Delayed! :(

[XavierZane]

Issue #19 has been pushed back to November 12th. :cutecry:

Issue #20 is now slated to be released December 3rd and Issue #21 on December 17th.

This better not be the start of a trend. Joss is pretty infamous for delays, almost up to Kevin Smith standards. That sh*t can fly with Runaways, or even Astonishing, but Buffy? Nuh uh. Nope.

[Thomas]

You've got to be kidding me. Great. This better not be the start of Joss', "I can't get a monthly comic out on time!" thing. I mean, jeez, he doesn't even write them all!

What pisses me off the most? The fact we have to wait another month for issue #19. Couldn't they do a break between #19 and #20?!

[KingofCretins]

We've known for at least two or three months that there have been problems getting Joss' scripts in on time during this arc, and Allie even warned of a possible delay in the 8.18 letter column. It's not a surprise. PLUS, they also said back during "The Long Way Home" that a skip month might happen once a year. So, take the delay and count it as a skip :)

The good news is, this only puts us two weeks behind as of 8.21, which was originally going to be 12/3, a week after 8.20.

[Matt]

No way, I was really excited about getting this next week, it was definitely gonna be one of the week's highlights, but I guess I'll deal with it.

At least that means in December we get a double Buffy treat in time for Christmas, even if it does mean that the resolution to this arc is pushed back.

That does make sense as to why there hasn't been a preview released yet, I was starting to wonder why there hadn't been one so close to it being released, now I get it.

[RuFio]

omg. so much for my buffy birthday present on october 1st! BOO
December will be good, but still, we now have to wait until NOVEMBER!? :(

[Koos]

I find it weird. They have been working for months ahead. How can there be a delay? Was Joss not happy with something and has he decided that it needs to be rewritten?

[vampmogs]

It could be heaps of things. From what I gathered it was the art that caused the delay not the script. Which isn't that what happened with 'Fray' in which Joss was finished but Moline wasn't?

Great, I'm gonna be overseas and out of the loop for two months and am gonna miss one heck of a november and December! Boo!

[Amuk]

It seems highly unlikely that a delay announced this late could be because of a script. If they'd announced it two months ago, sure. I suppose it could be artwork, but less than a week before it was supposed to ship? That sounds like a printing problem (like, say #1).

[Sosa lola]

That sucks! I was looking forward to the conclusion of the Fary arc :( Well, at least the Harmony issue wasn't pushed to 2009.

[Matt]

That sucks! I was looking forward to the conclusion of the Fary arc :( Well, at least the Harmony issue wasn't pushed to 2009.

I just hope that the conclusion to Fray's story isn't a huge disappointment otherwise it'll feel like we went without another edition for even longer.

I can't wait to get the Harmony issue, especially as it'll be out just before Christmas.

[NimNams]

Meh. I'm used to comic delays, so an extra month of wait isn't a big deal for me. If anything, it'll make reading the issue that much sweeter when it finally does come.

[Charles]

I find it weird. They have been working for months ahead. How can there be a delay? Was Joss not happy with something and has he decided that it needs to be rewritten?

IIRC one of the series writers (Fury?) said at one meeting they had written out everything they needed to accomplish on a dryboard only for Joss to throw a tanturm, erase ALL of it and start from scratch.

So yes, I would guess he did precisely that.

[Enisy]

IIRC one of the series writers (Fury?) said at one meeting they had written out everything they needed to accomplish on a dryboard only for Joss to throw a tanturm, erase ALL of it and start from scratch.

So yes, I would guess he did precisely that.

Espenson. Dirty Girls.

[Sosa lola]

Brief Buffy news from The Baltimore Comic Con.

Newsarama.com : Baltimore Comic Con '08: Dark Horse Comics Panel (http://www.newsarama.com/comics/080927-baltimore-darkhorse.html)

Baltimore Comic Con '08: Dark Horse Comics Panel

By Jeff Stolarcyk

Allie then turned the attention of the panel to Buffy the Vampire Slayer. He mentioned that issue #19 is the first issue set to be tragically late, “due out in about six weeks.” Jeph Loeb’s one-shot issue #20 tells a story that places Buffy in the framework of the Buffy animated series that never came to fruition.

The arc following Loeb’s one-shot is being written by several of the TV show’s writers. “Vampires come into vogue, we check in with Faith, Giles, Kennedy, Satsu, and Andrew, and we see further development for Dawn.”

The first cover of the upcoming arc features Harmony the vampire, who has become a reality TV star.

[vampmogs]

"We see futher development for Dawn..."

Interesting line, either she's already gonna enter her third and final transformation or perhaps it's cut short?

[Sosa lola]

"We see futher development for Dawn..."

Interesting line, either she's already gonna enter her third and final transformation or perhaps it's cut short?

I lean more toward the third transformation, I think it'll be very significant, seeing as it's the last one. I can't wait for February where we get the Xander-Dawn issue. I wanna see what these two kids are up to. :D

[Matt]

"We see further development for Dawn..."

That sounds self-explanatory, but I sort of hope they don't change her again yet, I think it'd be too soon considering the gap between Giant!Dawn and Centaur!Dawn and I expected there to be another similar break rather than having her change again so quickly. That said if she does change in that arc and she's partnered with Xander I think it's fair to say sparks may fly, depending, of course, on what she changes into.

"The first cover of the upcoming arc features Harmony the vampire, who has become a reality TV star."

If you ask me that sounds like a really entertaining opener, I can certainly imagine Harmony doing a reality show, more Big Brother than American Idol though if her singing was anything to go by, it's definitely going to be funny.

[Morrydwen]

IIRC one of the series writers (Fury?) said at one meeting they had written out everything they needed to accomplish on a dryboard only for Joss to throw a tanturm, erase ALL of it and start from scratch.

So yes, I would guess he did precisely that.

You have a source on that?

[Enisy]

Hey, I'm the go-to girl for quotes. ;)

Jane Espenson: You know, it's interesting, I was in the room with the writers yesterday and we were trying to break a story without Joss and he came in and erased everything and started over. I was telling the other writers, I feel like I'm only just now learning some of the lessons. The lessons being, this is not about the logical moves that you need to have the characters make to get from the beginning to the end of this story. It is about the emotional steps they have to go through and the logic is just a thing that happens while they are doing it. We broke the story, the return of Faith, and we had this big mystery that [the Scoobies] had to solve. Joss came in and took all the mystery out and made the story very simple and minimal and made it all about how dropping Faith into the mixture of people affects every single person. It's so much better! That's the thing I hope I've learned. I keep realizing that I haven't yet -- not to the extent that Joss does it, but I think I am finally getting it. (Atnzone, March 2003)

[vampmogs]

Hey, I'm the go-to girl for quotes. ;)

Jane Espenson: You know, it's interesting, I was in the room with the writers yesterday and we were trying to break a story without Joss and he came in and erased everything and started over. I was telling the other writers, I feel like I'm only just now learning some of the lessons. The lessons being, this is not about the logical moves that you need to have the characters make to get from the beginning to the end of this story. It is about the emotional steps they have to go through and the logic is just a thing that happens while they are doing it. We broke the story, the return of Faith, and we had this big mystery that [the Scoobies] had to solve. Joss came in and took all the mystery out and made the story very simple and minimal and made it all about how dropping Faith into the mixture of people affects every single person. It's so much better! That's the thing I hope I've learned. I keep realizing that I haven't yet -- not to the extent that Joss does it, but I think I am finally getting it. (Atnzone, March 2003)

Heh. And yet Willow and Xander seem totally unaffected by her return, even though they have such a huge history with each other. The only person who seemed "effected" were Buffy and to a small degree Spike. So I personally don’t see how they believed that worked myself.

I thought Willow’s line in ‘Anywhere But Here’ “Faith. Never been a fan” was far more in line with how she would respond than her completely indifferent attitude to the girl in ‘Dirty Girls-Chosen.’ Willow *hated* Faith, she loathed the girl. Whilst I'd expect that may have mellowed to a degree and she may even feel somewhat hypercritical given her Darth Rosenberg phase, that kind of feeling doesn't just disappear.

[Sosa lola]

Hey, I'm the go-to girl for quotes. ;)

Jane Espenson: You know, it's interesting, I was in the room with the writers yesterday and we were trying to break a story without Joss and he came in and erased everything and started over. I was telling the other writers, I feel like I'm only just now learning some of the lessons. The lessons being, this is not about the logical moves that you need to have the characters make to get from the beginning to the end of this story. It is about the emotional steps they have to go through and the logic is just a thing that happens while they are doing it. We broke the story, the return of Faith, and we had this big mystery that [the Scoobies] had to solve. Joss came in and took all the mystery out and made the story very simple and minimal and made it all about how dropping Faith into the mixture of people affects every single person. It's so much better! That's the thing I hope I've learned. I keep realizing that I haven't yet -- not to the extent that Joss does it, but I think I am finally getting it. (Atnzone, March 2003)

I think the writers' idea would have taken lots of screen time when there was no time at all. Only five episodes left. While I loved Caleb, he should have been included earlier.

And I agree with vampmogs, we saw complete lack of reaction to Faith coming back. Only Buffy voiced her dislike -and to some level Dawn and Giles- but I guess they needed Buffy to hate her for Empty Places. Willow, who seems to hate Faith way more than Buffy, was very indifferent, but then she was BotWillow, no emotions at all. And Xander who lost his virginity to her, who was almost killed by her, never even got a single scene with her. How's that better?

[Sosa lola]

Sorry about the double post.

A message for fans from Scott Allie:

Hey gang,

So sorry for the current delay. Just a few days ago, Buffy #19 should have been on sale, and it is not. We all just slipped -- after a very good stint of getting the book out on time. Was it the magic combination of putting the Fray team back together right when Joss was launching a new TV show that did us in? I'm not saying. But sometimes it all just gets to be more than you can stay on top of, and while we take our commitment to this monthly comic very seriously, we decided we needed to let this issue take its time in order to maintain the quality of the book. That gives us more pride, and you more enjoyment, than its timeliness. And in order to do #19 just right, the page count crept up and up, and we have another 25-pager, that still just costs you a mere $2.99. And with the economy where it is, $2.99 might be harder to come by . . . but it still doesn’t pay for much . . . so it's almost as if we're handing out free comic-book gold!

The good news: Buffy #20 is nearly done, #21 and #22 are all done, and we'll be making up for lost time as soon as we get #19 out.

As for when that will be, we'll post updates online as we get closer; but, please know that the end is in sight. Karl is nearly done, and Andy, Michelle, and Jimmy are the lightning pit crew, so as long as the presses aren't busy flooding U.S. banks with fresh capital, you'll have the book in just a few weeks. On behalf of Joss, Karl, Andy, myself, Sierra, Mike Richardson, President Nixon, Bill Buckner, and the 1986 Mets, we apologize. We'll try to avoid further screwups, but we make no promises we can't keep.

Peace,

http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t310/slayalive/SA_V8/scott.png

[Matt]

I find it kind of funny how they could start the new arc tomorrow if they wanted without us having the conclusion to the current one, but I suppose Jeanty's has had a lot of time on his hands, so it makes sense.

[Rowan Hawthorn]

Well, some artists (and writers) simply work faster than others, too. Personally, as impatient as I am, I appreciate the fact that they're trying not to cut corners to meet a deadline (I've seen way too much of that in my career as a programmer) and I really appreciate that they're going to actually bring the book back on schedule - lots of outfits would have simply pushed the whole thing back instead of trying to catch up, even if they did have the following issues ready to go.