all sounds great to me. While I think a lot of the fan response to these books has to be mostly ignored in order to write great stories (shipper stuff, for instance), I actually feel like Allie paid attention to the fan response stuff that MATTERS. I guess which creative teams were working in Season 9 was maybe obvious to even a casual observer, but I really heart felt thank Scott Allie for paying attention and working to hold on to the great talent.

cderochefort | October 11, 09:48 CET

This is gonna be awesome.

Stelian | October 11, 10:29 CET

I couldn't be happier with the news that Gage and Isaacs will be on the Buffy book! I loved their previous work on season 9 in A&F. I don't like much Jeanty's art and it's great that he will leave the Buffy comic, it was about time.
As for the stories, I wish Faith and Dawn would go away, I don't like them.

angevil | October 11, 10:50 CET

I will miss Georges. I loved his work on Buffy and like how he captures the essence of the characters without obsessing about likeness.

That said I really like Isaacs, and am interested to see her take on Buffy.

[ edited by Jelly on 2013-10-11 20:16 ]

Jelly | October 11, 11:15 CET

This is very exciting.
Wonder if there's some news that's saved for the panel, like a preview of potential short miniseries.

Numfar PTB | October 11, 11:52 CET

I just want to know where Spike will be. In the Angel title with someone who wrote him well? In the Buffy title with someone who wrote him unrecognizable?
Sigh.
Since the Twangel thing I'm not into Angel anymore and don't want Spike in it.
But I don't want the Spike that Gage gave us either. Poo. I can only hope that Spike will be with the Buffy title, and that he will be written as Spike. I felt better after reading Gage's response to the criticism of how he wrote Spike, but it still happened.

Xane | October 11, 12:11 CET

APRIL.!?!?!?! Expletive expletive expletive.

That's a crazy long time to wait. Even when the shows were on the air there was a only 3 month wait between seasons. This is 8 whole months. Good way to keep the readership up. Have so much time pass that people forget the book even exists.

Sheesh.

faith in Angel | October 11, 12:19 CET

Well Spike seems to be starting in the Buffy title so Gage will be writing him for at least some of the season if not all. Fingers crossed he rethinks his approach beyond the whole notion of Spike's A&F behaviour being disliked just because of the regression, as the problem went well beyond that.

Gage's take on the character came over better in interview but the juvenile dynamic around Angel wasn't the only issue. There was something just plain disparaging towards Spike in his writing - Angel knowing Spike was 'shallow' enough to take up the offer of the phone number and Spike even going there with Harmony, a soulless demon whom he openly thinks little of at a time when they have him wondering why he got his soul (which, as I've seen others say, considering why he did was really crass writing). The Harmony decision was terrible and ignored not only Spike's history with her specifically but it tried to rewrite their dynamic and what Spike thinks of the 'moron' randomly. I hope that it was just an awful choice wrapped up in the dubious regression writing but in the new season where I suspect Spike will be carving out his own life it does make me a little nervous that his character is going to be remodelled some.

I'm not sure where I think Spike would fall on the souled/soulless aspect with a proper potential romantic partner but considering his own arc it should matter to him and leave a question mark as he should understand the massive potential trust issues in a relationship with someone unsouled. But the repetitive presentation of Spike as a shallow horndog by Gage, not just in the crossover itself but also by implication earlier with Faith making a comment about being the only one who hadn't slept with him and the sudden more depressive regard for his soul (which was so sad to see following the mini where he seemed to be realising that his soul needs connection/belonging and to be satisfied alongside being a vampire, chronologically that didn't work for me). It makes me wonder how much thought they will put into his behaviour/choices in this regard because I do feel pretty sure we will see some aspect of s/o going forward, even if it is just a background tip of the hat that he is actively dating others.

Depth of characterisation is the issue. Gage can plot well but BtVS is all about the character interaction and subtleties and so far Gage only gets that over in interviews and not on page. The general path may well be on the ball, the story idea be there, but the characters lack cohesion to themselves and considered depth. I enjoyed A&F well enough but as someone currently watching AtS for the first time I can say that Angel's character is tremendously more nuanced than Gage ever presented him to be. A lot of characters don't have have the complexity that Angel does so flat characterisation is a concern.

I'm pleased about the change in artist, unfortunately for me I don't like Rebekah's Spike, she just makes him too thick set/square jawed but she is a great artist so I'm sure I'll like it that aside.

Stoney | October 11, 12:52 CET

Wait. Wait. Wait. Laura Martin is back on a Whedonverse title? That's the best news of the day.

Simon | October 11, 12:53 CET

I liked the Spike story in Angel and Faith. I mean we all get dumb for a while after we get our heart broken. And being around Angel, for Spike, is like being around family. Which causes regression in EVERYone. Especially when you're all ego wound-y already. Spike will be FINE in Gage's hands. The guy knows how to tell a story and how to make characters stay interesting.

cderochefort | October 11, 13:32 CET

So the line for this panel is substantial. I swore I went to a Buffy comics panel last year and it wasn't this big. Is it the name of the panel "Whedonversity" or the Serenity news?

Folks next to me say they are here for the latter.

hann23 | October 11, 13:47 CET

Hann23,it could be a combination of the launching of Season 10 and a new post Serenity film series.The panel at NYCC12 didn't have as big news to discuss like this year.

Buffyfantic | October 11, 14:30 CET

I share Stoney's concern about Spike's characterisation, but he's not the only character to be written in a superficial way in these comics. I think the sooner we accept that the comics are not the show, never can be, and that we should divorce the comics versions of the characters from the show ones the better.

It might even be possible to enjoy the comics for what they are then, instead of comparing them to the show and finding them always lacking.

[ edited by deborahmm on 2013-10-12 00:00 ]

deborahmm | October 11, 15:00 CET

So it was a great panel!

My initial take:

1. Georges Jeanty is a fan of Firefly, even before drawing for Buffy, and he really likes the scripts that he's seeing.

1.5 The series will start post film and post Patton Oswalt comic, which I knew nothing about and need to get. Anyone?

1.75. Georges is also very concerned about getting the details of the ship right and has schematics.

2. There's a wicked cool set of interlocking?? variant covers by Isaacs for Buffy S10 #1 and A&F S10 #1.

3. There are no plans to take Serenity beyond 6 issues. It will only happen if Joss et al have a story to tell.

4. Spike will have a better arc, as will all the Scoobs per Allie. He added that Spike's storyline lost direction ( my words) in S9.

5. Allie read a very nice statement from Gage. I can't remember anything of it except he reiterated that his Spike would be improved ( my words), he's going to work his butt off, he knows how much we love the characters, and he said "let's do this!" I thought that was a very Angelish thing to say and a good end to panel.

The line sucked but once everyone was in the vibe in room was great. And Jeanty signed a comic cover for me!

I'm going to miss Jeanty. If I remember more, I'll add. Feel free to correct me.

[ edited by hann23 on 2013-10-12 01:34 ]

hann23 | October 11, 16:32 CET

Thanks for the report.

Buffyfantic | October 11, 16:59 CET

I'm a bit sad that Cage and Isaacs leaving "Angel and Faith"- Isaac's ability to nail likenesses without being photogenic was a joy to see each issue. Not to mention Cage had the character's voices down very well. Especially Angel's.

However, I was not a fan of Jentry's art, so seeing Isaacs on Buffy will help me enjoy the comic more as a whole.

I won't say anything about the new Angel and Faith artist until I see his takes on the characters. I did look at some of his Nightwing stuff. It has promise.

Also, I'm glad it'll be "Angel and Faith", that they'll find themselves again.

Elf | October 11, 20:07 CET