Buffy : Season 8

1 bamph: Poor Angel indeed. I really do feel bad for him right now. Bad choices but with good intentions brought him onto the road he traveled this season and that road seems to end in this issue. Now Angel has been forcibly and bodily taken control of by Twilight. Anything terrible he does starting at the end of today’s issue and next issue will be completely against his will and by force. I figure Angel under Twilight’s control does do something pretty bad next issue that upset you, possibly killing a beloved character. My first thought though is we’ve seen this sort of plot before from Joss. The Angelus arc of Buffy season 2 and the Cordelia/Jasmine arc of Angel season 4. What’s going on in particular feels like what went down with Cordy. Would you agree that this is similar to those two story lines and should we be looking for the differences?

Georges: It’s just too depressing to go into (and you’ll find out in a couple of weeks!)

2. bamph: This might be a bit spoilerish but will Buffy know Angel isn’t in control of his actions next issue and will there be a element of trying to save him by freeing him of Twilight’s control while they fight? Is this what,"rescue the prince" meant back in issue 10?

Georges: Wow. Someone has been reading their trades! Issue 10 was foreshadowing, that’s all I can say.

3. bamph: How did you approach the end of the issue with Angel under Twilight’s control? Art wise, did you have certain directions from Joss Whedon and Scott Allie? It’s really subtle but works well when Angel first arrives on the scene.

Georges: What I was really trying to keep in mind was continuity. And that was more on Angel and where he’d been wounded. I tried to keep all the little tears in his jacket consistent and whatever bruises he was getting. I think I might have represented the Twilight factor by making his jacket a deeper black. Like not having any light reflected from it, or not to draw in the individual folds. That was the only conscious thing I did when he was becoming Twilight.

4. drywallman: You indicated in the previous Q&A that Dawn and Xander’s relationship will continue, which would seem to mean they will both survive this season. We’ve already been told that there will be at least one major death this season. Why do you feel comfortable narrowing down the list, or are we misreading your comment?

Georges: I guess I wasn’t trying to create a suspense here and the fact that I said their relationship continues does narrow things down a bit, doesn’t it? But, where’s Andrew? Faith? Heavens, someone make sure they’re alright! And Kennedy. Has anyone seen Kennedy? Is she okay? Pipe down all you K-haters! They’ll be no rejoicing from you! Kennedy? Seriously, sweetie, say something...

5. cheryl: I am very confused about which side the PTB are on and who is supposed to be the good guys vs the bad guys. Is it safe to assume that Twilight is the bad guy? (Angel under the influence of the cat thing) Or is Buffy suspect too?

Georges: I thought that was a little vague too. I took it to mean that Twilight entity was more than just good and evil, it is another plain of existence, and such mortal concepts just don’t apply. Buffy plays her part but has she ever really been evil? She’s been misled, sure, but evil? She’s just too cute, and oh that perfect little nose.

6. cheryl: This seems to be a mirror of what happened between Buffy and Angel in season 2 and the Angelus arc, only this time Angel is possessed and Twilight, are we naive to assume that this isn’t going to put a bigger emotional burden on the relationship than the Angelus arc did?

Georges: Season 9 anyone?

7. cheryl: Are you guys afraid that the next issue might be so bad and the rage so high, that fans of the series walk away? For good? When you start talking about character deaths, fans get agitated and fast.

Georges: Yes! They’ll walk away in rage and scream and shout. And then after a while they’ll turn around and start to think that there’s still one more issue to be had. Then they’ll come back for that one, but that’s it. Then they’ll remember that there’ll be a Season 9 and all hell will break loose again! I honestly don’t know how fans are going to react, I can only say this fan didn’t take the news so well.

8. moscowwatcher: Hi, Mr.Jeanty! The new issue was awesome. Your cover and the last panel are forever imprinted in my mind. Thank you for all the wonderful panels. The fights are exciting and visceral with many rich details to make them memorabvle. I particularly liked the detail that Buffy makes herself a stake from Spike’s axe. The characters’ facial expressions are spot-on. Buffy’s last close-up is heartbreaking. Thank you for great job.

Questions:

Several pages feature strange inserts - Angel’s face with yellow eyes - on the pages with images, irrelevant to his face. These inserts are framed in yellow. At first I thought that it means that Angel gets information about the events that happen at this or that particular page (in some mystical way). Then, right before the Angel’s entrance, the page on which Buffy and Spike fight monsters, there is a similarly framed rectangular insert of the detail of the green monster eyes (I guess these were eyes). Do these inserts mean something?

Georges: The inserts with Angel were supposed to signify that Angel was becoming Twilight while the fight was going on at the same time, that’s why the panels were floating. It’s a story telling device. The one of the demon was just a beat I thought that page needed before Angel rips it apart. Looking at it again, the borders probably shouldn’t have been in yellow. I should have caught that.

9. moscowwatcher: The way the overall disposition is drawn it’s unclear if the demons invade the Earth from the Twilight dimension or from many different dimensions. Were you given any notes on that subject?

Georges: I think when this new universe was being created it ripped the fabric of a lot of neighboring universes and created pockets of portals into our world where a the major fighting was taking place. You’ll see more of this next issue!

10. moscowwatcher: Spike smokes cigarettes on almost every panel. Was it your contribution or you were given notes to draw him smoking? Thank you again for answering our questions!

Georges: Some smoke breaks were suggested and others I just wanted to have something for him to do. You know Spike, he’s only too happy to light up when he can. I mean, what’s he got to fear, lung cancer? (Remember kids, smoking is bad for your health... unless you’re a vampire... But when you get into that logic, how could a Vampire expel the smoke if a Vampire “has no breath to give”?)

(...)

Click on the link for more :

http://slayaliveforums.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=qa&action=display&thread=11924&page=1