And it's a great line to come out of Joss's mouth. If I were inclined to write RPF (which I'm not), I would definitely have the Joss character say that.

I miss the nits almost as much as the UST, HSQ, and the word-smithing, though. *pets nit*

The cover art is beautiful. I didn't see one with a dragon. Both of mine are of Buffy, alone, holding the scythe.

Joss had me from, "Hello." The first words are, * The thing about changing the world... Once you do it, the world's all different. I love that.

Buffy says there are 1,800 slayers that they've identified, and that 500 are working with them. Those 1,300 leave open a lot of p*tential for interesting stories.

I nearly cried, when I realized Xander was her Watcher. He's been in training all these years, hasn't he? I don't even know if it clicked that that was the story I was being told, until I saw sumi's post, above.

Joss is expressing his feelings about religion and the U.S. military in pure Jossian style. I love how the General describes Buffy as, "Charismatic, uncompromising, and completely destructive."

There's the pit that used to be Sunnydale. Oh, pit. Hi. Is it Amy that is down there? I found that part confusing. I mean, I know it's her at the end, but is that what came up behind the soldier in the pit, too?

"Xander's so stupid when he's right." Oh hi, Buff.

oh, good grief. I haven't even got the comic yet, and suddenly I realize how much I miss Buffy.

I shall get my comic tomorrow, thanks to my adorable, geeky, too-damn-bad-he's-gay co-worker. He passes by his comic store on a regular basis, and he's offered to add a second issue to his pull so he can pick both of ours up at once.

I cannot wait.

Cindy, I took from the comic that is was Amy in the pit who came up behind the soldier.

So, is her boyfriend the glowy ball she's holding in the last panel? Made me think of Dawn's origins.

Probably, Jon. Either that or * a cheese ball. *

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!

t Runs screaming with glee through thread left, right, up, down, sideways, diagonal

t *Ahem*

So, what did you guys think?

Also, I sat down this weekend and read all my Astonishings at once.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA t Runs into wall

Taunting taunters! I didn't make it to the comic shop today.

Matilda and I stopped by Amazing Fantasy in the Inner Sunset and picked up two copies, one with each cover. There's a nice little stack still there, so if anyone is having difficulty finding a copy let me know and I can grab one by this weekend.

So satisfying! I've missed this whole world so.

Also, re the line that bothered Cindy, it occurs to me that if Xander is now not only one of Buffy's best friends and Scoobs but her Watcher, they're probably spending twice as much time as they already did talking to each other and I can reasonably easily wank/handwave her having osmosed more of his vocal quirks. It's not a perfect wank, but it feels adequately handwavey for just three words.

Hee, JZ! I had to wank it that way when I was reading it, but I didn't really believe myself.

So, did anyone notice, in the panel where Buffy is discussing the weird symbol with the other Slayers, after they've killed the dragon/dinosaur things -- this is the panel right before we switch to the Army/Initiative POV -- it's a wide-angle, panned-out view of the castle, and in the upper right section of the panel, we see feet and the bottom half of legs (attached to same feet)? Just sort of hovering?

I assumed, based on the black shoes, black pants, and the bottom half of what appears to be a long black coat, that it was Angel. But then I figure I have to be wrong, because (1) Joss, pull a fakeout? No! Surely not! [Though perhaps he's expecting that people will think it's a fakeout and therefore it really IS Angel?] and (2) Vampires can't fly/hover/whatnot. Though maybe he parachuted in, and the parachute got hung up in the trees (the feet/legs ARE dangling in front of some trees), and he's stuck there, just hanging.

Heh. THAT would amuse me immensely. #2, that is.

Anyway, did people notice it, and if not, now that I've pointed it out, go look, and then come back and tell me what you think.