George RR Martin, Joss Whedon, Jim Butcher, etc is not your bitch...

http://syndicated.livejournal.com/officialgaiman/525510.html?mode=reply&style=mine

Neil Gaiman in response to a question posed by a fan/reader who wants to know if they are entitled to be incredibly annoyed at George RR Martin for not delivering on the next installment of his Song of Ice and Fire series.

Short answer: George RR Martin is not your bitch.

Long answer - read the link above.

Buffy Season 8 - Safe as a Living Doll

Living Doll written by Doug Petrie with art by Georges Jeantry as others online have noted, completes the Predators and Prey arc. The only other review I've read to date on this is aycheb - who lately I've been agreeing with on tv shows and comics. She also did a good review of Dollhouse, as did 2maggie2 - both articulated quite well my reaction to that series, which I may or may not write a review on at a later date.

Before I launch into my spoilery analysis - I enjoyed this issue quite a bit, far more than I expected to. Doug Petrie can be hit or miss as a writer, and here, I felt he hit all the necessary marks both plot-wise and character-wise. The story completed the thematic arc, and Dawn's thematic/story arc, with humor and finesse. Also, Georges Jeanty's art has either grown on me or gotten better, because I rather liked it, and thought he did a far better job than Cliff Richards who drew the last issue. Comic art by and large, like most art of this sort, is in the eye of the beholder. Whedon is a fan of Nick Sook or the guy who drew the Dru & Spike comic as well as some of the Marvel gothic ones. I'm not a fan of Sook. Find his art to be rather ugly. But Whedon prefers the gritty less pretty art. I'm guessing he may not be a huge fan of Urru who is smoother in line and draws a softer pic. I like less lines. Sorry, you won't get the above unless you are a huge fan of the graphic novel form - I fell in love with the format not for the writing but for the art. I like picture books, always have.

At any rate, this issue finally completes the arc regarding Dawn's multiple transformations which was begun in Long Journey Home. It is fitting that it is completed in a mini-arc of one-shots entitled "Predators and Prey", although whether Dawn is a predator or prey is questionable here. Another on-going theme in this arc as well as just about everything else Joss Whedon headlines.

Whedon in both Dollhouse and the Buffy series, seems to be asking the question - who is the predator and who is the prey? And is the prey actually a victim? Defenseless? If we look to the animal world - prey isn't always defenseless - it comes up with defense mechanisms - such as a stink bomb for a skunk, or camoflage for a lizard or spine for a porcupine. Another on-going theme in Whedon's work is gender politics - or an analysis/commentary on how women are still viewed as objects or prey in our society and men, generally, predators. Although as he notes in the classic Buffy episode Teacher's Pet - in the insect world, often the female is the predator - a la A Black Widow spider or a Pray MAntis - and she kills when she mates.
Which leads us to third theme - sex and love, and how wanting one or both makes you do the wacky.

( Living Doll - Spoilers )

Okay, off now to watch Lost. Or attempt to watch Lost, tis getting late.