So Buffy Issue 34......you so don't want to know.

[shadowkat]

Well, after a difficult and stressful day at work - when I worked late, I made the colossal (okay maybe not colossal, exaggerate much?) mistake of picking up the recent Buffy comic. Comic Book Shop Boy was pleased to see me - it had been months...and I was admittedly feeling the guilt. He had four comics reserved for me. I chose two and said I'd gotten the other two through other means. I thumbed through Issue 34 of Buffy Comics, the most recent issue with the homage to Wonderwoman and Superman on the cover. And my first impression? I so don't want to wast a red cent on this thing. But, alas...I felt guilty. Comic Book Shop Boy had such a big pleasant grin.

Comic Book Shop Boy: Are you still taking the Angel comics or did you give up on those?
Me: I gave up. (Pause) Although... I'm rapidly coming close to giving up on the Buffy ones...as well(Comic Book Shop Boy laughs - he's a heavy set stocky dude with a t-shirt, beard, glasses and comes to my shoulder. I more or less tower over him.)

Me (muttering): I honestly don't know why I'm still reading these things at this point. Seriously I don't.

Impressions? Sigh, do you really want to know? I'd say it jumped the proverbial shark but I know how much you all hate that term. Let's just say the retconned plot (and yes this definitely qualifies as a retcon) gave the Fonze on his jet skis in Cypress Gardens - a run for his money.

On the bright side? I made it home - walked 10 blocks no less on a lovely day, without any, and I mean any pain in my foot! First time in two months. Yay team. (team being my body's healing powers.) Nice to have something good happen this week.



So Buffy fucks Twangel (aka Angel - although I'm going with Twangel, because I used to like Angel and now that he is Twangel - he's an irredeemable asswipe that deserves to die). They become gods. [ETA: Or as gods. Apparently there's a difference?] This opens the porthole that allows all the old ones and minions sealed off centuries ago to pour back into the earth. Causes hurricanes and tornadoes. Much death and destruction. Which the team down below are worrying about, while Faith is getting off on getting her powers back. No one else appears to be, though. Anyhow their epic fuckfest - dooms human beings and makes them obsolete. Since Buffy by sharing her power created a new species and has herself evolved to the next level, along with Angel. They are now super-beings and humans will soon be cannon fodder. Because you know, women being stronger then men...evil.

This apparently was predicted ages ago and the Watcher's greatest fear. Each slayer had the potential, but as long as they could be killed off or didn't give into their lust for vampires, the world was safe. Just let them be the weapon. The universe was waiting for Buffy. She passed the big test. She's turned the tide, upset the balance, and now with Angel who is yin to her yang, they are super-beings in the paradise of their minds, while humanity perishes in their wake.

As they fuck each other senseless and in explicit and graphic detail - seriously Jeanty should take up pornography as a second career, although I think the Spuffy sex in S6 was a bigger turn on, this I found to be laughable and somewhat ludicrious in a way that reminded me a great deal of one too many Magna comics and anime that I'd seen and read back in the 1990s - along with all sorts of cursing and muttering, and grunting. We get the verbal and the visual, folks. Anyhow as they do it - rocketing into space, because they are such the hot little item, can you even handle it??? Oh my god!! (sarcasm here folks and yes, I need a sarcasm icon this we know). We travel through time. We see past, present, and what is about to occur - apparently Spike shows up and helps Buffy with something although all they appear to be doing is looking up in shock and horror - hey maybe they are watching the Twuffy fucking? No wait, that's Dawn and the Scoobies and poor Satsu gasping in horror. Felt rather sorry for Satsu. Well at least they are fully clothed - so we know we don't get the threesome that Whedon threatened, although that may still be a possibility. (I wouldn't be at all surprised at this point if Spike showed up as TWangel's sex slave. I mean anything is possible). At least I think it is Spike and Buffy in that panel, one can never tell with Jeanty - it certainly looks like them. (that's not sarcasm in case you are wondering).

The metaphors? Oh god, I wonder what they could be??? What could possibly be the theme here??? Let me think. Ponders. Oh that's right, it's about power!! [ETC: Or celebritism (is that even a word) or the cult of celebrity. In our twisted society being a celebrity = power.] Buffy tried to give it all up and when that didn't work, she gave into it and became a god, gave into being with Angel, just went wild. Which of course had worse effects on the universe than if she'd merely given it up. And oh, wait, sharing her power - giving it to all those girls was a bad thing because it's supposed to be one girl against a million nasty male vampires who rape and murder them. Unfair you say? That's the balance folks! And the reason Buffy and Angel cause the apocalypse, the reason the universe prevents her from staking him and pushes her towards him, pushes her to give in to the glow - is wait for it, because they are the best of their kind. The worst vampire ever vs. the best slayer ever!!! They are drawn to each other!! She's drawn to her counterpart, her dark other - which of course was always Angel. It's about POWER, get it!! And how we abuse it!!!

Oh and I wonder where this is headed? Where is Whedon going? I'm on the edge of my seat with anticipation! No...wait, I know, Buffy has to seal off the demons and herself into the hell dimension as fortold by the Fray comics. They will use Dawn's energy to seal the porthole. Willow will get the backlash - driving her insane and making her immortal. Leaving poor old Angel to mope in the Buffyverse and see the results of his idiocy and why he won't be redeemed. While Xander mopes. And Faith and Spike get married and live happily ever after. (okay probably not that last part, that's also sarcasm). Personally, I'd rather see Angel sealed off in the hell dimension...but I know it's the opposite.

Sigh. I don't know about anyone else - but this plotline is making the all Penguine fanfic actually seem plausible by comparison, not to mention oddly preferable. Someone should write a penguine parody of the comic, no wait, why do a parody when the story has literally already become a parody of itself? I mean why waste time? Be sort of redundant. Remind me not to buy any books by Brad Meltzer, methinks I probably wouldn't enjoy them all that much. Since his plot arc on Buffy is giving Happy Days a run for it's money on jump the shark episodes...if he was older, I'd wonder if it was the same guy who wrote those episodes. Maybe they are related somehow? Or, wait, maybe Whedon is? Stranger things... Honestly, folks, I found this unreadable- which is saying quite a bit for me. I tend to be fairly tolerant of outlandish plots and retcons, I've watched daytime soap operas - they jump the shark on a daily basis and read X-men comics, which ahem, also does it. But this.. I scanned it quickly, got the gist, then rapidly put it away. May end up throwing the thing in the trash with the rest of my magazines. Only bought the stupid thing out of guilt.

Ugh. Bored. I think I'll go read my Rachel Morgan novel and watch In Plain Sight - time for a bit of enjoyment, don't you think?

Comments

[flake-sake.livejournal.com]

I just meant to link you to beer_Good_foamy too. Read it, it's the crackfic that makes the whole thing bearable.

It was completely beyond any samblance of sanity. It was alien sex pollen squared. And don't get me started about the porn, it was about the most anti-sexy thing I've ever seen. Like having Asterix and Obelix have sex. I think you can argue the general quality of Jeanty's artork but it's not made for porn. Really not.

I can't call him Angel either, he has no resemblance with the character anyway.

Have to say, I ended up highly entertained in the end, but that was mainly because it was all so laughable and the internet was so funny.

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

It was completely beyond any samblance of sanity. It was alien sex pollen squared. And don't get me started about the porn, it was about the most anti-sexy thing I've ever seen. Like having Asterix and Obelix have sex. I think you can argue the general quality of Jeanty's artork but it's not made for porn. Really not.

Sigh yes, my eyes, my eyes. I found it impossible to read. And I've seen real porn. Actually, to be fair to Jeanty - real porn is sort of unsexy and ugly. It's not like erotica.

It's telling that Spuffy sex in S6 - with the two actors fully clothed in Smashed, was hotter than this. I mean - they were fully clothed. No nudity. Here they are nude. Also telling that the flashbacks in Innocence - of the Buffy/Angel sex scene - where we only see flashes of skin - was hotter than this.

It is the difference - I think - between porn and erotica.

Hee. Asterix and Obleix. LOL! (Yes, my first comic books were Asterix in French and in France no less, when I was 16.)

Have you read many Magna? The sex scene reminded me a bit of Monkey Punch's Lupin III books and a lot of Japanese Magna - it's also a bit, well ugly and gross.

Have to say...definitely glad Spike is not Twilight. Although not sure if that would have been worse. About the same I expect.

[flake-sake.livejournal.com]

I found it impossible to read. And I've seen real porn. Actually, to be fair to Jeanty - real porn is sort of unsexy and ugly. It's not like erotica.

I don't really make that distinction, I call it pretty much all porn, but I get where you're coming from. The typical porn produced for the male viewer,yes it's hideous and about as sexy as filming up someone's nose as a (male)friend of mine put it once.

But there is imho actually erotic porn too. I gave an example in my review of the issue, Milo Manara, who sure as hell draws for a male audience too (and fully explicit porn too), but he just manages to capture enough of what makes sex sex, for me to find it erotic to look at too.

To me it's also the combination of prudishness and pornyness that's so disturbing. If they really wanted to show sex as some primal force of nature they should have shown it natural (you know with nipples an stuff) or not at all. And I absolutely agree with you on smashed and innocence, both scenes were a world of more sexy without being nearly as explicit.

Have you read many Magna? The sex scene reminded me a bit of Monkey Punch's Lupin III books and a lot of Japanese Magna - it's also a bit, well ugly and gross.


I've read tons of Manga and I've even seen a few Hentai movies.I don't recall the sex in Lupin III but I agree your typical shonen style sucks for sexscenes, just like Jeanty does.

The real anime/manga porn is so ridiculous it's fun to watch. Nothing beats the alien sex tentacle plant that feeds on the juices of school girls.

But there are a lot of anime erotica (to use your term for good porn) or sex scenes in main stream shows that I do find hot. The sex scenes in Evangelion were all pretty steamy, but non explicit.
Also Zetsuai (shonen ai)worked quite well for me when I was 15.

a lot of it depends on gender for me. Stuff aimed at and made by women usually works way better for me than male ganze porn (though there are exceptions like Manara). And that is what this issue was - 0815 porn with fences in front of it.

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

Thank you, your response helped me clarify my own thoughts on a few things, including the reason why I found this comic book to be offensive in a manner that I never quite found the Japanese Magna or anime to be...

Hee. I think there is a distinction though between erotica and porn, which needs to be explored here. It's sort of similiar to pulp and literature, yet not quite. The difference is between being "fucked" or "screwed" and being made love to. Porn tends to be exploitive in nature, often demeaning, and in most cases objectifying. It makes you feel uncomfortable, gross, and demeans the human body. It's all about the fucking. Erotica is meant to titillate. It usually does the opposite - it celebrates the human body, it celebrates sex as a beautiful thing, wonderful, exciting thing...and the human spirit.. not something that is ugly and we need to turn away from or in the case of porn, that is funny or silly or embarrassing or forbidden.

I realized again this morning, when I attempted to pick up the comics again and then reading your response above - why this comic offended me. It's not that there was sex in it or that Buffy and Angel were having sex. That would have been fine. It's..well it is the same reason I found the Batsu sex in Wolves at the Gate offensive, and the scene with nurse Buffy between Angel and Spike, sort of offensive, and the scene of Spike and Angel kissing in Always Darkest offensive... It underlines our society's or rather the portion of our society that controls the media - problem with sexuality, sexual expression, and the human body. In particular female sexuality and female fantasy. Note that the comics had no problems showing people get killed. There are no nice little censored bits hiding the blood and gore. We see in the pages of this comic - in graphic detail - male vampires chomping on and killing slayers. That is drawn in detail - even down to the buttons on the lapels and the blood dripping from the mouths. But sex? Making love? Something that is not "rape"? It's made fun of. Demeaned. Jeanty demeaned the act of making love in these comics. Treated it like it was little more than screwing, fucking. Meltzer demeaned female sexuality.

I found the depiction of the sex scene and the dialogue/explanation concerning it demeaning. Apparently showing kick ass fight scenes where people are brutally killed - is okay and cool and hot. Just as it is okay to show a man attempting to rape a woman in detail or implying it. But showing a scene where two people are making love is something to make fun of, to hide, to giggle at as if you were caught with your hand in the cookie jar. It's amongst the many reasons I find the Stephanie Meyer Twilight Series unreadable.

I don't understand this. I will never understand this.

Whedon whines about torture porn and how women are treated, yet he contributes to it, when he is given the opportunity - the power to write a story about a strong woman, he demeans her sexuality for his own personal gratification. It's disappointing. Not surprising.
But disappointing.

[flake-sake.livejournal.com]

Oh, yes, I think you perfectly expressed the difference between this prudish, profoundly gynophobic porn that is so common and artwork that actually celebrates sexuality.

It seems to me that it is this game of tittilation with the lure of the forbidden. Where suddenly things are forbidden that are perfectly fine. Where it becomes a part of sexuality to use the woman, not to treat her as an equal partner. To perceive female sexuality as something scary that must be desempowered and possesed instead of enjoyed.

I'll never get it either. And it really does create a hostile oversexed environment for women in many ways.

It also has to do with the artificial disconnect between sex and emotion that this kind of porn always evokes.

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

It seems to me that it is this game of tittilation with the lure of the forbidden. Where suddenly things are forbidden that are perfectly fine. Where it becomes a part of sexuality to use the woman, not to treat her as an equal partner. To perceive female sexuality as something scary that must be desempowered and possesed instead of enjoyed.

Yes, I saw the same thing.

What's amusing and disturbing is a lot of fans, including the writers, actually thought this subverted superhero comics version of the sex scene - but it doesn't. It reinforces it. They haven't read enough comic books - their knowledge is limited to mainstream comics. They think they are being daring and innovative - but well it is sort of like Columbus patting himself on the back for discovering a new world, when other people got there ages before he did. He was hardly the first.

Anyone who has read magna, seen anime, or read comics outside of the traditional mainstream superhero genre - knows that Buffy is well,
status quo. And in some respects far more misogynistic in tone than the very books the story wishes to comment on.

It also has to do with the artificial disconnect between sex and emotion that this kind of porn always evokes.

Yes. When I see porn, I'm bored or repulsed.. Erotica - which ties into emotion, turns me on.