I have heard tons of debates about whether the comic books are a part of canon for the series AtS and BtVS. Part of my favorite part of BtVS was seeing the actors and actresses and the little cues and hints of the arcs in every episode, so I avoided reading the comics when I thought they would take away from what BtVS was, and because Buffy's smile and total, ignorant dismisal of Spike's death at the end of season 7, as if her claim to love him really was a sop to a dying man, always REALLY GOT TO ME and everyone said how Spike and Buffy were never together in the comics. However, I've decided to try to read the graphic novels of both BtVS and AtS as the next part of both series. I found the first Buffy graphic novel, but for Angel it's confusing. Some of them look huge and overpriced, are labeled hardcover, or else are only rewrites of the TVshow in comic form. I found something at Amazon.com by Franco Urru called Angel, After the Fall #1 that says you can pre-order it becuase it's not even out yet but I know people have been discussing what happens in it for months, so maybe it's the wrong book. It's driving me batty!

Could anyone who understands the comics that continue on the series after NFA please tell me the complete title and the author, and maybe the price since the last book called Angel,AFter the Fall I found was $68 and I don't think it's the right one? Please!

Hi, guest. Not sure you shouldn't have started your own forum thread to get an answer to this, but I'll see what I can do.

Buffy season 8 (the comics okayed and written in part by Joss) does not have Buffy with Spike. There is one brief dream sequence which throws a sop to both Spuffy and Bangel lovers in which she is naked with both of them, but that's about it. The comic is about Buffy. Period. Willow, Xander, Faith, Giles and Dawn are there, but not the vampires. It is up to issue #14, I think, and has just ended its latest story arc.

The Angel, After the Fall comic is all about Angel and his crew (including Spike) and has no Buffy.  It is up to issue #9, which just came out yesterday (or got to the stores yesterday, anyway).  Spike will have his own After the Fall comic which is supposed to come out the end of July. Have no idea what that will do to his appearance in Angel's comic.

What you are probably seeing for all that money, are "graphic novels" made up of all the comics from one arc or one season.  There are some Buffy ones available up through the first and maybe second story arcs.  Since the Angel comic is new this year, and only up to issue #9, they are probably just now putting together the book made up of all the comics that have come out so far.  There are books made up of the old Spike comics - Spike vs Dracula (that might be a stand-alone graphic novel, I'm not sure), Spike Asylum (which was the title of the comic, I believe) and Spike Sockpuppets.  Spike, After the Fall will be his next comic book and is due to come out the end of July.  My understanding is that it will continue on from Sockpuppets.

If you want to catch up with both Buffy and Angel, you'll have to get the books made up of the earlier comics.  However, you will want to check with your local comic book store to see how many back issues they have.  I doubt at this point that they would have them going back to issue #1, but you might be able to get from #5 or #6 on up.  I don't know how many the publishers use to make up one "book"  If it's an entire "season", I guess they could be fairly costly.  The Buffy ones only covered one story arc.

Prices vary tremendously because serious comic book people often will pay more for a hardcover version and/or for a particular artist or cover.  You should be able to find the paperback version of Angel, After the Fall for a more reasonable price once it has come out.  The most economical way to get them, of course, is to buy them as they come out each month. (I think it's monthly - might be every two weeks, now that I think about it...) Of course, Murphy's Law being what it is, Buffy and Angel don't come out at the same time, thereby necessitating multiple trips to the comic book store to be sure you get your copy before they're all gone...

I hope this helps.  Bottom line, unless you can find the back issues somewhere, you will have to buy the books that are made up of all the issues together in order to catch up with what's going on.  If you can find out whether the Angel, ATF book is going to contain the entire season, you will know whether or not you should start buying comics now, or if you can wait for the book and get them all at once. (For $68.00, it sounds like they might be planning to do the entire season - but it could just be a really expensive version because of the format or something.)

Just a couple of clarifications...

Spike Sockpuppets
It's actually "Shadow Puppets," though I think your version would make for an interesting story. :)

Spike, After the Fall will be his next comic book and is due to come out the end of July. My understanding is that it will continue on from Sockpuppets.
Nope, the two are not related. Spike: After the Fall is the story of Spike and Illyria right after "Not Fade Away," continuing from the brief glimpse we saw in Angel: After the Fall #5 (First Night). It's a spin-off of Angel: After the Fall. 

If you can't find the back comics at the store (or if you don't have a comic store nearby), you can order them all (both Buffy Season 8 and Angel: After the Fall) from tfaw.com. They sell individual issues (Buffy goes for $2.69 each, Angel's prices vary, but around $3.59) or TPBs, which collect all the individual issues from each arc and publish them in one book. Buffy TPBs costs $14.35, with each one containing 5 issues. Angel isn't out in TPB yet, as far as I know.

If you see any prices higher than that, they're usually collector's editions or rare covers or something like that. Unless you're seriously into collecting the comics, just go for the cheaper prices I quoted. There are a lot of non-canon Buffy and Angel comics out there, so to avoid getting confused, make sure the ones you're buying have "Season Eight" in the title (for Buffy) or "After the Fall" (for Angel). Joss Whedon is the author of Season Eight, although there have been some guest authors (Brian K. Vaughan, Drew Goddard). Brian Lynch is the author of all the After the Fall comics.

Lynch is also the author of the Spike comics that Slaymesoftly mentioned (Spike: Asylum and Spike: Shadow Puppets). They're not considered canon, but are also a good read if you're a Spike fan.

You can also find all of them on e-bay

*giggles*  See, I knew somebody else would know more than I did.  I think I was confusing it with a wonderful story called Sockpuppets.  LOL   Shadows - socks - whatever! LOL 
Hmm I forget who told me she thought the comic was a sequel to SP...

If you just want to do catch up reading - all of the Spike character comics are available in One Book collections (all the comics in one volume) as are the Angel Cycle Comics -

Since I am a Spike fan I only collected his -

Shadow Puppets in listed new at $17.99 
Spike Old Wounds  $7.49
Spike Old Time $7.49
Spike Lost and Found $7.49
Spike vs Dracula Series -

There are other collections - best to just go to the IDW publishing site and the Dark Horse site  and check out their listing, they will have a complete published list - then see who might be having sales - I purchased many of my comics for $1.00 on the sales.  By all means check prices because I have seen variations from $1.99 to $50.00 plus for the very same product.