Angel After The Fall
Suk Harian
I finished watching Buff and Angel some time ago and loved it! I feel like it's time for more so I want to get into the comics. Particularly Buffy's Season 8 and 9 and Angel After the Fall. In what order should I start reading them? Is there a lot of crossover between the two series? What about the other ones like Spike After the Fall and Fray (I know this one is set in a very distant future, but I've heard there are some references to the mythology established there in the modes day comics).
The comics are a bit complicated because IDW developed the post-Angel storyline, and Dark Horse developed the post-Buffy storyline, and they were meant to more-or-less keep to their own characters. Angel, however, is an important part of Buffy's Season 8, and to keep the peace Willow appears in (IDW's) Spike, so there is some crossover.
I think George the fish stays at IDW. We will be pulling some of the other Angel characters into Season 9 as we proceed, but they won't always sync up with where IDW left them. Where possible, yes, but Joss ultimately has to decide where his characters are going.
So there are some continuity issues (and maybe more to come). I think this means it's reasonable to skip all the IDW's comics and go straight to Dark Horse - at top-level (i.e. Joss) canon, the Dark Horse comics are what matter, and the IDW stories are lower-level backstory canon.
If you enjoyed the Angel characters, read After the Fall first. After the Fall is essentially Angel's Season 6 - it's based on ideas from creator Brian Lynch but also plans that Whedon had for Angel if it had had a 6th TV season. If you want the ongoing story of the Angel-specific characters (Gunn, Connor, etc) then this is where you'll find them.
It's really just Angel (in a large way) and Spike (in a lesser way) that cross back over to Buffy's Season 8, and what happened to them between the end of Angel Season 5 and then isn't particularly important to the developments in Season 8, although there are references to Spike's past. We also come across Drusilla in later issues, and she's back in Angel & Faith, but we don't know enough yet to know whether the events in After the Fall are relevant or not (this might be one of those "won't always sync up" cases).
The Spike: After the Fall, Spike: The Devil You Know, Angel: Only Human (features Gunn and Illyria despite the name), and Illyria: Haunted series are really continuations/spin-offs of After the Fall, so read these after you read After the Fall, whenever that is (again, there's no real need to do this before Buffy Season 8).
Spike is the last of the IDW series, and is meant to be like what a Spike TV series would have been, rather than more Angel stories. The backstory here definitely gets pulled into Buffy Season 8 - we see Spike back in the "Last Gleaming" story and his appearance makes more sense if you're familiar with the Spike story; it's not necessary for following Season 8, though.
Read Season 9 and Angel & Faith in publication order, i.e. swapping between them. These both start at the end of Season 8, so you need to have read those first (if you haven't read Season 8 before starting Angel & Faith, the synopsis on the first page spoils just about everything). There hasn't been much crossover so far, but there may be some coming, and the creators recommend this (from the "Slay the Critics" section of Angel & Faith #1):
No - it means that Dark Horse's follow-up to our biggest series in recent years, Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 8, consists of both the new Buffy series and Angel & Faith. We just want readers to know that while you don't have to read one title to understand the other - honestly - both series take place in the same world, facing similar challenges, in the aftermath of Season 8.
The groundwork for Season 9 was laid in February 2011, when Sierra, Joss, and I got together at his house with Christos Gage (who's writing the Angel & Faith book), Andrew Chambliss (who'll be writing this one with Joss), Jane Espenson, Zack Whedon, Drew Greenberg, and others to figure out how the two series would work together, with complementary directions, between these two books, and others to come over the next couple years.
The Angel and Buffy the Vampire Slayer Classic comics take place before and during both of the TV series. These are fairly standalone and while they provide a little more background, it doesn't really matter what order they are consumed in. I'd leave these until after you're well into Season 8 (since they stand alone, you can intermix them whenever you want something more) since they're not as compelling.
My suggestion would be to read them separately, either Angel or Buffy straight through. Personally I would (and did) start with Buffy. Once you're caught up with that, I'd do the same with the Angel series and then read each as they're released. There's very little cross-over between the two. I believe Spike: After the Fall fits into the Angel sequence - according to Wikipedia it falls after issues 6-8 of Angel. Wikipedia also shows the Angel/Spike/other spin-offs publishing order, which is usually the sensible order to read comics in.
Fray has a cross-over in Buffy Season 8 but you don't need to read it beforehand (I know I didn't, and while it lead to a bit of confusion the fact that you know of its existance means you're better prepared than I was).
This is not necessarily a Catholic answer, but it's the only answer I can provide. The answer, then, is that it is not clearly demonstrable from Scripture (or any popular tradition) that Satan / Lucifer was the angel of music before his fall. Nonetheless, the reason that some people come to this conclusion is likely based upon taking the following passage and applying it to Satan.
Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created.
There we can see that if this passage, which is typically titled "A Lament over the King of Tyre," if taken as referring Satan metaphorically, can give one reason to think that Satan was the leader of music in heaven. There are more than a few liberal interpretive leaps needed to arrive at such a conclusion; nonetheless, this would be the only passage I can find that would fit such a theory.
Ezekiel 28:13 This is the passage used also by Protestant musicians to allege that Satan was "Head over the Music in Heaven." And we scholars are ever amazed how a vastly a "rumor" can spread throughout Christendom! Someone (novice musician or novice Bible student) can make a statement and it is picked up by others who give no thought to the hermeneutical context of the scripture it is based upon, and it is spread far and wide.
*The Garden of Eden is mentioned, symbolically, just like it was in chapter 31:9. It was not referring to Genesis 2 literally.(v.13). Notice that the last half of the verse translated by some as "tabrets and pipes" is translated as "settings and mountings..." in the NIV. This fits in with the list of jewels. ftnt. "The meaning of the Hebrew for this phrase is uncertain.
The King of Tyre was "thrown to the ground," but it doesn't say he was thrown from heaven. He was made a spectacle before other kings. This doesn't sound like a Satan being. Then the prophet declared, "I made a fire come out from you, and it consumed you." (V.18).
Hermeneutical Deduction There is no way a reasonable expositor could deduce that a Spirit Being (such as Satan) was the Head Musician of Heaven from these verses, and that he was kicked out some time past. (Fall of Satan).
A survey of O.T. scriptures show that Satan had access to heaven up until the time of Christ (Job 1:6, Zech. 3:1). And that it was when Christ came with the message of the Gospel of the Kingdom, evidenced by the "casting out of demons, that Satan fell. (You have to bind the strong-man first, Jesus taught, before you can cast out demons. And Jesus said He "saw Satan fall" when the disciples were out preaching the Gospel (Luke 10:18) in the first century.
This, also, is not a Catholic answer, but will provide additional supporting evidences. According to E. White, a prolific religious author of the 19th century and the most translated American author (by language count), Lucifer, called Satan after his fall, was the leading cherub, the leader for the angels in heaven, whose duties included being their choir leader.
It is quite possible that God had created a special angel with abilities to suit such a leadership position in heaven. We observe in nature that birds have as many as four independent sound sources in their syrinx (look at the wavy orange lines in the illustration HERE), though most, if not joining them on a single note, will use them as two pairs, producing only two different notes at once. Imagine an angel, with much greater intelligence than a bird, that had four (or more) voices and the ability to produce all parts of the harmony at once! God is certainly capable of creating such a being.
Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thycovering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx,and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, andgold: the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was preparedin thee in the day that thou wast created. (Ezekiel 28:13, KJV)
That this passage cannot actually apply to the human "prince of Tyrus," to whom the message is ostensibly addressed, is plain enough from the facts presented. No human of Ezekiel's era would ever have been in Eden, nor could have been. The Garden of Eden no longer existed on earth at any point past the Flood.
Satan stood in amazement at his new condition. His happiness was gone.He looked upon the angels who, with him, were once so happy, but whohad been expelled from Heaven with him. Before their fall, not a shadeof discontent had marred their perfect bliss. Now all seemed changed.Countenances which had reflected the image of their Maker were gloomyand despairing. Strife, discord, and bitter recrimination, were amongthem. Previous to their rebellion these things had been unknown inHeaven. Satan now beholds the terrible results of his rebellion. Heshuddered, and feared to face the future, and to contemplate the endof these things.
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