Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Spike'd!





It's big announcement day around these parts. Check out Newsarama for details (just click the subject to take you there). Or simply enjoy the covers for the just-announced SPIKE: AFTER THE FALL miniseries coming in July, either way. Below are Franco Urru's two covers, as well as an image no one else has seen yet, a "grindhouse-like" incentive cover from Joe & Rob Sharp, with colors and effects by Charlie Kirchoff.

15 comments:

PatShand said...

As I said (word for word) on the IDW board:

That is so amazing. If you came to my door with a case of money and said "Hey, want free money?"... my excitement over said free money would pale in comparison to how I feel right now about "Spike: Asylum." Written by Brian? Pencilled by Franco? Starring Spike? With Illyria? Canonical? This couldn't be better. That means that for four months, there will be a BUFFY comic, an ANGEL comic, AND a SPIKE comic being released. Could this be any better? Not thinking so.

I've a question about that newsarama article though, Chris and/or Brian. They say that #9 introduces the new team of Nick Runge and Art Lyon. Does that mean that Franco is off "After the Fall?" If so I don't know what to think. From what I've seen of Runge's work on Wesley's "First Night" stuff, I love the man, but I love Franco too. A lot. Is he off the "Angel" book, or was that like a... IDK?

--------------

Buuutt more on those covers, because they deserve more. Franco's covers are awesome. Wall worthy. They're currently taking over my desktop, which is cool. Not so much a fan of the Sharp bros cover, though. It would be great, except for the big time tracing of Spike's head. Otherwise, awesome all around.

But wow. Wow man. Thank you. Made my day.

Chris Ryall said...

Franco's moving to Spike for four months, yeah. Franco and Spike go together like Newsarama article and complainers. They're THAT good together.

PatShand said...

:D

Sounds good to me.

Anonymous said...

Wow. I'm super psyched! Gotta ask, is that incentive "grindhouse" cover done by the Sharp bros done by the exact same sharp boys who worked on The Ultimate Warrior's "Warrior" comic?

Chris Ryall said...

No idea if the Sharp Bros worked on that comic, actually. They're the Aussie team that've done some Star Trek work (and an image for ANGEL: AFTER THE FALL #6) for me.

zriza said...

WOOHOO!!! What a wonderful way to start the day !!!

Anonymous said...

Damn, it's a good time to be a Buffyverse-fan. This is absolutely awesome news!!!

I can't seem to find any confirmation yet on whether this will be canon.

Can you confirm or deny its canonical status?

Chris Ryall said...

Well, it spins out of the canonical Angel: After the Fall and is Joss-approved, so it's as canon as can be, yeah.

Anonymous said...
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Anonymous said...

Well, the fact that it spins out off alone A:AtF isn't enough :( ... but the fact that Joss has given it his seal of approval is :) Thanks for clearing it up.

I'm crazy looking forward to this! Thanks IDW!

Anonymous said...

I just realized that the grindhouse version you have posted there is one of the earlier versions. It doesn't have the folds.

Anonymous said...

Think you could ask them if they worked on the "Warrior" comic? (think of it as a favour to a fan who buys all your Angel/Spike and TF products?)

Anonymous said...

Hi Nuclearconvoy,

Yeah we did indeed work on the Ultimate Warrior's comic book way back in the 90's. We were there for his return to the ring in '98 at WCW and still keep in contact with "godfather of in ring intensity" today. Can't believe somebody still remembers that book.

Hi Pat I'm sorry you didn't like our cover. We probably did rely a little too much on the reference for Spike's face but we did want to make sure it looked like Spike not some generic vampire...always a bit of struggle for us....we will have to go back to studying each and every one of his appearances in our Buffy Angel DVD collection.

Anonymous said...

It's hard to forget the mind-trip that is the Warrior comic. I'm actually rather fond of it, and I SEE what ol' Warrior was trying to do with it...but I think he should have had someone else write it with him, to clean up his very...awkward way of writing in it. Warrior is a comic that possesses a lot of really cool ideas in the metaphysical realization of self, and shedding one's weaknesses, but the way it is written almost requires a translator at times. It certainly isn't an easy-read but I think it gets an undeserved bad-rap because of that. Then again, I'm also a fan of strange films and novels that like to play with concepts of reality, perception and self.

i.e. Most people I know hated "Lost in Translation", I found it brilliant.

Richjl413 said...

The Buffyverse began for me in 2005 while watching Angel one morning at 6:00am est. The story continued inot the next day and from there I was hooked. When I got to ep of Angel from year 5 ep 2, showing a brief clip of Spike wearing the amulet at the Hellmouth, I immediately rushed out and bought Buffy season 7 on DVD.

From there, there was no turning back. I now own Buffy novels, comics, stories I printed off the internet. So for me, my personal Buffyverse experiences went from buying and watching all 7 season of Buffy, then I bought the early seasons of Angel. Then the Buffy season 8 comic came out, then Angel season 6 and now Spike in July.

I'm not ashamed to say that Buffyverse takes up many hours of my day. I just signed up for the rare Angel covers from Time & Space Toys where only 1000 of each of the 12 covers will be made available to subscribers only.

What I want to know from you if you care to reply is why are we so involved with Buffy, Angel, Spike? Why do we love them and the Buffyverse so much. Just what is it about Joss and crew that captivates and piques our interest?

Hey, I have other interests and love Star Wars and Star Trek, Highlander, Herc and Xena, Superman etc, but none of them compare to my love for Buffy. So what is it about Buffy that has captivated me so????
I meant "us". eh eh