Holy crap! Jo really outdid herself with this one. Gorgeous!

wonderflonium | January 11, 19:37 CET

Those pictures look disturbingly like they imply Buffy is sort of, I don't know, weighing her options between the one in the middle and the ones surrounding. If that's a choice she needs to spend more than a few seconds on... sigh.

KingofCretins | January 11, 19:37 CET

Oh no! Buffy has had a composite event!

Sunfire | January 11, 19:37 CET

Jeanty has really caught Jo Chen's style.

Simon | January 11, 19:46 CET

Oh man,I love these covers.Does this mean,there will be three covers for number #35?Two from Jo Chen and one from Georges Jeanty?

So everything that's going on now in the Angel books(Aftermath,Become What You Are,Drusilla,Boys And Their Toys,Immortality For Dummies etc) is still taking place before the start of Buffy season 8 and we'll begin to see the two lines begin to line up eventually?

Buffyfantic | January 11, 19:57 CET

Jo's the best:)

Looks like all of Buffy's personalities inegrate into her new superpersona Bravo.

Ups, wrong show.

| January 11, 19:59 CET

Hadn't thought about Faith's reaction to Twilight's reveal in all the hubbub, but now having seen these covers, I imagine it should be... interesting.

And yeah, those covers are amazingly beautiful. It seems to me that Jo Chen outdoes herself every time.

Guestage Drew | January 11, 20:01 CET

Excellent covers. I respect Scott saying that it will not affect what IDW are doing with the character. However Season 8 doesnt take place *that* long after the end of After the Fall (which is around May 2004) and Season 8 starts up apparently towards Fall 2004. So any stories IDW has planned have to take place between May and September (or even earlier)...which really does limit what they can do.

Also it depends on how the outcome of Angels role in Season 8 will affect IDW's ability to tell more stories with him after the events of Buffy's Season 8. Like if he dies for example lol. So while I am not going to board the panic train just yet...I gotta say I am anxious about the future of my favourite character and the prospect of future stories in his own series.

angeliclestat | January 11, 20:02 CET

Joss may have once said a year and a half, but, to be sure -- Season 8 has never once textually locked itself into a timeframe in relation to Season 7. So while we (reasonably) assumed early on that it was the fall of 2004 when this started, Joss has not written a single word to *require* it. They've always had the freedom (and have been using it with pop culture references throughout) to move the story further out into the future.

KingofCretins | January 11, 20:05 CET

Wow, that new cover is stunning. Jo really captured the characters and each of their relationships to Angel. I have chills looking at that artwork.

scarecroe | January 11, 20:15 CET

So pretty!
Though Angel's mouth looks a little puffy, but I'm just being fussy. (I've found that David's mouth is the most frustrating thing ever to draw! It needs to be so precise, otherwise it changes his face entirely. I nearly rubbed a hole in the paper the one time I did an Angel sketch.)
Jo's done an amazing job! I've started saving all her covers. They're just..wow!

Shep | January 11, 20:21 CET

I've said it before, I'll say it again: Jo Chen is a goddess. I can't wait to have these covers in my hands...and to poke her with them at Otakon for a signature because holy damn!
Wonder what this means for Jeanty and 35. No cover from him? Just one? Two that are like this (one masked, one not)?

trunkstheslayer | January 11, 20:48 CET

That's a beautiful cover.

However, I have to say that I've been looking at her work differently since someone here posted a link to a guide that outlined her artistic process. I always thought she did what most artists do using paint and brushes and a canvas. But now that I know the final product is created using several computer programs it doesn't have the same impact for me.

While it doesn't diminish the quality of the artwork, it just doesn't seem as impressive to me knowing that a computer program added various parts to the overall piece. (i.e. the faintest hint of a brushstroke to invoke the idea that this is an original hand painted piece)

alexreager | January 11, 21:08 CET

I think the "masked" version would have been the edited version sent out in solicitations. The uncovered one would be the final printed version. Which means that nothing's changed. We'll still get a cover from Jeanty.

wenxina | January 11, 22:20 CET

That's gorgeous. Haven't read anything yet because I saw the pictures and felt the need to state the obvious.

CaptainB | January 11, 22:28 CET

interesting facial expressions on the gang...
Giles has a really smug 'I knew it!' kind of look
Xander looks stunned though willing to kick butt
Dawn looks really really angry
Willow and Faith look very disappointed
And Buffy, well she looks to be in all kinds of pain.

Looking forward to this one.

tranquillity | January 11, 23:15 CET

Good catch/call Wenxina. Probably the safest bet.

trunkstheslayer | January 11, 23:38 CET

Wow, amazing cover.
When Season Eight is done, I really, really want a Jo's covers HC with all of them.

Angel TheVampire | January 12, 00:43 CET

Sometimes, I think my favorite thing about the Buffy comics are Jo Chen's covers.

@angeliclestat Actually, going by the text of the comics, the current Buffy story arc can be no earlier than the second half of '06. I just read through a bunch of issues last night, and Dawn had borrowed (and maybe scratched one of) Buffy's Veronica Mars season two DVDs, which were released in US in August 2006. Buffy said something about "finally" being able to play the DVD on the Scottish DVD player, so it may be months later. That leaves plenty of room for Angel at IDW to breathe, proverbially speaking.

nanceoir | January 12, 06:54 CET