alright. Fully caught up on what is now Angel & Spike. I think I see what both series are doing with these opening arcs: rush as fast as possible to gather the familiar cast and status quos of both series, then immediately break them.

They're good, interesting series, and I also do not understand the motivation behind structuring them this way at all.

I started reading the Boom!fyverse with Willow #1, and I couldn't figure out who exactly it was for; I still don't really know.

It does *not* work as pure nostalgia-bait. It also does not work for new audiences. The series are fundamentally written to riff on what you know about the originals.

I guess it's for younger Millenials/older Zoomers who want to see Buffy and Angel in worlds closer to their own?

I mean, that's me! I like them! I like them *FAR* more than the previous attempts at extending the series. I just wish I better understood them, or else I was able to turn my brain off when reading them instead of going "??? why make these structural choices"