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shadowkatSo courtesy of my flist, specifically ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
angeria, and petzipellingo - I was able to read the three page Buffy comic by Joss Whedon and Joan Chen.
You can too - if you go here: http://www.darkhorse.com/Features/eComics/1087/Dark-Horse-Presents-No-24?part_num=1&page=2
Sort of wish they'd made it part of one of the trades - because I wouldn't mind owning the thing for the artwork alone - which made me happy. Joan Chen is quite good. Particularly that last frame with a bone-weary sleep-deprived Buffy, staring at her cereal bowl, while a cartoonish Xander pops in with his usual quirky humor. I looked at that frame four or five times, with complete admiration. If you know anything about painting - you'll realize how hard that was to do, movement, stillness, and two styles, along with light. Whoa.
The story? What to say that hasn't been said better elsewhere? I wasn't surprised by it, just mildly disappointed. Is it just me or does Whedon have a serious bone up his ass regarding paternalism and sexism?
The story is simple - Buffy is having yet another one her nightmares. She meets Caleb - states that she thought she'd left him behind in the crater. Up pops Spike and Angel, who accuse her of leaving them in the lurch. Actually it's Spike who is talking, and Angel chimes in. Before they start making out with one another. Buffy feeling neglected, protests, only to find herself the happy bride to skinless Warren Miers, with Tara as her matron of honor (gunshot through the chest), and Willow/DarkWillow in attendence while Preacher Caleb stands in front of them. She wakes up. We see her the next morning, bone weary, half crazed with lack of sleep, and a peppy Xander popping in asking how the sleeping is going, to which she crankily replies, everybody dies. The entire three pages takes place inside her head - in case we were remotely curious what she was thinking.
These three pages do not tell us anything we do not already know and Whedon has not already told us elsewhere in his series. Actually I think he suggests the same ideas far better with a lot more sublety in the tv series.
As to whether Caleb is Twilight. God, I hope not. I really do, because, well, it would be
if you will forgive the vernacular, lame. But I felt the same way about the First Evil.
When people were saying online that the mysterious big bad in S7 was the First, I sincerely hoped they were wrong - because again, lame. Caleb and The First are unlike prior villians, unambiguously evil. And somewhat one-note about it. Villians twirling the mustaches, with the heroine tied to the train tracks have more depth. Heck, the Master had more depth. So making Twilight - Caleb, feels redundant to me. Having just rewatched the lacklustre episode Family - I can state that everything Whedon states in this dream sequence, was stated more subletly in Family, and considering Family (S5) was about as subtle as a two-by-four lodged at the brain...that is saying something. Family - if you recall - was about Tara's redneck father, brother, and cousin Beth who threatened to haul her back to Kentucky and make her their house-slave. They called her a demon, because she could do magic, and it was their way of keeping her in line. A disgusting demon. The metaphor also related to lesbianism and herbs, wicca, anything outside of their limited worldview. In case you didn't know that Buffy the Vampire Slayer is a show about the stupidity of paternalism and sexism the writer practically hits you over the head and screams it at you at the top of his lungs in FAMILY.
He does the exact same thing here.
My personal hope regarding Twilight is that he is Hank Summers or someone Buffy trusted and respected. Someone she cares about. Because that would be an interesting twist. But the writer has not laid the ground-work for it to be Xander, Angel or Spike. And I'm willing to bet you it isn't any of them. Partly because I do not believe Whedon would sacrifice any of those characters to get his point across. Nor should he. He'd lose about 85% of his audience if he attempted it. Okay maybe 50%. Xander would require a personality transplant. Angel or Spike? Same deal. At this point, neither would go there. This leaves Andrew, Giles (and how do you explain two places at the same time for these guys?), Hank Summers, (can't be Riley since he's working with Twilight), and Robin Wood (who I can't see her getting that upset about). It can't be Giles (although he would work quite nicely in some respects, but you'd have to explain all the Faith bits). It could still be Harth I suppose, but that would require a lot of explaining.
Regarding Spike and Angel? What to say? Predictable? Very. Whedon more or less has said the same thing regarding the two characters in Chosen, End of Days, Girl in Question, Hole in the World...etc. If you don't believe Spike and Angel have slept together or that Buffy hasn't wondered about it, then you haven't been paying attention. I would not have put it past Spike to have either muttered about it or suggested it to Buffy in some oblique, possibly joking manner, during one of their many sexcapades during Season 6.
I don't mind. Tend to think Angel and Spike make a good couple. I like them better together than with Buffy, to be honest. But I would like a resolution to the Buffy/Spike relationship.
We left it with them declaring their undying love for each other in the crater. Or rather, with Buffy declaring her love for Spike (it may not have been undying, melodramatic yes, undying not so much), and Spike denying it and telling her to git, in order to free them both from the endless and pointless angst she put herself and Angel through before and after she sent Angel to hell. Spike - always the pragmaticist. I'm guessing from the dream sequence that this was all well and good, but it doesn't appear to have worked. Because Buffy appears to feel guilty about moving on without Spike and has lumped him in with her Angel angst after all. Best laid plans and all that... At any rate, Spike has done a better job of moving on than she has, possibly because he isn't still mourning a dead lover/hero who he had to leave to burn at the bottom of a crater? But to be fair, he did go through more or less the same thing when she dove of the tower in S5. It's not clear from the dream if she knows he's alive or not, I'm guessing not. But it can be interpreted either way. Andrew may have told her, and then again he may not have. Whedon for reasons that make absolutely no sense whatsoever from a writing or storytelling perspective seems to be unwilling to clarify. Or perhaps he thinks he has made it clear? Or just isn't interested? My guess is the latter. If it doesn't further the theme of female empowerment in the face of paternalism and sexism, it does not matter to Joss Whedon.
At any rate, the main point of the dream is that Buffy feels guilty and thinks it is wrong that she has power and is doing a traditional male role, and not being the traditional woman. That her power is demonic in nature and that makes her wrong. And she shouldn't have shared any of it. (Not anything we didn't know already.)
This is a theme that dates back to Restless. Actually the whole Twilight arc reminds me of a sequence in Restless - where Buffy runs into Riley. He has been made surgeon general.
His gun lies on the table. Riley is sitting across from the man who was Adam. He tells her that he and Adam are making "coffee makers that think" as a new weapon, and then the alarm goes off and they scramble about. Buffy in her sundress and sandles, states, "wait, I have weapons". She smears the primoridal blood on her face - the primal, the first slayer, the demon inside, the earth, the female power - and Riley turns to her and says, "Okay be that way, Killer!" And then Adam tells her that she's a demon. (Sort of similar to the Twilight/Riley interaction. And the Twilight/Buffy interaction. And the Buffy/Drac interaction. And the Spike/Buffy in Fool for Love interaction.)
The problem I have with some of Joss Whedon's writing is that he repeats himself. A lot. Instead of revealing new things about his characters, he will often reveal the same thing just in different ways, thinking we don't notice. Perhaps some people don't. I do.
At any rate, I did like portions of the three pager. I liked the final frame - because I identified with Buffy, I've had that experience. Exactly like that. And I liked the slashy Spike and Angel. The Caleb bits grated, much as they always have. Caleb was the least subtle, least ambiguous villian that Whedon has ever done. The wedding bit was sort of cool and beautifully rendered, but also a tad heavy-handed. Not my favorite. Shame, because Joan Chen's art deserved better and less redundant material to work with.
angeria, and petzipellingo - I was able to read the three page Buffy comic by Joss Whedon and Joan Chen.You can too - if you go here: http://www.darkhorse.com/Features/eComics/1087/Dark-Horse-Presents-No-24?part_num=1&page=2
Sort of wish they'd made it part of one of the trades - because I wouldn't mind owning the thing for the artwork alone - which made me happy. Joan Chen is quite good. Particularly that last frame with a bone-weary sleep-deprived Buffy, staring at her cereal bowl, while a cartoonish Xander pops in with his usual quirky humor. I looked at that frame four or five times, with complete admiration. If you know anything about painting - you'll realize how hard that was to do, movement, stillness, and two styles, along with light. Whoa.
The story? What to say that hasn't been said better elsewhere? I wasn't surprised by it, just mildly disappointed. Is it just me or does Whedon have a serious bone up his ass regarding paternalism and sexism?
The story is simple - Buffy is having yet another one her nightmares. She meets Caleb - states that she thought she'd left him behind in the crater. Up pops Spike and Angel, who accuse her of leaving them in the lurch. Actually it's Spike who is talking, and Angel chimes in. Before they start making out with one another. Buffy feeling neglected, protests, only to find herself the happy bride to skinless Warren Miers, with Tara as her matron of honor (gunshot through the chest), and Willow/DarkWillow in attendence while Preacher Caleb stands in front of them. She wakes up. We see her the next morning, bone weary, half crazed with lack of sleep, and a peppy Xander popping in asking how the sleeping is going, to which she crankily replies, everybody dies. The entire three pages takes place inside her head - in case we were remotely curious what she was thinking.
These three pages do not tell us anything we do not already know and Whedon has not already told us elsewhere in his series. Actually I think he suggests the same ideas far better with a lot more sublety in the tv series.
As to whether Caleb is Twilight. God, I hope not. I really do, because, well, it would be
if you will forgive the vernacular, lame. But I felt the same way about the First Evil.
When people were saying online that the mysterious big bad in S7 was the First, I sincerely hoped they were wrong - because again, lame. Caleb and The First are unlike prior villians, unambiguously evil. And somewhat one-note about it. Villians twirling the mustaches, with the heroine tied to the train tracks have more depth. Heck, the Master had more depth. So making Twilight - Caleb, feels redundant to me. Having just rewatched the lacklustre episode Family - I can state that everything Whedon states in this dream sequence, was stated more subletly in Family, and considering Family (S5) was about as subtle as a two-by-four lodged at the brain...that is saying something. Family - if you recall - was about Tara's redneck father, brother, and cousin Beth who threatened to haul her back to Kentucky and make her their house-slave. They called her a demon, because she could do magic, and it was their way of keeping her in line. A disgusting demon. The metaphor also related to lesbianism and herbs, wicca, anything outside of their limited worldview. In case you didn't know that Buffy the Vampire Slayer is a show about the stupidity of paternalism and sexism the writer practically hits you over the head and screams it at you at the top of his lungs in FAMILY.
He does the exact same thing here.
My personal hope regarding Twilight is that he is Hank Summers or someone Buffy trusted and respected. Someone she cares about. Because that would be an interesting twist. But the writer has not laid the ground-work for it to be Xander, Angel or Spike. And I'm willing to bet you it isn't any of them. Partly because I do not believe Whedon would sacrifice any of those characters to get his point across. Nor should he. He'd lose about 85% of his audience if he attempted it. Okay maybe 50%. Xander would require a personality transplant. Angel or Spike? Same deal. At this point, neither would go there. This leaves Andrew, Giles (and how do you explain two places at the same time for these guys?), Hank Summers, (can't be Riley since he's working with Twilight), and Robin Wood (who I can't see her getting that upset about). It can't be Giles (although he would work quite nicely in some respects, but you'd have to explain all the Faith bits). It could still be Harth I suppose, but that would require a lot of explaining.
Regarding Spike and Angel? What to say? Predictable? Very. Whedon more or less has said the same thing regarding the two characters in Chosen, End of Days, Girl in Question, Hole in the World...etc. If you don't believe Spike and Angel have slept together or that Buffy hasn't wondered about it, then you haven't been paying attention. I would not have put it past Spike to have either muttered about it or suggested it to Buffy in some oblique, possibly joking manner, during one of their many sexcapades during Season 6.
I don't mind. Tend to think Angel and Spike make a good couple. I like them better together than with Buffy, to be honest. But I would like a resolution to the Buffy/Spike relationship.
We left it with them declaring their undying love for each other in the crater. Or rather, with Buffy declaring her love for Spike (it may not have been undying, melodramatic yes, undying not so much), and Spike denying it and telling her to git, in order to free them both from the endless and pointless angst she put herself and Angel through before and after she sent Angel to hell. Spike - always the pragmaticist. I'm guessing from the dream sequence that this was all well and good, but it doesn't appear to have worked. Because Buffy appears to feel guilty about moving on without Spike and has lumped him in with her Angel angst after all. Best laid plans and all that... At any rate, Spike has done a better job of moving on than she has, possibly because he isn't still mourning a dead lover/hero who he had to leave to burn at the bottom of a crater? But to be fair, he did go through more or less the same thing when she dove of the tower in S5. It's not clear from the dream if she knows he's alive or not, I'm guessing not. But it can be interpreted either way. Andrew may have told her, and then again he may not have. Whedon for reasons that make absolutely no sense whatsoever from a writing or storytelling perspective seems to be unwilling to clarify. Or perhaps he thinks he has made it clear? Or just isn't interested? My guess is the latter. If it doesn't further the theme of female empowerment in the face of paternalism and sexism, it does not matter to Joss Whedon.
At any rate, the main point of the dream is that Buffy feels guilty and thinks it is wrong that she has power and is doing a traditional male role, and not being the traditional woman. That her power is demonic in nature and that makes her wrong. And she shouldn't have shared any of it. (Not anything we didn't know already.)
This is a theme that dates back to Restless. Actually the whole Twilight arc reminds me of a sequence in Restless - where Buffy runs into Riley. He has been made surgeon general.
His gun lies on the table. Riley is sitting across from the man who was Adam. He tells her that he and Adam are making "coffee makers that think" as a new weapon, and then the alarm goes off and they scramble about. Buffy in her sundress and sandles, states, "wait, I have weapons". She smears the primoridal blood on her face - the primal, the first slayer, the demon inside, the earth, the female power - and Riley turns to her and says, "Okay be that way, Killer!" And then Adam tells her that she's a demon. (Sort of similar to the Twilight/Riley interaction. And the Twilight/Buffy interaction. And the Buffy/Drac interaction. And the Spike/Buffy in Fool for Love interaction.)
The problem I have with some of Joss Whedon's writing is that he repeats himself. A lot. Instead of revealing new things about his characters, he will often reveal the same thing just in different ways, thinking we don't notice. Perhaps some people don't. I do.
At any rate, I did like portions of the three pager. I liked the final frame - because I identified with Buffy, I've had that experience. Exactly like that. And I liked the slashy Spike and Angel. The Caleb bits grated, much as they always have. Caleb was the least subtle, least ambiguous villian that Whedon has ever done. The wedding bit was sort of cool and beautifully rendered, but also a tad heavy-handed. Not my favorite. Shame, because Joan Chen's art deserved better and less redundant material to work with.
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no subject
Date: 2009-07-03 03:16 am (UTC)- Caleb's inclusion was at Chen's request because she wanted to draw him. ;)
- The 3-pager DHP was done to celebrate the end of MDHP's second year, which ironically and unexpectedly happened at the same time that Myspace could no longer house the comic.
- Joss Whedon agreed to write the piece at Allie's request in large part because Chen had already agreed to do the art.
no subject
Date: 2009-07-04 01:17 am (UTC)It does explain a lot. The work did feel rushed and done a bit on demand.
I can sort of understand why Chen wanted to draw Caleb - if you are at all familar with her magna work - Caleb has similar characteristics (not personality wise, physically) to her magna male characters. Magna is actually her preferred format.
Most of her illustrations are for magna or magna related comics. I'm not crazy about her Magna, much prefer her Buffy paintings.
no subject
Date: 2009-07-03 04:09 am (UTC)but many readers of the comics won't find this online, so they'll never see it...
so this dream couldn't be an important plot point,
and personally I just assumed that Joss felt he'd spent a lot of time lately (months and months) discussing other aspects of the story, so he wanted to use this little 3 page piece to reiterate what you remember but many others might have forgotten....
I do hope that Caleb's appearance in Buffy's dream will mean that he is NOT Twilight... I would really like that to be a huge surprise reveal, but maybe it'll be a let down....
anyway I'm not that put off by Buffy's dreams being redundant and/or heavy handed since my dreams are frequently like that...
and I loved the silliness w/the beautiful artwork, it really gave me a lot of pleasure (so much so that I printed it all out so I could enjoy it longer).
no subject
Date: 2009-07-03 09:30 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-07-04 12:58 am (UTC)You may be the only one. I'm on the fence regarding aycheb's points - she raises some good ones. But other than that, I stand by my review.
I did read your review over lunch. I agree with many of your points. The B/A - B/S fight is getting annoying. I gave up on both ships ages ago. It's pretty clear from my rewatch of the tv series (up to S5 at the moment) that Whedon is not going to put B/A or B/S together. Spangel - actually has a chance, they actually appear together in comics, along with sexy banter.
no subject
Date: 2009-07-03 09:47 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-07-04 12:33 am (UTC)I agree - that fandom has been increasingly sexist and patronistic (not that you are saying that, I am) in their analysis of the Buffy character. I do not believe they are aware of their paternalistic worldview - it is, as you state, so insidious - in our society and our culture, that I'm not sure most of us are aware of it. I work in male centric job and can't forget it - it is thrust in my face daily. And a recent article in EW on Megan Fox, reinforced it - she basically stated that of course she was a sex symbol, women were always sex symbols and objects in Hollywood, that' s their purpose and she is proud of it. (Ugh). Fandom, I've noticed incorporates many of these views in their analysis and fanfiction - and it is not just men, most of the people are women.
That said, I'm not certain this comic changed anyone's minds. It feels too didatic in tone to me. Too over-the-top. People did not respond well to Caleb. And with TruBlood (a paternalistic/sexist series if there ever was one, being the hot ticket at the moment) equaled by Twilight (even more so) - I can well understand why Whedon decided to lay it on thick.
But, I'm not sure it was effective. Subletly often works better.
I don't know. I'm on the fence regarding your reply. Part of me agrees with you, part of me remains annoyed at the obviousness of the metaphors.
no subject
Date: 2009-07-04 10:14 am (UTC)The "Buffy's being told this" genuinely was my initial response to the dream but it's not the only meaning, I think we are supposed to see real self-doubt in there too. But I do find it hard to read Caleb as the voice of her self-doubt. On the show he was more the voice that tried so hard to put her down that she came back up again. Part of why he failed as a villain, although Nathan Fillion being no Bob Mitchum also contributed. But I'm probably guilty of the same fault (the pushing too hard not the Bob Mitchum thing).
no subject
Date: 2009-07-04 05:50 pm (UTC)She can't wear her heart on her sleeve so to speak.
That's why she feels so alone, so isolated. So cut off.
Agree - Caleb isn't a good choice. I know why Whedon chose him - to cater to the artist's desire to draw someone who fits her style (Fillion has a similar facial structure and physique to Chen's magna male comic characters). But, he doesn't fit as the voice of her self-doubt. Glory, Faith, or Drusilla would be better choices. Or even Riley - which was the one Whedon chose in Restless. Actually - I think he should have chosen Riley - because he'd have fit with the theme and it would have been more powerful. Because part of the theme is Buffy's lonilness, missing the male companionship of a Spike or Angel. And hating herself a bit for it. The whole - I'm a bride! bit speaks to that a bit. Yet, she's marrying a monster.
Also agree...I think Whedon was going for a Mitchumesque villian with Caleb - out of that old film with the two kids that I can't remember the name of, where the Preacher comes to town and marries the mother, then hunts her children in the bayou.
But Fillion just couldn't quite carry it off - lacking the depth of a Robert Mitchum.
no subject
Date: 2009-07-03 05:15 pm (UTC)It is all about cheese. On the last page of the last issue, Buffy will wake up in The Immortal's bed and say: "Huh. I just had, like, the weirdest dream ever."
Trufax.