Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Angel and Faith #1- REVIEWED!


What it is: Angel and Faith #1
Who done it: Christos Gage (w), Rebekah Isaacs (a)
When it came out: August 31, 2011

The review:

So Angel is finally officially back in the Dark Horse stable.  Depending on whom you ask, that’s either great news or the worst thing ever.  However you might feel about rival publishing houses, though, the most important question remains – is this first issue any good?

Yes.

It’s so good, in fact, that it easily outshines DC’s huge new 52 event happening today.  Or it should.  With a strong story, accurate characterization, some of the best art I’ve seen on any Whedon book, and a story that’s loaded with potential, Angel and Faith #1 hits the ground running and should make even the most jaded fans hungry for more.

For those worrying about the loss of Giles, it’s nice to start with a flashback to a time before his passing.  Facing off against a possessed little girl, Giles does exactly what you’d expect him to do – set aside his own safety to protect the innocent.  He succeeds, but at a great personal price.  In locking away a vicious demon, he sacrificed a part of himself.  Specifically, Giles loses the memory of falling in love with Jenny Calendar.

Gage and Isaacs really capture Giles perfectly here.  His behavior is totally believable and, in removing this key part of Giles personal history, we get an interesting explanation as to why Giles hasn’t been quite himself these last few years.

From there on out, it’s all about our title characters.  Angel and Faith return to that same little girl and finish what Giles started, which they succeed at handily.  In fact, it seems that a big element to Angel’s narrative this season will be his need to pick up where Giles left off.  Faith, who you might recall received essentially all of Giles’s earthly possessions, also feels the pull to continue the Watcher’s good work.

Faith and Angel are two characters who seemed destined to be under the same banner.  They’re both into redemption but their best intentions also have a tendency to pave them straight to hell.  They’ve got a shared past, one that has been evolving towards this place for a long time.  They trust each other both to not trust each other and that makes for an interesting dynamic that’s not always safe or predictable.

In addition to all that, we get some new villains in the form of Pearl and Nash, two demons whose strength is derived from primal emotions, who used to work for Angel back when he was Twilight.  We’ve got Nadia, a former member of the slayer army.  We’ve got an ambiguous but probably evil Whistler who still seems bent on bringing about some kind of New World Order.  We even get mention of IDW’s Angel: After the Fall.

With a final line that will leave fans arguing for the next month, we’re already in very murky moral territory.  That’s exactly where Faith and Angel ought to live.

Christos Gage and Rebekah Isaacs have crafted a near perfect first issue.  The only flaw, as some have pointed out, is the need for a better understanding of modern day London.  Sounds like a perfect excuse to renew the old passport and take a trip across the pond if ever we heard one.

That’s what we think.  How about you?


Tuesday, August 30, 2011

'Buffy' Season 9 and 'Angel & Faith' Comic Updates!

OK, we've been a bit slow around here...but we're just a few blinks away until the Buffyverse kicks back into effect. Angel and Faith "Live Through This" #1 will be out tomorrow!

*Will Angel ever be forgiven by the fans for what he's done?
*Will Faith be able to help him down his path to redemption?
*Will we ever find out why Angel chose to become Twilight and ruin the day?

Who knows...but SlayAlive graciously recapped a Twitter Q&A that writer Christos Gage did recently here. They will also be doing their own Q&A on SlayAlive with artist Rebekah Isaacs tomorrow, so look out for that and prep some questions!

In Buffy news: Issue #1 will be released in 2 weeks time. As you probably already know, it has been written by Joss Whedon and new resident cutie Andrew Chambliss (of the CW's The Vampire Diaries.) Check out a fresh out of the box CBR interview with Chambliss here and our very own interview with Chambliss and Georges Jeanty from a few weeks ago here.

So you don't miss a beat of Season 9, why not subscribe for the season? Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 9 #1 (Steve Morris cover) and Angel and Faith #1 (Jo Chen Variant cover) are available at Things From Another World (or your local Comic Retailer).

And if you haven't seen it yet, below is a 3-page preview of Buffy #1, courtesy of Dark Horse Comics:




Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Buffyfest Guest Blogs for Dark Horse Comics!

Dark Horse is doing a new series of Guest Blog posts over on their site and we were very honored to be the first of hopefully many contributions about looking forward to Buffy Season 9. What exactly are we most excited about? Well we won't spoil it here, this tale is for another blog for once. So mosey on over and check it out here.



Saturday, August 20, 2011

Marvel at Disney's #D23Expo now!

OK, here we go. Marvel's turn is up and cast and crew are about to be on at Disney's D23 Expo in Anaheim, Cali! Sorry we're not there ourselves to film and live blog...but click the link FB below to experience the official live blogging, including all the juicy Spoilers. We'll keep updating this post as well (keeping it mostly Spoiler-free).
https://www.facebook.com/Marvel?sk=app_207261549308871

So far:

- They started by showing a montage of the history of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, from Iron Man to Thor, Cap and Hulk!

- Kevin Feige says there are two weeks of filming left on TheAvengers! (via @Marvel)

- Kevin's talking about how one of the highlights of his career is hiring Richard Sherman to write a song for the Stark Expo

- GIGANTIC, DEAFENING STANDING OVATION for Robert Downey Jr. (via @Agent_M)

- Joss is NOT in attendance (Joss Whedon, Sam Jackson, Mark Ruffalo and Chris Evans are still filming as we speak in Cleveland, so they couldn't make it.)

- Cast that is in attendance: RDJ, Chris Hemsworth, Jeremy Renner, ScarJo, Cobie Smulders, Tom Hiddleston!

- The crowd then got to see footage featuring all kinds of Spoilers that Joss put together specifically for D23 Expo. Not to be shown anywhere else! (jealous)

- They got to see The Hulk roar! (first footage seen of him!)

- That's pretty much it! Getting ready for MAY 4, 2012...

Apparently no cellphones or computers were allowed in the presentation, so pics have been nil. No pics and no Joss! But here's some hotness, at least:

Superfine Chris Hemsworth on the red carpet at today's D23 Expo!


Happy Birthday to James Marsters!

The man who plays the 'verse's beloved Spoike turns 49 today!



Do We Seriously Need to Start a 'Ringer Death Watch' Already?

Yeesh, here we go! I'm sorry to say it but listen, this is how it is: I will watch Ringer. Hell, Michelle and Bitsy will watch Ringer too. If it sucks, Michelle will drop off right away while I hang in there and Bitsy will continue on, just to make fun of it. This is what happened not only with Dollhouse, but with many other shows this circle of bloggers and friends have collectively watched over the years.

Fact is, it's feeling very Dollhouse at the moment. Like Dollhouse, the show has a good cast including one of our beloved slayers, Sarah Michelle Gellar, obvs. And while Dollhouse had a strange "leading multiple lives" plot, Ringer has a sort of similar, but much lamer plot at least on paper that could go wrong, fast. It doesn't help that it lacks that Joss Whedon factor. Not to mention, the reviews so far have been far from great and we're all getting very worried around here. Of course there are some decent reviews out there too, so I won't start the "Death Watch" yet and you can't make me...but if the bad keeps up, we'll at least have to start the mocking it. Do the below links scare you as much as us?

Between fighting for the "Best new double-crossing twin show of the season" award:
http://www.tvweek.com/blogs/tvbizwire/2011/08/producer-defends-his-show-whic.php

..and quotes like: "The dialogue is so painfully cheesy that it makes all the acting seem similarly bad."
http://www.buzzsugar.com/Ringer-Pilot-Review-Starring-Sarah-Michelle-Gellar-18214236

The icing on the cake might be this admittedly premature, but still shocking comment: "[Ringer] may have been aspiring for VERY low-rent Hitchcock, but instead they've gotten very high-gloss Telemundo":

Smidge's career doesn't deserve another straight-to-DVD type story. She is SO much better than that. If this doesn't work out, she simply must do a Rom Com with Ryan Reynolds or the like. But in the mean time, we'll of course watch it no matter what...even if Bitsy does make fun of it.

Friday, August 19, 2011

Photos of Joss on the Set of 'The Avengers'!

Long time tweep @thegingerpire has been visiting the set of The Avengers in Cleveland, Ohio and shared some pics from the set! It's fake New York and actually really doesn't look like NYC, but I'm sure the magic of hollywood will make it work. Check out Joss below in action! Link to the full album and the rest of the "smash-em-up" here. I'm thinking there are some spoilers in there too, for the hard-core zmiggies out there.

Thanks, Steph!





San Diego Comic Con Edition Finale!

Since it's a month to the day that we arrived in San Diego, it seems like a good time to wrap up the wrap-up! So we're back in our usual black Buffyfest outfit. We want to hugely thank Ivan, as always, for lending his time, fantastic camera skills and editing. And thanks to Ryan too for helping out when we lost Bits this year. We appreciate you guys!

To end the fun, here are some photos from this year's festivities!



Thursday, August 18, 2011

Supernatural/Buffyverse Mash Up Heaven!!! (SPOILER ALERT)

I know I gushed about this on Twitter yesterday, but I'm still high off the news that our beloved Charisma Carpenter and James Marsters will be playing A MARRIED COUPLE ON THIS SEASON OF SUPERNATURAL! wtf?! Between this and Amber Benson's return, all I can say is bravo! This is genius and I commend anyone involved.

What I should also mention is that we have a new blog series coming up this fall that's Supernatural related, and this news just upped the stakes! More to come about that as we get closer to the premier. I'll end this with a photo of the cast and crew from San Diego Comic Con. It's hard to be this close to the hotness, trust.
Sera Gamble, Jensen "The Hotness" Ackles, Jared "The Hotness" Padalecki,
Misha Collins (Hiding), Jim Beaver,  Badger, and Ben Edlund at SDCC 2011


Wednesday, August 17, 2011

BUFFY SEASON 9: SOMETHING NEW - BY SCOTT ALLIE

Super Scott Allie has posted a letter about the much anticipated and soon upcoming Buffy Season 9 over on Dark Horse's blog:

"Since 1994 I’ve been editing comics at Dark Horse. One of the things I’ve often said is that I stay in the job because it’s constantly new. Since 1998 I’ve been editing Buffy comics. So how friggin’ new can it feel?

Pretty new..."

Read the rest over at Dark Horse's site now. You'll also notice our new Buffyverse comic countdown clocks on the side bar on the right!

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Exclusive Interview with Brian Lynch & Scott Tipton

Yes! We're still rolling out San Diego Comic Con coverage and one of the highlights was definitely this interview with writers Brian Lynch and Scott Tipton. Set in front of the lovely harbor in San Diego, we talk and hysterically laugh about everything from IDW's Angel run to Muppets to Cosplay Mashups and more! Check it out:





Friday, August 5, 2011

Drew Goddard to Possibly Direct 'Thor 2'!

The Whedonverse and the Marvelverse may collide once again! Disney and Marvel Studios are moving forward with Thor 2, which is already scheduled for release on July 26, 2013. Thor Director Kenneth Branagh won't be directing the sequel, but it looks like they may have found a Whedoney replacement!

Rumor has it that Game of Thrones director Brian Kirk is the current frontrunner to direct the sequel, but also on this list us our very own Buffy and Angel writer and Cabin In The Woods co-writer/director: Drew Goddard! Surely Joss Whedon will do everything he can to get his boy the job. And Marvel might listen since they're trusting Joss to take care of their reportedly $260 million baby, The Avengers! Plus, he's cute too, no?

To be continued...

Sarah Michelle Gellar to Return to 'All My Children'

In case you missed the news yesterday, Smidge is going back to Pine Valley one more time!

The long running soap All My Children is soon being cancelled after 40 years on air. Sarah had played Susan Lucci's daughter, Kendall, for so many years before becoming our beloved Buffy.

Smidge confirmed her cameo during an interview with reporters attending the TV Critics Tour in Los Angeles. This time around, she won't be playing the bitchy Kendall, the role that won her an Emmy:

"I don't want to be Kendall, that's Alica's role." Gellar said, referring to AMC's Alicia Minshew. "I just wanted to be a part of it. I have no idea what I'm going to do, so we can take suggestions, but I will be doing a one day shoot. I'm excited!"

All My Children ends in September and will continue on the web.

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Interview from CSTS Los Angeles

Joss Whedon, fandom's own The One True b!x and Jessica Neuwirth from Equality Now are interviewed below by ComiCenter Live. This all took place after Can't Stop The Serenity 2011 in Los Angeles this past June. They talk about the event's amazing accomplishment thus far, b!x's inspiration to start the cause (and tweeting abilities) and more! Check it out around the 48:00 mark.



Monday, August 1, 2011

Get Your Free Spike Comic Today!

Today, the first little tidbit of Season 9 is available through the Dark Horse Digital store, free of charge care of a special code that you can only get through your local comic shop. The story is written by Jane Espenson and drawn by Georges Jeanty, and it gives us a little slice of Spike's life on board that ship with the insects as seen at the end of Season 8, and in Brian Lynch's Spike series at IDW.

Follow this link to a list of stores participating in the promo, or talk to you retailer about signing on now to get a codes!