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Buffy and X-men comic reviews
Apr. 19th, 2019 10:17 pm1. Read the latest issue of Boom Studios Buffy Comics Reboot - this is allegedly the final of the four issue arc for this year. No clue if they will continue after it?
Anyhow....my thoughts? It's steadily gone downhill, writing wise. To the point in which I've just about decided to give up on it.
( spoilers )
I'm not sure what the writer is doing exactly, but I've read better fanfic (well that sort of goes without saying when it comes to the comics or any novelization of the series.) Why? Because whomever is approving the rights for these things -- doesn't perceive the series in the same way that I do, obviously. Nor has the same taste, which is saying a lot, considering how broad my taste actually is.
The problem is that the writer is not telling the story directly. She skips time.
Relies too heavily on the readers pre-existing knowledge of the series and characters (much like fanfic writers do, actually), which would be fine -- if the characters were closer in their behavior to those in the series (they aren't). And the story followed the canon, it doesn't. You can't veer that far away from canon and just skip to the fun parts in your story, without any build up. It's jarring.
Don't do this people. It's lazy writing. It's bad enough that you are playing in someone else's sandbox with their toys and getting paid for it, without forgetting to build up to your major plot points in a satisfying way.
I don't care what happens to these characters. They bear little resemblance to the one's I knew. And I have not had time to invest in their relationship with each other, to care what happens. You can't push the reader into the center of the action without some character development -- even if the characters are based (and rather loosely in this case) a television series.
If it weren't for the great art, I'd have given up a while ago. The art is the best that I've seen for the Buffy comics. It's very complimentary to the actors -- they actually look better here than they did on screen. I know, go figure.
But the writing is getting worse with each issue. Some of the dialogue is cringe-inducing. Buffy actually says the words "Jeez, Louise" - eh, no.
And while the art is great for the most part, Joyce and Drusilla do not bear any resemblance to the actors who played them. Nor for that matter does Robin Wood, but that appeared to be deliberate.
Rating? Not worth your time or the price of admission. Skip.
2. It probably would have helped if I hadn't been reading the X-men comics at the same time. In particular Matthew Rosenberg's take on Un-Canny X-men, which is superb and pretty much does all the things a good serial writer should do -- further the characters arcs, address their relationships with each other, and provide action that helps examine social issues and those relationships/emotional arcs concurrently.
I read Uncanny X-men #16 prior to the Buffy Comic, and night and day. My only quibble with Un-Canny is the art, which was uneven. It's the reverse of the Buffy comic -- great writing, very uneven art, yet still a much better comic.
They do a few unexpected things here -- which help examine what it means to be a leader and the toll it takes on people. In this issue, Cyclops has begun to question his leadership -- and decides to step down. He's basically tired of second-guessing himself all the time, and worse having everyone else do it too. He's also trying to hold his team together, and keep everyone alive. He's been trying to keep everyone alive for a while now, and failing miserably. He's lost more people than he cares to count, and most of them, people he loved a great deal. The guy is basically wallowing in grief and self-doubt. But luckily he has company -- Logan, Alex, Dani Moonstar, Shan, Rahn, Hope Summers, Banshee, Johnno, Illyana, Jamie Maddrox, are all along for the ride.
( spoilers )
Anyhow....my thoughts? It's steadily gone downhill, writing wise. To the point in which I've just about decided to give up on it.
( spoilers )
I'm not sure what the writer is doing exactly, but I've read better fanfic (well that sort of goes without saying when it comes to the comics or any novelization of the series.) Why? Because whomever is approving the rights for these things -- doesn't perceive the series in the same way that I do, obviously. Nor has the same taste, which is saying a lot, considering how broad my taste actually is.
The problem is that the writer is not telling the story directly. She skips time.
Relies too heavily on the readers pre-existing knowledge of the series and characters (much like fanfic writers do, actually), which would be fine -- if the characters were closer in their behavior to those in the series (they aren't). And the story followed the canon, it doesn't. You can't veer that far away from canon and just skip to the fun parts in your story, without any build up. It's jarring.
Don't do this people. It's lazy writing. It's bad enough that you are playing in someone else's sandbox with their toys and getting paid for it, without forgetting to build up to your major plot points in a satisfying way.
I don't care what happens to these characters. They bear little resemblance to the one's I knew. And I have not had time to invest in their relationship with each other, to care what happens. You can't push the reader into the center of the action without some character development -- even if the characters are based (and rather loosely in this case) a television series.
If it weren't for the great art, I'd have given up a while ago. The art is the best that I've seen for the Buffy comics. It's very complimentary to the actors -- they actually look better here than they did on screen. I know, go figure.
But the writing is getting worse with each issue. Some of the dialogue is cringe-inducing. Buffy actually says the words "Jeez, Louise" - eh, no.
And while the art is great for the most part, Joyce and Drusilla do not bear any resemblance to the actors who played them. Nor for that matter does Robin Wood, but that appeared to be deliberate.
Rating? Not worth your time or the price of admission. Skip.
2. It probably would have helped if I hadn't been reading the X-men comics at the same time. In particular Matthew Rosenberg's take on Un-Canny X-men, which is superb and pretty much does all the things a good serial writer should do -- further the characters arcs, address their relationships with each other, and provide action that helps examine social issues and those relationships/emotional arcs concurrently.
I read Uncanny X-men #16 prior to the Buffy Comic, and night and day. My only quibble with Un-Canny is the art, which was uneven. It's the reverse of the Buffy comic -- great writing, very uneven art, yet still a much better comic.
They do a few unexpected things here -- which help examine what it means to be a leader and the toll it takes on people. In this issue, Cyclops has begun to question his leadership -- and decides to step down. He's basically tired of second-guessing himself all the time, and worse having everyone else do it too. He's also trying to hold his team together, and keep everyone alive. He's been trying to keep everyone alive for a while now, and failing miserably. He's lost more people than he cares to count, and most of them, people he loved a great deal. The guy is basically wallowing in grief and self-doubt. But luckily he has company -- Logan, Alex, Dani Moonstar, Shan, Rahn, Hope Summers, Banshee, Johnno, Illyana, Jamie Maddrox, are all along for the ride.
( spoilers )