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I paged through it at my comic shop. I found her comments in the courtroom interesting, as well as the fact that she’d assumed Fred’s appearance. It’s not something she did on a regular basis in the show. And, until Fred’s parents made their surprise visit, I don’t think anyone (either on the show or in the TV viewing audience) knew she could change her appearance that way. I know I didn’t expect it. Was there some sort of strategic advantage to her decision to Clark Kent her way through the issue (I mean other than the scenes involving the photos and movies, where the reasons for her Fred impersonation were obvious), instead of remaining as Illyria?
Likewise her decision to look through those pictures and movies struck a chord, but was that due solely to the impact events in the story had on her, or was it also meant to build on some incident(s) and/or event(s) from season 5 of _Angel_?
Rick
From comments I’ve seen from Joss Whedon on what Season 6 of Angel would have looked like, he (Whedon) planned to have several moments showing that Fred wasn’t as dead and gone as some Season 5 statements made it sound like. You know, things like her soul being totally consumed in the process to rebirth Illyria, or how her insides were petrifying or some such. Which would have made Wesley’s death all the more tragic, if some level of Fred were to emerge from within Illyria.
I haven’t read the issue as my comic store doesn’t have it at the moment, but when/if it comes in, i’m all over it. I loved that character, even if she didn’t get much time on the show. And I haven’t read much in the way of Angel Season 6 tidbits, but I did know Joss was thinking of being Fred back. Given that, the way I like to see it… the more time Illyria is in the mortal world and interacts with humans, she becomes more human, thus, allowing a bit of regression to occur and Fred to come back – kinda like a split personality kinda thing until they found a way to give Fred her body back and transfer Illyria elsewhere, like a Fred-bot or something. ** sorry if this posts twice**
I was completely taken off-guard by the turn of events between Illyria and Alex Rich, especially with the last page super-surprise (though, of course, thinking back over the issue and characters, I suppose I shouldn’t have been).
You did catch Illyria’s voice quite nicely, especially in her conversations with Wesley. I’ve rarely had any problems “hearing” the voices of characters in licensed properties (aside from certain Disney characters where it’s probably better not to “hear” the voices), but I just wish I could have actually heard Amy Acker actually doing the dialogue. Illyria’s final comment, as written, could be heartbreaking or downright chilling depending on the way it’s said aloud (and I don’t put it past PAD to have deliberately planned for the reader to come up with his/her own interpretation).
Thankfully, I now know that you wrote it so I made sure that I put it in my pull folder at the comics shop. Unfortunately, I’ll likely not make it any earlier than the 24th to pick up my comics.
I am looking forward to next month’s giant-size Hulk though.
1i really enjoyed the issue, but i wish you had given us some prior notice that it was due out as i nearly missed this as well as red sonja-thulsa doom. luckily the guys at my local comic shop know i buy anything with your name on it
cheers
Bill
1Wonderful job putting Illyria into perspective. As much as I liked the character and was amazed by Ackers perfromance as her, I never entirely believed that she’d choose that group of people as hers. That particular story really helped with that.