comic fan

Buffy info from Long Beach Comic Expo.Some new info and insight

Star Wars and Buffy News From the Long Beach Comic Expo

Star Wars and Buffy News From the Long Beach Comic Expo

Greg Weisman, Christos Gage, and Megen Levens give a peek behind the comic curtain.

The final panel was the Buffy the Vampire Slayer comics panel with current Buffy writer and artist Christos Gage and Megan Levens. Gage revealed he did not watch Buffy or Angel when it was originally on; he was approached by Dark Horse’s Scott Allie to write the Angel & Faith series and had to binge watch both shows to be brought up to speed. Because of this he can’t tell one season from another after watching them all. Levens watched Angel in college when it was originally on and didn’t know it was a spin-off. Nicholas Brendon, who played Xander on Buffy, has co-written a few issues with Gage and he was asked about their writing relationship. They live close to each other, so after Gage writes a first draft of a script he gets together with Brendon, who adds notes about Xander and helps with dialogue, especially on Xander and Giles. Brendon came up with the premise for Issue 19. Levens was asked what’s the craziest thing she’s drawn so far, and she replied “Shirtless Spike with kittens.” This season is the most character driven of the comic because for the first time the entire Scooby Gang is together. Creator of Buffy, Joss Whedon, said to Gage he felt he got too far from the characters in the Eighth Season of the comics, so he wanted to bring them back together. When asked what the Big Bad was this season, Gage said growing up and being an adult. Another source of trouble will be Buffy never having a relationship with Spike while he’s had a soul, so that inspires the two to try to make a go of it. Joss told Gage this would make Buffy very uncomfortable, so he was all for it. Giles, who’s currently a teenage boy, was also a source of commentary. It was suggested that the first season of Angel & Spike would have Angel focued on trying to resurrect Giles. Scott Allie didn’t want the vampire to be successful, while Joss and Christos did. Gage suggested that Giles be brought back as the Ripper, when he was young and had just enough magic to cause trouble, but Whedon said that would cause issues, “…like would Ripper-Giles want to sleep with Buffy?” This idea was shot down. Levens said she had an epiphany when she was able to draw the characters from memory, so she knew she was going to do their likenesses justice. She enjoys drawing Spike and Little Giles the most. The only character she hasn’t been able to draw is Angel. This prompted a question from the audience which asked since Angel and Spike were having the same sort of nightmares, going vamp and attacking innocent people, would this compel them to meet up? Keeping a straight face, Gage replied that could be one way for the books to crossover. He ended that line of thought with, “Wouldn’t it be delightful if he appeared in Buffy?” Another question asked was if there was anything the fans ask for but you can’t do. Gage responded with the fanfic favorite, the Buffy-Spike-Angel threeway, though it was teased in a dream sequence in a previous issue. He also revealed that he was the one to show Nicholas Brendon the large Spike-Xander relationship fanfics online. Asked what would be their dream projects, Gage said a Godzilla versus Avengers book and Levens would love to be on the current run of Ms. Marvel. Though this panel was only an hour long, everyone was entertained with what was said, and it was a perfect close for the Expo.

ETA

Megan Levens video interview from Long beach Comic Expo.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WUAJHM2Dr-g

1)Talks about her other work.

2)Talks how she got the Buffy gig from her Madam Frankenstein work.

3)Talks about drawing actor likeness.

4)Talks about the story arc.She loves Andrew's story in this arc and working on the arc.

5)There are some challenges ahead for for Buffy and Spike.She's only doing one more issue though and doesn't have too much sorfisght beyond that (but she hopes to do more issues down the line)but she can say in regards to Buffy and Spike,As soon as people get happy,some thigns come up as usual in the Whedonverse.They're different characters at this stage so it will be interesting to see how they handle these roadblocks.

6)She is loving Marvel books right now.Would love to work Ms.Marvel and Miles Morales.

ETA 2

First advanced review for Angel & Faith # 12.

http://www.unleashthefanboy.com/comi...-review/131802

Angel & Faith Season 10 #12 Review

By John McCubbin on Tuesday, March 3rd, 2015

Angel and Faith are both now residing in Magic Town! But does this mean that the duo are finally back together? Read on to find out.

The official description from Dark Horse:

Though she’s returned to London, Faith isn’t planning to join up with Team Angel again. But circumstances will throw the Slayer and the vampire together when someone searching for Illyria brings his quest through Magic Town . . .

Angel Faith Season 10 12 variant Angel & Faith Season 10 #12 ReviewFanboys and fangirls around the world had to have rejoiced at the developments in the last issue, as though it was awesome to see Angel and Faith do their own things respectively, they are much more interesting collectively than apart. That thought does however need to be placed on hold for one second, as though the two characters are sharing the same location (Magic Town, London), it would appear that they’re still going to be split up, with Faith in no mood to be “sidekicking,” for Angel.

It’s this latter statement that has let me down a little from Victor Gishler‘s script, as though I agree that there needs to be some level of separation, this seems like a step backwards rather than forwards. Nonetheless, the writer does give us some interesting moments, with the backstory of Eldre Koh and revelation from Fred allowing for some captivating moments. There’s also a little excitement, with the culminating sequences leading into something that shows a lot of promise.

The artwork on this issue is however once again faultless, with the ultra detailed pencils, and slick inkwork of Will Conrad being as pleasing to the eye as ever before. Capturing the likeness of these characters superbly, whilst crafting this into a smooth, fluid series of layouts, the artist certainly knows how to create drama. He also delivers some intense action, as well as wonderful scenery, as though the former is a little sparse compared to normal, it still adds depth. The colours of Michelle Madsen also continues to add a vivid overtone, with the mixture of dark and punchy colours allowing for great texture.

Angel & Faith Season 10 #12 may not be one of the best issues the series has produced, proving to be rather the opposite. It does however do enough to intrigue, and given the fact this is one of the poorer issue, that’s only testament to the series strength on the whole.

OUR RATING
7
+ Intriguing backstory to Eldre Koh.
+ Magnificent art from Will Conrad.
- The whole Illyria angel was a little predictable.
- The choice to keep Angel and Faith separated isn’t one that wins me over.