Can't wait. And good news that they intend to do a lot more than just a mini-series.

Simon | January 05, 02:01 CET

dont know whether to be super happy that we are getting closure or mad that it was not a movie like i was hoping

Dawar | January 05, 03:00 CET

A theatre movie wouldn't deal with 'what happened after the show'. It would have to work for a new audience so I think it would have a new, fresh story with familiar characters and their past worked in there.

I had some hope for the rumored TV movies but I think it's safe to say they're off the table of possibilities by now. So I've been waiting for a while now for comics to be the first continuation of the Buffyverse. I just hope they get a damn good creative team!

EdDantes | January 05, 03:21 CET

Exactly what i said in the previous thread about this comic book series EdDantes.

There is no way that they would ever choose to start a feature film adventure by dealing with loose ends from the show. That would be a great way of alienating the new audience right from the start. Sure the movie would feature references from the two series and be a part of the continuity already established but whatever Buffy and Angel (assuming they will both feature) have to face in the movie it will be a self contained adventure.

Any closure from Not Fade Away therefore will need to be established prior to that and if the only option for now is in comic form then so be it. As long as it is Mutant Enemy sanctioned to be part of the official story then i'm all for it.

Not that any of the above happening should prevent that third slayerverse tv series from going into production of course! :)

Technopagan | January 05, 03:40 CET

"As long as it is Mutant Enemy sanctioned to be part of the official story then i'm all for it."

Let me be more demanding; let it be something that Joss is truly aware of and then approves of. The novels for example are technically also ME-sanctioned, but Joss said repeatedly he has no clue what they're like and considering the sometimes low quality, bad characterization and out-of-whack continuity, I'm not surprised. With Joss being aware and approving of this upcoming series, I can consider it part of the official canon.

Otherwise I'm just scared Angel's gonna be 'updated', get a funny dwarf sidekick and carry an uzi from now on as he starts fighting evil aliens and the mafia......or something. Okay probably not gonna happen. Still......fear is there...

Plus, I've seen more than my share of terribly mediocre Buffyverse comics from DH and I hope this will be taken seriously by IDW and get some good people on this. And of course, that they stick to the show when it comes to history, style and characterization.

"Not that any of the above happening should prevent that third slayerverse tv series from going into production of course! :)"

Optimism! I remember optimism.....;-)

EdDantes | January 05, 03:58 CET

Well, there are some random facts:

Jeff Mariotte one of the guys who did wrote some of the Buffyverse novels for pocket books, and as far as I remember was involved in one of two first Watcher Guides (the good ones), is actually one of the IDW main guys and previous EIC.

Also I think that for the exception of the Tale of the Slayer novel series, there wasn't much involvement from ME people in the pocket book novels. I was checking the pocket book website the other day (I think it was yesterday or the day before) and inlcuded in the upcoming releases is a new BtVS novel from Nancy Holder which according to the synopsis is set after Buffy's 7th season. Just don't know if we could take it as canon.

Concerning the DH comics, I actually think they got better after ME people got more involved. Of couse at heart I own almost every issue released more due to my fanboy collector side rather than outstanding quality from the books. But between the mediocre and the barely readable issues there was always some good stuff. That first run in the Angel montlhy book, had a lot of great stories and there also a few good things in Buffy post Watson.

Another thing that concerns me about IDW publishing the new title is the price. I think that most IDW titles are all more expensive than Dark Horse or other more mainstream publisher, and IDW tend to concetrate their books in Prestige Format, which is more uncommon. At these times when foreign currency is sometimes confusing, I just hope they don't charge too much on thse books.

But just like Ed said: optimism... gotta be optimistic.

Numfar PTB | January 05, 04:14 CET

Pretty much my thoughts there too.

By "Mutant Enemy approved" i mean a big sticker on the front of the comic saying "This is really what happened to Angel and the guys after Not Fade Away! No Kidding! Honest!" or something to that effect, maybe less wordy! :)

The Dark Horse books were of absolutely no interest to me whatsoever, Tales of the Slayer/Vampire and Fray aside, that being entirely due to the low quality of the artwork and obvious continuity glitches that featured in many of them. I'm the same with a Buffy or Angel novel. I'll read it and enjoy it right up until i spy an obvious continuity glitch and then i lose interest because it doesn't seem "real" to me any more, at least not within the true story of the 'verse anyway.

So hopefully not only will this new mini series, and any future ones that come along, be officially declared canon but also they will be given an art team worthy of the honour of continuing the adventures of these characters.

See, more of that optimism, hehe.

Technopagan | January 05, 04:17 CET

I'm gonna chime in with another ditto. I never bought/read any of the comics that weren't written by the tv show writers 1st time out. I actually have a few of the comics given to me as gifts and I have read all the ones on the bbc site (some of which are actaully good) and on the whole they are lacking in quality. I am optimistic at this point because all I know is that Joss is going to have some input, obviously the more the better and if they can hire some of the tv writers then optimism will become faith. Failing that, there's plenty of decent comic writers out there that I'd be happy to see have a go as long as they get steered in the right direction by our great leader :)

Paul_Rocks | January 05, 04:53 CET

I don't want to know.

For all the grousing about the "cliffhanger" ending of "Not Fade Away," it was really the perfect ending for the series, because it let the viewer decide what happened to the characters. Did they live, did they die? If Joss wanted us to know I'm sure he would have shown us in the show. I think certain mysteries are best left unsolved.

Son Of Shadow | January 05, 04:55 CET

Aw, no. Will Eisner died.

The First Weevil | January 05, 05:10 CET

By now, everyone has their own idea of what the outcome of the final battle was. I know I do and maybe, to some, it wouldn't be their ideal ending. But..........
I've read a bit of fanfic and was not really impressed. I liked my own idea's better.Ha! Will be interesting to see it pictured before our eye's - even if it's someone else's best guess. I also agree that the "promise of Angel movies" is probably not going to happen. There's always that teeny chance tho'.
Hope the storylines are great - can't wait !

AncientMagicks | January 05, 05:58 CET

I still have hope for a continuation of the verse on tv or film, but I figure we only have about a 5 year window if any of the current actors are going to reprise their roles in a live action production. So, until 2010, I plan to hang on to my little grain of hope.

killinj | January 05, 06:47 CET

Unless Joss approves the storylines, I won't bother with these comics. I can get fanfic for free.

zencat | January 05, 06:48 CET

I mostly have to agree with Son of Shadow. I haven't been clamoring for Angel resolution because, well, that ending was best left unresolved. If the Buffyverse is ever picked up again in TV form, in fact, I'd rather it be without Angel or Buffy, at least at first, as their stories have already been told.

That said, and mostly because of that, I'm ambivalent toward the idea of continuing Angel's story in comics no matter Joss' involvement. And that said, if The Man himself isn't involved in this in some very real manner, then don't even bother inviting me to the party.

RambleOn623 | January 05, 08:29 CET

Glad to see Jeff Mariotte involved - he certainly wrote a number of the better Angel novels. I am just reading 'Solitary Man' right now (well, not literally, because I am typing right now but...) and he gets the voice of the characters quite well. I'd hope he could do a reasonable-to-good job of this project. To be honest, I am so desperate for anything new in the slayerverse, I'd take anything these days. I no longer hold hope of anything new slayerverse (still less buffyverse) from JW - other 'verses sure but not those.
*huddles in corner sobbing*

catalyst2 | January 05, 12:59 CET

The thing for me is that, whilst i can appreciate that after all the effort to save Angel as a series came to nothing, not to mention the fact that all the tv movies have been nothing more than empty promises, it is just way too soon to start saying that the slayerverse is over and done with. I mean we are currently only a little over half a year since the last episode of Angel aired. Seven or eight months is hardly what i would call a long time. I really don't get the whole "giving up hope" thing, it's almost as if people are too afraid to let themselves believe that there will be more just because a new show hasn't been announced within weeks of Angel ending.

I feel that if Angel had ended on it's own terms last year and Joss and David had agreed to call it a day with season 5 then we would all still be certain of a new show happening sooner or later. It's only because of the unfair way the show was forced to end that there is so much doubt and confusion about the slayerverse continuing.

At the end of the day there is no reason or need to stop hoping for televised continuation at some point. Just because nothing official has been announced within the first year doesn't mean that nothing will happen for the 2005/06 schedule, or the 2006/07.

Sorry about the rant but it winds me up a little when i read how fans of these two shows are already giving up on the possibilty of another series happening. It's as if everything has to happen today or it's just not fast enough for some people. The slayerverse is way too good a concept to give up hope so soon. Just let Joss have a breather from vampires and slayers for a while and tell the other stories he wants to tell. The fact that he isn't currently fighting tooth and nail to get a Faith show or a Spike show on the air doesn't mean that he has completly dried up on his supernatural creation, it just means he wants a break to do other stuff.

The fact is that Trekkies had to wait nearly 20 years for their series to return to the television screen and they never stopped hoping. Can't we at least give it a year or two before we give up? I'd say it was worth the wait.

Technopagan | January 05, 15:21 CET

Gothic - for me, it is not so much that Joss won't do it again but he seems to be moving onto other things - probably 3 Serenity movies, very successful X-men comics, Wonder Woman(?) etc - so that he won't get a chance to go back to those original 'verses. I feel there will be more from him on TV but it will be all new - and that's definitely a wonderful thing! Knowing JW's work, it will probably be even more amazing than what he has already done!

For me, it is not losing hope, rather realizing that, given the commercial demands of TV, it is the new that counts. To go backwards to old product on TV is unusual (certainly not impossible) but less likely than moving on. Look at the cancellation of Angel - 100 episodes gets to syndication so cancel it and get to something new that will also get to 100 episodes, cancel it etc. The fact that it was replaced by dreck that probably won't even get to one season just shows the allure of the new over the old regardless of the quality of either.

catalyst2 | January 05, 16:01 CET

Gothic, I see it not so much as giving up as making a realistic assessment of what might or in this case might not happen.
I read the folding of Mutant Enemy as a clear sign that the Buffyverse will not be revisited on the TV screen within the foreseeable future.
I would be very happy if something new ( Film/ TV series) did happen but it does me no good to wait and hope for it, better to focus on the new and interesting things like Serenity that actually are in the pipeline.

Not being much of a comic book reader, I would still be interested in buying an offical Angel season 6 'this is what happened' in whatever format.

jpr | January 05, 17:02 CET

IDW's Angel comic could be interesting. I hope that they use some of the past writers of the show.

But I am also a bit worried...did anyone see their Underworld "prequel" comics???? What that heck was that??!!

With the right creative team this could be a lot of fun.

Jonas | January 05, 19:16 CET

Catalyst2 and jpr, don't get me wrong, i'm all for new concepts breaking through and becoming successful. In fact in my opinion the best chance we have of getting a new slayerverse show is if other comparable series become hits. Lost is a great example of that happening again.

So what i'm saying isn't to sit around and wait for a new slayerverse show to happen whilst ignoring anything else (Joss related or otherwise) that comes along because that won't do anybody any good. All i mean is that it is far too soon for anyone to say that there is no realistic chance of a new slayer show happening, it really is too soon to come to that opinion.

The way things are this year it is certainly not the right climate and the networks are trying new ideas but as we are seeing the success stories are few and far between. Eventually a network is going to look for something tried and tested to help it back into the ratings war again and at that point a proven hit like the slayerverse will seem like a pot of gold to them and they will be glad to consider airing a brand new show that has a solid built in fanbase.

So whilst we should definately be helping shows like Lost and Joss' other projects like Serenity become successful at the same time there is no reason to stop believing in or pushing for the return of the slayerverse. It's not as if it does any harm to stay faithful.

Technopagan | January 05, 20:42 CET