One Page Preview for #36

[maggie2]

sueworld2003  pointed to this one page preview for #36

http://forum.slayalive.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=buffyseason8&thread=10896&page=10#228614

A few reactions below the cut:

 1.  OMG, it's so good to see Spike again after all these years.  And that's *so* very, very Spike.

2.  Angel is obviously insane.  OK.  Not *obviously* insane.  But insane is a pretty good explanation for those three panels.  He's already at the tailor having the costume made when he 'hears' the tailor telling him to have the costume made.  Also?  Talking bird?  Usually evidence of being batshit insane.  To me it matches his expression in the reveal panel in #33 -- which always struck me as batshit insane.  We still don't really know, though.  But you know where my money is.

3.  Sooooooo good to see Spike again.  I guess I already said that.  Look! He's drinking!  IDW forgot that Spike drinks.  a lot.  Look!  He's not hitting on the girl who is definitely making herself available.  IDW forgot that Spike can sometimes talk to a woman without wanting to hump her.  Look!  He's in a ship's cabin alone!  IDW forgot that Spike spends a hell of a lot of time alone.  And white socks.  So cute.  I just want to nuzzle him.

4. Love, love, love the way the last two panels play.  And that line is just exactly Spike.  I love that he IDs Angel right off.  I love the implied contrast with Buffy who so didn't ID Angel even after a whole battle/conversation with him.  Spangels 1, Bangels 0. 

5.  Timing.  The Angel panels are well in advance of the Spike panels.  The Spike panels are all post Harmonic Divergence.  I'm pretty sure that's Harmony's magazine on the bed next to Spike.  The protest follows the Harmonic Divergence stuff -- and the girl has incorporated Twangels propoganda -- the men in the castle are now the 'slayer's victims'. 

Joss has a big mountain to climb in this arc, but boy this one page is great.  Did I mention that it's Soooooo good to see Spike again?

Comments

[kerry-220.livejournal.com]

"Ooh, that'd be Angel, then"

*Smirk. Side to side head movement. Tongue planted behind teeth*

Yeah, good to see Spike again.

[2maggie2.livejournal.com]

I'm surprised how much I'm smiling tonight. Though there was already a big helping of giddy from this morning's soccer match.

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

Looks like Joss realized that we needed some more background on Angel and how in the freaking hell he got to where he is.

[2maggie2.livejournal.com]

Or he's been planning all along to tell us now. Either way, looks like we'll get some answers.

[eilowyn.livejournal.com]

Posted a longer comment to you at Sue's journal - but yes, it's good to see Spike being Spike. Good to see Angel being batshit insane (I love to mock and I'm not afraid who knows it!), and good to know Spike wears socks, because even with the vampire's lack of working sweat glands, those Doc Martins must have been smelly.

[2maggie2.livejournal.com]

I'm so excited about this I'm posting all over the place. Need to calm down, cause right now I feel like Tigger.

LOL about the smelly Doc Martins.

[(Anonymous)]

All I can say is SPIKE! OMG it's "our" Spike. God, I've missed him. :) At least he's acting like Spike, let's hope it continues. And like you said...he's drinking, he's not jumping on the girl, he's alone(and he's wearing white socks lol).Aww I wanna snuggle him too. Are you taking notes IDW? And is he in his Punk! Steamship of Doom? Cause it looks like it. =) I'm just so giddy right now that I'm afraid it'll be a big letdown when the issue actually comes out but I'll just be happy tonight. I agree with you maggie...Angel is batshit crazy and so far is not redeemed at all in my eyes.

Joss has a big hole to climb out of, I hope he can. Cause I've been seriously doubting it. This made me a little more apt to believe that maybe it's possible.

Again..Spike, Spike, Spike! OK I'm seriously excited. Thanx for posting this maggie. =)

~Ami

[2maggie2.livejournal.com]

Seriously, it's all I can do to keep myself from flying over to the IDW forums and posting the link to this and saying "See? *That's* Spike."

It could be the Steamship of Doom. But it could also just be a ship. On the way to Edinburgh as he tracks down this Twilight cult. It reads better to me if the Steamship comes later when he figures out what's going on and goes to look for some way to deal with it. But we'll see.

Meanwhile, sigh. Three panels of real Spike is worth a lot.

[elisi]

Spangels 1, Bangels 0.
LOL! :)

[2maggie2.livejournal.com]

!!! Excellent icon.

[lynnenne]

That made me giggle, too. SPANGEL 4EVA. *g*

[angearia.livejournal.com]

Yay! I'm so pleased. Though, less with Jeanty's rendition of Spike in these panels. The details are nice, but Spike's face is more a blur without any detail. But the writing is pitch perfect.

Remember when we felt like the lone two people in the world thinking this was going to happen? Oh, and looking forward to it happening?

I love Spike so much. ♥


IDW forgot that Spike drinks. a lot.,/i>

Did they forget? Seems to me the most recent time we see him he's stumbling drunk in #34.

But it's important to note that in this preview page, the drinking isn't a big deal. Spike just drinks all the time, not a big deal. That's the difference. S8 treats it as background, IDW treats it as a big deal, a character defining trait. When it's really not. He just smokes and drinks--it's a habit, but not something that wholly defines him.

[2maggie2.livejournal.com]

To be honest, I don't read them (beyond the preview pages) so I don't really know. I just figure their Spike is too busy picking up girls to sit around drinking like he usually does.

What I do know is that this is Spike. Three panels and that's my guy and I haven't seen him in years. Yay!!!!

[beer-good-foamy.livejournal.com]

2. Angel is obviously insane. OK. Not *obviously* insane. But insane is a pretty good explanation for those three panels. He's already at the tailor having the costume made when he 'hears' the tailor telling him to have the costume made. Also? Talking bird? Usually evidence of being batshit insane. To me it matches his expression in the reveal panel in #33 -- which always struck me as batshit insane. We still don't really know, though. But you know where my money is.

Also, it'll solve something else: if he meets Dawn and doesn't immediately start babbling about yoghurt and green glow, we'll know she's not the Key. :)

I like that Spike's steampunk ship is actually literally steam-driven.

[2maggie2.livejournal.com]

ha ha! But tests are always good!

I suppose it's the steampunk ship, but I initially read it as a regular ship. This is Spike starting to track down what's going on and I figured he'd get the ship later on when he knew what he was up against. But I often read these things wrong.

[ubi4soft.livejournal.com]

You kinda covered up all the good stuff.

Good to see Spike is back and Yay, the black polish nail is gone.

[2maggie2.livejournal.com]

Yeah -- also very glad to see the nail polish gone.

[next_to_normal]

OMG noes! Spike is totes OOC! He would never wear white socks! *rage*

Sorry, I couldn't help myself. *g*

He looks so cute all curled up in bed with his laptop. Somebody make icons!

[2maggie2.livejournal.com]

Lol!

I want the Spike in bed with laptop icon!! Now, now!

[local-max.livejournal.com]

This is by far my favourite page since Turbulence.

I don't think this is intentional--but the girl sitting on the bench looks a lot like Cordelia to me. That really fits with Cordelia-as-guide and Angel's PtB connection. I'm going to choose to interpret her as a Cordy-analogue even if it's not intended--in Angel's crazy brain.

The two panels here have done more to convince me of what's going on with Angel than all of Twilight--there's still obviously gotta be a reason why Angel's crazy, but the lines he's being fed seem SO MUCH like the ones Angel would buy. And there's a talking owl. I'm dying.

And Spike. Just brushing past the vamp-groupie. Getting his info from the news.

"No one can know."
"Oh, that'd be Angel then."

Love love love.

Oh man. Joss might be able to pull this off.

[local-max.livejournal.com]

Oh I had a slightly different interpretation of the costume-making scene than you do (though not that dissimilar, I think). My first thought was not that he has no a priori reasons for getting a costume made, and then talking tailors supply the explanation when he gets there. It was more that Angel not only is being told and encouraged to do crazy things, but this is happening repeatedly--without end. The tailor is telling Angel what Angel already thinks (re: costume) again and again and again, so that the supposed reasons for Angel's behaviour get hammered into him. I'm not sure which interpretation is better.

[mrs-underhill.livejournal.com]

Nice to see Spike, yes, but the sheer stupidity of the "vampires are good" plot stops me from being engaged even in Spike's participation in it. My brain just blocks the whole thing.

And I agree that Angel behaves like he's bonkers in those panels, and it's cute that Spike recognizes him. But ugh, that storyline grates so much...

[2maggie2.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure why I can bracket the 'vampires are good' plot. I suppose it's partly because it's actually rather irrelevant to the story, and the 'slayers are bad' plot works just fine for me. And that's what's doing the work story-wise, though that could change at some point.

But yeah, absent some in-story explanation for the public going insane, the 'vampires are good' stuff is a black mark on the season.

[candleanfeather.livejournal.com]

It's nice to see you back. I've read your other post and found it very interesting, but not reading season 8 does often make commenting on it quite impossible for me except for little things or things that tie in to the TV series. So yay for Spike return! It's curious to how in only three panels he has shown much more layers than the boring dumb jerk IDW is trying to make us think is Spike.

And apart Spike, this page is decidedly full of interesting and intriguing potential. And yay for the little touches of humour too, like the superposition of the two last panels: "No one can know"/ "Ooh, that'd be Angel, then". Perhaps I'll buy this last series though I'm not keen on the characters turned from living actors to flat drawings. There'll always be something essential lacking for me from this POV.

[2maggie2.livejournal.com]

My brother never could handle the transition to comics either. I certainly haven't pushed him -- I'm hanging in with the comics but I don't go around trying to get innnocent bystanders to read them!

I love the humor of the last two panels!

[snickfic]

Look! He's in a ship's cabin alone! IDW forgot that Spike spends a hell of a lot of time alone. And white socks. So cute. I just want to nuzzle him.

Awwww. Yes. And he's all curled up with his laptop on his tummy...

I'm still waiting for y'all to tell me if it's good. But if Spike's in character, well, that goes an awful long way.

[2maggie2.livejournal.com]

I can't wait to find out if the comics are good myself!!

I *so* love that panel of Spike and his laptop. A big reason I've hung in is because of my burning desire to see Spike, and these three panels are so promising.