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The last issue of SPIKE:AFTER THE FALL is out tomorrow (or, if you're reading this after Tuesday, October 28th, it's out now). It marks the completion of Franco Urru and my third SPIKE series (the first two being ASYLUM and SHADOW PUPPETS).
SPIKE:AFT is also somewhat of a subtle sequel to those two series. In ASYLUM, Spike came to terms with what he had done in the past and what he had become. In SHADOW PUPPETS he realized he didn't have to do it alone. And SPIKE:AFTER THE FALL deals with Spike forging his own life in the worst place possible. He's kickstarting his life outside of Buffy and Angel. Making new friends, planting his own flag.
It all goes horribly wrong, but that's par for the course in this world, no?
It's also a sequel to ASYLUM and SHADOW PUPPETS in the sense that we see references to Betta George, Spike talks of his friendship with Lorne (not established on the show really), and, there's also the matter of Dicky Duck (who featured prominently in SHADOW PUPPETS).
I couldn't have a better creative partner than Franco Urru. He is a genius, rising to the challenge each and every time I throw a thousand things at him. When ANGEL:AFTER THE FALL is over, I will have done, I think, 21 comics with him. That is crazy and wonderful and I am very lucky. I hope that someday, ASYLUM and SHADOW PUPPETS get a collected hardcover edition, simply because his work deserves that crisp page treatment (and, because, they're kinda canon now, yes? Sorta). He's a wonderful man, a super talented artist, and the best friend that I've never met.
Anyway, enjoy SPIKE:AFTER THE FALL # 4 and all it's action and revelations. I think you guys will dig. And stare at certain pages slack-jawed. One page in particular, where...
...well, you'll see. But MAN I did not see that coming.