SPIKE:SHADOW PUPPETS 1

A guide to some of the in-jokes and references you may have missed.

Okay, SHADOW PUPPETS has been out for a week now, so I think it's safe to spoil some stuff, no? Just a heads up, you might want to not read this if you haven't read the book yet. So, go buy a copy or take a note from the more awful people and download it illegally. We'll meet you back here.

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Welcome back. Ready? Let's go!

PAGE 1

No references here, but isn't it impressive how I learned Japanese to write this page? I would have done it sooner had I known all you had to do is a put a little arrow before and after the words. Comics are all about learning, people. Learning, and vampires, and puppets.

PAGE 2

Spike POV. Saving the day again. He's seeing himself as a full-on champion after the events in SPIKE:ASYLUM.

Panel 2: Little sex joke about Buffy. Hey, she had our lead bound and naked next to Angel in her comic, fair is fair is fair.

PAGE 3

Because this comic differs in tone from SPIKE:ASYLUM, is a bit more loose and fun, I thought it would be a good idea to name the chapters after BUFFY and ANGEL episode titles. Also, I tried to have more splash pages in this series, to give Franco a lot of room to do his thing, and also to open the book up a little.

Note that Spike considers himself one of the top two vampires. Number one? The Count from Sesame Street.

PAGE 4

Panel 1: He may fancy himself a champion, but he still is Spike. He'll save the day wzXRLT as much as he wants to. Besides, that Demon probably isn't totally EVIL, he just got drunk and ate a few homeless people. Haven't we all been there?

Panel 2: Spike's business card is Angel's business card but with a spike sticking in Angel's symbol. I figured Spike would do this to take the piss out of Angel, and because he saved some money simply drawing a spike onto Angel's cards, and changing the phone number. Spike isn't just a champion, he's thrifty.

Panel 3: A few references to some of Spike's adventures. The last season of BUFFY, last season of ANGEL, SPIKE:ASYLUM, and ANGEL: AULD ANG SYNE.

PAGE 5

Panels 1 and 2: Spike walks by a flower shoppe, which was inspired by something kinda weird: in FRANKIE AND JOHNNY, Al Pacino and that lady from GREASE 2 are on a date, and the first time they kiss is in front of a flower shoppe. Despite the fact that they're walking down a dirty city street, their first kiss was framed in such a way, with all the greenery around them, that the scene looked classically romantic.

Spike is about to open up here, so we set up a "classically romantic" mood to let him vent about being alone, but said flower shoppe is destroyed. Poor Spike. And poor me, being inspired by FRANKIE AND JOHNNY.

Panel 3: I like that this rich demon spends his time hanging out of sunroofs, shooting people with his horns. That's the first thing I'm doing when I make a million.

PAGE 6

Panels 1-4. Spike is ever the hero. Even when he's running for his life he's checking every nook and cranny to make sure no one's hurt. All those children that live behind hot dog carts are safe while he's around.

Spike's got a whole other life that viewers of ANGEL didn't know about. While we're not clear as to when SHADOW PUPPETS takes place, I thought it would be fun to establish that he's got these series of adventures going on that no one else in the ANGEL world is aware of. Also, I was tying to help set up a world for future SPIKE writers to play in. He has a "bat-cave" (Andrew reference!) and a way for those that need help can enter the stories, that future SPIKE writers can use if they want.

Panel 5: Enter Mrs. Konikoff. Named after my fiancee's aunt, and pretty much with her attitude. Another character for future SPIKE scribes to use, but more importantly, it shows that as much as Spike grandstands about how great it is being alone, he's more than willing, nay, he wants to hang out with people.

Mrs. Konikoff went over big with readers, which is sweet. I loved writing her interaction with Spike, and we haven't seen the last of her.

PAGE 8

Lorne! One of the most underappreciated of all the ANGEL characters, especially by IDW (Lorne addresses this in his recap/intro in SHADOW PUPPETS 2). Also, he makes fun of the way Spike talks, in an attempt to prevent Spike from using those words much throughout SHADOW PUPPETS. It's a dialog-crutch I didn't want to fall back on, and now that Lorne has made Spike aware of it, he won't be using it as much. Of course, SOMEONE ELSE will. Again, see issue 2 for who I'm talking about.

Check out all of Spike's little bits of BUFFY and ANGEL memorabilia throughout his apartment. That's all Franco. Totally his idea to put in the stuffed pig, and the stuffed (and hung) Angel. Franco is the best.

Also, in PANEL 3, Lorne hints at what Spike was up to directly after ASYLUM. Sounds like he enjoyed Vegas.

PAGE 9

The new SMILE TIME theme rhymes! Okay, so I'm not a good a songwriter as Mr. Whedon, but I think, at the very least, SHADOW PUPPETS will be up for a 2008 Eisner for Best Song. They have that, don't they? They should.

PAGE 10

Panel 2: Spike knows a lot about Cabbage Patch Kids. I'm assuming he learned about them from Drusilla.

Panel 3: Who sent Spike the video tape? It's revealed in issue 2, hopefully you all read it and were like "oh, okay."

PAGE 12

Panel 4: I just want to point out that before the dialog was added, this panel looked really homoerotic. Sporne fanfiction, anyone?

PAGE 13

It looks like Mystique from X-MEN is on the plane. That is sweet, she and Spike would get along.

PAGE 15

Spike catches an arrow. That is pretty much the coolest thing that someone can do. That and give to charities. Because compassion is cooler than Fonzie, people. One to grow on.

PAGE 16

"Wee little puppet..." is my favorite line from the SMILE TIME episode. You'll be hearing it a couple more times in the series. Make it a drinking game!

And poor, poor One-Eyed Turk. We never knew ye.

PAGE 17

SMILE TIME a-team revealed! They are as follows:

Marco, the leader. Former room-mate of Polo, SMILE TIME America's leader. He's the Ernie to Polo's Bert.

Fauna, the lady puppet. Sister of Flora, from SMILE TIME America.

Snuff, the dragon.

Cat Scratch, a cat-like Puppet. He's got a pretty nasty fight coming up.

And a restitched and rebooted Ratio Hornblower. No way I was leaving him out, he's my favorite SMILE TIME character.

PAGE 19

Official Cannon. This seems to be the moment everyone's talking about the most. I hope people don't think Spike's line "I really hate...official cannon" is a commentary on my feelings about writing the official ANGEL in-canon story that is coming after SHADOW PUPPETS (ANGEL: AFTER THE FALL, on sale soon! Ask for it by name). The joke is more of a response to internet bickering about whether or not these stories are "official canon", and if they're not, whether or not they "matter".

My thoughts, as a comic reader and a geek? I don't concern myself with whether or not something "happened". Every single BUFFY and ANGEL story happened to the same degree. That is to say, they didn't. They are works of fiction. I'm just concerned with whether or not a story, be it in comic or movie or TV or fanfiction, is good. That's way more important to me than if it happened.

That said, AFTER THE FALL is official canon and I am making sure it's nothing less than perfect. It's ten times more work than ASYLUM or PUPPETS combined but I know how it important it is to everyone, fans, me and Joss included.

SIDENOTE: I got an email yesterday from someone who assumes that since SHADOW PUPPETS is funny, AFTER THE FALL will also be funny. And that's kinda ridiculous, as it's a different kind of story. One is supposed to be a fun, four issue buddy comedy/horror adventure. The other is a big, epic story that will span over a year. The stakes are huge in AFTER THE FALL, and while there is some humor, it's not at all the same tone as SHADOW PUPPETS, just as SHADOW PUPPETS isn't the same tone as ASYLUM. Have faith!

PAGE 22

Things look grim for our boys. Oh they ain't getting out of this!

Oh wait, issue 2 is out. And they do get out of it. Very good, carry on.

Hope you enjoyed this look at SPIKE:SHADOW PUPPETS 1!