Angel and Buffy comic Reviews
Sep. 6th, 2008 09:45 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowkatFeeling a bit disgruntled this week. Without going into details, because sort of boring and whiny and well not wise to discuss work online when you work for a public service that hits the newspapers a lot, the work week was difficult and frustrating. Am taking a break from it, from talking to my mother, and from politics - if I am lucky. [Which is why I deleted my last political post...I'm sick of politics, can we have the election now? I don't need two more frigging months of nasty political wrangling.] The three things combined have made me a bit crazier than usual. Add to that the monthly cycle and a couple of hurricanes bearing down on us. At the moment, Canada and New Zealand look like wonderful places to live.
Picked up my comics Friday, to avoid the nasty weather predicted today, and to cheer myself up. The comics were: Angel: After the Fall and Buffy: S8 - Time of Your Life, Part III and neither did much in the cheering up department. Was sort of annoyed at the end of both of them. The Spike:After the Fall comic is soooo much better. So is the Dresden comics for that matter.
Wasn't all that surprised by the developments in either comic nor all that happy about them.
It's odd, I just finished reading Fray - which was really good. Well-drawn, interesting characters, and most importantly - fun as well as poetic in places. Nothing at all like the Buffy comic I just finished reading. What's odd is both comics have the same writer and artist, the same creative team, and more or less the same characters. Also, it's been mentioned by others, so I'm not the only one picking up on this - but there is a lot of female nudity in the Buffy comics. Hardly any male nudity. And a lot of female love scenes - which, and may be wrong about this, appear to be directed towards a male audience. I don't see this as particularly odd, by the way, since it is more or less what happens in a female centric action hero and/or fantasy comic books that are not indies and not written by women. IF you don't believe me, just go to a comic book store and thumb through a couple - anything by Alan Moore, Frank Miller, the Japanese Magna, and most of the Marvel/DC Vertigo stuff. It's no secret that 75% of the comic book audience is male. Nor that it is a medium that is often and somewhat annoyingly marketed towards heterosexual boys who like to look at porn on the internet. Granted it's worked hard to rise above that to relief of many...but, not that hard. Buffy's actually a lot better than most. Personally - I think our society is just obsessed with sex.
Wish I'd been wrong about the one's in the Buffy comic, because I'm really not liking the way Whedon is taking this storyline. It's not fun. Depressing, sure. Fun, not so much. And I don't need to read a comic book to be depressed. I can do that on my own. Fray was much better written, not to mention drawn - which is sort of disappointing, considering we have the same writer and artist on this one. Having just finished reading Fray, I'm finding the storyline Whedon has plotted to be annoying. Very thematic and message laden, his political take is coming through in spades, but the story isn't working somehow. (The whole big picture/small picture, kill a few to save many, not worry about fighting small battles, go after the center...and have limited casualties - and how that attitude isn't necessarily a good one. He wrote about this in Firefly and Dr. Horrible as well. It's basically the pros and cons of Machiavellian tactics.] And Willow's arc...I'm on the fence about. It tracks well enough and is a further exploration of Willow's seduction by magic and power. I think Willow loves power and magic more than anything else - as is evidenced by the snake goddess, who is kind of erotic, a woman with a penis or at least her tail looks kinda phallic to me, which is saying something since I tend to ignore phallic images in artwork. At any rate, it appears I was right when I stated that I did not believe the Willow in the future is a vampire, just a Willow driven mad by magic - she reminds me a little of the Winter Warlock in Santa Clause is Coming to Town. Buffy looks far too much like Fray's sister - only way you can tell them apart is their outfits. I will state that I like the fact that Whedon deliberately shows hom alike the two characters are - in some ways Buffy is more like Fray's sister than like Fray, something I noticed reading the Fray comic. Fray reminds me a bit of Faith.
Not sure why Fray is willing to believe Willow over Buffy, considering Uruk and Harth turned out to betray her, you'd think she'd be willing to give the Bufster the benefit of the doubt over someone who may be in co-hoots with her wicked brother. Her actions at any rate seem really stupid, regardless of what Willow showed her. Granted we are more or less in Buffy and Willow's points of view, so...
As for the whole storyline with Dawn and Xander - this is still playing out as a cheap Judd Apatow sex joke. "Ridden hard and put away wet?" Joss, really, some jokes you can resist.
I know it is hard. But. Although will state I did like their interaction with the tree spirits. "Uh...it is still death for...wait, you said there are things scarier then us?"
Methinks Whedon has been rewatching the Two Towers on DVD. Give Xander kudos for figuring the obvious - which is the people behind the evil snake demons and the bomb are Amy and Warren. But it does make me wonder if Willow's snake goddess may also be working with Amy and Warren.
Am becoming increasingly convinced that these Buffy comics make work better as straight to trade paperbacks. Only problem is you have to wait an awful long period of time for them to come out in print. And I'm just not that patient.
Angel After The Fall - issue 12 - was possibly the worste drawn and/or colored of the bunch. At the very least the editing was off. Caught a huge continuity in inking/art error in one of the panels. Nina literally changes her outfit and hair color. Goes from being a blond wearing a red tank top, to a red-head wearing a blue hoodie. Okay...now that's just bad editing.
Will state that the characters looked like the actors that portrayed them and were very expressive in places. Unfortunately, this wasn't consistent. I felt like there were two artists doing this book. One who could draw and was very expressive, and one who couldn't - made for a distracting read. Say what you will about Urru and Jeanty, but at least they are consistent.
The story? Sigh. The problem with the Angel Series and to a degree with how the character has been written - is how self-absorbed and egocentric he really is. No one matters but Angel. The only people who do matter are those who Angel cares about or affect Angel. If they aren't an obstacle, someone who can give him something, or a way to success - they don't factor in.
It's all about poor Angel. Which would be fine, because let's face it, who isn't that way to some degree. But...does the writer really need to hammar us over the head with it? Wes seems to go on for about ten panels about how this who deal is about Angel and the Shanshu, that this is all about Angel's hell, and none of the rest of them matter to WRH or anyone else. And all I could think of - is why? Angel's not THAT great. I like Angel, he's interesting. But's he's not all that. No one is. The fact he thinks he's "all that" makes him a bit annoying actually. Although, he does pay for that attitude. It's his biggest achillees heel.
I liked the reintroduction of Cordelia and the fact that the big dragon's name is Cordelia, because Angel kept talking to Cordy and the dragon thought he was talking to it. Turns out I was right - the creature Spike encounters in Spike After the Fall - that is burning up in pain in WRH's burned out offices - is Angel. And Angel really isn't talking to Spike but to Cordelia, he's too out of it to notice Spike. I think the dragon thought Spike might be able to help Angel, which is why he brought him.
This time it is Wes thought shows Angel a side of himself that he doesn't like very much. Gunn is already to a degree exhibiting it - with his insane conviction that he can save the world, and he will shanshu and become human, that the prophecy is about him, and it doesn't matter who he hurts in the process as long as he realizes that. This seems to be a heavy theme in Whedon's writing right now - meglamania.
I see it Buffy - with Buffy's whole shitk about saving the world, her army of slayers, and the ruthless Machiavellian tactics that Giles taught her...regarding the many over the few.
Or the "big picture".
It's also shown in Firefly - with the Serenity film - where the corporations attempt to save the many by doing away with aggression, only to cause death and destruction.
The idea of saving the world, to be a hero, yet not seeing the consequences.
And here it is again with Angel - who was so full of himself that he thought he could single handedly destroy WRH's Black Circle, change the world, and be the hero that shanshues. Never occurred to him that the Shanshu works either way. Hero or Villain. There's nothing in the prophecy that states Angel will only Shanshu if he saves the world from an Apocalypse, it could also happen if he didn't. Which it does here - causing his death. WRH apparently are hoping someone will bring him back as a vampire and he'll cause all sorts of destruction.
I wouldn't worry too much about Angel - he'll be back. Two characters they are definitely not going to kill off permanently are Angel and Spike. Plus this is comics, no one dies permanently, they can always come back.
Did find the little sign with "Doyle" and "Coming Soon!" next to it, rather funny. Nice touch. And I thoroughly expect to see him.
The best thing about the Angel comics is unlike the Buffy ones, they continue to feature characters that the audience wants to know more about. Such as Cordelia - who pops up again in Angel's dream to guide him to the great beyond and comment on the action. Watching Cordy, Gunn, and Wes interact is interesting - because it shows how everyone Angel came in close contact with has died pretty horrifically. Fred's soul was burned alive by Illyria and became a demon with a god complex, Gunn was turned into a vampire with a god complex, Wes became a ghost working for an evil law firm, Cordy got turned into a higher being of light, got egotistical and was taken over by another god who turned her into an evil supermom, and now is a ghost who makes visits, Doyle got burned alive...and Nina is living in hell as a part human/part werewolf yearning after Angel. Becoming friends with Angel is hazardous to one's health.
The only ones who've survived it so far are Connor, Spike and Lorne.
Still curious to see where Lynch takes this. But. I like the Spike comics better, simply because they are less serious and depressing and lot more fun.
Picked up my comics Friday, to avoid the nasty weather predicted today, and to cheer myself up. The comics were: Angel: After the Fall and Buffy: S8 - Time of Your Life, Part III and neither did much in the cheering up department. Was sort of annoyed at the end of both of them. The Spike:After the Fall comic is soooo much better. So is the Dresden comics for that matter.
Wasn't all that surprised by the developments in either comic nor all that happy about them.
It's odd, I just finished reading Fray - which was really good. Well-drawn, interesting characters, and most importantly - fun as well as poetic in places. Nothing at all like the Buffy comic I just finished reading. What's odd is both comics have the same writer and artist, the same creative team, and more or less the same characters. Also, it's been mentioned by others, so I'm not the only one picking up on this - but there is a lot of female nudity in the Buffy comics. Hardly any male nudity. And a lot of female love scenes - which, and may be wrong about this, appear to be directed towards a male audience. I don't see this as particularly odd, by the way, since it is more or less what happens in a female centric action hero and/or fantasy comic books that are not indies and not written by women. IF you don't believe me, just go to a comic book store and thumb through a couple - anything by Alan Moore, Frank Miller, the Japanese Magna, and most of the Marvel/DC Vertigo stuff. It's no secret that 75% of the comic book audience is male. Nor that it is a medium that is often and somewhat annoyingly marketed towards heterosexual boys who like to look at porn on the internet. Granted it's worked hard to rise above that to relief of many...but, not that hard. Buffy's actually a lot better than most. Personally - I think our society is just obsessed with sex.
Wish I'd been wrong about the one's in the Buffy comic, because I'm really not liking the way Whedon is taking this storyline. It's not fun. Depressing, sure. Fun, not so much. And I don't need to read a comic book to be depressed. I can do that on my own. Fray was much better written, not to mention drawn - which is sort of disappointing, considering we have the same writer and artist on this one. Having just finished reading Fray, I'm finding the storyline Whedon has plotted to be annoying. Very thematic and message laden, his political take is coming through in spades, but the story isn't working somehow. (The whole big picture/small picture, kill a few to save many, not worry about fighting small battles, go after the center...and have limited casualties - and how that attitude isn't necessarily a good one. He wrote about this in Firefly and Dr. Horrible as well. It's basically the pros and cons of Machiavellian tactics.] And Willow's arc...I'm on the fence about. It tracks well enough and is a further exploration of Willow's seduction by magic and power. I think Willow loves power and magic more than anything else - as is evidenced by the snake goddess, who is kind of erotic, a woman with a penis or at least her tail looks kinda phallic to me, which is saying something since I tend to ignore phallic images in artwork. At any rate, it appears I was right when I stated that I did not believe the Willow in the future is a vampire, just a Willow driven mad by magic - she reminds me a little of the Winter Warlock in Santa Clause is Coming to Town. Buffy looks far too much like Fray's sister - only way you can tell them apart is their outfits. I will state that I like the fact that Whedon deliberately shows hom alike the two characters are - in some ways Buffy is more like Fray's sister than like Fray, something I noticed reading the Fray comic. Fray reminds me a bit of Faith.
Not sure why Fray is willing to believe Willow over Buffy, considering Uruk and Harth turned out to betray her, you'd think she'd be willing to give the Bufster the benefit of the doubt over someone who may be in co-hoots with her wicked brother. Her actions at any rate seem really stupid, regardless of what Willow showed her. Granted we are more or less in Buffy and Willow's points of view, so...
As for the whole storyline with Dawn and Xander - this is still playing out as a cheap Judd Apatow sex joke. "Ridden hard and put away wet?" Joss, really, some jokes you can resist.
I know it is hard. But. Although will state I did like their interaction with the tree spirits. "Uh...it is still death for...wait, you said there are things scarier then us?"
Methinks Whedon has been rewatching the Two Towers on DVD. Give Xander kudos for figuring the obvious - which is the people behind the evil snake demons and the bomb are Amy and Warren. But it does make me wonder if Willow's snake goddess may also be working with Amy and Warren.
Am becoming increasingly convinced that these Buffy comics make work better as straight to trade paperbacks. Only problem is you have to wait an awful long period of time for them to come out in print. And I'm just not that patient.
Angel After The Fall - issue 12 - was possibly the worste drawn and/or colored of the bunch. At the very least the editing was off. Caught a huge continuity in inking/art error in one of the panels. Nina literally changes her outfit and hair color. Goes from being a blond wearing a red tank top, to a red-head wearing a blue hoodie. Okay...now that's just bad editing.
Will state that the characters looked like the actors that portrayed them and were very expressive in places. Unfortunately, this wasn't consistent. I felt like there were two artists doing this book. One who could draw and was very expressive, and one who couldn't - made for a distracting read. Say what you will about Urru and Jeanty, but at least they are consistent.
The story? Sigh. The problem with the Angel Series and to a degree with how the character has been written - is how self-absorbed and egocentric he really is. No one matters but Angel. The only people who do matter are those who Angel cares about or affect Angel. If they aren't an obstacle, someone who can give him something, or a way to success - they don't factor in.
It's all about poor Angel. Which would be fine, because let's face it, who isn't that way to some degree. But...does the writer really need to hammar us over the head with it? Wes seems to go on for about ten panels about how this who deal is about Angel and the Shanshu, that this is all about Angel's hell, and none of the rest of them matter to WRH or anyone else. And all I could think of - is why? Angel's not THAT great. I like Angel, he's interesting. But's he's not all that. No one is. The fact he thinks he's "all that" makes him a bit annoying actually. Although, he does pay for that attitude. It's his biggest achillees heel.
I liked the reintroduction of Cordelia and the fact that the big dragon's name is Cordelia, because Angel kept talking to Cordy and the dragon thought he was talking to it. Turns out I was right - the creature Spike encounters in Spike After the Fall - that is burning up in pain in WRH's burned out offices - is Angel. And Angel really isn't talking to Spike but to Cordelia, he's too out of it to notice Spike. I think the dragon thought Spike might be able to help Angel, which is why he brought him.
This time it is Wes thought shows Angel a side of himself that he doesn't like very much. Gunn is already to a degree exhibiting it - with his insane conviction that he can save the world, and he will shanshu and become human, that the prophecy is about him, and it doesn't matter who he hurts in the process as long as he realizes that. This seems to be a heavy theme in Whedon's writing right now - meglamania.
I see it Buffy - with Buffy's whole shitk about saving the world, her army of slayers, and the ruthless Machiavellian tactics that Giles taught her...regarding the many over the few.
Or the "big picture".
It's also shown in Firefly - with the Serenity film - where the corporations attempt to save the many by doing away with aggression, only to cause death and destruction.
The idea of saving the world, to be a hero, yet not seeing the consequences.
And here it is again with Angel - who was so full of himself that he thought he could single handedly destroy WRH's Black Circle, change the world, and be the hero that shanshues. Never occurred to him that the Shanshu works either way. Hero or Villain. There's nothing in the prophecy that states Angel will only Shanshu if he saves the world from an Apocalypse, it could also happen if he didn't. Which it does here - causing his death. WRH apparently are hoping someone will bring him back as a vampire and he'll cause all sorts of destruction.
I wouldn't worry too much about Angel - he'll be back. Two characters they are definitely not going to kill off permanently are Angel and Spike. Plus this is comics, no one dies permanently, they can always come back.
Did find the little sign with "Doyle" and "Coming Soon!" next to it, rather funny. Nice touch. And I thoroughly expect to see him.
The best thing about the Angel comics is unlike the Buffy ones, they continue to feature characters that the audience wants to know more about. Such as Cordelia - who pops up again in Angel's dream to guide him to the great beyond and comment on the action. Watching Cordy, Gunn, and Wes interact is interesting - because it shows how everyone Angel came in close contact with has died pretty horrifically. Fred's soul was burned alive by Illyria and became a demon with a god complex, Gunn was turned into a vampire with a god complex, Wes became a ghost working for an evil law firm, Cordy got turned into a higher being of light, got egotistical and was taken over by another god who turned her into an evil supermom, and now is a ghost who makes visits, Doyle got burned alive...and Nina is living in hell as a part human/part werewolf yearning after Angel. Becoming friends with Angel is hazardous to one's health.
The only ones who've survived it so far are Connor, Spike and Lorne.
Still curious to see where Lynch takes this. But. I like the Spike comics better, simply because they are less serious and depressing and lot more fun.