Buffy : Season 8

1. AndrewCrossett: Haven’t gotten to the comic shop yet, but here’s a question: Back in A Beautiful Sunset, Twilight told Buffy “you have brought about disaster, and it falls to me to avert it.” Nothing the Slayers have done up to this point could be defined as a disaster, and usually one “averts” something that hasn’t happened yet. Is there an element of time displacement at work here? (I know, I know... “Seven,” right?)

Scott Allie: Yeah, kind of seven, but also, I think your question answers itself. The Slayers haven’t done anything, that you can see, that qualifies as a disaster; but Twilight didn’t say s/he (are we doing that?) was trying to repair damage done. When you knock over the first domino, someone looking from the right angle can tell the last domino in the line is going down long before it actually falls.

2. Neil: Maybe foolish at this point, but is there a chance that the Twilight isn’t the real/ present-day person but someone impersonating him or using his image or alternatively from another timeline/dimension ?

Scott Allie: Let’s pretend I don’t know, but that I do know Joss real well, and know what happened over the last week. If it were as muddy as that, would we have shit our pants so publicly? When we promised that the story is more complicated, we don’t mean that we’re replaying a trick that we already did in the middle of the season.

3. bamph:

Spoiler:

I’m sure you know that the leak that Angel is Twilight has cracked the Buffy fandom.I think most of us are waiting to see how the story actually plays out.As you’ve said in interviews,there is a lot we don’t know and wrong questions are being asked.We know Angel is Twilight but we don’t know why or how and what that actually means.But right off the bat I’ve got to ask since there is that fear and I know you can’t say much at this point but I have to ask.Should Angel fans be concerned that their favorite character is going to be damaged beyond repair and should Buffy/Angel shippers be in a state of panic and lining rooftops in preparation for their ship to be killed and closed for good?Buffy/Angel came back from the Angelus arc of season 2.Can Buffy/Angel come back from this too and can Buffy/Angel shippers still have the hope End of Days/Chosen gave them when this is all over?

Again,I know you can’t say much but any comments would be appreciated.

Scott Allie:

Spoiler:

Angel fans more than anyone need to hang in there and see what this really means about the character. And no one understands Angel better than Joss. In that, I believe he’s incapable of ruining the character. If I explained the story to you in a paragraph, you’d say, I dunno if I buy it. But when you read the upcoming issues, I think you’ll be swept up in events the same way the characters are, and it will make sense.

4. iloveromy: Anyway, I’ll avoid any obvious questions that will most likely get asked and jump to a marketing question that you can maybe answer. Now that things have changed for you all, have you had any meetings about how to push the upcoming issues as an event vs just simply a surprise? Has Dark Horse got any cool surprises - marketing wise, in store for us? I guess the question doesn’t have to pertain to issue 33 if something else is on the horizon. Sorry if the question was bit vague or hard to understand.

Scott Allie: Oh, yeah, absolutely. We had the best surprise I’ve ever been involved in with a comic, and someone screwed it up. I’d much rather have that than a great marketing opportunity, but we’ll deal with this. Sadly. Some of you saw those very crass-looking excerpts from my letter to the retailers. On Wednesday of last week, our Marketing department had their weekly conference call with our distributor, Diamond, and they were talking about Joss’s issue coming out, and Brad Meltzer’s arc coming up. Our Marketing Director hinted that not only do we have a huge opportunity with Brad coming on board, but we have a major surprise coming. Diamond said that either me, Joss, or Brad should write a letter to retailers to compel them to get onboard. We did something similar before Buffy #12 shipped—told retailers to stock up, because something was coming that would put the title in the headlines, but we couldn’t tell them what it was. It of course was Satsu. So I wrote a similar letter to retailers, pimping Brad and the upcoming surprise reveal of Twilight. I wrote that letter Thursday morning. Then the spoil happened. Part of my Friday scramble was rewriting the letter—instead of saying there’s a surprise coming that will sell books, I said the cat’s out of the bag, everyone’s buzzing about Twilight’s identity, and that, combined with issues written by Joss and Brad should drive people into the stores. Then, after a sleepless Friday night, at 7 a.m. I did a rewrite, advising them to not spoil the surprise for readers who didn’t know, and to not spread around the covers that had leaked. But by then it was too late, and the second letter was the one that got distributed. But yes, guilty as charged. With this fantastic surprised ruined, the loss to the narrative integrity, we’re trying to find a benefit elsewhere. However ... scanning back over your question ... I guess none of this qualifies as cool.

5. lmblack21:

Spoiler:

I am equal parts thrilled and terrified about Angel as Twilight. He is easily one of my favorite characters, not far behind Buffy herself. And I still love with a probably not healthy attachment, the B/A relationship. I was perfectly happy to get more comics without B/A because I was happy enough with the hope of "someday" we got in "Chosen". So the terrified part is what it means for Angel the character and, secondarily although no less importantly for me, the B/A relationship.

On the flip side, I’ve always longed to have Angel play a part in Buffy again - I just didn’t *expect it*. So that is the "thrilled" part.

I am trying very hard to adopt a wait and see approach based on what you’ve said - that we don’t have the right questions, that there is so much more to come, etc. I also loved hearing you still refer to Angel as the love of Buffy’s life and the fact that Joss felt it was "a given" that he would have to show up in the comics. (All of that falls into the "thrilled" part.)

I swear, a question is coming, I’m just trying to figure out how to ask it without asking for spoilers - someone up thread has already sort of asked what I was going to initially.

I guess my question is this, and I’m pretty sure it’s gonna be way too spoilery for you to actually answer, but perhaps you can find a way to offer some assurance without spoiling...

I am stuck on your assertion that asking if Angel is redeemable or will be likable again is the wrong question to ask. Because unless something HUGE happens, it will always be at least one of the right questions to ask.

Let me put it this way. Let’s say that Angel/Twilight is doing what he’s doing because he honestly believes it’s the right thing to do. Even if that is the case, his methods have been evil. Not good. So there would have to be some talk of redemption for him. Not to mention, the way he’s talked to Buffy has been very un-Angel like except for the line "I never did like seeing you cry." (I mean, him saying he’ll not kill her now? Odd, to say the least.)

So my question to you is, do you believe that what we don’t know really WILL remove that question as one that needs to be asked or will there just be bigger questions that take precedence? Because that is not the same as saying it’s the wrong question completely, ya know?

Yes, I worry. But I’m also on the edge of my seat waiting each reveal so that’s saying something.

Scott Allie:

Spoiler:

I love these characters too, buddy. I love them because they’re epic heroes, and because they’re flawed. Buffy has shown some compromised morals in what she’s done as leader of her army. It’s gonna take a lot to understand what’s really going on with Angel. I’d said in a pre-spoiler interview or Q&A that Twilight will not get revealed on the last page of an issue, but basically in the middle. By the end of that issue, I cannot promise that things will make sense. You might not be satisfied by the end of the next one. But I do think Joss deserves your trust, and is working hard to maintain it.

6. collex: Next year, in 2011, Buffy(the in-verse character) is going to turn 30 (she was born in 1981). I the comics timeline doesn’t really jive with the real world, but do you think a special "Buffy celebrate her 30th birthday (a big milestone in life)" could be a possibility, even if it’s non-canon or out of continuity?

Scott Allie: That’s an interesting idea. Maybe something in the gap between Season 8 & 9. We’ll have a lot to celebrate middle of next year.

7. trunktheslayer: Is the Scythe going to be relevant in the series again? Obviously it was major at the end of season 7, and the Wolves at the Gate arc, but is it just going to be Buffy’s signature weapon from here on, or will anything special happen with it (either information about it/its history, or something in the present story)?

Scott Allie: The scythe counts, for sure. Sorry, nothing more at the moment ...

8. bamph:

Spoiler:

Joss just confirmed that Spike will be appearing in the second part of his CBR interview.

Quote:

Joss, I want to wrap our Buffy talk with what will hopefully give fans one more spoiler as far as the future of the series. After we’d mentioned we’d be talking to you, a reader named Remmy wrote in saying that, of all the characters in the Buffyverse, Spike was his favorite, and he wondered if, with Angel back in play in "Season 8," could something for Spike be too far off?

You know, like Angel, he’s somebody we wanted to keep our mitts off of for a while. And, like Angel, he’s incredibly important to Buffy. So do I have plans for Spike? I don’t think anybody’s going to gasp in horror when I say, "Yes." What are they? I don’t think anybody’s going to gasp in horror when I say "I’m not going to tell you!" [Laughs]

But again, it’s a question of leaving everything that IDW is doing – and I’m not aware of everything they’re doing, and I haven’t read a lot of the stuff – and giving just enough [on our end] so it’ll jibe with whatever they’re doing. It’s not like Spike’s going to turn up and now he’s a werewolf. He’ll still be Spike, and we won’t constrict them from doing whatever stories they want.

And in the letter column for the new issue.

Quote:

I don’t think anyone ever said that Buffy doesn’t know Spike is alive.It hasn’t played into this story,so we haven’t talked about it,but one must assume a lot of conversations have taken place off-panel,including conversations with Andrew.

Can you give your thought on Joss’s comments about Spike’s appearance since he will be showing up and was there any truth in the letter column today in your answer in relation to this?

Scott Allie:

Spoiler:

I was surprised Joss admitted that Spike was coming. In the lettercol, which was written wellll before the spoilers happened, I was still trying to be vague and vamping about anything like this. But the truth is, we simply haven’t addressed the question of Spike yet in the comics. What Buffy knows or doesn’t know about him, or any of what happened in the final season of Angel is a bit of a question mark right now. Soon to be answered, as you now know ... But in terms of my response in the lettercol, I was trying to be pretty vague and speculative. And any appearance that might hypothetically be definitely coming with Spike, that script is not yet written.

9. Skytteflickan88: Another fan made me question Kenny’s powers. I always assumed he could alter his apperance at will, but another fan thinks his apperance as a boy is a illusion, and he pointed out that "Kenny the Thricewise was some sort of hideous monster, but Dawn saw him as a hot guy. Look in Issue #25, last 3 pages."

I always assumed that he changed back to human form for one panel, then changed back to the monster.

What is the truth?

Scott Allie: Yeah, he changes back and forth—he’s really the monster, but he can appear as a kid. Like when Andrew met up with him at school. And noooo, that didn’t mean Andrew was in love with him. Kenny mostly wears a mask. But that line from #25 that you quote, written by Doug—Joss and his writers use magic largely as metaphor, right? So the idea that Kenny can appear to Dawn as a handsome guy instead of a hideous thing is a lot like Angel being some dreamboat during the courtship, then turning into a psycho the minute they had sex. Yeah, he literally turned into a soulless vampire, but the reason it’s so poignant is because of how it mirrors our real experiences.

10. AndrewCrossett: I am that rare breed... a Batsu shipper. Buffy dismissing her relationship with Satsu as a "phase" seems to pretty much close the door on any further development in that regard. Is that true?

Scott Allie: I was frankly a little surprised by that word too, and if it were another writer I might have questioned it. I’m surprised that Buffy seems as done with it as she does, but I do know there’s no room for their relationship to get explored much this season, with everything else coming. But I also know that Joss isn’t done with Satsu. He sees more in her character than just what’s happened with Buffy.

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