Buffy season nine discussion thread

[DevilEyes]

A new preview page for Angel & Faith, and Scott Allie's 10 Reasons to look forward to the first month of Season 9:

http://buffyfest.blogspot.com/2011/0...n-reasons.html

[Admiral_Young]

Haha. Reason one is funny. I'm extremely looking forward to both "Angel and Faith" and Buffy Season Nine. All we need now is a Fray mini-series and I'd be in Buffy comic heaven.

[DevilEyes]

Several preview pages for Angel & Faith #1 have been released:

Pics courtesy of Scott Allie via Twitter.

[Ayelbourne]

I saw Los Angeles go to Hell. Literally. We fixed it, and no one remembers now...but I do.

WTF??

I was told the only way to keep that from happening to the whole world was to be Twilight

Again with the WTF.

I haven't been following the godawful Aftermath-Comics. So did I miss some serious retconning somewhere?

[Admiral_Young]

^ Yes. Post-Aftermath. Kind of been explained in the season eight thread if you wanna dig it up or someone else can post about it.

[DevilEyes]

Christos Gage's explanations about the A&F preview pages via Twitter:

http://twitter.com/#!/Christosgage

Yesterday @ScottAllie tweeted a bunch of panels from ANGEL & FAITH #1! Check his Twitter feed for sweet @rebekahisaacs art!

18 minutes ago via web

Now to answer the question all Buffyverse fans are asking me, about why Angel says only he remembers L.A. going to hell.

18 minutes ago via web

At first everyone remembered L.A. going to hell. But slowly their memories faded. Now only supernatural folks remember. (Not just Angel.)

17 minutes ago

The reason for this is that our stories just wouldn't work with an Angel who was an international, instantly recognizable celebrity.

18 minutes ago

You can't skulk in the shadows helping the helpless when paparazzi are following you.

18 minutes ago

So presumably (unless Joss says otherwise), Illyria, Gunn, Connor etc. remember L.A. going to hell. Hope that helps.

16 minutes ago

And no, the extended Angel cast will not appear in A&F at first. Some will eventually, i.e. Connor. Joss has plans for Illyria.

16 minutes ago

I'd love to use Lorne if I can come up with a worthy story. And Harmony (with Clem) shows up in #5. But none are regulars in Season 9.

15 minutes ago

Season 9 is a pretty personal Angel & Faith focused storyline. So they are the main cast members, plus the memory of Giles & some new faces.

14 minutes ago

And so endeth my comments on the ANGEL & FAITH preview! Wonder how many secrets I wasn't supposed to reveal slipped out?

14 minutes ago

~~~~~~~~~~

continued

Gunn isn't totally human. He got his brain all super-rewired by Wolfram & Hart. Anyway, I'd imagine he remembers Hell-A. Not Kate though.

44 minutes ago

By the way I am totally just giving my personal opinion on all this Angel stuff. Joss decides what's canon, not me.

43 minutes ago

for the lulz
My new response to questions I can't answer: http://t.co/9mz3LOf

37 minutes ago

[Ethros]

Ha, these comics are just so ridiculous now.

First off, I just wanna clarify that the "everyone remembering Hell-A" thing wasn't from Aftermath, it was in After The Fall, in the last two issues.
So now even things are plotted by Joss aren't canon.
(Also just wanna geekily point out that Aftermath was only the name of the 5 issue story after ATF, there were still 20+ issues after that.)

Again, the whole plots of both these comics, Dark Horse's Buffy and IDW's Angel, and now even the combined ones, are so convoluted as to be unreadable. I guess I may as well still pick them up, but I think in my head now I'm going back to Buffy the Vampire Slayer ending with "Chosen" and Angel ending with "Not Fade Away" and that's it. Its much easier

[Admiral_Young]

They maybe convoluted but that's because the writers have a lot more freedom within the context of a comic than 42 page television script. Joss has admitted I believe that a lot of the things he had going on in season eight would have been trimmed down considerably if he was writing them for television. Jane Espenson commented that she didn't see Dawn being a Giant Centaur in the show either but works in the context of the comics. I think fans are making the mistake of trying to translate these into the show (granted I've I done that myself) but when you just accept these are comics and the writers are using the comic medium to it's fullest potential then it's just a fun romp!

[DevilEyes]

Ethros wrote:

---

Ha, these comics are just so ridiculous now.

First off, I just wanna clarify that the "everyone remembering Hell-A" thing wasn't from Aftermath, it was in After The Fall, in the last two issues.
So now even things are plotted by Joss aren't canon.
(Also just wanna geekily point out that Aftermath was only the name of the 5 issue story after ATF, there were still 20+ issues after that.)

Again, the whole plots of both these comics, Dark Horse's Buffy and IDW's Angel, and now even the combined ones, are so convoluted as to be unreadable. I guess I may as well still pick them up, but I think in my head now I'm going back to Buffy the Vampire Slayer ending with "Chosen" and Angel ending with "Not Fade Away" and that's it. Its much easier

You only now think the plots of the comics are convoluted? What's convoluted about Buffy season 9, or Angel & Faith, as much as we know about their plots?

I can see why you'd say that about season 8 with all the OTT weirdness, or AtF, but season 8 is about 'going back to basics' in a magicless world, with Buffy going back to slaying vampires in alleys on her own while waitressing, trying to sort out her life (and we'll already been told it will focus more on the personal) and while having to deal with the animosity of other Slayers, instead of being an army general and celebrity; Willow is dealing with the loss of magic, after several seasons of having crazy powers; and Xander and Dawn are just a normal couple living together. We even now that Spike's ship is not going to last long.

Meanwhile Angel & Faith is about the two of them solving Giles's old cases.

And this is where you decide you've had too much of convoluted plots, not when Dawn was a giant or a centaur or when Willow was flying around doing all kinds of magicks or when Buffy and Angel were having space sex and giving birth to an evil new universe, or when Warren was brought back as Amy's skinless boyfriend, etc...?

As for people not remembering anything, that makes a lot more sense than 10,000,000 in L.A. remembering it but somehow the rest of the world not knowing about it?! If people in L.A. remembered it, Angel would definitely be a worldwide celebrity.

[dsfjr1190]

Meh. After the first three or four arcs of S8 I noticed started enjoying the series less and less. And after they decided to totally ruin Angel's character by making him the Big Bad.... Well lets just say I've read better fanfiction than this official release.

So they decide to have Angel share a title with Faith? Ok, I can dig that. But little to no Connor, Gunn, Illyria? It feels like they don't even care about characters that were created on Angel. If they ignore the fact that Angel actually made friends and developed during his time away from Buffy I will be pissed.

Only Angel remembers LA going to hell? What a cop-out. If they can reveal the existence of vampires and monsters to the globe then they can have one city remember being sent to hell. Gunn in particular had an interesting experience and it seems stupid to sweep it all under the rug.

[Admiral_Young]

I believe it's been mentioned that Gunn, Illyria, and Connor will be mentioned in the run. I don't see how Angel becoming Twilight "ruined" his character. We still don't really know (at least to my knowledge) how and why he become Twilight. We know the motivation. Angel's actions and consequences are all part of the characters ongoing theme of redemption in the long run and well what was established on both shows.

It's way to early to judge what will be addressed in the comics, since you know, they've not even debuted yet.

[DevilEyes]

The first preview page for Buffy season 9 Freefall 1 has been released (together with the sketches and the script).

Like it was mentioned before, there is a party. And this is, I suppose, where Buffy gets drunk with "calamitous results" (whatever they are).

http://www.newsarama.com/php/multime...w.php?gid=3363

The preview page: http://www.newsarama.com/php/multime...id=3363&page=5

[DevilEyes]

New interview with Scott Allie about season 8 and 9: http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/20...unty-of-buffy/

[DevilEyes]

New solicitations and covers for Buffy season 9 #2 and Angel & Faith #3:
http://www.newsarama.com/comics/dark...ns-110708.html

BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER SEASON 9 #2

Joss Whedon (W), Andrew Chambliss (W), Georges Jeanty (P), Dexter Vines (I), Michelle Madsen (C), Steve Morris (Cover), and Georges Jeanty (Variant cover)

On sale Oct 12
FC, 40 pages
$2.99
Ongoing

Buffy continues her nightly patrols while trying to cobble together a sensible life . . . Willow’s adopted a new look, while Dawn and Xander celebrate the comforts of a magicless world. The fun and games come to a halt when mysteriously marked bodies start appearing. As Buffy starts to investigate she captures the attention of San Francisco police detectives who have taken notice of the unnaturally gifted Slayer . . .

Written by series creator Joss Whedon, with Andrew Chambliss of Dollhouse and the CW’s The Vampire Diaries!

ANGEL AND FAITH #3

Christos Gage (W), Rebekah Isaacs (A/Variant cover), Steve Morris (Cover), and Dan Jackson (C)

On sale Oct 26
FC, 40 pages
$2.99
Ongoing

Giles’s personal Watcher files lead Angel and Faith to what Angel believes will be his true redemption—at least for a portion of his unforgivable sins.

In the underbelly of London, where demons are coping with the lack of magic and the resulting changes to the natural hierarchy, Angel and Faith follow the first major lead in Angel’s quest . . . forcing him to reflect on his earliest days in Los Angeles.

• Executive producer Joss Whedon!
• Follows the events of Buffy Season 8!

[timothy]

wow those covers are just awesome. especially the buffy cover I mean omg!!