Spike - Part One; Alone Together Now
Oct. 17th, 2010 05:25 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowkatFinally picked up the Spike comic. Yes, everyone who cares has probably already read it and reviewed it by now. Those remaining - probably aren't reading it. One of the drawbacks of having an incredibly diverse readership is - you have to be careful about certain things, such as ahem not directly bashing characters you, the writer, aren't that fond of and don't quite understand why your readership likes them as much as they do, as well as not directly bashing comics or writers or artists you aren't fond of, but you know your readers adore to pieces. It's all fine and well to take the attitude, I'll say what I damn well please in my own journal, but you gotta deal with the fallout. (shrugs). I know I'm walking a fine line here regarding the comic books - there's about 8-10 people on my flist and reader's list that LOVE the Buffy comics,and quite a few who hate the Lynch comics or Spike comics and are reading those comics very differently than I am. While there's also people who love both. People who only read Angel and Buffy comics (not Spike). People who love Lynch comics and hate Buffy comics. And finally people who hate all the comics, and wish we weren't bothering with them at all. Sigh, fans are a contentious bunch. You can't please everyone no matter what you do.
As an aside - at the comic book store got tempted by an hilarious action figure dual package of Xander and Spike in matching geeky Hawaian Shirts. LOL! Just like I got distracted last night with a blooper of Spike kissing Xander after the actors clearly got really bored of doing 100 takes of the same scene. It's the scene in Normal Again, where Xander confronts Spike, who is carrying a bag of groceries, in the graveyard talking to a sick Buffy. If you haven't seen it? Go. Google on Youtube. Now.
Spike - #1, Alone Together Now - review
Rather fun comic. Satisfied me on all levels, art, dialogue, characterization and story. First off kudos to IDW for hiring a female editor, and colorist. And - I noticed on the other two comics - Angel and Illyria - there are female writers, editors, and artists.
If you are new to Spike, Buffy, etc - not to worry - Lynch sums it all up for you nicely. Also you do not need to have read anything but Brian Lynch's Spike and Angel comics to read this tale. It only references what Brian Lynch has written and the tv series. It does however poke fun at the comics and books other guys and gals wrote. (Speaking of poking gentle fun at other writers? I just realized last night that RT Davies was parodying Whedon with his Captain Jack and Captain John. It's the same name, just different. Whedon did it first with Liam and William, and uses Captain a million times in his dialogue...to the point in which you think - what is going on with all the Captains).
The story is told entirely in Spike's point of view. It's not told like the Buffy comics are - which is an omniscient pov or multiple pov. Just first person close. That's important. Plus, this, folks, is how you write snark, in case you were wondering. Pick up Lynch's Spike comic, study the cadence of the words, and that is how you write in Spike's voice. It's not whiny, it's self-deprecating. There's a difference. It's a noir writing style - actually. You don't have to read Lynch, you can read Jim Butcher or Sam Spade novels. Spike talks like Sam Spade by way of
John Constantine. (Angel should have talked this way, but for some reason everyone writes him as incredibly whiny and mopey, except for maybe Lynch, Humphrey Bogart he's not.)
Voiceover: "Drusilla wanted a playmate. So she took me, an unsuspecting ponce named William." (Note how Spike puts himself down? Always does. It's what I like about him most. Tall Poppy Syndrom annoys me. The more noble you think you are, the bigger an ass you truly are. Actions always speak louder than words. Always trust the story not the teller. Everyone lies.)
"And turned me into this " (pic of Spike drinking a girls blood with Dru dancing behind him and the SunnyDale sign in bit yellow print in the background). "A souless vampire who terrorized the world for decades. Eventually Drusilla drifted away and I killed solo. But then I fell in love with someone new. She made me want to be a better man. So I fought to have my soul restored. From that point on I was a vamp with a soul who fights on the side of good. Collect them all, two in a series. Not saying I was an Angel. In the Grand Scheme of things on a scale of one to ten, one being pure evil, ten being so noble it's coma-inducing...I was a chaotic 8 and a half." (Spike understandably thinks Angel is better, he's not. Angel's actually is less evolved because he thinks he's god's gift to the verse and the best ever...Angel's pride and ego are his downfall.
This bit is ironic and hilarious. Spike is striving to evolve to his mentor's status, much as he did as a soulless vampire, his view of Angel is somewhat skewed here. But understandably so.
After all everyone caters to Angel. Angel is constantly stroked. We make our monsters, folks. We worship fools and set up on pedestals as would be supermen, and get all upset when they come plunging down. I think to a degree - Whedon is playing with that in the Buffy comics, but it is also to a degree being commented on here. The pic that URRU draws sort of typifies how Spike sees it - demon to upstanding human, Angel. Sigh. Angel you have become the father you hated to your family and everyone around you. ) "Eventually as these things tend to go...I exploded...she went her own way and I wound up standing in the office of my grandsire, eventually it all went to hell. Made it back, and Hollywood made a movie based on my exploits. They got some facts wrong. For instance: My gender. ..." (Lynch is making fun of Hollywood. Remember screenwriter and I know screenwriters - my brother told me about a friend of his who is a screenwriter. I asked, so what films has he done. My brother - you wouldn't know any of them. )
Now ...this bit is interesting. Lynch makes fun of Stephanie Meyer and Twilight. Unlike Whedon and Allie, Lynch goes for the jugular. It's obvious. Whedon's attack on Twilight is a bit more subtextual...and far less obvious (possibly because Whedon knows that the Twilight audience may be reading the Buffy comic books? While Lynch is assuming that is not the case here.). My only quibble with the guys attacking the girl/tween romantic series? Is they are in power and they are doing it in a way that is condescending and patronizing. They've attacked Anne Rice and Stephanie Meyer. Because how dare women romanticize vampires and make it about sex, when it should be all blood and guts and violence, because violence is so much better. Tempting me to find some macho story to rip apart and parody in a similar manner. Hmmm, any Stephen King stories? How about the Stand?
That said, I admittedly laughed at the Tean William, Team Jared T-Shirts. Also his snarky discussion of the fact that not only has an embarrassing movie come out regarding his exploits with Angel, where they got his gender wrong and he's Angel's romantic interest, but one came out that is loosely based on his time with Spider - where a werewolf is thrown into the mix for no apparent reason. IT's called "Twinkle" - LOL!. The Sequel is called "Re-Clispe" - both rather clever puns, I think. (Especially this confrontation between a teenage Spike and a Wolf - "Back of Jared", "Or What? You'll Twinkle All Over Me?", "Love is so hard". (You got it easy Spider. Just ask Buffy.)
"They're vampire crazy. Would Very much fancy face time with real-life vampires. Unfortunately for them, the actual vampires think it's hilarious to oblige them. ...Luckily for the humans, one or two vampires think it's hilarious to protect them."
So Team Angel does - or rather Illyria, Spike and Angel do. After the fight (and no, I'm not going to write down the dialogue for the whole thing - go buy your own copy), Spike goes off to Mosaic to convince them to let Beck out to help him on an assignment. He promises no romance. Just business. The Mosaic headmistress is unconvinced but reluctantly gives in. Beck was introduced in Spike:Asylum (she's a half-demon/half-human who is pyrotechnical.)
Here's where Lynch pokes fun at Whedon's Buffy comics, but in a way that's not obvious. I did a doubletake.
Spike: "I keep the team small. I keep it with people I can control. Keep it simple. No back-stabbing. No dying. No picking up and leaving. And no aerial sex." (And you haven't even seen it yet, as far as we know.)
Betta George: "I don't understand that last one"
Spike: "No one does."
(Including yours truly. Lynch's reference is better than Willingham's which was at the expense of a character. If you are going to poke fun at another book or writer, don't do it at the expense of a character's arc, it's annoying. Here, Lynch, takes care of that crap with one quick sentence. And right up front.)
Beck, Betta George and Spike take off to Vegas, with Betta George giving Spike shit the whole way.
They go to Vegas in response to a call for help - apparently a woman pulled a Wolf, Ram, and Hart at a vending machine and a bunch of Egyptian Beetles came out and proceeded to devour her and everyone else. (At least I think they are Egyptian Beetles).
When Spike and crew arrive - they run into a giant formed of Elvises. This is rather funny. I adore Lynch's battle set-ups. They are hilarious. And while it is a busy comic, the battles do not look like something out of a Saturday Morning Cartoon version of either My Little Pony or Superfriends. They have a true anime feel to them, fluid and like a painting. Figures blue with movement. They fly at you. This is hard to draw and paint. I know, I've tried. Few do it well.
There's a cinemagraphic flow to Urru's work that is truly astonishing.
Spike: Everyone else sees the flying elvies..er elvisii? Elvees? (I like that touch. Remember Spike's a wordsmith. He's a poet. Trained. Has a higher education. And a writer. He plays with words and accents.)
Spike after a bit of uncertainity does handle the situation. He wonders if he should call his fourth (whoever that is) but decides no, he can handle it. And he does, except...the beast at the center of the "gaggle" of Elvises - seems to know who Spike is, and says, as if he's talking to someone by walkie-talkie- "Roger that? It's Spike. Heh, And We thought This was Gonna be hard."
(Another thing I love about Spike - is much like Buffy, he's always underestimated by everyone.
They always think he's going to do the opposite of what he does. That's he's not bright. Not capable. Yet...he surprises you. That's the thing about people who don't toot their own horn, aren't full of themselves, and are a bit more self-deprecating - they surprise you. They are dependable. When they promise to back you up and do something - they do.) "If you knew what was in store...I almost feel sorry for you..." (Apparently Spike is easier than someone else?)
Spike to his credit - realizes that they know him and know he's here, that they have the upper hand. Also he's injured by the fight. His shoulder dislocated. I love the fact that these characters do get beaten up and have to heal.
Then we go to the ex-rated portion of the comic - and by the way, this is how you draw a sex scene. It's also how you draw the human body. Granted it doesn't really look like Dru, but she is beautiful and white like Dru. And talks like Dru. Also ...the sex scene is erotic and beautiful not offensive and demeaning. Hold this sex scene up to the Buffy comic sex scene and compare and contrast. The proportions are right. And I feel as if I'm watching something real. That said, the last frame - looks a bit bizarre...but it is a difficult frame to draw.
The reveal is that whomever is doing this or manipulating Vegas, whomever the baddie is, has co-opted Drusilla or gotten her on his side, at least to a degree. He clearly plans on using her to get to Spike. (Which I'm looking forward to - because Dru and Spike are unresolved. And Lynch, I know, will give me something close to what I want, might not be what you want dear reader, but I don't care what you want, I care about what I want. My charitable nature does not extend to comic books.)
Dru tells the baddie that their sex is not real. That he does not have her. That Spike still has her heart. She's meant for Spike. The baddie smiles and says he understands because Spike has his soul. (according to interviews, Spike's soul is Spike's - it just has some interesting strings attached, which is most likely why Willow will be called in upcoming issues. Another relationship that is unresolved and hasn't been delved into to my satisfaction. (The reason the writers didn't have Spike and Willow chat more or show them together, is that Marsters and Hannigan's chemistry was too good, and they didn't want fans getting the wrong idea and shipping them. Uh. Too late.
Fans did. The explanation never made sense to me. You don't keep characters away from each other, just because the actors portraying them demonstrate sexual chemistry. That's lazy writing and a problem with tv shows. My big problem with the Buffy comics - is they spend way too much time showing me relationships that are resolved, that I know a ton about, and have grown bored of, and no time on one's that were unresolved, I know little about, and am still interested in. I hate to say this - but in some respects the Buffy comics remind me of reset tv. Ironic. But true. This comic in contrast, doesn't feel like reset tv - I feel the character is learning and evolving. Also the plot twist has me intrigued, it's central to the character and would change him or challenge everything he knows. It's a major twist and it's revealed in the first issue! That's how you pace a comic book folks. Lynch gets it.
Comics have to move faster than tv shows. For several reasons - one, we get one a month, so you got to give the reader a reason to buy the next issue, two the reader is buying each issue - they have to go to a bit of effort to get it, three, since it's just one a month - if you drag it out too long or make it too convoluted with lots of little bits and clues to the plot hidden here and there - you will lose your readers...because they aren't going to remember these little clues or tid-bits a month, two months, five months later. You can do that on tv - because tv shows are once a week. I can remember what happened last week. Don't ask me to remember what happened last month.
And yes, I can always re-read last issue, but I don't have time and I may have given it to someone.
Lynch gets the art of writing a comic book. It's not easy. Not everyone can do it. Some people who've tried suck at it. It's not the same as writing a novel or film or tv show. Actually, the closest might be film - since you have a story board and comics like film are short stories, told quickly. A comic in the most basic sense is words with pictures. You need to make clear who is talking, who is who, and if you have fight scenes - who is fighting. The reader shouldn't have to spend more than a second figuring out who people are. And no one should look alike - you'll confuse the reader - all the have is pictures and word boxes to go on.
If you want to see it done right? Pick up Lynch and Urru's Spike comic. Mariah Heugher is a good editor (maybe because she's not distracted by letters pages and lots of online discussion?) . The story so far, flows together well. The plot makes sense. It's funny. I love the characters. And the art is easy to follow and something I want to look at. Also the pacing? Fast. The dialogue? Pitch perfect. No one does "Snark" better than Mr. Snarky himself - Brian Lynch.
Overall rating?
A solid A+
As an aside - at the comic book store got tempted by an hilarious action figure dual package of Xander and Spike in matching geeky Hawaian Shirts. LOL! Just like I got distracted last night with a blooper of Spike kissing Xander after the actors clearly got really bored of doing 100 takes of the same scene. It's the scene in Normal Again, where Xander confronts Spike, who is carrying a bag of groceries, in the graveyard talking to a sick Buffy. If you haven't seen it? Go. Google on Youtube. Now.
Spike - #1, Alone Together Now - review
Rather fun comic. Satisfied me on all levels, art, dialogue, characterization and story. First off kudos to IDW for hiring a female editor, and colorist. And - I noticed on the other two comics - Angel and Illyria - there are female writers, editors, and artists.
If you are new to Spike, Buffy, etc - not to worry - Lynch sums it all up for you nicely. Also you do not need to have read anything but Brian Lynch's Spike and Angel comics to read this tale. It only references what Brian Lynch has written and the tv series. It does however poke fun at the comics and books other guys and gals wrote. (Speaking of poking gentle fun at other writers? I just realized last night that RT Davies was parodying Whedon with his Captain Jack and Captain John. It's the same name, just different. Whedon did it first with Liam and William, and uses Captain a million times in his dialogue...to the point in which you think - what is going on with all the Captains).
The story is told entirely in Spike's point of view. It's not told like the Buffy comics are - which is an omniscient pov or multiple pov. Just first person close. That's important. Plus, this, folks, is how you write snark, in case you were wondering. Pick up Lynch's Spike comic, study the cadence of the words, and that is how you write in Spike's voice. It's not whiny, it's self-deprecating. There's a difference. It's a noir writing style - actually. You don't have to read Lynch, you can read Jim Butcher or Sam Spade novels. Spike talks like Sam Spade by way of
John Constantine. (Angel should have talked this way, but for some reason everyone writes him as incredibly whiny and mopey, except for maybe Lynch, Humphrey Bogart he's not.)
Voiceover: "Drusilla wanted a playmate. So she took me, an unsuspecting ponce named William." (Note how Spike puts himself down? Always does. It's what I like about him most. Tall Poppy Syndrom annoys me. The more noble you think you are, the bigger an ass you truly are. Actions always speak louder than words. Always trust the story not the teller. Everyone lies.)
"And turned me into this " (pic of Spike drinking a girls blood with Dru dancing behind him and the SunnyDale sign in bit yellow print in the background). "A souless vampire who terrorized the world for decades. Eventually Drusilla drifted away and I killed solo. But then I fell in love with someone new. She made me want to be a better man. So I fought to have my soul restored. From that point on I was a vamp with a soul who fights on the side of good. Collect them all, two in a series. Not saying I was an Angel. In the Grand Scheme of things on a scale of one to ten, one being pure evil, ten being so noble it's coma-inducing...I was a chaotic 8 and a half." (Spike understandably thinks Angel is better, he's not. Angel's actually is less evolved because he thinks he's god's gift to the verse and the best ever...Angel's pride and ego are his downfall.
This bit is ironic and hilarious. Spike is striving to evolve to his mentor's status, much as he did as a soulless vampire, his view of Angel is somewhat skewed here. But understandably so.
After all everyone caters to Angel. Angel is constantly stroked. We make our monsters, folks. We worship fools and set up on pedestals as would be supermen, and get all upset when they come plunging down. I think to a degree - Whedon is playing with that in the Buffy comics, but it is also to a degree being commented on here. The pic that URRU draws sort of typifies how Spike sees it - demon to upstanding human, Angel. Sigh. Angel you have become the father you hated to your family and everyone around you. ) "Eventually as these things tend to go...I exploded...she went her own way and I wound up standing in the office of my grandsire, eventually it all went to hell. Made it back, and Hollywood made a movie based on my exploits. They got some facts wrong. For instance: My gender. ..." (Lynch is making fun of Hollywood. Remember screenwriter and I know screenwriters - my brother told me about a friend of his who is a screenwriter. I asked, so what films has he done. My brother - you wouldn't know any of them. )
Now ...this bit is interesting. Lynch makes fun of Stephanie Meyer and Twilight. Unlike Whedon and Allie, Lynch goes for the jugular. It's obvious. Whedon's attack on Twilight is a bit more subtextual...and far less obvious (possibly because Whedon knows that the Twilight audience may be reading the Buffy comic books? While Lynch is assuming that is not the case here.). My only quibble with the guys attacking the girl/tween romantic series? Is they are in power and they are doing it in a way that is condescending and patronizing. They've attacked Anne Rice and Stephanie Meyer. Because how dare women romanticize vampires and make it about sex, when it should be all blood and guts and violence, because violence is so much better. Tempting me to find some macho story to rip apart and parody in a similar manner. Hmmm, any Stephen King stories? How about the Stand?
That said, I admittedly laughed at the Tean William, Team Jared T-Shirts. Also his snarky discussion of the fact that not only has an embarrassing movie come out regarding his exploits with Angel, where they got his gender wrong and he's Angel's romantic interest, but one came out that is loosely based on his time with Spider - where a werewolf is thrown into the mix for no apparent reason. IT's called "Twinkle" - LOL!. The Sequel is called "Re-Clispe" - both rather clever puns, I think. (Especially this confrontation between a teenage Spike and a Wolf - "Back of Jared", "Or What? You'll Twinkle All Over Me?", "Love is so hard". (You got it easy Spider. Just ask Buffy.)
"They're vampire crazy. Would Very much fancy face time with real-life vampires. Unfortunately for them, the actual vampires think it's hilarious to oblige them. ...Luckily for the humans, one or two vampires think it's hilarious to protect them."
So Team Angel does - or rather Illyria, Spike and Angel do. After the fight (and no, I'm not going to write down the dialogue for the whole thing - go buy your own copy), Spike goes off to Mosaic to convince them to let Beck out to help him on an assignment. He promises no romance. Just business. The Mosaic headmistress is unconvinced but reluctantly gives in. Beck was introduced in Spike:Asylum (she's a half-demon/half-human who is pyrotechnical.)
Here's where Lynch pokes fun at Whedon's Buffy comics, but in a way that's not obvious. I did a doubletake.
Spike: "I keep the team small. I keep it with people I can control. Keep it simple. No back-stabbing. No dying. No picking up and leaving. And no aerial sex." (And you haven't even seen it yet, as far as we know.)
Betta George: "I don't understand that last one"
Spike: "No one does."
(Including yours truly. Lynch's reference is better than Willingham's which was at the expense of a character. If you are going to poke fun at another book or writer, don't do it at the expense of a character's arc, it's annoying. Here, Lynch, takes care of that crap with one quick sentence. And right up front.)
Beck, Betta George and Spike take off to Vegas, with Betta George giving Spike shit the whole way.
They go to Vegas in response to a call for help - apparently a woman pulled a Wolf, Ram, and Hart at a vending machine and a bunch of Egyptian Beetles came out and proceeded to devour her and everyone else. (At least I think they are Egyptian Beetles).
When Spike and crew arrive - they run into a giant formed of Elvises. This is rather funny. I adore Lynch's battle set-ups. They are hilarious. And while it is a busy comic, the battles do not look like something out of a Saturday Morning Cartoon version of either My Little Pony or Superfriends. They have a true anime feel to them, fluid and like a painting. Figures blue with movement. They fly at you. This is hard to draw and paint. I know, I've tried. Few do it well.
There's a cinemagraphic flow to Urru's work that is truly astonishing.
Spike: Everyone else sees the flying elvies..er elvisii? Elvees? (I like that touch. Remember Spike's a wordsmith. He's a poet. Trained. Has a higher education. And a writer. He plays with words and accents.)
Spike after a bit of uncertainity does handle the situation. He wonders if he should call his fourth (whoever that is) but decides no, he can handle it. And he does, except...the beast at the center of the "gaggle" of Elvises - seems to know who Spike is, and says, as if he's talking to someone by walkie-talkie- "Roger that? It's Spike. Heh, And We thought This was Gonna be hard."
(Another thing I love about Spike - is much like Buffy, he's always underestimated by everyone.
They always think he's going to do the opposite of what he does. That's he's not bright. Not capable. Yet...he surprises you. That's the thing about people who don't toot their own horn, aren't full of themselves, and are a bit more self-deprecating - they surprise you. They are dependable. When they promise to back you up and do something - they do.) "If you knew what was in store...I almost feel sorry for you..." (Apparently Spike is easier than someone else?)
Spike to his credit - realizes that they know him and know he's here, that they have the upper hand. Also he's injured by the fight. His shoulder dislocated. I love the fact that these characters do get beaten up and have to heal.
Then we go to the ex-rated portion of the comic - and by the way, this is how you draw a sex scene. It's also how you draw the human body. Granted it doesn't really look like Dru, but she is beautiful and white like Dru. And talks like Dru. Also ...the sex scene is erotic and beautiful not offensive and demeaning. Hold this sex scene up to the Buffy comic sex scene and compare and contrast. The proportions are right. And I feel as if I'm watching something real. That said, the last frame - looks a bit bizarre...but it is a difficult frame to draw.
The reveal is that whomever is doing this or manipulating Vegas, whomever the baddie is, has co-opted Drusilla or gotten her on his side, at least to a degree. He clearly plans on using her to get to Spike. (Which I'm looking forward to - because Dru and Spike are unresolved. And Lynch, I know, will give me something close to what I want, might not be what you want dear reader, but I don't care what you want, I care about what I want. My charitable nature does not extend to comic books.)
Dru tells the baddie that their sex is not real. That he does not have her. That Spike still has her heart. She's meant for Spike. The baddie smiles and says he understands because Spike has his soul. (according to interviews, Spike's soul is Spike's - it just has some interesting strings attached, which is most likely why Willow will be called in upcoming issues. Another relationship that is unresolved and hasn't been delved into to my satisfaction. (The reason the writers didn't have Spike and Willow chat more or show them together, is that Marsters and Hannigan's chemistry was too good, and they didn't want fans getting the wrong idea and shipping them. Uh. Too late.
Fans did. The explanation never made sense to me. You don't keep characters away from each other, just because the actors portraying them demonstrate sexual chemistry. That's lazy writing and a problem with tv shows. My big problem with the Buffy comics - is they spend way too much time showing me relationships that are resolved, that I know a ton about, and have grown bored of, and no time on one's that were unresolved, I know little about, and am still interested in. I hate to say this - but in some respects the Buffy comics remind me of reset tv. Ironic. But true. This comic in contrast, doesn't feel like reset tv - I feel the character is learning and evolving. Also the plot twist has me intrigued, it's central to the character and would change him or challenge everything he knows. It's a major twist and it's revealed in the first issue! That's how you pace a comic book folks. Lynch gets it.
Comics have to move faster than tv shows. For several reasons - one, we get one a month, so you got to give the reader a reason to buy the next issue, two the reader is buying each issue - they have to go to a bit of effort to get it, three, since it's just one a month - if you drag it out too long or make it too convoluted with lots of little bits and clues to the plot hidden here and there - you will lose your readers...because they aren't going to remember these little clues or tid-bits a month, two months, five months later. You can do that on tv - because tv shows are once a week. I can remember what happened last week. Don't ask me to remember what happened last month.
And yes, I can always re-read last issue, but I don't have time and I may have given it to someone.
Lynch gets the art of writing a comic book. It's not easy. Not everyone can do it. Some people who've tried suck at it. It's not the same as writing a novel or film or tv show. Actually, the closest might be film - since you have a story board and comics like film are short stories, told quickly. A comic in the most basic sense is words with pictures. You need to make clear who is talking, who is who, and if you have fight scenes - who is fighting. The reader shouldn't have to spend more than a second figuring out who people are. And no one should look alike - you'll confuse the reader - all the have is pictures and word boxes to go on.
If you want to see it done right? Pick up Lynch and Urru's Spike comic. Mariah Heugher is a good editor (maybe because she's not distracted by letters pages and lots of online discussion?) . The story so far, flows together well. The plot makes sense. It's funny. I love the characters. And the art is easy to follow and something I want to look at. Also the pacing? Fast. The dialogue? Pitch perfect. No one does "Snark" better than Mr. Snarky himself - Brian Lynch.
Overall rating?
A solid A+
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Date: 2010-10-18 09:33 pm (UTC)The Willow/Spike issue probably won't be out until March sometime.
It's issue five. The stupid things are coming out once a month.
There's something to be said, I suppose, for getting this comics in trade-paperback. I'm beginning to think that's what I should have done with the Buffy comics - just waited until it came out in one huge volume, but where would be the fun in that?