(no subject)
Morning Everyone,
First off, I'd like to thank everyone who took part in the poll I posted a few weeks back. Some of your answers were as I suspected they'd be, others were surprising. The main points that really stood out to me were the number of you that would like to see more articles and fanart. In order it make this a reality, I'm going to make a point of trying to update more often with news as it arises. Also, I've changed the status of posting entries to the comm to unmoderated for all members. I'd like to encourage all of you to submit entries as you find cool articles, spoilers (behind a cut plz!), and fanart! Please post your fanart here, people! Your fellow members want to see it!
And now, without further ado... here are the upcoming issue covers for #27 and #28!
Hover over the images for issue names. Click on the pics to see bigger versions at the source.
And... a cool Issue #26 Q&A with Scott Allie at SlayAlive.com Great insight and a few spoilers!
1. Ben Marston: As with 'Always Darkest', (which was amazing btw), are there any plans to bring back Jo to do some interior art? Maybe for the last arc of the series for a panel here or there (or a page here or there? *wishes*) I believe it would bring so much diversity to a scene, especially panels containing detailed fight scenes or emotional moments.
Scott Allie: No plans. Jo's so busy on covers, she doesn't do much interior work. I'd love to have her do it, and I could see us doing a little more, but I doubt it'd be much.
2. AndrewCrossett: It's almost Comic Con time. Will there be any big Buffy (or Joss) related announcements we should be holding our breath in anticipation of?
Scott Allie: No biggies. Some good ones.
3. bamph: How did Joss pitch you the web comic,"Always Darkest" and what was your reaction to it after he did?
Scott Allie: I told him I wanted something special for the end of the second year of MDHP, and that Jo had agreed to draw a 2-page strip. I asked if he'd write it, and he said if Jo was gonna draw it, he'd have to. He asked Jo what she wanted to draw, and all she said was "Caleb." So we talked about what WE wanted to see Jo draw, and it was basically all about faces. Joss turned in a script for two pages, and Jo asked if she could have another page to give it room to breathe.
4. matt114: It was mentioned around the time of the series launch that Anya would appear in some form. Are there still plans to feature Anya in season 8?
Scott Allie: You might have that slightly wrong ... there were never plans to use Anya, but I probably would've said we might or we could use Anya if it became appropriate. But it was never anything Joss and I talked about.
5. Nicholas: Will Riley play a larger role in the upcoming issues?
Scott Allie: Riley will have a role in Jane's arc.
6. trunktheslayer: There's a large continuity error in 26 with Warren taking credit for the First's trick (in Warren's form) back in season 7. Will this be explained or is this one of those "sweep it under the rug" sorta deals?
Scott Allie: I tell you, that Joss Whedon ... I'll look at it, talk to him, and it might be something we fix for the trade. If it's a problem, we'll fix it, not sweep it under the rug. Seems fixable.
7. menomegirl: Now that Dawn's major arc is over and now that the reality of vampires being known the world over has been established, are the stories going to be more tightly woven and less floundering?
Scott Allie: Dawn's arc is not over. She's just her normal shape now. But yes, starting with Jane's story, the series is going to get more focused on the main characters again, and get a little more straight to the point, the Buffy of it.
8. skytteflickan88: Is 'Always Darkest' supposed to be a tie in to issue 26 specifically, or just season 8 in general?
Scott Allie: Generally.
9. Jay: Is the Willow one-shot a numeric part of the series? For example, would it be #35?
Scott Allie: Nope-more like Tales of the Vampires. Meaning you get more than forty issues of Season Eight, don't you?
10. vampmogs: In No Future For You Buffy says she's been having repeated nightmares. In her dreams we see there's a lion demon with a forked tongue and wings. I think it says "long live the queen, the queen is dead" Will these dreams be explained by the end of the season, are they important to the plot?
Scott Allie: They are important to the plot, but I can't promise the dream will be explained, exactly. But I think they'll make more sense.
11. Nicholas: What exactly do you think of the whole Angel and Spike thing in Always Darkest, considering all the gay undertones this season had had?
Scott Allie: I think this is Joss's gift to a certain segment of the fandom. I laughed my ass off when I read the script, and the art just made it better. And the funniest thing about it, for me, is how it messes with Buffy's narcissism.
12. vampmogs: The comic works really well when we get references to past issues. Like Buffy and Giles talking about "Future Willow" or Xander and Renee talking about how she let the Zombies attack. Are there any scenes coming up just between Buffy and Faith? Maybe to talk about what happened in NFFY? Or at least a couple of lines referencing it?
Scott Allie: I don't believe they refer back to NFFY, but there are moments with them together over the course of Jane's arc. And Jane's arc is my favorite so far, before anyone asks. I think I may have said this before, but it bears repeating.
13. Neil: Maybe the question is too spoilery, but are there any characters coming to die in the upcoming issues? Either minor or main characters?
I don´t want to know who or when ( And I don´t expect them to be answered ), just if some body count will occur?
Scott Allie: Characters will die. I will say that there are characters that if I just said their first names, you'd know exactly who they are. That doesn't narrow it down much, I know.
14. vampireinrug: 'Always Darkest' was awesome. Will it be included in the "Retreat" Tradepaperback?
Scott Allie: Not sure. It'll be in the MDHP collection, Vol. 4, which has an AWESOME cover by Kristian Donaldson, an artist we'll be making Joss fans familiar with this year.
15. sosa lola: It's a Dawn/Kenny question. I don't remember this being answered before, but wouldn't it have been easier for Buffy to go after Kenny right after he'd cursed Dawn? I mean, why wait all that time before confronting him?
Scott Allie: Buffy didn't know the whole picture, or even all that much of it, until very recently.
16. AndrewCrossett: On one of Buffy's monitors on the "Predators & Prey" TPB cover, there's a news report about Simone's gang attacking Rome. We've seen that in his (supposed) goal to rid the world of magic, demons, vampires and Slayers, Twilight has primarily made use of magic, demons, vampires, and Slayers. Is it possible that Simone is working for him, causing trouble in order to help cast all Slayers as terrorists, and that Warren's "proposal" for Andrew would have involved something similar?
Scott Allie: That is a great question.
17. bamph: With Oz back in this arc,will we see Oz interacting with some of the newer characters that weren't around when he was still on the show? I'm sure Kennedy is a given but what about anyone else such as Dawn or Andrew?
Scott Allie: A little. But with SO MANY characters to juggle, and with this NOT being focused on Oz, there's not room for things like Andrew and Oz shooting the breeze at the water cooler. I understand that it'd be good fan service to have Oz make some acerbic remark to Dawn about her not being there when he was, but it wouldn't further the story, and we have a LOT of story. The character stuff that does go on should make you happy enough.
18. dane5by5: I'm not sure if this will be too spoilery, but;
In terms of character development, if you could use one word to describe each major character(s) arc in Season Eight, what word would you choose?
Scott Allie: Oooh. I dunno. You know, I just wrote it all out here, but it's too spoilery. You know how every time one of you says, "Okay, so now that Dawn's arc is over," I say, "God! It's not over! She's just back to normal shape, how does that resolve an arc in a Joss show?!? What is this, Charmed?!?" Well, the truth is, some of these character arcs are so unclear to you right now, what they're about, it'd screw things up to even categorize them. But by the end of Jane's arc, you'll have seen a lot more. If I described their arcs in one word right now, you'd say, "What?!?" But if after #30, you came back and read my one word summations, the smartest of you would say, "I know how Season Eight ends." When Joss told Kai what the series was really about, what it means to Buffy, and he started to tell her where it was going, she said, "So it ends like this-" And she nailed it. You've gotta read the story as it unfolds. If I get cute with teasers and spoilers, or honestly answer a question like this, it'll ruin the whole damn thing. A story that's really about something has a certain logic to it. It's not a riddle to be hinted at. It's a story to live through.
19. mikey: Loved the Angel/Spike bit, but it cut away from the kiss! D'OH! Will there ever be an onscreen (er, page) male+male scene in Season 8?
Scott Allie: I dunno, Mikey. I think it was funnier to do this one off camera, and let the sound effects do the talking. But your question is valid ...
20. kratos: Will Spike ever really (not in dream-sequences) appear in season8 or is this something that might possibly be for season9?
Scott Allie: No spoilers.
21. Ben Marston: As I (and probably others) have noticed, there seems to be a rather large time difference between issues 25 and 26. Will there be a one shot or online mini story that shows us what happened to Buffy and co at command central? I know it was discovered, but what exactly happened? It's probably me just being nit picky.
Scott Allie: We almost certainly won't do that. Sorry ...
22. mb168: Why is it that Angel and Buffy are under two different companies? And if you don't want to answer that question then is Will 100% gay or is there a chance for a Willow Oz reunion?
Scott Allie: We screwed up and let Angel go before plans to relaunch Buffy were underway. I can answer that one, but I can't put anyone's sexuality into percentage points. Or spoil everyone's curiosity about Will and Oz.
23. Smashed: Has it been confirmed who's going to be the writer and illustrator for the Willow one-shot?
Scott Allie: We're saving that announcement.
24. trunktheslayer: Can we expect Oz to stick around after this arc or will he remain out of the last quarter of the season?
Scott Allie: No spoiler. Sorry.
25. Ned F.: With the lettercol reminder of Warren being dead and the other question about Warren knowing what the First had done, do you think the Twilight reveal will be able to stand up in terms of story structure and continuity?
Scott Allie: The Twilight reveal will work. We're gonna deal with that thing about the First. Sorry about that one.
26. AndrewCrossett: I just finished re-reading "Broken Bottle of Djinn" and was thinking about how cool it would be to have 1930's Slayer Rachel O'Connor meet up with The Goon and Frankie. Considering that Eric Powell is a Buffy veteran, has there ever been any consideration of a crossover between the two books?
Scott Allie: Nope-crossovers with the Goon are hard, because Goon doesn't exist in any real version of our time-he's not really in the 1930s, but in some mishmash of that time and some other points in history, and no specific geographical location. So when we do crossovers, like the Hellboy and Metalocalypse ones, they have to really be larks, clearly outside continuity. And Goon has so much it's own vibe, you have to really pick the right book to crossover with, and I don't think this is it.
27. sosa lola: You mentioned that Retreat is your favorite arc, is it because it appearently focuses on characters or because of the plot?
Scott Allie: Both. It pulls everything back together. It pushes the plot in ways we haven't done since Drew's arc, and it focuses on the cast just the way I think it should: everyone gets their moments, but it's primarily about the core Scoobs. And it develops the story emotionally in nice and surprising ways.
28. Rowan Hawthorn: Not specifically, but just in general: Is the Willow one-shot going to be in the current time-line (i.e., running at the same time as the rest of the series), or is it going to follow Willow either prior to whatever the current issue will be at that time or in the future? (Yeah, okay, that was kinda confusing...)
Scott Allie: It's Season Eight, but it's not right in step with the current issue.
29. Rowan Hawthorn: I'm still curious: Where were Willow and Kennedy living at the start of Season Eight, New York or...?
Scott Allie: This is still vague, but we're gonna give more details before too long.
30. Joe: In 8.26 when Willow teleports away with the demon Satsu captured, Faith freaks outs and says "No, no, no. I'm done with this kind of crap." A lot of people were confused to as why she was saying this because she has never had a problem with magic before. What was the meaning behind this?
Scott Allie: She's sick of the killing, and she knew Will was gonna be pretty harsh on that demon. Even though they're demons, after Brian's arc she wanted to focus on more positive things. That hasn't been working out for her.
31. stormwreath: In Season 7, Willow usually went scary-black-eyed whenever she used magic. In Season 8, she seems to do that much less often - maybe four or five times in the entire season so far, despite casting some pretty powerful spells.
Is this something deliberate that we should be paying attention to, or is it just a coincidence/artist's licence? Was it something Joss discussed with you or the artists?
Scott Allie: She's more powerful than ever, and so she can use some magic without going dark, in ways she was not able to before. To do some things, of course, she does have to go dark. Does that make sense?
32. Jay: Who's the purply guy with the carrot nose sitting next to Clem in the wedding scene from Always Darkest?
Scott Allie: I'm not sure ... Joss was not specific on that page, except for a few details, and so Jo just sort of went nuts.
33. Neil: I would like to know how the comic book scripts look like and how many pages they have?
Scott Allie: The scripts are pretty detailed, but it varies by writer. I think BKV and Drew had the most detailed panel descriptions, and that makes the scripts longer. But they're roughly 22 pages long, roughly a printed page of script per page of comic.
34. lilbit: Willow and Xander have had minimal screen time together so far in the season. As someone who has always loved that they were "besties" is this normal? Is it just that there aren't enough pages to show them geeking out together, or are we supposed to be noticing that Xander and Willow are spending more time with Buffy or others (ie Dawn or Kennedy) than with each other?
Scott Allie: The point isn't so much that they're not with each other, as that they're busy with other people. There's no rift; there's just other stuff for them to worry about.
35. trunktheslayer: I'll ask a generic one: Out of the covers for issues 1-28 (and Tales), given that they're the ones we've seen thus far, which one(s) is/are your favorite(s) and why?
Scott Allie: Tales of the Vampires is my all time favorite cover right now, because of what Jo brought to it in terms of content. It was her idea to bring the pomegranate into the cover, and when I asked her why, her answer was so good we had Becky and Vee work it into the story. My favorite Georges cover is still I WANT YOU TO BE STRONG from #5, which remains one of my favorite stories.
36. Nicholas: Will there ever be a directors cut of an issue that comes with notes like Angel ATF had for the first issue, because now that we have Season 8, I miss the commentary that we would get for a TV episode?
Scott Allie: We could do something like that down the road. No plans for it at the moment.
37. vampmogs: Recently we've had some talk about a Buffy Animated Series that's supposed to be happening again. Can you tell us anything about that? Were the rumours true or false?
Scott Allie: The rumors are pretty lacking in specifics, and what specifics that are out there are not accurate, but Fox does have something in the works.
38. dane5by5: As it has previously been noted, there seems to be quite an increased urgency and danger in Retreat #26 than in the Predators and Prey arc, this jump was quite jarring to some fans, and left the feeling that something was missed or some time has elapsed between the arcs. Other points like Satsu and Kennedy's return to the Scoobies HQ and Faith and Giles' knowledge of Twilight and his agenda have not been covered within the story. Was this intentional and what is your feeling on leaving it to the fans to piece these disconnections together, are these unavoidable consequences of time/page constraints?
Scott Allie: Yeah, there's just not room or really interest in moving the pieces around the chessboard like that. The stuff you're talking about, I think you pieced it together pretty easily, and there was nothing particularly interesting that we could have added. I don't think any one is confused about these specific things, unlike the bit with Warren and Amy-for which we have worked out a fix. I think stopping to cover all those beats would be a drag. There are definitely more logistical issues to cover in a series like this than a normal season of Buffy on TV, where the cast is pretty much all in a limited space, or off the radar entirely.
39. AndrewCrossett: Why did Faith and Giles, and Andrew and his Slayers, choose to go underground where they could be openly attacked by demons, rather than staying up above and just not identifying themselves as Slayers? Are they being actively hunted now by the human authorities?
Scott Allie: Yes, they are being actively hunted by human authorities, mostly those working with Twilight.
40. Jay: Will we ever find out any of the other Slayers' last names? Especially Satsu, Rowena, Leah...(Renee).
Scott Allie: Probably not. We'll learn their names if there's a reason for them in the story. Like if they ever form a baseball team and need jerseys.
First off, I'd like to thank everyone who took part in the poll I posted a few weeks back. Some of your answers were as I suspected they'd be, others were surprising. The main points that really stood out to me were the number of you that would like to see more articles and fanart. In order it make this a reality, I'm going to make a point of trying to update more often with news as it arises. Also, I've changed the status of posting entries to the comm to unmoderated for all members. I'd like to encourage all of you to submit entries as you find cool articles, spoilers (behind a cut plz!), and fanart! Please post your fanart here, people! Your fellow members want to see it!
And now, without further ado... here are the upcoming issue covers for #27 and #28!
Hover over the images for issue names. Click on the pics to see bigger versions at the source.
And... a cool Issue #26 Q&A with Scott Allie at SlayAlive.com Great insight and a few spoilers!
1. Ben Marston: As with 'Always Darkest', (which was amazing btw), are there any plans to bring back Jo to do some interior art? Maybe for the last arc of the series for a panel here or there (or a page here or there? *wishes*) I believe it would bring so much diversity to a scene, especially panels containing detailed fight scenes or emotional moments.
Scott Allie: No plans. Jo's so busy on covers, she doesn't do much interior work. I'd love to have her do it, and I could see us doing a little more, but I doubt it'd be much.
2. AndrewCrossett: It's almost Comic Con time. Will there be any big Buffy (or Joss) related announcements we should be holding our breath in anticipation of?
Scott Allie: No biggies. Some good ones.
3. bamph: How did Joss pitch you the web comic,"Always Darkest" and what was your reaction to it after he did?
Scott Allie: I told him I wanted something special for the end of the second year of MDHP, and that Jo had agreed to draw a 2-page strip. I asked if he'd write it, and he said if Jo was gonna draw it, he'd have to. He asked Jo what she wanted to draw, and all she said was "Caleb." So we talked about what WE wanted to see Jo draw, and it was basically all about faces. Joss turned in a script for two pages, and Jo asked if she could have another page to give it room to breathe.
4. matt114: It was mentioned around the time of the series launch that Anya would appear in some form. Are there still plans to feature Anya in season 8?
Scott Allie: You might have that slightly wrong ... there were never plans to use Anya, but I probably would've said we might or we could use Anya if it became appropriate. But it was never anything Joss and I talked about.
5. Nicholas: Will Riley play a larger role in the upcoming issues?
Scott Allie: Riley will have a role in Jane's arc.
6. trunktheslayer: There's a large continuity error in 26 with Warren taking credit for the First's trick (in Warren's form) back in season 7. Will this be explained or is this one of those "sweep it under the rug" sorta deals?
Scott Allie: I tell you, that Joss Whedon ... I'll look at it, talk to him, and it might be something we fix for the trade. If it's a problem, we'll fix it, not sweep it under the rug. Seems fixable.
7. menomegirl: Now that Dawn's major arc is over and now that the reality of vampires being known the world over has been established, are the stories going to be more tightly woven and less floundering?
Scott Allie: Dawn's arc is not over. She's just her normal shape now. But yes, starting with Jane's story, the series is going to get more focused on the main characters again, and get a little more straight to the point, the Buffy of it.
8. skytteflickan88: Is 'Always Darkest' supposed to be a tie in to issue 26 specifically, or just season 8 in general?
Scott Allie: Generally.
9. Jay: Is the Willow one-shot a numeric part of the series? For example, would it be #35?
Scott Allie: Nope-more like Tales of the Vampires. Meaning you get more than forty issues of Season Eight, don't you?
10. vampmogs: In No Future For You Buffy says she's been having repeated nightmares. In her dreams we see there's a lion demon with a forked tongue and wings. I think it says "long live the queen, the queen is dead" Will these dreams be explained by the end of the season, are they important to the plot?
Scott Allie: They are important to the plot, but I can't promise the dream will be explained, exactly. But I think they'll make more sense.
11. Nicholas: What exactly do you think of the whole Angel and Spike thing in Always Darkest, considering all the gay undertones this season had had?
Scott Allie: I think this is Joss's gift to a certain segment of the fandom. I laughed my ass off when I read the script, and the art just made it better. And the funniest thing about it, for me, is how it messes with Buffy's narcissism.
12. vampmogs: The comic works really well when we get references to past issues. Like Buffy and Giles talking about "Future Willow" or Xander and Renee talking about how she let the Zombies attack. Are there any scenes coming up just between Buffy and Faith? Maybe to talk about what happened in NFFY? Or at least a couple of lines referencing it?
Scott Allie: I don't believe they refer back to NFFY, but there are moments with them together over the course of Jane's arc. And Jane's arc is my favorite so far, before anyone asks. I think I may have said this before, but it bears repeating.
13. Neil: Maybe the question is too spoilery, but are there any characters coming to die in the upcoming issues? Either minor or main characters?
I don´t want to know who or when ( And I don´t expect them to be answered ), just if some body count will occur?
Scott Allie: Characters will die. I will say that there are characters that if I just said their first names, you'd know exactly who they are. That doesn't narrow it down much, I know.
14. vampireinrug: 'Always Darkest' was awesome. Will it be included in the "Retreat" Tradepaperback?
Scott Allie: Not sure. It'll be in the MDHP collection, Vol. 4, which has an AWESOME cover by Kristian Donaldson, an artist we'll be making Joss fans familiar with this year.
15. sosa lola: It's a Dawn/Kenny question. I don't remember this being answered before, but wouldn't it have been easier for Buffy to go after Kenny right after he'd cursed Dawn? I mean, why wait all that time before confronting him?
Scott Allie: Buffy didn't know the whole picture, or even all that much of it, until very recently.
16. AndrewCrossett: On one of Buffy's monitors on the "Predators & Prey" TPB cover, there's a news report about Simone's gang attacking Rome. We've seen that in his (supposed) goal to rid the world of magic, demons, vampires and Slayers, Twilight has primarily made use of magic, demons, vampires, and Slayers. Is it possible that Simone is working for him, causing trouble in order to help cast all Slayers as terrorists, and that Warren's "proposal" for Andrew would have involved something similar?
Scott Allie: That is a great question.
17. bamph: With Oz back in this arc,will we see Oz interacting with some of the newer characters that weren't around when he was still on the show? I'm sure Kennedy is a given but what about anyone else such as Dawn or Andrew?
Scott Allie: A little. But with SO MANY characters to juggle, and with this NOT being focused on Oz, there's not room for things like Andrew and Oz shooting the breeze at the water cooler. I understand that it'd be good fan service to have Oz make some acerbic remark to Dawn about her not being there when he was, but it wouldn't further the story, and we have a LOT of story. The character stuff that does go on should make you happy enough.
18. dane5by5: I'm not sure if this will be too spoilery, but;
In terms of character development, if you could use one word to describe each major character(s) arc in Season Eight, what word would you choose?
Scott Allie: Oooh. I dunno. You know, I just wrote it all out here, but it's too spoilery. You know how every time one of you says, "Okay, so now that Dawn's arc is over," I say, "God! It's not over! She's just back to normal shape, how does that resolve an arc in a Joss show?!? What is this, Charmed?!?" Well, the truth is, some of these character arcs are so unclear to you right now, what they're about, it'd screw things up to even categorize them. But by the end of Jane's arc, you'll have seen a lot more. If I described their arcs in one word right now, you'd say, "What?!?" But if after #30, you came back and read my one word summations, the smartest of you would say, "I know how Season Eight ends." When Joss told Kai what the series was really about, what it means to Buffy, and he started to tell her where it was going, she said, "So it ends like this-" And she nailed it. You've gotta read the story as it unfolds. If I get cute with teasers and spoilers, or honestly answer a question like this, it'll ruin the whole damn thing. A story that's really about something has a certain logic to it. It's not a riddle to be hinted at. It's a story to live through.
19. mikey: Loved the Angel/Spike bit, but it cut away from the kiss! D'OH! Will there ever be an onscreen (er, page) male+male scene in Season 8?
Scott Allie: I dunno, Mikey. I think it was funnier to do this one off camera, and let the sound effects do the talking. But your question is valid ...
20. kratos: Will Spike ever really (not in dream-sequences) appear in season8 or is this something that might possibly be for season9?
Scott Allie: No spoilers.
21. Ben Marston: As I (and probably others) have noticed, there seems to be a rather large time difference between issues 25 and 26. Will there be a one shot or online mini story that shows us what happened to Buffy and co at command central? I know it was discovered, but what exactly happened? It's probably me just being nit picky.
Scott Allie: We almost certainly won't do that. Sorry ...
22. mb168: Why is it that Angel and Buffy are under two different companies? And if you don't want to answer that question then is Will 100% gay or is there a chance for a Willow Oz reunion?
Scott Allie: We screwed up and let Angel go before plans to relaunch Buffy were underway. I can answer that one, but I can't put anyone's sexuality into percentage points. Or spoil everyone's curiosity about Will and Oz.
23. Smashed: Has it been confirmed who's going to be the writer and illustrator for the Willow one-shot?
Scott Allie: We're saving that announcement.
24. trunktheslayer: Can we expect Oz to stick around after this arc or will he remain out of the last quarter of the season?
Scott Allie: No spoiler. Sorry.
25. Ned F.: With the lettercol reminder of Warren being dead and the other question about Warren knowing what the First had done, do you think the Twilight reveal will be able to stand up in terms of story structure and continuity?
Scott Allie: The Twilight reveal will work. We're gonna deal with that thing about the First. Sorry about that one.
26. AndrewCrossett: I just finished re-reading "Broken Bottle of Djinn" and was thinking about how cool it would be to have 1930's Slayer Rachel O'Connor meet up with The Goon and Frankie. Considering that Eric Powell is a Buffy veteran, has there ever been any consideration of a crossover between the two books?
Scott Allie: Nope-crossovers with the Goon are hard, because Goon doesn't exist in any real version of our time-he's not really in the 1930s, but in some mishmash of that time and some other points in history, and no specific geographical location. So when we do crossovers, like the Hellboy and Metalocalypse ones, they have to really be larks, clearly outside continuity. And Goon has so much it's own vibe, you have to really pick the right book to crossover with, and I don't think this is it.
27. sosa lola: You mentioned that Retreat is your favorite arc, is it because it appearently focuses on characters or because of the plot?
Scott Allie: Both. It pulls everything back together. It pushes the plot in ways we haven't done since Drew's arc, and it focuses on the cast just the way I think it should: everyone gets their moments, but it's primarily about the core Scoobs. And it develops the story emotionally in nice and surprising ways.
28. Rowan Hawthorn: Not specifically, but just in general: Is the Willow one-shot going to be in the current time-line (i.e., running at the same time as the rest of the series), or is it going to follow Willow either prior to whatever the current issue will be at that time or in the future? (Yeah, okay, that was kinda confusing...)
Scott Allie: It's Season Eight, but it's not right in step with the current issue.
29. Rowan Hawthorn: I'm still curious: Where were Willow and Kennedy living at the start of Season Eight, New York or...?
Scott Allie: This is still vague, but we're gonna give more details before too long.
30. Joe: In 8.26 when Willow teleports away with the demon Satsu captured, Faith freaks outs and says "No, no, no. I'm done with this kind of crap." A lot of people were confused to as why she was saying this because she has never had a problem with magic before. What was the meaning behind this?
Scott Allie: She's sick of the killing, and she knew Will was gonna be pretty harsh on that demon. Even though they're demons, after Brian's arc she wanted to focus on more positive things. That hasn't been working out for her.
31. stormwreath: In Season 7, Willow usually went scary-black-eyed whenever she used magic. In Season 8, she seems to do that much less often - maybe four or five times in the entire season so far, despite casting some pretty powerful spells.
Is this something deliberate that we should be paying attention to, or is it just a coincidence/artist's licence? Was it something Joss discussed with you or the artists?
Scott Allie: She's more powerful than ever, and so she can use some magic without going dark, in ways she was not able to before. To do some things, of course, she does have to go dark. Does that make sense?
32. Jay: Who's the purply guy with the carrot nose sitting next to Clem in the wedding scene from Always Darkest?
Scott Allie: I'm not sure ... Joss was not specific on that page, except for a few details, and so Jo just sort of went nuts.
33. Neil: I would like to know how the comic book scripts look like and how many pages they have?
Scott Allie: The scripts are pretty detailed, but it varies by writer. I think BKV and Drew had the most detailed panel descriptions, and that makes the scripts longer. But they're roughly 22 pages long, roughly a printed page of script per page of comic.
34. lilbit: Willow and Xander have had minimal screen time together so far in the season. As someone who has always loved that they were "besties" is this normal? Is it just that there aren't enough pages to show them geeking out together, or are we supposed to be noticing that Xander and Willow are spending more time with Buffy or others (ie Dawn or Kennedy) than with each other?
Scott Allie: The point isn't so much that they're not with each other, as that they're busy with other people. There's no rift; there's just other stuff for them to worry about.
35. trunktheslayer: I'll ask a generic one: Out of the covers for issues 1-28 (and Tales), given that they're the ones we've seen thus far, which one(s) is/are your favorite(s) and why?
Scott Allie: Tales of the Vampires is my all time favorite cover right now, because of what Jo brought to it in terms of content. It was her idea to bring the pomegranate into the cover, and when I asked her why, her answer was so good we had Becky and Vee work it into the story. My favorite Georges cover is still I WANT YOU TO BE STRONG from #5, which remains one of my favorite stories.
36. Nicholas: Will there ever be a directors cut of an issue that comes with notes like Angel ATF had for the first issue, because now that we have Season 8, I miss the commentary that we would get for a TV episode?
Scott Allie: We could do something like that down the road. No plans for it at the moment.
37. vampmogs: Recently we've had some talk about a Buffy Animated Series that's supposed to be happening again. Can you tell us anything about that? Were the rumours true or false?
Scott Allie: The rumors are pretty lacking in specifics, and what specifics that are out there are not accurate, but Fox does have something in the works.
38. dane5by5: As it has previously been noted, there seems to be quite an increased urgency and danger in Retreat #26 than in the Predators and Prey arc, this jump was quite jarring to some fans, and left the feeling that something was missed or some time has elapsed between the arcs. Other points like Satsu and Kennedy's return to the Scoobies HQ and Faith and Giles' knowledge of Twilight and his agenda have not been covered within the story. Was this intentional and what is your feeling on leaving it to the fans to piece these disconnections together, are these unavoidable consequences of time/page constraints?
Scott Allie: Yeah, there's just not room or really interest in moving the pieces around the chessboard like that. The stuff you're talking about, I think you pieced it together pretty easily, and there was nothing particularly interesting that we could have added. I don't think any one is confused about these specific things, unlike the bit with Warren and Amy-for which we have worked out a fix. I think stopping to cover all those beats would be a drag. There are definitely more logistical issues to cover in a series like this than a normal season of Buffy on TV, where the cast is pretty much all in a limited space, or off the radar entirely.
39. AndrewCrossett: Why did Faith and Giles, and Andrew and his Slayers, choose to go underground where they could be openly attacked by demons, rather than staying up above and just not identifying themselves as Slayers? Are they being actively hunted now by the human authorities?
Scott Allie: Yes, they are being actively hunted by human authorities, mostly those working with Twilight.
40. Jay: Will we ever find out any of the other Slayers' last names? Especially Satsu, Rowena, Leah...(Renee).
Scott Allie: Probably not. We'll learn their names if there's a reason for them in the story. Like if they ever form a baseball team and need jerseys.