That was a great read but the possibility of spin-off titles makes my head hurt. It's not like it will suddenly turn into the Marvelverse, but I'll feel like I need to buy those other comics... and I really only wanted to commit to Season 8!! :-)

[ edited by crossoverman on 2007-05-17 08:09 ]

crossoverman | May 17, 11:06 CET

Kinda with you there crossoverman. I really only wanna commit to Season 8, but I'll feel like I'm missing canon stories if I skip any mini-series spin-offs, so that's not an option. That's if anything outside of Season 8 happens, they're still only talking (although the sales of Season 8 would seem to pretty much guarantee spin-offs). So no need to budget it out just yet.

It's funny though, back during the original runs of the Buffy and Angel comics, I didn't miss a single one-shot or mini-series spin-off along with the regular comics and wasn't overly concerned with comics being non-canon or not fitting very well with established continuity.

I don't lose any sleep over refusing the Angel comics published by IDW. I read samples and previews of the earliest books, wasn't impressed. I hear one or two of the more recent minis are/were good, but still...I'm not as keen on paying for sequential fan-fiction as I was back when the shows were still on the air.

A tricky choice is the Angel Season 6 comics. Not Joss-written or done by any ME writers, but Joss-guided and apparently Joss-approved. Hmm...It doesn't help that I'm still sore over it not being concluded on TV or in a direct-to-DVD movie. I'm incredibly curious about what Season 6 roughly would have looked like though, which is what it sounds like we'll be getting with those comics...Buffy Season 8 is a fun indulgence. That show's story wasn't cut short by ratings issues and network mismanagement. Angel Season 6 is almost necessary to a significant portion of the fanbase who weren't and still aren't willing to settle for "Not Fade Away" as a conclusion.

Kris | May 17, 11:29 CET

Miniseries!

Fray!

Xander/Renfield!

Awesome!

UnpluggedCrazy | May 17, 12:02 CET

The more of this, the better. I'm ready to give any canon IDW stuff a chance, too. It's all icing on the cake to me. Ultimately rather expensive icing, probably, but a person's gotta eat.

toast | May 17, 13:05 CET

Awesome, so there is a chance for a new Fray series in the future. The spin-off idea sounds cool, you wouldn't have to buy everything, just the stories that have you favorite character's arc.
I personly hope that Spike will get a canon spin-off series after season6, that character has so much potential as a warrior for good.

Vergil | May 17, 14:17 CET

Interesting read. The idea of spinoff comics sounds promising too. And yes Vergil the idea of a canon Spike comic sounds like a good idea. Hopefully Season 6 will be a big hit for IDW, and that will lead to more canon Angel comics and spinoffs set in that world also.

angeliclestat | May 17, 15:02 CET

Ooh, spin-off minis would be cool though personally i'd much rather have more 'Fray', especially given the talk about 'season 8' possibly being 50 issues long anyway (seems like plenty whereas Melaka Fray is begging for more page time IMO).

I'm looking forward to Angel S6 but I see things pretty much the opposite way around to Kris. Buffy wasn't cut short BUT it ended in a way that's very open to more stories. With Angel though I think there're only so many ways you can continue it and not take away some of the emotional power of 'Not Fade Away'. If Joss wasn't overseeing it (much as I rate Brian Lynch) i'd be very ambivalent and even now I feel a lot more "Please don't fuck this up"-ness than I would with a continuation of most (maybe any) other series.

(and from interviews it seems more collaborative than 'just' Joss-guided/approved, the two of them seem to be swapping ideas and batting plot points back and forth rather than just Brian Lynch submitting something and Joss yaying or naying it)

Nice interview that, cheers Simon and Jackal.

Saje | May 17, 15:39 CET

The way I see it: the more stories/spin off series the better! The only real downside to comics is waiting a month between episodes (okay, I do miss the actors too...), but with more related stories then we will have more fun things to read while waiting for the month to go by.

embers | May 17, 19:10 CET

That's exactly what I was going to say. :)

Derf | May 17, 21:48 CET

I'd like to see a spin-off for Giles (Ripper). It would be a shame that Tony wouldn't get to do the story, but I'd like to see what Joss would do with Ripper.

maje | May 17, 21:50 CET

Now if I could just convince Allie to come to our Serenity screenings....

b!X | May 17, 22:54 CET

More! Seriously, I spend at least $25 in just one week, every week on my comics collection. $3 more a month for Buffyverse tales would never make me complain. Though it would be nice if comics were as free as television.

CaptainB | May 18, 00:46 CET

He does seem pretty cool, bix. I think it'd be worth the effort if you could.

Sunfire | May 18, 00:54 CET

*begins design of a "Scott Allie is my editor now" t-shirt*

Sunfire | May 18, 00:56 CET

The way I see it: the more stories/spin off series the better!

The way I see it: better to focus on one thing and make that really, really good than to have spin-offs which either aren't focused on or take focus away from the original. Even with season eight, we've gone from a dozen issues to 20-30 to 50 plus - which means years and years of commitment to see the story through.

What happens when Joss starts directing Goners? Or something else comes up? I'd rather have an end in sight, than an ongoing series with spin-offs and supplemental stories. Of course, that's comics for you...

crossoverman | May 18, 04:20 CET

Exactly what crossoverman said, especially the sentiment about appreciating when there's an end in sight, plus big emphasis on this part:

"better to focus on one thing and make that really, really good"

Personal bias here, though I know I'm not alone, and I know I risk a mod lashing for digging up this horse to beat on some more--Joss Whedon oversees Buffy Season 7, Angel Season 4, and new baby Firefly all in the same season. Buffy Season 7 suffers for it big time (though it was almost a worthwhile sacrifice given how excellent Firefly was and I'm not sure how much credit goes to Joss for Angel Season 4 despite him giving approvals and writing an episode or two, but I loved that too).

Would rather have more Fray anyway, if there's gotta be another Joss-written Buffyverse comic running at the same time as Season 8. A second Fray mini-series might not be too huge a commitment.

But to go all crazy with the spin-offs ? You risk seriously diluting the integrity of the comics as canon material.

I kinda hate what I just said with that last part. I sound like I'm becoming fucking Comic Book Guy from The Simpsons there. Can't help feeling it's true though, and that more often than not when it comes to multi-book "universes" in the comics medium, the more you add the more things begin to suck.

[ edited by Kris on 2007-05-18 05:18 ]

Kris | May 18, 08:15 CET

Can't help feeling it's true though, and that more often than not when it comes to multi-book "universes" in the comics medium, the more you add the more things begin to suck.

I feel the exact opposite. Quality needs to stay up, obviously, but a connected universe can really enhance reading enjoyment.

Niels van Eekelen | May 18, 13:37 CET