Foiled by casting news in a comic book. Oh man.
Oh man! This was actually one of my favorite things that Joss did, when a guest star was popping up he'd hide the credit at the end realizing that fans would recognize certain names at the beginning and the surprise would be ruined. Yet when it was said that Angel wouldn't be appearing in Season 8 (save for a dream cameo here or there) so as not to screw with the Angel comics I completely bought it. I also feel obliged to finish up the Angel comics to see how things turned out.
I feel some what vindicated in that Giles was hiding things, and on a *secret mission*, but I'm also disappointed because I had that one all thought out, and put zero thought into Angel because I had dismissed the idea entirely.
My first thought was "Hmm, now he's truly created his very own superheroes." Beyond that I'm still processing.