Buffy, Spike and Dresden Comic Reviews...Guess which ones I liked?

[shadowkat]

Picked up this week's comics, or this months, the only one not in yet, is Angel:After the Fall.

The three were: Buffy, Spike:After the Fall, and Dresden: Welcome to the Jungle. Quick impressions? Love, love, love the Spike comic, enjoying the Dresden one, am ambivalent about Buffy - which I found difficult to follow in places and somewhat jarring.

Am beginning to wonder if I've lost my taste for Whedon's writing? (Don't kill me for saying that, Whedon fans.) Also starting to wonder if I've picked up some of his bad writing habits.
Comparing Lynch to Whedon makes me realize that I prefer Lynch's style - it's smoother and tighter. Not to mention more amusing. I actually like all of Lynch's characters and am afraid of what may happen to them - I fear for them, even the supporting or subsidiary characters. I wish I could say the same for Whedon's.


Buffy: Time of Your Life

This story is beginning to remind me of some bizarre Alternate Universe fanfics I've read.
Particularly the one's using time travel. Time travel is a difficult thing to play with in fiction - it can, if you are not careful, blow up in your face and unravel the story. I'm not saying it will happen here, but I can see some places in which it may stretch the reader's suspension of disbelief to Stephanie Meyer extremes. Or in other words, I would not be at all suprised if the villian Twilight turned out to be Willow, Giles, Xander, Riley, Spike, Angel, or Andrew. I've become convinced that Whedon is capable of turning any of those characters inside out regardless of continuity or motivation. Which means my trust in Whedon as a story teller is starting to wane.

In a recent online interview Scott Allie recently asserted that they had permission to use any character they wanted from Angel or Buffy. Not sure I completely believe him since that does contradict something Whedon said in another interview a while back. But, assuming he's right, my question is okay then, why haven't you? Why are you wasting our time with Dracula, Warren, and Amy? Where's the heavy hitters? Darla? Drusilla? Angel? Spike? Anya? Cordy? Wes? Tara? OZ? or how about Jonathan? Characters your fans actually care about? (Okay most of your fans, I know there are a few who love Dracula, Warren and Amy.) What are you waiting for? The end of Angel After the Fall? That's my guess, even though Allie refuses to acknowledge it since he's a prick and annoying prick at that. Much prefer IDW's editor.

The story is basically Buffy jumps to the future, a demon jumps back a la Get it Done, the episode in which she jumped into a past and a demon jumped out. Except this round, Willow is an idiot and thinks Buffy transmogrified at first. Takes her a little while to figure out it is a temporal shift. Hmmm, Willow, I think the fact that you were struggling to contain a temporal shift when it happened might have been a clue. Not to mention the striking similarity to the last time it happened. Who wants to guess that when Willow attempts to bring Buffy back, she turns into DarkWillow and goes mad?

In the future she runs into Fray, who talks like a hip version of the annoying Wolverine sidekick in the X-men whose name alludes me at the moment. She wore glasses and yellow.
Fray's dialogue is as hard for Buffy to understand as it is for everyone else. Actually, Fray makes Buffy seem rather articulate in comparison. I'm beginning to understand why I had difficulties getting into Fray. By the way, I think Whedon has been trying since S7 to somehow wedge his Buffy characters and their history into the Fray universe and they aren't fitting. Fray and Buffy do not fit. They feel like alternate versions of each other. I honestly can't how Buffy's actions can logically lead to Fray, without that is undermining all the female empowerment that Whedon spouted in the series. This issue certainly appears to undermine it - when the madwoman tells Harth that vampires get strength from one another, while slayers do not, that they lose it. In Fray's world - men rule and somewhat horribly.
Fray looks like BladeRunner meets Fifth Dimension (the Bruce Willis futuristic film). With flying cars. Odd thing about sci-fi - everyone thinks we are going to have flying cars. Why?
What could possibly make one think that? Outside of the fact that they are cool?

Harth is Fray's twin brother, who has her memories of the slayers, and was turned into a lurk - driving him a bit mad. I'm not sure if the memories of the slayers drove him mad or being turned into a vampire (lurk) did.

Funniest line? Buffy's self-deprecating and somewhat egotistical comment about how she should have treated the English language better.

Willow is apparently the pseudo-villian of the piece, not surprising when you think about it - what did you really think the Snake woman was a good goddess? When have snakes ever been good in the Buffyverse? Curious if Warren, Amy and Twilight are also worshipping the snake goddess - since green fire snake people attacked Xander and the slayer compound in Scotland. Snakes that had the same flames as Willow's snake goddess. When Willow tells Kennedy it is all her fault, it's a gross understatement. Apparently Willow learned nothing from her last flirtation with evil goddesses willing to grant her ultimate power.

Then again, it is possible that this is but a mislead and Willow's really mad, not evil. That whatever happened in the past - drove her insane?

Don't know, and don't really care that much. Am finding it oddly amusing and fun to read though. I'm no longer invested emotionally in what happens to these guys, so it's not really bugging me all that much.

I think that the best way to read these comics is much the same way you might go to see Mamma Mia, check your brain at the door. Just enjoy the ride. Because if you think too much about them....your brain may wander off bored and somewhat confused.

The art? Jittery. Lots of things in the panels and the panels are small. I found it jarring. I'm not alone - a close friend couldn't read Fray at all for the same reasons. She said she couldn't focus on it, it gave her a headache. I'm used to comics, so I could make it through without too much trouble.

Buffy was hard to recognize at first. Note to Whedon - you might not want to play with narrative threads in comic books - particularly when the artist's rendition of the characters aren't that recognizable. Melaka (FRAY) calls Buffy sister in the first few pages, and we pick up several days after they've met or what appears to be several days, since Buffy has changed clothes and now has her own place. When she called Buffy sister, for a moment, I thought she was referring to her real sister and that this was not Buffy, took another read to realize that no, this was Buffy, and the sister was meant as slang.

Overall? It's okay. Fun. More interesting in some respects that last four issues. But unfortunately still reads a bit like a crackfanfic. Check your brain and your knowledge of the series at the door, and you'll have a great time.


Spike: After the Fall - remarkably good. I loved this. Scarey. Surprising. Not at all what I expected. The new villian is also interesting. And in some ways a perfect foil for Spike.
I'm curious who the burning man that the dragon was asking Spike to help was. Angel? Wesley?
Can't quite tell. From the dialogue it could have been either. It was also a great foil for Spike - since he'd gone through much the same thing with the amulet.

The art is also quite good, beautiful in places, horrific in others, pulled me right into the story. Brian Lynch appears to be very comfortable in this world - and peoples it with surprisingly interesting characters. Not to mention just the right amount of sardonic wit.
I adore Jerry - his human caretaker. And the surprises regarding the women villians Spike encounters - I'd thought Spider was the leader, but he took her out pretty quickly.

I have no idea where Lynch is taking me in this story and I can't wait for the next issue.
I love his Spike, I adore his Fred/Illyria, and everyone else. Even the Dragon.

This is a book that you do want your brain around for the ride. It's fun. It's witty. It has layers. And best of all, it actually evolves the characters in a manner that makes sense and does not fell forced or as if the writer is attempting to make them serve some pre-imposed theme or plot, regardless of the expense. I wish this series was longer than four issues. I'm going to miss it a great deal when it's done.


Dresden Files: Welcome to the Jungel - the art is not as great as Spike, but then I don't like a lot of lines in my comic book art. The writing however is stellar. Butcher like Lynch is clearly comfortable in this medium. And the genre. Both create interesting yet flawed characters, who walk the line between hero and anti-hero with a subtle wit and charm.

Butcher, unlike Whedon and Lynch, does provide us with strong and very human female characters such as Murphy and Will. As opposed to somewhat psycho ones or superpowered ones.
In some ways, Dresden feels more literary, brainier if that's possible. This comic reads much like Butcher's books do, with wit and charm and a devotion to a magical and somewhat dark noir universe. Whenever I watch the series Supernatural - I find myself wishing Butcher had been the head writer and Dresden and Thomas the brother heroes - I think it might have been a little less offensive if that had been the case. Butcher is a rarity in that he can actually create interesting and complex female characters in a noir universe without falling into the cliche stereotypes constantly. I overlook these cliches, because I adore the genre. But they are there all the same. I give kudos to Butcher for managing to jump around them, demonstrating that his character's somewhat chauvinistic view of women is not necessarily realistic and a flaw - and he does it in a way that is far more literal and not with unsatisfying and easy to misinterpret metaphors as Whedon and Lynch often do.

Overall rating? Great read. A must if you are a Butcher fan. Next up is a graphic novel version of Storm Front. Can hardly wait.

Comments

[embers-log.livejournal.com]

"Melaka (FRAY) calls Buffy sister in the first few pages, and we pick up several days after they've met or what appears to be several days, since Buffy has changed clothes and now has her own place. When she called Buffy sister, for a moment, I thought she was referring to her real sister and that this was not Buffy, took another read to realize that no, this was Buffy, and the sister was meant as slang."
Um, I think you are mistaken about this: Melaka (Fray) really does have a big sister, who is a cop in their world, and I believe she is who Melaka was talking to and referring to as her 'sister'... Unfortunately the artist is not so good at making separate looking blonds so it makes it hard to keep those two separate characters straight.
In fact I was convinced that the mad woman they were discussing was Drusilla, so when I saw Willow dressed like Drusilla I thought at first that it might just be a bad drawing, but no... really was Dark(ish) Willow!

I'm liking BtVS S8 a lot more than you are, but then I absolutely adored 'Dr. Horrible' too.

I agree w/you about Brian Lynch's Spike: After the Fall being absolutely wonderful. I got to ask (online) Brian why Angel had found it so easy to communicate w/the dragon while Spike couldn't.... and he responded that that was a good question, but then he didn't answer it! I'm hoping we'll get more information about Angel's relationship to the dragon soon.
Oh and I was thinking that that might be Lindsay's eternal torment at Wolfram&Hart, but of course I don't know.

And, like you, I'm loving the Butcher comics. I think I said before that I don't care that this artist isn't so good at drawing characters because I think he is a genius at drawing animals! All the animals at the zoo, and Mister too, were all superb. I do love Butcher's story telling, but I've never tried anything other than his Dresden series... have you?

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

Oh - the bit with Willow was apparently deliberate - they wanted the reader to think it was Drusilla, then suddenly realize - whoops, it's Willow! They did the same thing with Ethan/Angelus in Long Way Home. And probably are planning a similar trick with Twilight. They've been doing this a lot and I want to tell them that it does not work in this medium. TV - yes. Comics- not so much. Unless you have a REALLY accomplished artist.
Such as the guy doing the Dresden chronicles.
He could probably get it across.

Ah, I re-read the comic and you're right, it is her sister. Dang. Confusing story. It starts with Melaka and this woman we've never met (unless you've read Fray) looking for someone named Harth, then jumps to this strange guy with glasses named Harth talking to a woman in the shadows, who according to an interview I read was deliberately drawn to look like Drusilla so we would be mislead into thinking it was Dru until the final reveal.

Then to Willow, then Xander, then Buffy, without resolving any of the threads before jumping to the next one. It's jarring and confusing. And requires the reader to have read Fray, which I haven't.

Compare this to Brian Lynch's Spike, Angel or even Butcher's Dresden - where the writers and artists deftly clue the reader in on the events, without condescending to them, and allow us to catch things as the characters do.
OF course both books are told through one point of view, not multiple points of view, which may be part of the problem here. Lynch does shift pov, but he's more deft about it - they flow into one another, they don't feel like separate stories that may eventually, in the next issue, which comes out a month from today. Sometimes I think I'd be better off waiting for the trade paperback for these babies, might be less confusing.

Lindsey...didn't occur to me. Hmm. No, I don't think that quite works. He was shot by Lorne and while he might be tortured by WRH, the dialogue doesn't quite fit. It had to be someone who knew what Spike went through - which Lindsey doesn't. Also someone the Dragon might care about - can't see that being Lindsey. But it is an interesting theory all the same.

Hmmm, I think I can answer the question regarding Angel's ability to talk to the Dragon and the fact Spike can't. Angel remember was a bit more, what's the word, obsessive? He was into languages at any rate. Spike knows a few, just not as many as Angel. Remember Angel is sort of Spike's mentor or yoda. Plus, we've no clue if Angel could do it immediately or developed it over time. At any rate, he's got more incentive, Spike really could care less - he's more interested in getting a good home for Illyria and company. Completely different agendas.

Oh, I actually do like the artwork on the Dresden series. This guy is better at eyes and facial expressions than just about anyone else. He also does a great job with animals and movement. Plus light. Now if only the Angel and Buffy artists were as good as the Spike/Dresden ones...;-)

Nope, haven't tried anything else by Butcher. Did read the back of the fantasy series, and thumbed through a few pages - didn't appeal to me. Not a big fan of "traditional" fantasy, which is what it basically is - complete with all the Medieval period trappings. I prefer my fantasy set in the future or present or mixed with sci-fi. Medieval Times? Not so much. It's not the fantasy, it's the historical period - that I'm not a huge fan of.

[embers-log.livejournal.com]

Oh dear, can you believe that I completely forgot that Loren had shot Lindsay? Silly me.
Yeah, Joss does like to leave too many threads hanging, he did the same thing w/Astonishing X-men and Runaways... but when they finally paid off they paid off big (IMO).

I agree w/you: I really don't find the Medieval trappings appealing, although I loved JRRT's... and Pratchett has a funny world which is kind of Medieval except for whenever he wants to introduce something modern into the mix (like flash photography) . I tried reading a few pages of Butcher's fantasy and it just didn't pull me... while Dresden had be 100% hooked on the first page!

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

The only problem is that by the time he gets around to pulling them together, you've forgotten half of the story. I think it works better with tv than comics. Because there's less lag time between epsidoes, well some of the episodes anyhow. The people waiting for the trade paperbacks might be on to something.

Yep, tried reading a few pages of the Butcher fantasies myself and had the same reaction you did. Medieval works for me if it's a world like the dragon-riders in Anne McCaffrey - a sci-fantasy mix or like the Western theme in Firefly. George RR Martin wasn't too bad. Tolkien - same deal, not a problem. But, not sure how to put it, the more romantic, somewhat anachronistic Medieval a la Beowulf, Chaucer,
and the whole Arthurian bit gets on my nerves.
I think King Arthur has been overdone.

[embers-log.livejournal.com]

"Medieval a la Beowulf, Chaucer,
and the whole Arthurian bit gets on my nerves.
I think King Arthur has been overdone."

Exactly, it feels hackneyed, while Tolkien and Pratchett don't feel like a retread, it feels like they have created something really unique/original.

I've read most of McCaffrey's dragon-riders and really loved it, I should go back and make sure I hadn't missed any of it sometime...

BTW have you read Artemis Fowl? It is by Eoin Colfer, and I had never heard of it before today.

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

I loved the McCaffrey books up to the one about the one rider's last ride? I stopped at that point. I think Dragon Rider, The White Dragon, and the one in between - the early ones were quite good. McCaffrey as a writer reminds me a great deal of Anne Rice - people stopped editing her, and her ego overtook her writing. Early McCaffrey - great stuff. Also evidence that you can write for a young adult audience without overdoing it on the adverbs and without dumbing down the material as Stephanie Meyer does in Twilight. One of my favorite McCaffrey's is the Ship Who Sang. Been a long time, over twenty years, since I've read them though.

My difficulty with a lot of the hackneyed or romantic Medieval stuff, a la Terry Brooks and Sword of Shannana...is they feel like cheap rip-offs of Tolkien. Nothing new. Guy Gaverial Kay wasn't too bad - at least he did the Tales of the Mabinogi and Welsh Mythology. Could have done without the Arthurian bit, but it's a bit hard to do Welsh Mythology without referencing Arthur.
Elizabeth Bear also is pretty good, she blends the world of fairy with the modern world, which I find rather unique and interesting.

Yep, heard of Artemis Fowl - it's a book about an anti-hero and was in the process of being made into a movie. The boy steals from a bunch of leprechauns or something to that effect. I think you might like it, supposed to be very funny. For a while they thought it was the next Harry Potter. (It's not. But it is a lot better written than Twilight. Actually 99% of the children's and young adult sci-fantasy you find in stores i better than Twilight. It's not hard to be better than Twilight. LOL!)

[atpo-onm.livejournal.com]

Agreeing with embers_log-- I'm pretty certain that really is Melaka's sister. Besides, Buffy flying an aero-scooter or whatever it is after only a few days, what with her ledgendary non-driving abilities? Nuh, uh-uh.

I've been enjoying the Buffy series, and find that so far this current one is among my favorite arcs. So far, everyone is assuming that the new bad is Dark Willow, when I'm wondering exactly why it couldn't be a vampire Dark Willow?

(Normally, Scott Allie's blog comments seem to have stated that it is just plain Dark Willow, but then you rather accurately described Allie as "a prick and annoying prick at that. Much prefer IDW's editor." Glad I'm not the only one who doesn't care for the guy!

Flying cars? Of course it's because they're cool. If there weren't flying cars, how could Melaka do the even cooler hopping around from car to car in mid flight thing?

Really, really liking the two Spike:ATF issues. Like them much better than Angel:ATF, in fact. I was really on the fence about Urru's artwork, although your earlier positive comments did cause me to give them another look, and maybe re-evaluate, but for some reason I find his technique just marries perfectly to the Spike series. Strange, but there you are.

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

Hmmm. I like the idea of Dark Willow being a vampire. But I have a feeling the whole madwoman reference means she really isn't - apparently something in the forest transformed her. My guess is it was the snake goddess Satso whatsit.

Upon re-reading, I realized embers was right, it is her sister. I can see vague differences now - a few lines in the forhead and the hair is just a shade darker. But it's not clear where we are in time - as far as we know Buffy could be there five years when only an hour has passed in this time line. Time travel stories are always confusing...and difficult to do well. I'm on the fence whether this is working - it may work better for those who have actually read Fray, leaving those of us who haven't at a disadvantage.
Since the whole series of comics is meant to lead up to Fray or explain Fray, those of us who haven't tried to read it, might just have to suck it up, so to speak.

Agree, I think Urru is more comfortable drawing Spike and the After the Fall Spike books than Angel. Lynch also feels a bit more comfortable with the Spike character. Angel is not an easy character to draw or write, he's very internal, very brooding, and not exactly "witty". He's basically the straight/serious guy - with the witty people surrounding him. Also, he's a very dark character - who is trying to be a hero - a true noir hero, the sort that you want to succeed but know can't. Those are really hard to pull off.
I think Lynch is doing a pretty good job with him, better than anyone else has to date. And I'm enjoying the series, but I've got to admit, I enjoy the Spike series more and want more of it.
(Felt much the same way when I was watching the tv show though - wanted more Spike, less Angel. So I've decided that's just my own personal subjective taste.)

Have you tried Spike: Aslym or Spike: Shadow Puppets? You should. They are brilliant. In very much the same vein as Spike after the fall. Shadow Puppets is a perfect companion to Smile Time.

[londonkds.livejournal.com]

I think Lynch is very good with Angel as well. I actually think Lynch's Angel is closer to the tone of the TV show than Whedon and other actual TV show writers are to TV Buffy.

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

Yes, I agree absolutely. Lynch's tone on both the Angel and Spike comics fits how they were portrayed on the series.

I think Lynch may be the only writer out there who got the complexities of Angel and Spike, the dark noir anti-hero flaws, and the subtle wit. He also writes a wickedly good Lorne, Connor, Illyria, and Wes. His Wes is quite good.

He's the rare writer who actually understands and appreciates all the Angel characters and how they fit in the story.

Whedon's Buffy comics feel very off to me. The characters voices, the tone, the plot - don't get me wrong, I'm enjoying them, but they aren't as good at the tv series and they feel at times like a fanfic version of it.

[atpo-onm.livejournal.com]

Have you tried Spike: Aslym or Spike: Shadow Puppets?

Not yet, but I think I will now, if they're of a kind artistically to this Spike:ATF series.

[londonkds.livejournal.com]

In the original Fray comic series there was a reference to the magic having been driven out of the universe by the last Slayer called before Fray, who was implied to be Buffy. Whedon has said in an interview, I think, that this was based on what he planned at the time to be the ending of S7 and the series, but thought better of. The seeming implication of the current Buffy comics is that the Fray universe is a potential future, and that Harth and the new vamp!Willow are collaborating with Twilight in the 21st century to make sure it comes about. (And there's also a theory that seems to me quite likely that Twilight is actually Harth gone back in time.)

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

That theory is actually workable, since Harth bears an odd resemblance in the comic to Xander and a lot of fans think Twilight is Xander. (I don't. Doesn't work without a lot of retconning, not that Whedon isn't capable of retconning, but I think he'd end up pissing off 80% of his fan base in the process.)

Yeah, I remember that - it was one of my issues with Season 7 - it felt like Whedon was attempting to make it and Fray fit. And I'm not sure the two universes do. The scythe felt a bit too easy. (Not that they haven't done that before...but still.) Can see why he thought better of making S7 lead directly to Fray - to do that, he'd have to destroy Angel's world. After all - before Fray, the vampires, demons, magic were all exiled. That would make it impossible to continue telling Spike and Angel's stories.

Sigh. It appears that I'm going to have to attempt to read Fray again, because I'm not sure I'll be able to follow the storyline without doing so. I own the graphic novel, it's currently collecting dust on my bookshelf devoted to graphic novels and comics.

[londonkds.livejournal.com]

I haven't seen Xander suggested as Twilight, all the people I've seen who thought it was a previously established character thought it was Riley gone violently anti-magic.

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

Interesting all the fans I've read are the opposite. They all think it is Xander, and can't be Riley. That it would be completely counter to Riley's character and require too much retconning. They can't imagine Riley being "smart" enough to be Twilight or "evil" enough to be Twilight. (Personally I think people are giving Twilight too much credit and Riley too little credit, but what do I know?)

Riley was one of my pet theories or initial theories for a while - because the build of Twilight reminds me a great deal of Riley as does the whole military bit. As well as some of the lingo. I like Riley and find the idea interesting - both for it's psychological implications and the overall theme. But, a couple of people convinced me that it doesn't quite track and would undue some of Riley's arc and be a bit redundant - ie, yet another one of Buffy's lovers jumping from good to evil or vice versa? (Not that I can't see Whedon doing that - he has a tendency to repeat certain storylines..but, I think its a mislead.)

No, your Harth suggestion sounds about right.
You've been spot on regarding your predictions on the villians in this series.
I think you were the one who predicted Warren was Amy's boyfriend?

[atpo-onm.livejournal.com]

I'm on board too with the Harth as Twilight concept. And Dark Willow (or Vamp Dark Willow) would explain how he got his "superpowers". There might even be some foreshadowing for the latter when in one earlier issue, Buffy was temporarily "gifted" or "loaned" some magical power to help her in a battle against Amy.