Well imo this all turned out to be a bit of a waste of time didn't it?

What exactly was the point of this series again, except to use it as an excuse to remove him from the main title for a while?

The art was sometimes nice, but as for the story....

Shame the bugs went out in the way they did though, although I'm so glad to be seeing the back of that damn silly spaceship. :D

sueworld2003 | January 23, 07:18 CET

Also I beleive the "Mars Attacks Spike" variant cover for "Mars attacks Transformers" is out today. It's drawn by the late Franco Urru, who did alot of work at IDW for Angel and Spike series.

A_Leaf | January 23, 07:21 CET

Yeah I get it. I think I understand why Spike needed this series, but I think it could have been like 1 issue. It was a lot of pages to get to the final conclusion: Bugs are gone for now, Spike doesn't need to rely on them anymore. He's ready to face life, but first he's going to see Angel.

By the way, it seems strange that Angel's just calling him up. Like "Hey, sorry about that whole trying to kill you thing, but I've been trying to get a hold of you..."

Jelly | January 23, 09:25 CET

I thought the phone conversation with Angel was strange. I felt like I'd missed part of the story, somehow.
Overall, I was disappointed with this issue. To be honest, I didn't like Spike's attitude to Seb's death and the destruction of the spaceship. He didn't display an awful lot of gratitude to the bugs. It all felt rather emotionless and a tad heartless. I think the bugs kind of stole the show for me in this series with their heroism and selflessness. I didn't like Spike in this issue very much and that is a very hard thing for me to say as a Spike fan.

Shade of Pale | January 23, 09:47 CET

Well imo this all turned out to be a bit of a waste of time didn't it?

every time this sentence gets uttered re: the S9 comics, something ancient deep within the world dies.

waxbanks | January 23, 10:00 CET

That wasn't the call I was expecting for :(

See you back, dude, in Buffy's title

anca | January 23, 10:06 CET

Is that Angel at the end? I thought it was Dowling.

slayerfreak5554 | January 23, 10:12 CET

"every time this sentence gets uttered re: the S9 comics, something ancient deep within the world dies."

If thats indeed the case , then we must be due for an apocalypse soon. *g*

sueworld2003 | January 23, 10:30 CET

--Well imo this all turned out to be a bit of a waste of time didn't it?

Why absolutely not. Twas the 'ship' that brought Spike back into the story and saved his ass in S8. In the story about Darkplace astronauts turned cavemen and the 'ship' had to be sacrificed so Spike can live and continue to be in the story. Verry metaphorical.

dorotea | January 23, 10:50 CET

Are we supposed to believe that Spike and Angel communicated all that time behind Buffy's back?

Moscow Watcher | January 23, 12:28 CET

We are supposed to remember that Angel called Andrew at some point to pass a message to Willow. Since Andrew was Spike's biggest buddy before being uncovered as a robot-body-snatcher, he most likely gave Spike cliff notes on the call and the number itself. Being the gloating type, it is reasonable to assume that Spike called to check how things were, etc. Or maybe he wanted to hear if they fixed the Big Ben already. (I won't be surprised if Buffy and Faith call each other behind Angel's back too - and we will eventually be informed to take it for granted. )

dorotea | January 23, 14:04 CET

Meh.

What happened to that broken piece of the seed... shouldn't that have at least come up in this issue since it was the big 'dun dun dun' conclusion of the last issue? Hm.

I thought it was fun seeing Sunnydale throughout this series, but this last issue should have been bigger with another actual Hellmouth introduced... not just some giant artifacts chasing Spike around in a circle.

Mr.Savath_Bunny | January 23, 14:35 CET

Are the bugs dead or missing?

I suppose that if Giles was grieved largely off panel then I guess the poor bugs wouldn't get much of any send off.

And I really wanted the bugs to see Buffy again. They did steal the show.

hann23 | January 23, 14:44 CET

I can readily believe that this was meant to have some metaphorical and/or funny punch to it, and probably would have if Joss had written it (or edited it, or paid any attention at all to it). I don't think Dark Horse is hiring writers who can bring this turkey home. They are producing a lot of titles, with a lot of fancy covers, and no content worth the money we are wasting on them.

I haven't quit reading the comics yet (I think Angel & Faith is the best of the bunch and I'm not sorry to see Spike team up with them), but I'm very close to it. Actually at this point I hate to disappoint my comic book store owner, but I feel that I'm a sucker to buy these pointless/disappointing comics.

embers | January 23, 15:19 CET

I have my copy of Spike:A Dark Place # 5 of 5.

I'll keep it brief.I liked the miniseries as a whole.I thought Victor Gischler had Spike's voice down good and I liked Paul Lee's art.

With that said,IMO Spike seems to be in the same place he was more or less at the start of the mini and season 9.He's more comfortable with himself which is something but as others had said on the various forums,there wasn't much movement forward.It feels very abstract to me.

Maybe when he appears in Angel & Faith and returns to Buffy at the end of the season,this mini will have more payoff.

Other bits.I'm going to miss the bugs.I liked them but before the season started,the creative team said the bugs wouldn't be around very long so in the end they probably got a extension in their time with the mini and it isn't a surprise they would be exiting the story.I'm sorry to see Sebastian die but he got a heroic exit.

I didn't really get a apathetic vibe from Spike on his parting with the bugs and Sebastian's sacrifice myself as other have.

I'm glad Morgan is still around.She reminds a little of Gwen Raiden and I could see her popping up occasionally as Spike's sort of Catwoman.That's how I sort of saw Gwen with Angel.

Overall a decent read and a decent miniseries as a whole.

Buffyfantic | January 23, 18:36 CET

embers, personally I'll finally stop reading Buffy once S9 ends unless there's some drastic changes going on behind the scenes. I'll still be picking up whatever the A&F series becomes (at least the Christos Gage/Isaacs combo). It doesn't feel like Joss is invested in the series anymore, or is otherwise too busy to give it the attention it deserves, so it sounds like a fine time for a long term fan to wait for the trades. I agree with Jelly in that 5 issues was too long for the Spike mini; it should've been done in less, maybe 2 or 3. I enjoyed it, but it dragged at times.

archon | January 23, 23:56 CET

I'm generally with everyone wishing Joss would pay attention to these books and thinking Angel and Faith is pretty glorious and the others are generally hard to read... but I actually REALLY enjoyed this series with Spike. I loved hearing his monologues, I thought Gishler had his voice down, the bugs were funny, I liked Morgan, and I thought, emotionally, this is pretty much where Spike would be with things at this point. It's not like he was going to have THE revelation that would help him get over his love. I mean does that really happen? It's a slow process. I enjoyed the coconuts line. I feel bad for Sebastian and sort of hope he survived somehow. I dunno. I had no problem with this book at all. If the Buffy book were THIS good, I'd be generally pretty happy.

cderochefort | January 24, 10:47 CET

Weak. Very weak. This whole series was a waste of a great character.

deborahmm | January 24, 12:39 CET

Always found the bugs a little bit too Jar-J** B***s for my liking - funny but funny "by design". Much as with the `running into another species that SURPRISE! speaks perfect English` bit.
Gotta say... A&F is kind of holding S9 afloat right now. Buffy made Ilyria boring (!), Spike went nowhere sort-of-slowish, and even Willow's mini (and the one-off in S8 was a personal favourite) was just... eh...

apollo11 | January 25, 15:38 CET

This had to have been the most pointless mini I've ever read.

@theonetruebix | January 25, 15:48 CET

I can echo what many others are saying. The "season nine" books, with the exception of Angel & Faith, are coming off as very... well... pedestrian. The Buffy, Spike, and Willow titles, despite their "canon" status, feel like the post-After the Fall IDW Angel books. The art if inconsistent and uninspired, and the writing just doesn't have that "snap" we expect.

Spike wasn't bad as such, but it came off as hollow. It didn't feel like it added anything to season nine; maybe that's because it was a last-minute replacement for the Drusilla mini.

I don't know if it's due to, as others have speculated, a lack of Joss Whedon involvement, or if Dark Horse can't find writers and artists who are up to the task, but something is missing.

I can look at Angel & Faith, and that book absolutely has whatever the other titles are missing. It has a clear sense of purpose, strong characterization, a tight plot that keeps moving forward, and even the new characters like Sophie, Lavina, Nadira, Pearl, and Nash feel like they belong in the slayerverse. I would presume that this book has the same level of Whedon-involvement that the other books do, but this book has consistently been the one title, out of all of the canon comics, that plays out and feels the most like a television series.

pacer | January 26, 04:39 CET

I agree that the Spike comic was not very interesting and I don`t see its purpose, it didn`t interest me to read it..I wish the Drusilla comic comes out soon, too, especially if Juliet Landau writes it.

Angel & Faith is really good, and it is the only one I look forward to. I love that comic book! All new characters are great! There is a good story to follow, it keeps me interested and I can`t wait for more.

The Willow comic was supposed to be interesting, but cut in 5 issues - 5 months, it is going too slow and becomes uninteresting to follow. I feel as nothing is happening, just a bunch of witches speaking girl stuff in imagination land. Both Spike and Willow comic should have been one shots! I am sure everyone will agree.

The main Buffy comic doesn`t really have interesting stories..some characters are interesting (Severin, Billy), but it is all happening too slow and with no real direction. I don`t see the buildup during the season, no Big bad, no interesting mysteries..Ilyria`s return is underwhelming...I hope at least Dawn dies, hehe..it could be the event that triggers other major stuff in the comic.

Season 8 was much better, it had amazing stories! I loved Time of your life, No future for you, Anywhere but here, Twilight, Last gleaming, Willow Goddesses and Monsters and Wolves at the gate.

PLEASE BRING BACK JOSS WHEDON OR END THE COMICS. Joss could still save the comic.

[ edited by angevil on 2013-01-26 21:46 ]

angevil | January 26, 12:41 CET