Fallen Angel Reborn

For those who were disconcerted by the “Final issue” blurb on “Fallen Angel #33,” below is artwork from the upcoming relaunch.  Guest-starring Illyria, it will be (to the best of my knowledge) the first time a Joss Whedon character has appeared in a major adventure outside of the Whedonverse.  And yes, feel free to reproduce these images elsewhere for the dining and dancing pleasure of fellow fans.

20 comments on “Fallen Angel Reborn

  1. Gorgeous art. It’s actually kinda creepy to see such an accurate Illyria. Like when Homer Simpson was in 3D, then fell into the real world.

  2. I cannot EVEN tell you how excited I am for this one. My favorite character of yours plus one of my favorite of Joss’ characters…glorious.

    How in the world did you manage to pull that off, by the way?

  3. PAD,

    I agree the artwork looks great, but I remain somewhat puzzled as to why you would re-launch the series rather than have Illyria appear in Fallen Angel #34.

    As you yourself wrote in your “But I Digress Column” in CBG #1355 (Nov. 5, 1999), “By treating high numbers as anathema, by refusing to reinvent characters within the context of their ongoing series, publishers have served to undercut the sense of history that served comics so well in the past.”

    Granted, one wouldn’t think of 33 as a “high number”, but maybe in today’s comics world, where series have less time to catch on before being canceled, it is. Even so, I can’t see the point of a relaunch– especially with a gap of about six months between it and Fallen Angel #33. Not with $3.99 prices and in today’s economic climate. Plus we’ve been given an “ending” of sorts with #33; it’d be very easy for people to decide to find something else to spend their $3.99 on in the interim.

    To return to that BID column, you go on to give the hypothetical example of a highly-regarded writer-artist taking over Spudman with issue #88. Which creates a great deal of buzz.

    “People try Spudman who have never read the series before. They like what they read. What’s the next thing they do, if they’re collectors? Well, if they never read the series before, they try to pick up the back issues. Or if they had read it but then stopped, they might try to fill in the gaps.”

    You then go on to ask what if the publisher had relaunched the series with a new #1, and give this answer: “People get in on the ground floor– and have absolutely no compulsion to check out back issues.”

    Now granted this isn’t a matter of a new creative team coming on board Fallen Angel, but I think the point you made a decade ago remains valid in this instance. A new development– in this case the appearance of Illyria– is creating some buzz. One that might have had new people pick up the book with #34 and then seek out back issues; or have those who dropped it come back and subsequently seek to fill the holes in their collections.

    But new readers coming on board for a new #1? As you said in BID, “They feel they have the whole run right in their hands and needn’t bother with anything else. The series that came out prior to that are irrelevant, unnecessary, immaterial.” Aren’t you all but inviting people to reach these very conclusions by starting Fallen Angel over again with a new #1? And given that this is a creator-owned book, the relaunch is likely as much your decision as it is the publisher’s.

    Otherwise, I’m sure we’d have heard something from you to the effect that you’d reluctantly agreed to this.

    Maybe there’s a certain sales/marketing logic to this re-launch which escapes me (and makes strong counterpoints to the points raised in the BID column), but a re-launch just seems counter-intuitive. I know a #1 issue tends to sell better than a #34, but would Fallen Angel Rebirth #1 sell that much better than a Fallen Angel #34, assuming an Illyria appearance in either case?

    And even if it does, will you increase or at least maintain your current readership levels as a result of this change? I would hope the answer is yes.

    Rick

  4. It’s a valid question, Rick. I think the sad fact is that we’ve reached a point where, between trade paperback collections replacing back issue sales and reader attrition the longer a series goes on, that there is simply no reason to continue ongoing numbering on a series.

    Frank Miller doesn’t seem to feel any compulsion to do an ongoing “Sin City” series. Mike Mignola does fine with “Hellboy” without turning out a new issue every month. So where is it written that I have to produce “Fallen Angel” every single month?

    By relaunching with the Illyria four parter, we give Whedon fans an opportunity to come on board with a brand new number one. If they like it enough to seek out previous issues, IDW will have just produced the “Fallen Angel Omnibus” which collects issues 1-21, with a follow-up in the works. The way the market currently exists, there is nothing but disincentive to keep a series ongoing.

    PAD

  5. The Dark Horse multiple mini-series style is an interesting one, and I think it works fine for Hellboy and Umbrella Academy. Multiple mini-series are really more user-friendly than big numbers. DC and Marvel can get away with it because they’re giants, I think it’s smarter for the smaller publishers to go that way.

    I get F.A. in trades anyway, but just because I love the series so much I like reading in complete arcs all at once instead of waiting.

    Hey, we have avatars now? Sweet, I wanna get my avatar on.

  6. Geez, that’s gorgeous! If I could ask, what’s it like to see the art for the first time for something you’ve scripted?

  7. It’s pretty exciting, especially when the artist just knocks it out of the park. J.K. Woodward is still the artist for “Fallen Angel,” and I think this is some of his best work since the previous launch. It’s amazing what he can do when he actually has some time, as opposed to the monthly grind.

    PAD

    1. I stopped reading this as I didn’t like Woodward’s artwork. But it certainly has improved, I’ll give it a go.

  8. PAD said, “I think the sad fact is that we’ve reached a point where, between trade paperback collections replacing back issue sales and reader attrition the longer a series goes on, that there is simply no reason to continue ongoing numbering on a series.”

    PAD,

    Do you think replacing an ongoing series with a set of miniseries will make people more or less likely to decide to wait for a trade? And if they’re more likely to wait, doesn’t that bring us back to the old Catch-22 that if too many people wait, the series (or miniseries, as the case may be) will be canceled and there won’t be a trade?

    Or would a four-issue miniseries pretty much be immune from cancelization, given its relative brevity?

    But even if that’s the case, it would seem there could be a problem if too many people decide to wait for a trade. If sales of a particular miniseries are too low, a publisher might decide not to put out additional miniseries with that particular character or team.

    With that possibility in mind, are you making this change because it’s the best solution in today’s comics market climate, or because it’s the least worst?

    For that matter, do you still believe (as you said in the post “The Price is Wrong” back in June 2002) that the regular format will become several titles collapsed together in $3.50 32 to 48-page perfect bound titles on slicker paper with stiff covers?

    Myself, I’d decided that in light of the cost of individual issues, and the costs of bags and boards (which need to be replaced every so often), I’d switch to trade format for those titles I’m reading that are already collected that way. Which means that if a new title comes along that catches my interest, I need to decide whether to pick it up or wait and see if it becomes a trade (assuming I remember to keep an eye out for said trade X number of months later).

    Unfortunately, in this economic climate (and given that I’ve had my pay cut), I’m less likely to add anything to my list.

    How does that affect Fallen Angel? I’m not sure. I’d already decided that since the series was being collected in trades anyway, I’d switch to trade format. But a relaunch as a miniseries doesn’t guarantee a trade will follow. So I’ll have to decide whether to continue to pick up a title I enjoy, or cut back (made a bit easier by the fact that we were given an “ending” in #33) and hope I’ll be able to get the miniseries down the road in either back issue bins or via a trade collection.

    I don’t know. Maybe 32 to 48-page perfect bound titles are the way to go. Or maybe a trades-only format. I’d like to see the comics industry survive in some form.

    And I hope that whatever format it utilizes, Fallen Angel continues to survive as well.

    Rick

  9. Does look quite interesting indeed. Looking forward to it. Thing being, will there be any of the other regulars (no specifics needed), or will the titular character be the only ‘carry-over’?

    As for

    >Frank Miller doesn’t seem to feel any compulsion to do an ongoing “Sin City” series. Mike Mignola does fine with “Hellboy” without turning out a new issue every month. So where is it written that I have to produce “Fallen Angel” every single month?

    Quite. North American comics fans forget that the ‘ongoing’ bit is mostly peculiar to the industry here. Before there were Marvel and DC there was a thriving comics industry in Belgium. Their French-language strips have been around for decades on just the basis of the author/artist/creator has an idea for a character which then runs in weekly instalments along with a collection of other strips and, when the adventure is finished, gets collected into a high quality hardback reprint. What we call ‘graphic novels’ existed decades before over there. And once the adventure is done, the character is often retired or on hiatus until the creator came up with another idea for a story and then they’d run until it was done – oft times with several weeks/months between stories, sometimes years. MICHEL VAILLANT, DAN COOPER, SPIROU and many others have been around longer than the X-MEN on that basis, and the level of quality has generally been far more consistent as the creator isn’t forced to come up with something every issue, regardless of whether he has a good idea for the character or not.

  10. My question is– will somebody who has seen only three Buffy epiosde and two episodes of Angel be able to understand it. The only Whedon created series I’ve ever enjoyed was Firefly. (I liked his X-Men run inspite of his treatment of my favoirte character at the end.)

    1. Yes. The story will not involve an extensive knowledge of the lore of “Angel.” It will be focusing on this one character and her personal situation. Her backstory will be spelled out in the first few pages in a manner evocative of the first few minutes of “Lord of the Rings.”

      PAD

      1. Okay, good. From the only Angel I remember clearly, I think he should have stayed a muppet.

        Oh– and my favorite X-Person I mentioned before– you aren’t going to have her eaten by raptors or freeze dried alive in your New Class run are you?

  11. Hi,

    I recently started reading Fallen Angel (starting with the Reborn mini-series) and think it’s great! The story is intriguing and the art is great. I saw that a new artist was brought in for an alternate cover on #4; will he be doing more art for the series? Does Johnny Atomic to any more work for IDW?

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