So it's been a busy couple of days, so not much to add. I like these notes. I'm still very excited for this issue. A few notes:
1. The time travel business does tie in not only with all the previous references (ABH, TOYL, Twilight's camp being three seconds in the future) but also the reset in After the Fall. I don't know if I buy that the story is ultimately going to be meaningless, or that there are infinite resets, though I understand your concern.
2. The pages are very Angel POV, which, if you think about it, is the first time we have seen this in all of season eight. (Not counting the preview page from previous!) Angel gets heroic trappings here--King of Cretins mentioned Superman as a reference, with Angel possibly going to save that plane from crashing. But this is Angel POV so I am not too worried about a whitewash as others above are. Hero is what he thinks he is, and it reads as confused hero.
3. Great call on the big O! Heading for another one. He also crashes through the Hollywood sign, which ties in with Angel-the-celebrity from AtF and, more significantly, with the whole celebrity culture things from Buffy ("Oh God, it's you!") and Twilight (and Harmony and Dracula).
4. LOST references: good catch! The reference is actually to the first & last episode of the show (Jack + Vincent + plane is in the first and last sequence of the series). Note that (spoilers, readers!) LOST ends with basically everyone going to a mind-created dimension where they worked out their issues, ala Twilight. LOST plays this straight, but the fuzzy-wuzzies seems to be not Joss' style, and I think this came through in Meltzer's arc (rickety, to say the least, as it was). So I think I buy that the play here is satire, wherein Angel thinks he's in LOST and the comic "shows" this too, but it's not the real story.
4. I can hear Alyson Hannigan in my head saying "Hey, balls!" excitedly, so I kind like FDW as a theory. Dunno if I actually buy it, or really want it. Saga Vasuki, maybe, though she still feels too much a secondary player to work. Still, someone or something has to be behind this.
5. I'm less invested than you in this being a Spike-heavy issue (obviously!) but I'm not too concerned about the Angel focus of the pages, regardless. I'm anticipating (mainly because of the preview page from way back) that this issue will basically be the "Angel & Spike issue," with both characters getting lots of pages to themselves and their backstories with lots of doubling and ironic contrast so that the next four issues are set to deal with their interactions with Buffy and the gang. Structurally Angel and Spike almost always showed up together in the meta of the story, so I think this issue might just be about both of them. Angel gets the first pages of the issue because he's the surface story (Spike's the subtext one). Just a thought.
7. Wednesday. Can't wait! Also, how cool is the recent Joss interview, where he pretty much confirmed that Angel having his soul thrust upon him, whereas Spike getting it himself, is significant? (If not necessarily to season eight.)
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Date: 2010-08-29 10:44 pm (UTC)1. The time travel business does tie in not only with all the previous references (ABH, TOYL, Twilight's camp being three seconds in the future) but also the reset in After the Fall. I don't know if I buy that the story is ultimately going to be meaningless, or that there are infinite resets, though I understand your concern.
2. The pages are very Angel POV, which, if you think about it, is the first time we have seen this in all of season eight. (Not counting the preview page from previous!) Angel gets heroic trappings here--King of Cretins mentioned Superman as a reference, with Angel possibly going to save that plane from crashing. But this is Angel POV so I am not too worried about a whitewash as others above are. Hero is what he thinks he is, and it reads as confused hero.
3. Great call on the big O! Heading for another one. He also crashes through the Hollywood sign, which ties in with Angel-the-celebrity from AtF and, more significantly, with the whole celebrity culture things from Buffy ("Oh God, it's you!") and Twilight (and Harmony and Dracula).
4. LOST references: good catch! The reference is actually to the first & last episode of the show (Jack + Vincent + plane is in the first and last sequence of the series). Note that (spoilers, readers!) LOST ends with basically everyone going to a mind-created dimension where they worked out their issues, ala Twilight. LOST plays this straight, but the fuzzy-wuzzies seems to be not Joss' style, and I think this came through in Meltzer's arc (rickety, to say the least, as it was). So I think I buy that the play here is satire, wherein Angel thinks he's in LOST and the comic "shows" this too, but it's not the real story.
4. I can hear Alyson Hannigan in my head saying "Hey, balls!" excitedly, so I kind like FDW as a theory. Dunno if I actually buy it, or really want it. Saga Vasuki, maybe, though she still feels too much a secondary player to work. Still, someone or something has to be behind this.
5. I'm less invested than you in this being a Spike-heavy issue (obviously!) but I'm not too concerned about the Angel focus of the pages, regardless. I'm anticipating (mainly because of the preview page from way back) that this issue will basically be the "Angel & Spike issue," with both characters getting lots of pages to themselves and their backstories with lots of doubling and ironic contrast so that the next four issues are set to deal with their interactions with Buffy and the gang. Structurally Angel and Spike almost always showed up together in the meta of the story, so I think this issue might just be about both of them. Angel gets the first pages of the issue because he's the surface story (Spike's the subtext one). Just a thought.
7. Wednesday. Can't wait! Also, how cool is the recent Joss interview, where he pretty much confirmed that Angel having his soul thrust upon him, whereas Spike getting it himself, is significant? (If not necessarily to season eight.)