That is excellent. I love that first issue cover art! I'm really going to have to keep an eye on this!

angeliclestat | September 22, 00:36 CET

Gunn's face is priceless.

Brian Lynch | September 22, 01:12 CET

Gunn's face is priceless.

LOL, so is Illyria's. She looks so demony - there's kind of an Anyanka vengeance thing going on.

ladygrey | September 22, 01:46 CET

Well, she was pissed about Wes. As was I. Great television, but heartbreaking.

Brian Lynch | September 22, 02:22 CET

Yup. Wesley was the most painful Jossverse death for me... though Wash was a close second. I'd give pretty much anything to have Wes back...

BUT, I certainly wouldn't want to see him simply resurrected or his death somehow cheapened by an easy return. Hell I'm torn if I would even want to see him return at all. If, IF he shows up in the future I can only pray with every fiber of my being that it's done well, and that it's earned. Seriously, deeply earned.

Just sayin's all...

Haunt | September 22, 02:26 CET

Wes and Fred were very heartbreaking, but I loved both of their death scenes. Wonderfully acted and wonderfully written.

As for the topic at hand; It's a REALLY cool idea and, if I weren't already getting a double of each issue, I'd go for it. I've never been the 'get the variant covers too' guy, but I just can't choose between Urru's and Harris' covers. They're so sweet they're Matthew sweet*.

*Sorry, that's a lame little inside joke between my brother and I. We're big Matthew Sweet fans. ;)

[ edited by Daburcor on 2007-09-21 23:39 ]

[ edited by zeitgeist on 2007-09-22 13:15 ]

Daburcor | September 22, 02:38 CET

I really really do not like this cover.

UnpluggedCrazy | September 22, 03:01 CET

I wonder if its the same cover price. I understand you need to join a club to be eligible but after you join, are the issues $13.95 or something?

If its normal cover price, I'm totally in.

alexreager | September 22, 03:05 CET

You totally don't have to get it, if you don't dig it. it's rare anyhoo, so you don't even have to go out of your way to avoid it.

I dig it. I will seek it out.

Brian Lynch | September 22, 03:09 CET

It's Angel- on steroids!

I haven't had the bestest of luck with TST/BCC in the past, but the world 'exclusive' always makes me want to dig a little deeper, and this sounds like great fun.

Kudos to all involved for giving fans a chance to get their art/ideas out there. For those of us who always complain how much better the covers would be it would be if WE directed them, here's a chance to put our money where our mouth is!

missb | September 22, 04:04 CET

I wouldn't mind Wesley's death being cheapened by an easy return!

Just sayin'.

embers | September 22, 05:32 CET

I'm with you, embers, even though I've always been one to wave the "give them what they need, not what they want" flag. Oh, and about the A6 alternate cover art, I'm on the fence. I just want to see what's inside, what happens next.

Maeve | September 22, 07:29 CET

alexreager, I think you just have to join the club. $50 gets you club membership for a year; upon joining they give you a $50 gift card which you can then use to purchase the subscription, which is $50. 12 issues for $50 is about $4/issue, which sounds about right.

Personally, I think Spike and Illyria look kind of puppetty on this cover...

[ edited by ohbejoyful on 2007-09-22 04:32 ]

ohbejoyful | September 22, 07:31 CET

I had known ahead of time that SlayAlive was doing something with IDW, but the emails were too long and confusing for me to understand what exactly was happening. I'm very excited about this and I hope it becomes a major success.

WhedonTrivia | September 22, 21:09 CET

I keep realizing how much I am really really not a comics person. My first thought at seeing this was "Ewwwww". I realize though, that it is probably just that I do not appreciate the style very much. I'm not the target audience on this anyway, so all is good. I'll just go to what has now become my regular comic shop (OMG did I just say that?!?) and try to pick up one of the regular covers.

This is not coming out the same day as a BtVS, is it? I'm going to have to go twice that month, right?

I can see good and bad marketing in that. On the good side, it spreads the two doses of Buffyverse comics out during the month. For those that go to the comic store regularly, it gives them something to buy two different weeks and for those of us who don't go regularly, it is hoped it will get us there more often. On the bad side, if it were there the same time as BtVS, people who only come to the store for BtVS and not sure if they wanted to get the Angel comic, might just pick it up. I guess we'll see how it goes.

newcj | September 22, 21:15 CET

newcj: if your comic book store will 'pull' issues for you then you could stop by just once a month and pick them both up at the same time. Personally I find it fun to swing by my comic book store (which is close by) and get the variant covers, but these special exclusive covers don't really appeal to me at all (but of course I hope they'll be posted where we can see them!).

embers | September 22, 22:11 CET

Early yesterday morning, while it was raining cats and dogs, I finally got to the final 3 episodes of Angel. (Thank you, Netflix!)
Great ending to a show that was yanked before its time.
I think I'm going to have to look into this "After The Fall" thing...
I have a question for y'all:
Save for the occasional holiday marathons of BtVS, which always made me wonder why I wasn't watching that show, I never watched that show.
I'm going to add it to my Netflix queue.
I have seen the original movie. Which was kinda OK to my mind.
I've heard that the show hit its stride with Season 3.
Should I start at the very beginning with Season One, Episode One...or could I start with Season 3 and be just fine with it, going back to Seasons One and Two at my leisure?
Any thoughts...opinions...suggestions?

AmazonGirl | September 23, 19:38 CET

AmazonGirl: definitely start w/season one.... THIS is the show Joss wanted to make (the movie really doesn't count) and he starts right off from the beginning laying down hints and foreshadowing to pay off later. You would miss some silly campy episodes by skipping the first season, but you would also miss some great Giles stuff!

And who would ever recommend skipping season 2? Season 2 rocks! I think it is way better than three, and infinitely better than 5!

embers | September 23, 19:56 CET

Oh wow, did you just open up the floodgates or what? ;)

I'll give you my take first since mine is likely to be one of the more "unconventional"...

First of all, you should ABSOLUTELY start with Season One, Episode One ("Welcome to the Hellmouth"). The series works best if taken as one long, complete narrative from begining to end rather than as individual eps and seasons. Does that mean that some episodes, storyarcs or even entire seasons aren't obvious standouts? No. I think most fans have their favorites, and if you were commited to watching only a small bit of the series I think you'd find no shortage of opinions on where to start and stop.

Personally, despite the fact that there were some positively staggeringly good episodes peppered throughout the final two seasons ("Once More, With Feeling", "After Life" and "Tabula Rasa" from S6 and "Beneath You", "Conversations with Dead People" and "Lies My Parents Told Me" from S7 are shining examples), I believe the overarching story of [i]Buffy the Vampire Slayer[/i] would have been better served by end with the Season Five finale "The Gift". No spoilers as to WHY I think that, but suffice to say I didn't entirely enjoy where the series went after that, and I felt that S5 was a much more fitting denouement.

I am, however, in a pretty pathetic minority on that. Ultimately you should watch the entire series, warts and all. In the final analysis you'll definitely be rewaree.

Haunt | September 23, 20:01 CET

Watch from S1 Ep1. Watch every episode and be prepared to pay attention even if that particular episode is not appealing to you. Every episode has character development for someone and clues to what is going to happen in the future. You have a great ride coming and the ride is even better if you are there from the beginning.

newcj | September 24, 15:00 CET