With his latest comic, Spike: Shadow Puppets due out in June (and reviewed here already!) Fractal Matter caught up for a chat with Mr Brian Lynch to discuss all that is vampire related…
FM: Like Cordelia, and then Anya, Spike has always been the epitomic observer, telling it like it is! So first let’s establish why Spike is “the guy you just can’t kill?”
Brian Lynch: If Spike lost so much as a finger, I do believe fans would revolt and storm the gates of Fox, IDW, and Mr. Whedon’s home (he actually lives in a condo with six college girls…he’s like their Mrs. Garrett, is that weird?). His fans are PASSIONATE.
Rest assured: (SPOILER!) Spike will not be dusted in Spike: Shadow Puppets. Two reasons: I love the character, and I don’t want half the internet hating me. I’m sensitive.
Season 6 of ANGEL, though…anything goes! All bets are officially off.
FM: Spike certainly has thrived, fan support not withstanding, since Angel: the Series ended. He is such a multi-layered character that you can take him in any direction, place him in any moment in history, put him up against any odds and know you’re going on one hell of a ride.
BL: Exactly. Throw Angel into the asylum, and everything would have gone down differently. Spike is a wild card, at any given moment you don’t know what his reaction is going to be to what’s happening. And that makes for a great, entertaining character.
FM: Was the transition from writing Asylum to Shadow Puppets a difficult one given the different aspects of the storylines?
BL: Oh no no. I loved the differences in Asylum and Shadow Puppets. At first I really wanted to do Angel: Asylum as a follow-up, where Mosaic hires Angel to run their asylum and all hell breaks loose, but (1) I had more things I wanted to try with Spike, and (2) Chris Ryall (ed-in-chief at IDW) and I wanted to jump into a whole other genre. It kept things interesting, and fresh.
Shadow Puppets is definitely dark, but it’s a big fun ride of a comic, certainly funnier than Asylum. And Lorne got bumped from a cameo appearance in Asylum to sidekick in Shadow Puppets, so he adds to the humor. He and Spike make a great team in this book.
FM: When putting together a story like Shadow Puppets, which takes the characters away from their usual surrounding (in this case Spike goes to Japan), is this an added challenge? More research?
BL: More for our artist Franco Urru than for me. We go all through Tokyo, towns outside of Tokyo, and the finale takes place at Tokyo University so Franco had to research how everything looks. And then he had to think about what it would look like covered in millions of puppets.
Wait until you see it, his work on this book is shockingly beautiful.
As for my side of it, I read a lot about Japan and incorporated it as it fit into the story. Luckily, though, our hero doesn’t know all that much about Japan, so I didn’t have to write about the nation’s leading exports or gross national product or something.
Now someone reading this interview is going to be all “actually Spike said he knows everything about Japan ever, back in episode blah blah blah of Buffy” and I’m gonna look like a right fool.
FM: Once you see what Artist Franco Urru can do for the book, does that inspire you to push the storyline even further?
BL:Absolutely. There was stuff in Asylum that was basically “hundreds of monsters of every shape and size attack Spike” and Franco delivered without breaking a sweat, but he also handled the small character moments so perfectly.
So going into Shadow Puppets I knew that he could handle everything I threw at him and could trust that he’d deliver and make it ten times better than it was written, and he has, in spades. There’s a real confidence and trust to our pairing at this point, and as such, we hit the ground running. The resulting comic is just epic.
FM: Was there anything you wanted to do to Spike, as a puppet, that you couldn’t or weren’t allowed to do? Who would you have liked to go puppet who didn’t?
BL: Not really, Spike covers all bases in this area. Fights, hits on girls, fights some more, vamps out, kicks ass, I think he crosses everything you could possibly want to do off the list. Spike doesn’t run for congress as a puppet, that woulda been awesome. Maybe for Shadow Puppets 2.
As for who I wanted to turn into a puppet, I think it’s safe to assume that everyone from Angel that I ever wanted to see a puppet will be a puppet. Woulda been cool to get the Buffy characters in there, but they were busy.
I will say that of ALL the Angel-verse, Lorne makes the best puppet. It’s just so…right. Somebody’s gotta mass market Puppet Lorne!
FM: Can you give us any tidbits on what’s in store for Spike in the third series? Will there be any English/Irish rivalry as with Spike/Angel?
BL:Ooooooooooh, this gives me an opportunity to set things straight. In an interview a while back I was comparing the different Spike books to different movies. I said Spike: Asylum was Spike in a Jerry Bruckheimer movies whereas Spike: Shadow Puppets was Spike in a Tim Burton movie. I then jokingly said that the third series was going to be Spike trapped in an Ed Burns movie, which would be Spike hanging out with a bunch of bland Irish brothers. I was kidding, there isn’t a third series, it was just a joke about Ed Burns and his silly silly movies. I received a bunch of emails asking me about the series, I guess people really want to see Spike square off against the Irish.
So, officially, there is no third Spike series. From me, anyway. I’m sure there will be another one sooner rather than later, but it will probably not have anything to do with Ed Burns.
FM: With the success of the Buffy: Season 8 comic book, what are you looking forward to most with bringing Angel: Season 6 to fruition?
BL:Holding the book in my hands and realizing I had input on the future of my favorite characters. No bullcrap, Angel was my favorite show of all time. To be asked to be part of it’s future, in any medium, by Joss Whedon himself? Dream come true.
I’m also looking forward to hearing people’s reactions. I think what we have planned is gonna knock people down, steal their wallets, pick them up, dust them off, fix their hair, give them a hoagie and a ride to the nearest carnival, accompany them on the tilt-a-whirl, hold their hair when they get sick, and pay for cab fare home. It’s THAT much fun.
FM: Is there any pressure to give the fans the ultimate answers to ‘all those questions’ Joss left open with the cliff-hanger ending?
BL:I’m under pressure, certainly, as I want to make sure it’s something I’d want to read even if I had nothing to do with it. These are great characters, I would hate to have a hand in giving them a lame future. I want to please the fans, Joss, myself and IDW. Not in that order. There’s no real order, actually. I guess myself last. If I hated it but the fans dug it and Joss loved it so much that he got his favorite panels tattooed on his forearm, I could live with that. Except I’d think Joss is weird.
FM: As an avid fan of both Buffy & Angel series, do you look forward to giving fans those little Easter eggs that pop up throughout the Spike books?
BL:Definitely, yeah. People responded so well to the hidden jokes and references in Aslyum and there are a bunch of them in Shadow Puppets as well. I’m outlining the first chunk of the Season 6 series right now and there’s a bunch. Nothing that distracts from the story. The last thing I want is to reference things that rip the reader right out of the book. Remember the movie Daredevil, where every five minutes, they reference a different Marvel creator? “Come on, Matt, you have to go to KIRBY PLAZA and pick up JOE QUESADA. He’ll be wearing a BLUE BRIAN MICHAEL BENDIS and has his parted to the left…OF ED BRUBAKER.” No, none of that.
Though, Angel will wear a crapload of red leather.
FM: In Buffy Issue 1 - Joss comes out of the gate surprising, shocking, and hoodwinking (the Slayer dating the Immortal wasn’t ‘the’ Buffy) the fans. Can we expect the same with the first issue of Angel?
BL:I think there will be a lot of surprises, yeah. Discussions about this series popped up all over the web the weekend it was announced, people are excited, and guessing about what it will be about, talking about what they want to see, etc.
Some people got some stuff right, others are so off-base it’s frightening, but there are SUCH big surprises coming that no one has come close to predicting. Certain characters go down paths no one would expect, faces that you’d never expect to see pop up, it’s nuts.
No one’s gonna see half the stuff coming. I can promise you one thing, though: a team of slayers did NOT come out of nowhere and save Angel and the crew in the back alley. That is a very popular wish among fans, but honestly, to have the Buffy characters come in and save the Angel characters would shortchange Angel. Plus, where do you go after that? Twelve issues of the Angel characters thanking the team of slayers for a job well done. Plus an annual where Spike takes the five most valuable slayers out for a shopping spree.
Wait, now that I wrote that and see it spelled out: I’m going in a new direction. Forget you read this. Slayers, start checking out your newest Forever 21 catalogs.
FM: While a comic version of Angel: Season 6 would satisfy most of its fans, there is still anticipation for TV movies in the future. Have you and Joss discussed any areas he wants to keep off limits in hopes that will happen?
BL:Nuh uh. I’d love for an Angel TV show spin-off or movie spin-off, but we’re tackling this project like it IS the next chapter of the characters’ lives. No restrictions.
FM: Are there one or two things you are hoping you’ll be allowed to do with the storyline or you’d like to take certain characters?
BL:Oh yeah, definitely. I pitched a pretty radical, out-there idea to Joss early on, and thought either he’d love it or he’d realize what a mistake he made in asking me to come aboard. I e-mailed him the idea on a Sunday night, and about twenty minutes later he responded with how much he loved it. I was really proud.
Honestly, as long as it’s fits the story we’re trying to tell and the themes we’re dealing with, anything goes. And as such, we’re going pretty far out there.
FM: The final episode of Angel “Not Fade Away” left a number of characters, shall we say, not alive. Joss has said that this would not have been the case had the series continued to a sixth season on TV. Is there any hope that a surprise or two might be awaiting the fans? After all, just because someone is shot, doesn’t mean they are dead.
BL: Anything can happen. Especially in the world of Angel. But to give more away would lessen the impact of the story. I think the day Angel number 1 comes out, there are going to be a lot of happy fans. And also some that are pissed at me. But anything you don’t like, I’m going to point the finger at Whedon. It’s all his fault. You know the t-shirts “Joss Whedon is my master now”? When it comes to this project, that is very definitely true. In fact, I am going to start making shirts that say “Brian Lynch is my Padawan now.”
That might be the geekiest thing I’ve ever typed.
FM: With Joss keeping the characters canon, will that limit your writing in any way? Is it easy for you to capture the well established voices of the characters?
BL:It’s definitely not limiting my writing, but the fact that it’s canon is making me be VERY careful as to what I write. I don’t want to mess it up.
As for getting the voices down, I really hope I’m doing a good job. Writing Spike for nine issues have helped me get his voice down, pretty much. And Lorne. I’ve immersed myself in everything Angel so I don’t get anything wrong.
FM: Since Buffy Season 8 will establish some of the same characters, and the storylines run chronologically, are you worried about continuity? The two TV series did such a wonderful job with that.
BL:Before I write a character in, I check to see if he or she or it is being used in Buffy. The two storylines don’t run side by side, so we’re good in that department. That said, I would love some subtle shout-outs to Buffy as the Angel book progresses…
FM: Finally, given the opportunity - no limits, no bounds, what would be the ultimate achievement for you in the Whedon-verse?
Buffy This is pretty damn close. Easily more than I ever thought could happen. I guess having the work adapted into a TV show or TV mini-series? That would be neat. Also, I want to play Spike. Oh, I know! Maybe Betta George popping up in canon. Hmmmm…..
- In 1999, Kristy Bratton teamed up with professional web designer VirginiaObeius to co-create the 'definitive source for Angel' website,CityofAngel.com, offering a fresh behind-the-scenes look at the series asnever before seen by its fans. In the course of the five years whichfollowed, Ms. Bratton wrote over 75 articles for CoA covering the gamut ofentertainment from conventions as the San Diego International Comic Con,London's Starfury events and Dragon*Con. Spotlight features on thecreative force of "Angel" included Joss Whedon, David Greenwalt, TimMinear and Marti Noxon. Highlight features on actors Andy Hallett, AmyAcker and Stephanie Romanov, plus Behind-the-Scenes features on makeupartist Dayne Johnson, set designer Stuart Blatt and stunt coordinator MikeMassa. Ms. Bratton's photography work has been published in the OfficialBuffy/Angel magazine by Titan. She has written for the Official StargateSG-1 magazine with features on Don S. Davis, Peter DeLuise and CarmenArgenziano. Her daily inspiration is the memory of her beloved, femaleyellow lab, Tobi who has a cameo in Tom Sniegoski's novel, "The Fallen:Leviathan." www.CityofAngel.com