latter was much slower so I'm going with the former for all my comic book needs!

embers | May 03, 02:35 CET

Saje--No answer on Whiteout. When I got to the comic shop, the owner was out picking up lunch and a new kid (that wasn't familiar with Whiteout or Greg Rucka or Steve Liber) was working the couter.

For those desperate for the Buffy comics, he has a stack of first and second prints of issue 1, 2 and 3--and he sells for coverprice. I even think he had some variants on the racks also for cover price. They are in Niles, Illinois at 847-966-0675. You can ask for the owner Tony (tell him you were sent by his big Buffy fan).

alexreager | May 03, 04:29 CET

yeah guess what: my local comic book store was out of Buffy. Again. But luckily I got AXM and Runaways. What a great day for comics.

GrapenutsRobot | May 03, 06:18 CET

Nebula1400

A couple hours after my last post, I got an email confirmation from TFAW saying they sent Issue 3.

Sorry you've had such trouble. Hope you get yours soon!

TheZeppo | May 03, 12:00 CET

Saje, Alexreager, I'm fairly certain the FCBD issue is a reprint of the original #1. There is a third series planned for an unspecific time in the future, though. :-)

Off to my friendly neighborhood shop in just a couple of hours. yay!

Niels | May 03, 16:43 CET

Just got a TFAW email that my #3 went out today, so that should be faster than the previous two, unless delayed in transit. The first one took forever to be sent out-possibly they had not anticipated how much manpower they would need to get the pre-orders done? Or maybe the huge numbers from the first issue have gone down a little.

I am so horribly envious of those who already have theirs, and have read every bit of spoileriness available. I'm even tempted to chime in about stuff, though I haven't read it yet- bad idea for avoiding making a fool of myself..which I can do handily even when in possession of the Full Story. Hope the USPS is in good form.

toast | May 03, 20:55 CET

Yesterday was the single best New Comic Wednesday I can recall in months! It was hard to pick a favorite out of the three Whedon books, but I had to go with Runaways. I didn't know too much about Michael Ryan before this series, but I'm now a huge fan. Although his style is really different than Adrian Alphona, his energy feels the same - particularly how he draws Molly, who is very expressive. And both Buffy and Runaways had jaw dropping final pages.

As for AXM, loved the moments between Kitty and Peter, and Scott and Emma. Beast's line "so ends that era" gave me a giggle. All wonderful! If only we could have Whedon Wednesday every week!

Saturn Girl | May 04, 04:28 CET

May 02 2007