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Post by Tyler Austin "tiewashere" on Dec 9, 2010 1:58:23 GMT -5
So, I'm just going to put something out there. Does anyone think that the Buffy franchise is making/planning on too many spin offs?
For example, I am someone that really only likes to know and read about something that Joss and the creators consider canon, so therefore, I have read "AFTER THE FALL" and "BUFFY SEASON 8." I read the epilogue issue to AFTER THE FALL and all of the one-shots for BUFFY because I know those were considered canon. Now, once Joss left Angel I stepped away and will continue to read the "canon" stories. But now it's getting hard to follow and that got me thinking, "for a casual reader who just reads the issues, puts it down, and picks up the next issue without checking online must be so confused."
So, after Buffy there is a talk about a Willow spin off, a Buffy spin off, there is a Spike &Illyria spin off, and there is an Angel spin off.
I just feel that 1. this is too much. 2. it may be a lot of money for people and 3. if one person misses one thing they may get completely confused if it's only talked about in one issue.
I'm not complaining, just starting conversation.
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Post by AndrewCrossett on Dec 9, 2010 8:34:54 GMT -5
IDW does too many spinoffs, IMO. Some are good, some not so good, but they over-saturated the market to the point that I stopped even paying attention. Now I only read the main Angel title and the current Spike miniseries.
The ones Dark Horse has planned aren't actually spinoffs, though... they are all part of season 9.
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Post by angeliclestat on Dec 9, 2010 9:01:56 GMT -5
But Andrew - whether or not you brand them 'spinoffs' or 'multiple story lines', DH will still be putting out as many or even more Whedonverse comics every month than IDW ever did.So how can you say that it's ok for one company to do it, and when another does it it's not ok?
I was really annoyed when the very people who complained about the multiple comics from IDW, were cheering when DH announced they were going to run Season 9, just like IDW had been running the Angel title (A main title with off shoots telling an expanded storyline). Double standards or what?!
My view is I'd you wanna buy all the comics-buy them.If you only want to follow one characters story you can do that too.But opening up the story to multiple titles let's the story breathe more, and you don't get lots of characters being forgotten or brushed to the side like in Season 8. Instead of 22 pages a month to tell a story you can have 88(or more!).
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Post by AndrewCrossett on Dec 9, 2010 9:18:38 GMT -5
I never said it was "not okay" for IDW to put out all those comics. I think they were doing it in order to squeeze as much money as possible out of the license. That's business, and it's fine for the people who must have everything with Angel's name on it, but it completely lost my interest.
The season 9 comics will all be canonical, and will all be telling the same story from different viewpoints. The point is to get as much story as we got in season 8, but not grow old and grey while waiting to see how it ends.
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jellymoff
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Post by jellymoff on Dec 9, 2010 9:32:34 GMT -5
I have a feeling that you will be able to read the main Buffy title for Season 9 and understand what is going on. Basically, they are going to be operating more like comics instead of a TV show. Scott Allie mentioned that Season 9 would be like the early Marvel Comics universe. It is very normal for comics to have a main storyline with several spin-offs. Wolverine appears in several titles, but you can read them independently and understand what is going on. If you read all the titles, you may get a bigger picture or perspective.
In the IDWverse, Spike-"The Devil You Know" is lightly referenced in the main title, but it is not a necessary read. Season 9 sounds like it will be the same. I can't imagine they will alienate the reader that does not want to pick up every title.
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Post by Wyndam on Dec 9, 2010 10:18:06 GMT -5
At the end of the day I doubt we'll be dealing with significantly more than what we got with Season 8 (~45 total issues). I believe the main title will be shorter, around 20 issues, but once you factor in the proposed Angel, Spike, Willow and Faith spin-offs, that number will reach 40-45 easily, maybe more, who knows.
In the end though, it's your money and you decide what you want to do with it.
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Dorotea
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Post by Dorotea on Dec 9, 2010 10:25:21 GMT -5
Actually, the last I heard from the PTBs they were talking about 2 main titles : Angel, Buffy ( each about the same length full size books) plus two minis : Willow, Spike.
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Post by wenxina on Dec 9, 2010 11:47:41 GMT -5
Well, assuming that each main title runs about 20 issues, and you factor in the minis, you're looking at a project that will span about 50 issues. I'm paraphrasing here, but Allie did say that you'll get more comics, but in a shorter period of time. It'll be 50 issues or so in about 2 years, vs. 40 issues (excluding miscellaneous one-shots) over the course of 4+ years.
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Post by AndrewCrossett on Dec 9, 2010 11:59:38 GMT -5
Well, assuming that each main title runs about 20 issues, and you factor in the minis, you're looking at a project that will span about 50 issues. I'm paraphrasing here, but Allie did say that you'll get more comics, but in a shorter period of time. It'll be 50 issues or so in about 2 years, vs. 40 issues (excluding miscellaneous one-shots) over the course of 4+ years. I'll bet they do it along the same lines as Marvel and DC "events" like Darkest Night, Brightest Day, Infinite Crisis, etc. Start with a single miniseries that sets up the season and gives us the events that set everything in motion... then split things up among a whole bunch of concurrent miniseries (Marvel and DC often hijack existing ongoing series temporarily and pull them into the Event). In the end, everything comes together in a concluding miniseries for the big finish. I think Scott said the plan was for there to be a new Buffy title out most weeks, so that would mean 3 or 4 going at any given time.
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Paul
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Post by Paul on Dec 9, 2010 12:08:00 GMT -5
It's not too many spin-offs at all, it's actually a better structure for the comic medium because you'll have more story in a shorter period of time. I believe Scott Allie said S9 (including spin-offs) will probably have a similar issue count overall to S8, but won't be unbearably dragged out over 4 years like S8 was. It'll also be an interesting way to get certain characters out of supporting roles and really explore them properly. Faith and Angel, for example, suffered from a lack of attention and characterisation in S8, so having their own titles will give them that opportunity. The Buffy cast is extremely large now, and it's easy for characters to get lost in the shuffle if you keep them contained to one title. As for IDW, I have criticised them for having too many spin-offs but that's because I think many of their spin-offs were unnecessary (the episode adaptations, for example). They weren't bad, but felt like they were milking the franchise a bit. So long as each of Dark Horse's spin-offs have a clear mission statement, I have no problem with them. As for the expense... who cares. If you're too poor to afford comics, that's your problem. The titles should be independant enough that casual readers aren't completely lost, but there should also be enough crossover between them to reward those who read them all.
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Post by Skytteflickan88 on Dec 9, 2010 12:41:20 GMT -5
I want more, more, more. Since I stopped obssessing about canon I've started to appreciate all the comics more and more.
Sure, it would be nice if Joss gave out a "This is absolute canon, this is maybe-canon and this is absolutely not canon"-list (and maybe a "read them in this order"-list) but that's not going to happen. I hope not too many fans hear "Joss said season 8 is canon" and assume all comics are canon. However, that's a pretty bad reason to not release more comics.
So some fans will feel they wasted their money after finding out that Joss wasn't that involved in them or that they're not confirmed canon. I think that's not that big a deal. I think Darkhorse should still go ahead and release more comics, since I think for every person feeling confused or like they wasted their money by buying non-canon stuff, there's going to be several others that don't give a damn and just want a good story.
Not to say Darkhorse should published crap. And all the stories should be carefully co-ordinated and planned so that there's no out of characterness. Don't want Xander happily eating pancakes in one comic and saying he hates pancakes in another one. I don't care if Joss claims the pancaking-eating-Xander story is canon and the other isn't, they shouldn't contradict each other. And if there's something on one comic referencing what happens in another comic, there should be a footnote.
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angelsclone
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Post by angelsclone on Dec 9, 2010 13:08:51 GMT -5
actually last i read Buffy & Angel will run for 24 issues each over two years.. thats 48 issues together, then including the Willow and Spike spin-offs which could be between 4 and 12 issues long each.. thats a minimum of 56 issues & a maximum of 72 issues in two years thats just ridiculously expensive just for "Season Nine".. if your not sure.. u can keep updated here buffy.wikia.com/wiki/Season_Nine on season nine.
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Post by Skytteflickan88 on Dec 10, 2010 6:14:26 GMT -5
I don't really think Darkhorse should think "Fans can't afford all of this, we'd better cut down on the issues". Specially since people could wait until TPBs are released and save money. Hell, if they wait half a year after that, the TPBs will be even cheaper.
Not that I think 72 issues in two years sounds like that much. The last 3-4 years I've been buying IDWs Angel and one shots and mini series along with Darkhorse's season 8 and it's one shots. I don't think 72 issues is that much compared to that. That's three issues per month on average, no? I would say that's too little. But if they do decide to release more than 3-5 issues per month, I might need to be one of the ones that buy the TPBs.
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Post by wenxina on Dec 10, 2010 8:16:05 GMT -5
actually last i read Buffy & Angel will run for 24 issues each over two years.. thats 48 issues together, then including the Willow and Spike spin-offs which could be between 4 and 12 issues long each.. thats a minimum of 56 issues & a maximum of 72 issues in two years thats just ridiculously expensive just for "Season Nine".. if your not sure.. u can keep updated here buffy.wikia.com/wiki/Season_Nine on season nine. That's assuming that there are no breaks at any point, which is hard to imagine. And a Wiki page is really not the best source of information for anything. Especially since I don't see any citations for anything quoted. Also, most of what we know about S9 so far was either revealed to us or Buffyfest, with tidbits from other media, like CBR.
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Post by arcaneweirdo on Dec 10, 2010 13:49:00 GMT -5
So, basicly what we know for sure is: - two flagship titles, Buffster & the Angel-man. - Willow the not-so-much-witch-anymore & Spike: Billy Idol's revenge spinoffs. - Season 9 will be 20 2 years long.' I thought I heard someone(Scott Allie???) say there would be some short miniseries as well. I just hope they don't go all hollywood-people on us and release 10 issues a month. PS: Who else wants an Amy miniseries?
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Post by Skytteflickan88 on Dec 10, 2010 15:04:38 GMT -5
Oh God, ten issues per months sounds amazing! *drooling*
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