Oh wow that is gorgeous. A western standoff in L.A. (Are those Spike and Connor sitting on the roof nearby?

WilliamTheB | November 22, 23:22 CET

Very nice....would this be considered spoilery since it reveals a character?

Harmalicious | November 22, 23:40 CET

It is Spike and Connor. And the concepts sent in are allowed to include characters that are not in the show any longer.

What character is revealed?

Here is the original concept. A couple of things were changed during the process of creating the cover:

The scene is an orange-lit alley; sunset. The city seen in the background looks deserted, as nobody wants to be out past sunset now. With a slightly overhead view, in the background and facing front (but slightly at an angle) is Illyria. In the foreground is Angel with his back to us, but his head is turned toward Illyria so that we can see his profile. Illyria is casting a long shadow because of the sunset, and Angel is in a bit of a shadow himself. They are facing each other, both with their fists clenched. On the ground between them lays a scythe. Above them, standing on a rooftop, are Spike and Connor. They both look as if they are preparing to jump from the roof down into the alley. The general feel is that of an Old West-type standoff. Who can get to the scythe first?

Buffysmglover | November 22, 23:53 CET

Great cover. I love Stephen Mooneys work.

angeliclestat | November 22, 23:58 CET

Harm, watch those 'gators.

Sleeply now.

Madhatter | November 23, 00:05 CET

Well, Illyria and Spike didn't show up in issue one...that's the only thing I was thinking of.

Harmalicious | November 23, 00:16 CET

Interesting. Although I do wish they would stop just copying promo pics as they have done here with Spike. It's just lazy imo.

JuliaL | November 23, 06:19 CET

Who owns the saloon they're talking about in the forum post? I can't read the letters.

nathanieletc | November 23, 09:24 CET

Its pretty cool. They captured the original concept very well.
I like it. Now if only my concept would get chosen everything will be right with the world.

I think the saloon says BCC something. I can't read the rest either.

twinkiefoo | November 23, 10:49 CET

It says Beth. It is the name of the concept creator.

Buffysmglover | November 23, 11:02 CET

Hey guys, glad you like the cover, it was a pretty tough one to execute due to the very specific request. Just to answer your concern JuliaL, I too hate when artists just blatantly copy promo pics from the show for covers, as all it demonstrates is a dearth of imagination, and indeed laziness. In this particular instance though, I decided that given that the drawing of Spike on the rooftop was literally only an inch and a half tall, I would have to identify the character clearly through body language, as opposed to trying to achieve a convincing teeny-tiny accurate likeness. I guess some might call this laziness, but I had to make sure people knew it was Spike and so went for the recognizable stance. Hear what you're saying though.

Stephen Mooney | November 23, 14:00 CET

Wow, its weird for Stephen to not be purple, right? Is it weird for you Stephen? Huh. That's weird.

It would have been a lot harder to execute if Beth had used my original idea and it had won. That would be a doozy. It was similar to this, but she just changed where Spike and Connor were and made them not be doing anything but looking down.

Buffysmglover | November 23, 16:09 CET

Nah, yellow suits me just fine, thanks!

Stephen Mooney | November 23, 17:17 CET

Ok. LOL.

Spike's stance didn't bother me at all. Something I really liked about the cover was that you actually put them into the middle of an old western town like that instead of the alley mentioned in the concept.

Buffysmglover | November 23, 22:37 CET

I'm glad everyone likes it. Tim (buffysmglover) helped me come up with the concept by contributing which characters I put in the concept and the orange-lit sunset bit. He also had the idea about the scythe, but they decided to leave that bit out because of licensing issues (they thought I meant the Buffy scythe, but I just meant a generic scythe). I decided on an Old-West style stand-off because I've always liked those in old movies. I had set it in a city alley, but I agree with Tim that it looks great in an Old-West town. I thought it would be cool if Spike and Connor looked like they were about to jump off the roof to join the fight. Did anyone notice it's "Beth's Saloon" in the background! LOL! Amazing job, Stephen. I love it!

Beth5507 | November 24, 00:29 CET

He also had the idea about the scythe, but they decided to leave that bit out because of licensing issues (they thought I meant the Buffy scythe, but I just meant a generic scythe).

And the scythe I was talking about was the one in Issue 3's Cover A.

Buffysmglover | November 24, 02:38 CET

Very cool.

UnpluggedCrazy | November 24, 07:32 CET

Glad you like it Beth, was fun to draw! Cool concept. I actually had a generic scythe in there between Angel and Illyria, but I guess it had to be removed to avoid confusion. Drop me a line through my website(www.moondog.cc) if you like, and I'll send you a nice big scan of the original black and white art, complete with absentee scythe.

Stephen Mooney | November 24, 14:14 CET

Wow! That'd be great, Stephen. Maybe I should've said a sword or maybe an ax. LOL!

Beth5507 | November 24, 21:27 CET

I love Mr. Mooney. That is all.

Brian Lynch | November 25, 02:55 CET

I love Mr. Mooney. That is all.

At this late hour I'm stupid enough to love just about anyone.

I love Mr. Lynch once a month, not including everytime he's funny here or at SlayAlive.

At this late hour I'm silly enough to think Brian saying he loves Stephen is funny. And at this late hour I can't tell if in reality its funny or not.

Is it funny?

Buffysmglover | November 25, 13:24 CET