Buffy The Vampire Slayer

Chris Ryall is IDW Publishing Editor-in-Chief! He talked to us about the second "Angel" comic-miniseries, about Joss Whedon’s involvement, "X-Men", publishers in Europe etc.!

You publish Angel and Spike Comics. Are you a Fan of these TV Shows?

Definitely. We decided long ago that we’d never take on any license that we weren’t passionate about. There’s too much money involved, along with the potential disappointment to fans, if we didn’t give these our all. And it’s much easier to give a project your best effort if it means something to you. I’ve been a big fan of Joss’s work and especially Buffy and Angel for a long time.

Do you think about renewing Buffy Comics too?

Well, it’s not our license right now, so we can’t touch Buffy. That said, I’m hoping that when the license becomes available—Dark Horse who currently holds the license—we can get that one, too. I know fans would love to see Angel and Buffy in the same comic.

About what is the second Angel Miniseries?

I don’t want to say too much yet, so instead I’ll just share the solicitation copy with you:

"When a strangely familiar, seemingly vampiric figure is spotted killing victims in Los Angeles, Angel, alone in semi-retired retreat while he figures out what’s next for him, is lured back to the city to put a stop to the string of slayings. The case will reunite the vampire with a soul with old friends and old enemies-but it’s impossible to tell which is which!"

Do you think about a monthly Angel series?

Technically, we ARE monthly. The final issue of Angel: The Curse ships in October, and Angel: Old Friends begins in November. But we prefer to do these stories in five-issue arcs, so they each function as special episodes of the show.

Incidentally, lest the cynical out there think we do this to keep getting a new "#1" issue every five months, the days of relaunched number ones outselling continuously numbered issues are behind us, so that’s not our reason for doing things this way. Rather, we prefer the standalone story, and since the creative teams may change with subsequent 5-issue arcs, it works better this way.

Is Joss Whedon involved in your comics ?

He approves everything at both the proposal stage and the script stage, and we’ve gotten notes back from his people, so he’s definitely still involved in making sure his characters are handled the way he’d handle them

Will we see a Solution of the Final Cliffhanger in “Not fade away” in one of your Magazins?

A solution? No. I would never want to pick up directly from that fight in the alley—I felt like that was a perfect ending for the show, and to pick up right from that moment would be presumptuous and something I personally don’t want to see. But will you see stories that take place at some point after that final episode, and see who survived? Oh, yes.

Are you in contact with europe comic publishers for Angel or Spike?

I’ve spoken to some publishers who expressed interest in publishing our comics in Europe, yes.

Do you read Joss` X-Men?

Absolutely—it’s some of the best X-Men comics I’ve seen since the glory days of Chris Claremont. He made me care about Kitty Pryde again, which is something no writer outside CC has managed to do, and he brought back Colossus, too. What’s not to love? (Okay, the "sentient Danger Room" thing isn’t exactly working for me as well as earlier stories, but still, Whedon and Cassaday on that book is something all X-Men fans should savor with every issue. Great stuff.)