Thanks a lot for the write-up. Have to say that based on what I've read about the Riley one-shot... well, it's nice that they realised that they had to actually go into Angel's motivations for becoming the villain, but the question is if it comes across as "See, Angel isn't the bad guy" or "Whistler's the bad guy too." Bringing in Whistler as some sort of teacher's edition to tell us what would have happened (except not, if he claims it'll save the world) seems a bit lazy (and it sounds especially jarring given all the Bangel prophecy bullshit, given that Whistler's previous comment on it was "nobody saw you coming"), and I have all sorts of issues with it if we assume that this is still some sort of study of morals rather than just a shippy adventure story (apparently, "not being bad" is what separates the good guys from the bad guys). But we'll see; at least they're trying to fix their own bad planning, and they deserve kudos for that. I like what you write about the juxtaposition of Angel and Riley's decisions, even if I'm doubtful that Whedon and Allie will draw any too harsh conclusions from that (especially if they've just bought the rights to the Angel comics). (Do they explain just how an unknown guy in a mask can "muster" the US army, BTW?)

As for the whole company broohaha, I find it amusing. Poor IDW come across as clueless amateurs a lot of the time, but I've had more reasons than just Season 8 to dislike DH lately...