Hi Maggie. Will do my best to attempt to answer your comment. I didn't mean to move the discussion to Spuffy. However, if Spike were to be in the comic, the question of Spuffy would have to arise, wouldn't it, so it sort of naturally follows?
I don't think Joss wanted to sweep Spuffy under the carpet in Chosen. I think that, in fact, he gave Spuffy 'shippers about as much as he felt he could get away with - certainly far more than the rabid Bangels like our friends on IDW thought they should have had. However, I think it highly likely he wouldn't want to go through that again and will not revisit that storyline in any way, which, in the context of this comic, means keeping Spike well out of things.
I do share some of your concerns about A: AtF. Brian Lynch has, IMO, made a number of huge mistakes - major, major things - but what he's done with Spike hasn't really been one of them (unless he ends up with that wretched Spider creature). Okay, I dislike the harem thing intensely, but I can't call it a major mistake because Spike isn't really a major character in A: AtF. In fact, he doesn't really have a story. This has made me grit my teeth at times, but Lynch has given me other good Spike stuff (his three solo series) that have made me able to take the bad with the good, if you see what I mean. After all, A: AtF is about Angel. I just have to accept that. So yes, I am still glad that Spike went to IDW, if only because I got Spike: Asylum, Spike: Shadow Puppets and Spike: After the Fall out of it, and Lynch's love of the character shines through in every issue of those, even though his interpretation of him may not be quite the same as mine.
FWIW, I don't hate season 8, or love A: AtF. I just don't like season 8 very much, and I find A: AtF more accessible, because apart from Buffy herself, it features the characters I like the best. I don't like Comics Buffy and I resent being made to dislike her, because I loved Buffy in the show. I also don't distrust Joss exactly (I've never thought of him in trust/distrust terms), but I am disappointed to discover once again (my first clue was on reading the original Fray comics series) that what interests him most in his own 'verse and what interests me most seem to be poles apart.
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I don't think Joss wanted to sweep Spuffy under the carpet in Chosen. I think that, in fact, he gave Spuffy 'shippers about as much as he felt he could get away with - certainly far more than the rabid Bangels like our friends on IDW thought they should have had. However, I think it highly likely he wouldn't want to go through that again and will not revisit that storyline in any way, which, in the context of this comic, means keeping Spike well out of things.
I do share some of your concerns about A: AtF. Brian Lynch has, IMO, made a number of huge mistakes - major, major things - but what he's done with Spike hasn't really been one of them (unless he ends up with that wretched Spider creature). Okay, I dislike the harem thing intensely, but I can't call it a major mistake because Spike isn't really a major character in A: AtF. In fact, he doesn't really have a story. This has made me grit my teeth at times, but Lynch has given me other good Spike stuff (his three solo series) that have made me able to take the bad with the good, if you see what I mean. After all, A: AtF is about Angel. I just have to accept that. So yes, I am still glad that Spike went to IDW, if only because I got Spike: Asylum, Spike: Shadow Puppets and Spike: After the Fall out of it, and Lynch's love of the character shines through in every issue of those, even though his interpretation of him may not be quite the same as mine.
FWIW, I don't hate season 8, or love A: AtF. I just don't like season 8 very much, and I find A: AtF more accessible, because apart from Buffy herself, it features the characters I like the best. I don't like Comics Buffy and I resent being made to dislike her, because I loved Buffy in the show. I also don't distrust Joss exactly (I've never thought of him in trust/distrust terms), but I am disappointed to discover once again (my first clue was on reading the original Fray comics series) that what interests him most in his own 'verse and what interests me most seem to be poles apart.