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.

[(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]

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.

[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.

[(Anonymous)]

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. Yeah that's probably right. I just jumped to the Steamship conclusion right away LOL!

~Ami

[kerry-220.livejournal.com]

To give IDW and Willingham an itsy bitsy bit of credit (and it's molecule sized) the last Angel issue is suggesting 'I'm-a-sex-obssessed-loudmouth-Spike' has all been caused by Illyria's leaky pheromones. Apparently, in the last panel he even sounds like himself ('cept he's still in those boxers...) Okay, it's probably just a patch-up job for the fan's benefit, but I'll take it!

[elisi]

Spangels 1, Bangels 0.
LOL! :)

[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.

[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]

!!! Excellent icon.

[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!!!!

[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.

[angearia.livejournal.com]

Yay!

Also just noticed something a while ago--isn't the tailor the dollmaker in Living Doll?

[beer-good-foamy.livejournal.com]

I figured he'd get the ship later on when he knew what he was up against.

Hey, Angel hired someone to make the suit before the voices were done explaining to him what he had to do. Compared to that, I have no trouble buying that Spike would stumble on a Yellow Submarine and go "Right. That's mine. Might be useful sometime."

ETA: And now I have this image in my head of Spike hearing Angel explaining all this and going "...Right. Y'know, Dru used to talk to birds, too. And stars. And pixies. And the kitchen table. And..."

[2maggie2.livejournal.com]

I've been wondering, but too lazy to dig out the book and check. There's a lot of thickness here. That also makes me happy -- maybe Joss *can* climb his mountain. If each page carries as much meaning as this one...

I think it's King who observed at BF that this is Spike doing Angel's old work (hero-detective on the case). In NFFY we have Faith doing Buffy's old work (vampire by vampire, with a big side of self-sacrifice). So I think these are intentional contrasts.

And was trying to edit my last to say that this *is* such a good pay-off for the long, long wait. I'm wrong often enough, so I feel like it's OK to squee loud when vindicated. Yay us!!!

[2maggie2.livejournal.com]

You're missing the batshit insane explanation. Angel's hired the tailor and is hallucinating what he's saying, the way he's hallucinating the bird talking. What's driving the hallucination is anybody's guess, but that's my story for the moment. That's my explanation for why we have the panel of Angel being told to make a costume by the guy Angel's already hired to make the costume.

Doesn't mean that can't be Spike's ship. But I like the idea of him sailing to Scotland. (He's too late, of course, the castle is already blown up -- but he doesn't know that. And I like the very neat trick of explaining in one panel without words why it is that Spike hasn't showed up until now. By the time he got on the trail, Buffy was already in hiding).

[angearia.livejournal.com]

I dug up my preview scans and the resemblance is too striking. I'm thinking it's a yes.

But the preview page honestly has worse art than the art in Living Doll. I was kinda shocked to compare the two because this preview page, besides the fact that the scan isn't the best, but the art itself is lacking in detail and clarity.

I'm also wondering what will happen when Angel looks at Dawn now. To be crazy or not crazy?

[2maggie2.livejournal.com]

Then it's a pointer at whatever it is that's at work. The fairy tale stuff. (More vindication -- I always thought that was a marker for things being not what they seemed).

I'm not a good judge of the art one way or the other. I just don't know the comic book rules for when you should have detail and when you shouldn't.

Who knows what happens when Angel sees Dawn. It's a guess that he's insane. It's a guess that Dawn's still the key. And it's a guess that Joss would remember that crazy people can see glowy green. So who the heck knows?

[elisi]

I had moscow_watcher make it for me especially! :) (Very snaggable btw)

And your point illustrates beautifully why Bangel doesn't work, and Spangel does.

[angearia.livejournal.com]

Oh, and if this Geppetto is "the tailor dude is Geppetto from Fables by Bill Willingham. AKA the Adversary, who has conquered thousands of worlds and united them under his fascist rule." (credit: eilowyn and rebcake) And if he's the same guy from Living Doll, then the Dawn foreshadowing could be also about Angel.

All that talk about losing your soul? Very Angel. He's the one with the detachable spirit.

More Angel = Dawn parallels. Dawn and Angel have both been puppets. And both perhaps being tended to by the same dollmaker.

[2maggie2.livejournal.com]

Very nice of Elena!

I just have never thought that Bangel either worked or was supposed to work. Both Buffy and Angel see each other as ideal types, and the show always points out how much they don't know each other. That the comics are adding exclamation points to that all over the place is one of the reasons I'm still on board with them. I like being vindicated about that.