Buffy Comics S10
Apr. 22nd, 2018 08:56 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowkatSo, I read Volume 1 of the Buffy Comics Season 10 by Chris Gage, Nicholas Brendan, and Rebekka Issacs -- this was the arc involving Dracula, reintroducing Giles, who apparently was resurrected by Angel and Faith but as an adolescent, and the idea that the Rules of Magic are being rewritten.
I found the story compelling enough to well...not only continue, but by some back issues to figure out how we got here. Sigh. Down the comic rabbit hole again. I can't focus right now, stressed out and frustrated, also exhausted due to lack of sleep, and beating myself up over it. There are people far worse off than I am, why can't I step up to the plate? I'm extremely good at beating myself up over shit. I have multiple trophies.
So, since I'm back on a Paeolo Diet, which is highly restrictive, and off sugar and chocolate for the most part. Along with dairy, soy, legumes, and grains. I need comfort food. Preferably food that requires little focus -- hence comics. I like Buffy. It's among the few franchises that I liked all the characters in. The only character I'm not crazy about is Andrew, but alas, he's there -- at least he's more tolerable in the comics -- mainly because I can apparently tolerate Andrew more than the actor who portrayed him. (I know there are people reading this that adore Andrew, and that's okay. I like characters you hate, such as Spike and Xander and Willow and Dawn.)
It's become character centric again -- even better, it's addressing unresolved issues from the television series. Which I need to be resolved, and fanfic wasn't doing it for me. Now I'm getting sucked in again -- this means I may actually read people's fanfic on Buffy/Spike/Angel etc again.
This issue explored the relationship between Xander and Dawn and what's going on with Xander. It addressed the fact that after being reborn, again, Dawn's emotions were reset to the factory settings. So her feelings for Xander are those of a 14 year old girl, while Xander has an intense love for Dawn. Xander also is racked with guilt over his relationship with Anya, and his betrayal of Buffy in order to save Dawn's life. Everyone has forgiven Xander, but Xander. In S10, Xander sounds more like Xander -- when in s8, he felt off to me. I think this may be because the actor who portrayed him is actually writing the characters, and that actor understood Xander in a way for of the actors did. Mainly because unlike Marsters, Gellar, Head, and Hannigan -- Brendan was essentially portraying himself. (I liked Xander -- I've known a lot Xanders in my life time, and have sympathy for them. I know some now. Also I like his complexity.) Xander wants to be loved and needed, he doesn't always feel that with the gang, since he has no powers to speak of, his not super-smart, and
he often feels like just a tag-a-long or sidekick.
In this arc, he becomes Dracula's manservant again. Not quite willingly. Xander and Dracula have a friendship of sorts. Mainly because Dracula needed Xander. And cared about Xander. He used him. But he also needed him. So, because Xander's low self-esteem and need to be loved, Dracula is able to mezmerize him. Also, Dawn can't pull Xander out of it -- because well, he knows she stopped loving him. He feels it. He also has to deal with Anya the ghost, and when Dracula takes over, Anya disappears, he can't hear her, she's blocked out.
The issue deals with unrequited love and the awkwardness of that. Loving someone more than they love you, which is difficult for both parties. We see it with Xander and with Spike, who is also struggling with how to handle Buffy. He does it, by keeping an emotional distance. And supporting her. But not telling her anything beyond that.
I like the commentary on how men are relegated to roles in society and how this hurts them. It's subtle but there -- with Giles, Xander, Spike, Andrew, Billy, and Dracula. How can men be strong without having to be macho? And supportive? One of the things I've always loved most about Buffy and why I find myself going back to it again and again is how it subverts gender roles, and comments on them. It flips them. In Buffy the women often have the power and the men are in the supporting roles.
* Xander is a sidekick
* Spike assists as the male fatal with a heart of gold
* Giles is the hacker or brainy guy, who can't really fight, but does research
* Andrew is the nerdy researcher and writer
* Billy the wannabee
* Dracula the one who is afraid of growing old and his looks and youth fading
All of which are typical female roles in the action/supernatural genres. In Supernatural, all of these roles are usually women. And they die. Same with Vampire Diaries -- they were often women, although less so, because of Buffy. But in Buffy, they are men. Cool.
Also the story is rather interesting on a metaphorical level -- it's about learning to make your own decisions and not relying on an established authority or parental figure. They can't rely on Giles -- he's younger than they are. And they have to work together -- it's anti-cult of the individual, but then it always has been. In addition they can't give the book of magic to someone else to write, they have to work together to write it and take responsibility for it. Buffy in S8 and 9, was trying to do it alone, be in charge, be an authority, in S10, she's realized there is no one authority and she has to work with people together. In this respect the story reminds me a little of the Good Place, and Buffy a bit of the characters in it.
At any rate I'm finding it comforting to visit these old fictional friends, and read about their lives in a world different from my own. I sort of envy them, it would be nice if you could just slay your demons with a stake.
Wish it were true that we pick our families, but I've only seen that happen effectively in fiction.
Friends come and go, blood does to, all is temporary. At fifty, I find that I'm no more used to the transistory nature of relationships than I was at 12...but I am in some respects more resigned. Buffy addresses this as well. Relationships are hard. They require work on both sides. I tend, much like Buffy does, to blame myself when they go awry, and like Buffy, I'm learning it's not all on me.
I found the story compelling enough to well...not only continue, but by some back issues to figure out how we got here. Sigh. Down the comic rabbit hole again. I can't focus right now, stressed out and frustrated, also exhausted due to lack of sleep, and beating myself up over it. There are people far worse off than I am, why can't I step up to the plate? I'm extremely good at beating myself up over shit. I have multiple trophies.
So, since I'm back on a Paeolo Diet, which is highly restrictive, and off sugar and chocolate for the most part. Along with dairy, soy, legumes, and grains. I need comfort food. Preferably food that requires little focus -- hence comics. I like Buffy. It's among the few franchises that I liked all the characters in. The only character I'm not crazy about is Andrew, but alas, he's there -- at least he's more tolerable in the comics -- mainly because I can apparently tolerate Andrew more than the actor who portrayed him. (I know there are people reading this that adore Andrew, and that's okay. I like characters you hate, such as Spike and Xander and Willow and Dawn.)
It's become character centric again -- even better, it's addressing unresolved issues from the television series. Which I need to be resolved, and fanfic wasn't doing it for me. Now I'm getting sucked in again -- this means I may actually read people's fanfic on Buffy/Spike/Angel etc again.
This issue explored the relationship between Xander and Dawn and what's going on with Xander. It addressed the fact that after being reborn, again, Dawn's emotions were reset to the factory settings. So her feelings for Xander are those of a 14 year old girl, while Xander has an intense love for Dawn. Xander also is racked with guilt over his relationship with Anya, and his betrayal of Buffy in order to save Dawn's life. Everyone has forgiven Xander, but Xander. In S10, Xander sounds more like Xander -- when in s8, he felt off to me. I think this may be because the actor who portrayed him is actually writing the characters, and that actor understood Xander in a way for of the actors did. Mainly because unlike Marsters, Gellar, Head, and Hannigan -- Brendan was essentially portraying himself. (I liked Xander -- I've known a lot Xanders in my life time, and have sympathy for them. I know some now. Also I like his complexity.) Xander wants to be loved and needed, he doesn't always feel that with the gang, since he has no powers to speak of, his not super-smart, and
he often feels like just a tag-a-long or sidekick.
In this arc, he becomes Dracula's manservant again. Not quite willingly. Xander and Dracula have a friendship of sorts. Mainly because Dracula needed Xander. And cared about Xander. He used him. But he also needed him. So, because Xander's low self-esteem and need to be loved, Dracula is able to mezmerize him. Also, Dawn can't pull Xander out of it -- because well, he knows she stopped loving him. He feels it. He also has to deal with Anya the ghost, and when Dracula takes over, Anya disappears, he can't hear her, she's blocked out.
The issue deals with unrequited love and the awkwardness of that. Loving someone more than they love you, which is difficult for both parties. We see it with Xander and with Spike, who is also struggling with how to handle Buffy. He does it, by keeping an emotional distance. And supporting her. But not telling her anything beyond that.
I like the commentary on how men are relegated to roles in society and how this hurts them. It's subtle but there -- with Giles, Xander, Spike, Andrew, Billy, and Dracula. How can men be strong without having to be macho? And supportive? One of the things I've always loved most about Buffy and why I find myself going back to it again and again is how it subverts gender roles, and comments on them. It flips them. In Buffy the women often have the power and the men are in the supporting roles.
* Xander is a sidekick
* Spike assists as the male fatal with a heart of gold
* Giles is the hacker or brainy guy, who can't really fight, but does research
* Andrew is the nerdy researcher and writer
* Billy the wannabee
* Dracula the one who is afraid of growing old and his looks and youth fading
All of which are typical female roles in the action/supernatural genres. In Supernatural, all of these roles are usually women. And they die. Same with Vampire Diaries -- they were often women, although less so, because of Buffy. But in Buffy, they are men. Cool.
Also the story is rather interesting on a metaphorical level -- it's about learning to make your own decisions and not relying on an established authority or parental figure. They can't rely on Giles -- he's younger than they are. And they have to work together -- it's anti-cult of the individual, but then it always has been. In addition they can't give the book of magic to someone else to write, they have to work together to write it and take responsibility for it. Buffy in S8 and 9, was trying to do it alone, be in charge, be an authority, in S10, she's realized there is no one authority and she has to work with people together. In this respect the story reminds me a little of the Good Place, and Buffy a bit of the characters in it.
At any rate I'm finding it comforting to visit these old fictional friends, and read about their lives in a world different from my own. I sort of envy them, it would be nice if you could just slay your demons with a stake.
Wish it were true that we pick our families, but I've only seen that happen effectively in fiction.
Friends come and go, blood does to, all is temporary. At fifty, I find that I'm no more used to the transistory nature of relationships than I was at 12...but I am in some respects more resigned. Buffy addresses this as well. Relationships are hard. They require work on both sides. I tend, much like Buffy does, to blame myself when they go awry, and like Buffy, I'm learning it's not all on me.
