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First impressions...a somewhat incoherent ramble I'll probably think better of tomorrow morning
This is not good - have two clocks on my nightstand. One is still 9:53 (standard time) and one is 10:44 (daylight savings time) - okay the 9:53 one is tad fast for standard. Makes things a mite confusing. I keep thinking it is earlier than it is. Haven't changed the 9:53 one because it's too hard and it's still here because it is in reality a CD player mixed with a clock radio. I play the CD's on it at night.
Bought and read the conclusion of The Long Way Home - the first arc of the Buffy S8 comics. Pretty much concluded the way I thought it would and there weren't any surprises for me. I don't know if this is because I've read a lot of comics in my life times so could see where the writer was heading within the format or if I have overanalyzed the series to the extent that I can figure it out or I've read too much Whedon or...fill in the blank.
This may be one of the reasons I'm not loving the books as much as I did the series, no surprises. I more or less figured out all the twists ahead of time.
Also, it might just be me, but Whedon has gotten a bit melodramatic and preachy lately, or maybe he was always like this and I didn't notice? Ponders. And as you know, I have a high tolerance for melodrama. Oh well at least there weren't any lame sex jokes or if there were they went right over my head. Wouldn't be the first time.
Jeanty's art is not thrilling me. It feels very amateurish and uneven. You have to understand something - I read comics for the artwork first, the writing second. I've been known to pick up a graphic novel for the art. And I like innovative, crazy, beautiful, realistic artwork and know many of the graphic novel artists by name. Alex Ross, Tim Sale, Frank Urruh, Jim Lee, Jae Le...and there's the brilliant cover artist doing these comics - Joan something. Terry Moore's Strangers in Paradise has killer artwork. So does the DC books Kingdom Come. I started reading comics for the ART. I loved how they could bring a character to life with a few lines. Frank Miller has a killer style by the way. Next time you are in a comic store - pick up a novel, don't read it, just look at the art.
Why am I so weird about art?
Ah, because I tried to do it. So did my brother. And my father. I used to paint the X-men.
Was really good at it in my early twenties, but haven't drawn in ten years, so you get out of practice. I don't tend to appreciate art that I can do. It's the stuff I can't I appreciate. Or the innovative stuff. New and different.
Jeanty's artwork looks like a lot of the bargain basement X-men comics I've read. It's okay.
Better than Fray. Better than some of the stuff in Spike and Dru or Spike vs. Dracula. And a lot better than some of the other stuff out there. Serviceable.
The writing? Sigh. I love Whedon's writing, obviously. But...I like it better on the X-men.
There's just something off and I can't put my finger on what it is.
As I explained in a prior post, we all have our buttons and kinks, we all have things that make us jump up and down for joy and grump about in a funk. Sometimes we can explain why.
Sometimes not.
It's not that I disliked this arc. I like it well enough. I just was oddly disappointed in it. And I don't really know why. Unsatisfied? Maybe because you have to wait sooo long for each issue. The anticipation, even if you aren't expecting much...or maybe it's because I'm not interested in the story Whedon feels he has to tell, maybe because I already know it - far better than Whedon does and find it oddly annoying that Whedon, a man, with an all male staff, in a heavily male industry, is writing a story about men having troubles with women in power. It feels almost hypocritical in a way. It reminds me of an ex-boyfriend of mine who prided himself on being a feminist - yet he was controlling to the point of being suffocating. I remember attending a date-rape seminare in college years ago and the counselor stating, a male counselor, that all men are chauvinists and potential rapists, all men. That it is impossible for a man to be a feminist in quite the same way. Or to understand.
Whedon's tone in this story feels oddly patronizing. It's the small little girl - who is deliberately under developed, no big busts, not tall, what Whedon considers average and normal - and people are saying that is brilliant. And breaking the rules? Hello. Kitty Pryde. And many others. It feels like a man's fantasy again.
If you want to read a book about female empowerment - hunt down some of the Magnas. Or check out some of the female comic book writers - the underground. Such as Terry Moore.
They aren't action oriented. So there's that.
Don't get me wrong - I'm not reading them. I like the shiny superheroes in their shiny costumes. And I like having a female hero fighting people. So I will keep buying the Buffy comics. But, the tone and story...it wasn't new. And it felt oddly patronizing. And I'm not entirely sure why.
That said, there are things I like. I liked the asian slayer...with the hair Buffy adored, although I have a hunch Joss will kill her in the next issue. It's almost obvious at this point. No spoilers, just a hunch. I also enjoyed the bit with Dawn, even if Dawn's comment to Buffy seemed odd. Thought Willow had brown eyes? Not blue? Could be wrong. Doesn't matter. I liked how Willow and Xander are drawn and portrayed here. Although Willow still wears the oddest clothes. So does Xander for that matter.
Sort of looking forward to the Faith arc. Curious to see what Brian K. Vauhgn does with the characters.
Oh the letters page? Is it just me or are some of these people just a little wacked?
Honestly, it was only a tv series. Get a grip. I think the editor was laughing his ass off at some of them - or that was my impression.
Bought and read the conclusion of The Long Way Home - the first arc of the Buffy S8 comics. Pretty much concluded the way I thought it would and there weren't any surprises for me. I don't know if this is because I've read a lot of comics in my life times so could see where the writer was heading within the format or if I have overanalyzed the series to the extent that I can figure it out or I've read too much Whedon or...fill in the blank.
This may be one of the reasons I'm not loving the books as much as I did the series, no surprises. I more or less figured out all the twists ahead of time.
Also, it might just be me, but Whedon has gotten a bit melodramatic and preachy lately, or maybe he was always like this and I didn't notice? Ponders. And as you know, I have a high tolerance for melodrama. Oh well at least there weren't any lame sex jokes or if there were they went right over my head. Wouldn't be the first time.
Jeanty's art is not thrilling me. It feels very amateurish and uneven. You have to understand something - I read comics for the artwork first, the writing second. I've been known to pick up a graphic novel for the art. And I like innovative, crazy, beautiful, realistic artwork and know many of the graphic novel artists by name. Alex Ross, Tim Sale, Frank Urruh, Jim Lee, Jae Le...and there's the brilliant cover artist doing these comics - Joan something. Terry Moore's Strangers in Paradise has killer artwork. So does the DC books Kingdom Come. I started reading comics for the ART. I loved how they could bring a character to life with a few lines. Frank Miller has a killer style by the way. Next time you are in a comic store - pick up a novel, don't read it, just look at the art.
Why am I so weird about art?
Ah, because I tried to do it. So did my brother. And my father. I used to paint the X-men.
Was really good at it in my early twenties, but haven't drawn in ten years, so you get out of practice. I don't tend to appreciate art that I can do. It's the stuff I can't I appreciate. Or the innovative stuff. New and different.
Jeanty's artwork looks like a lot of the bargain basement X-men comics I've read. It's okay.
Better than Fray. Better than some of the stuff in Spike and Dru or Spike vs. Dracula. And a lot better than some of the other stuff out there. Serviceable.
The writing? Sigh. I love Whedon's writing, obviously. But...I like it better on the X-men.
There's just something off and I can't put my finger on what it is.
As I explained in a prior post, we all have our buttons and kinks, we all have things that make us jump up and down for joy and grump about in a funk. Sometimes we can explain why.
Sometimes not.
It's not that I disliked this arc. I like it well enough. I just was oddly disappointed in it. And I don't really know why. Unsatisfied? Maybe because you have to wait sooo long for each issue. The anticipation, even if you aren't expecting much...or maybe it's because I'm not interested in the story Whedon feels he has to tell, maybe because I already know it - far better than Whedon does and find it oddly annoying that Whedon, a man, with an all male staff, in a heavily male industry, is writing a story about men having troubles with women in power. It feels almost hypocritical in a way. It reminds me of an ex-boyfriend of mine who prided himself on being a feminist - yet he was controlling to the point of being suffocating. I remember attending a date-rape seminare in college years ago and the counselor stating, a male counselor, that all men are chauvinists and potential rapists, all men. That it is impossible for a man to be a feminist in quite the same way. Or to understand.
Whedon's tone in this story feels oddly patronizing. It's the small little girl - who is deliberately under developed, no big busts, not tall, what Whedon considers average and normal - and people are saying that is brilliant. And breaking the rules? Hello. Kitty Pryde. And many others. It feels like a man's fantasy again.
If you want to read a book about female empowerment - hunt down some of the Magnas. Or check out some of the female comic book writers - the underground. Such as Terry Moore.
They aren't action oriented. So there's that.
Don't get me wrong - I'm not reading them. I like the shiny superheroes in their shiny costumes. And I like having a female hero fighting people. So I will keep buying the Buffy comics. But, the tone and story...it wasn't new. And it felt oddly patronizing. And I'm not entirely sure why.
That said, there are things I like. I liked the asian slayer...with the hair Buffy adored, although I have a hunch Joss will kill her in the next issue. It's almost obvious at this point. No spoilers, just a hunch. I also enjoyed the bit with Dawn, even if Dawn's comment to Buffy seemed odd. Thought Willow had brown eyes? Not blue? Could be wrong. Doesn't matter. I liked how Willow and Xander are drawn and portrayed here. Although Willow still wears the oddest clothes. So does Xander for that matter.
Sort of looking forward to the Faith arc. Curious to see what Brian K. Vauhgn does with the characters.
Oh the letters page? Is it just me or are some of these people just a little wacked?
Honestly, it was only a tv series. Get a grip. I think the editor was laughing his ass off at some of them - or that was my impression.
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It's just so frustrating because AXM is sooo good that I can't make any kind of 'getting used to the medium' excuses. Buffy just feels like Joss dashed it off for fun and didn't give it much thought. Le sigh.
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