Flogging the Dead Horse - the Buffy Comics Issue 34 Poll & A Drabble

[shadowkat]

Yeah, I know everyone is sick of this by now, but indulge me. This is your way of stating your piece without having to write anything and making someone work to figure out what your opinion was. Also to see if you truly are in the minority.

Regarding the ships wars? I came up with a little drabble. Not to be outdone by Harmony, now that she's become super-buffy, Buffy has chosen to go on Harm's reality talk fest to set things right, once and for all.

Harmony: So, Buffy, curious vamps want to know - which vampire is it?? Which one is your one true love? Angel or Spike?

Buffy: Uh, who says I have to pick one? I mean - could you choose? Say it was between Christian Bale and Daniel Craig? And you could have both?

Harm (fans herself): You do have a point. I mean I've had my blondie bear and he's ...(she catches Buffy's glare and coughs), moving on. So, you can't pick between Daniel Craig and Christian Bale?

Buffy: Have you seen them...naked? I mean really? Daniel's all Mr. Bond, the hitman with that devilish snarky smile, and Christian ---that square jaw, those brooding eyes..

Harm: Let's put this another way - you know that game going around online? Who would you marry, shag, and throw off the cliff?

Buffy: Well, first - I don't ever plan on getting married, just so we're straight on that. I mean, really, come on, have you seen how many people I have to take care of? And look at what happened with my Mom? So over the whole marriage thing! And throwing off the cliff? I'd throw Angel - because he's super-human and could survive it, which I guess leaves shagging Spike? But then Angel could join in afterwards.

Harm: Okaaay...if Spike and Angel were cookies and you could have just one, which one would it be?

Buffy: If they were cookies? Did Angel tell you about my cookie dough speech because if he did he is sooo staked, and I'm not -

Harm: Cookie dough speech?

Buffy (blushing): Forget I said anything, you were uh saying?

Harmy: Forgotten. Out of curiousity what cookies would they be?

Buffy: Well Spike's definitely chocolate chip - because hello, chip! Get it! (Harm looks bewildered) Oh never mind. And Angel...a...snickerdoodle.

Harm: So you'd pick Spike.

Buffy: Again why couldn't I have both? I really don't get this whole choosing thing? I mean they are vamps, and they've been with each other and alll...you know, in that special way...

Harm: Ahhh...hem. Let's put this another way - which one do you love the most?

Buffy (thinks hard): I love them both?

Harm: The same way?

Buffy: No different, they are different. Don't be silly. Can't love them exactly the same.
But with same intensity? OOOH Yeah! I mean honestly, why choose? I love them both. There you have it from the proverbial slayer's mouth!

Harm: Well there you have it...straight from the...ahem, slayer's mouth!








[Poll #1551689]

Comments

[local-max.livejournal.com]

Fun drabble! Buffy and Harmony really would have a lot to talk about, re: Spike.

Right now I'd describe myself as ambivalent-positive.

Also, throwing Buffy, Angel or Willow off the cliff wouldn't do very much right now! ;)

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

Fun drabble! Buffy and Harmony really would have a lot to talk about, re: Spike.

Thank you. You were the only one to comment on it. So thank you!

Also, throwing Buffy, Angel or Willow off the cliff wouldn't do very much right now! ;)

True. But it would still be fun, in a completely cathartic sort of way.;-)

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

I had a difficult time on a couple of the Angel questions because I'm firmly on the side of I don't know who in the hell that is in the outfit going by the name of Angel and Twangel, but he bears no resemblance to Angel of AtS... and doesn't bear much resemblance to any character at all. He's basically this cartoonish personality-less plot device who has assumed Angel's name.

I also had a difficult time with whether the comic changed my feelings on things. I had thought the comics were crack since way back at issue 3, so that didn't change. And I've had rather ambivalent feelings about Joss for a while as well.

[rahirah]

My opinion is closer to "Potentially interesting premise, shaky execution." Which is pretty much my opinion of S7, so my opinion of Joss is (alas) unchanged.

[ubi4soft.livejournal.com]

I'm not very fond of Angel, I'm totally displeased by the Buffy/Angel, but #34 it's too much. I cannot even call it hilarious and these two characters didn't deserved this. And I still cannot believe that Whedon selected Jeanty on purpose, because if #34 was the first issue written...did Whedon specifically had these crackfest panels in mind?

[atpo-onm.livejournal.com]

Hope you enjoy today's toon.

:-)

[rebcake.livejournal.com]

Did the Buffy comics ruin Angel as a character?

I've never liked Angel (the character), especially around Buffy or Spike. One he patronizes, the other he bullies. To me. So I can't really be objective about whether the comics ruined him. They sure didn't do him any favors, though.

[flake-sake.livejournal.com]

Hee.

I think S8 messes up on so many levels it's not even funny anymore. At the moment i think I hate it most how it used the multilayered and complex character of Angel as a blunt piece of wood to fire the oven of jumping the shark.

Seeing the actual characters interact would have been interesting, but instead they needed to give them a personality translaplant, so that they can have pointless sex.

[moscow-watcher.livejournal.com]

So far, comics keep me curious. And - deeply confused. I'm not sure I understand the medium. There's a screenwriter's unofficial rule of adapting a book: make a 12-years old read it, ask him to recount the content and use only the elements he remembered. Sometimes I think that comics use the same rule.

[eilowyn.livejournal.com]

I think the comics do a disservice to the show. If they were better executed or plotted, they would make a nice companion piece, but the reality is that they take beloved characters and force them into a new medium at the sacrifice of characterization. I've seen fictions that have a more plausible take on the Scoobies' rebuilding of the Council with the new reality of the slayer army (enigmaticblues's "Latter Days," part of her "Now and Always" series comes to mind) or uses the given framework of the comics world to create an in-character continuation (angearia's "Thought You Should Know"). There were ways to tell this story intelligently and in keeping with the sensibility of the show, but the comics ain't it.

Jumping the shark doesn't even begin to cover it.

It isn't about shipping preferences, either - if they had dealt with the reality that Buffy and Angel really were very different people at the end of both of their respective shows than who they were when they were together, then fine, have your Bangel love conquers all. But as it is, Angel is currently unrecognizable as Twilight (we'll be getting some answers next issue, but I'd like to see them write their way out of the hole they've made), and it takes a lot of delusion to really think Buffy jumping on his glowstick without any explanation other than "things got funky" is in character. I've read so much meta on the comics that I can't recall who said it, but we could have gotten an interesting commentary on Buffy and Angel's differing methods of saving the world - if they had gone in that direction. But they did

[angearia.livejournal.com]

I've read so much meta on the comics that I can't recall who said it, but we could have gotten an interesting commentary on Buffy and Angel's differing methods of saving the world - if they had gone in that direction.

I shared this same opinion on Buffy Forums. That it could've been an epic clash of differing philosophies, Buffy and Angel fighting not only to save the world, but fighting each other on how to save it. Once again, this is where I'm taking my cue and writing my own way. I just hate how epic it could've been if the story had kept Buffy and Angel as themselves. The tension should be from them being themselves, not being glowhypnol'd.

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

I have to agree...this story would have been far more interesting if it had not chosen to regress the characters and focus on sexuality.
I felt the same way about Dawn's arc - which felt to me, from the very beginning, to be a series of male sex jokes. (I collected jokes and ghost stories years ago - and they all had one thing in common, fear of women or a need to diminish or belittle a woman. ) I think Whedon is doing a feminist nightmare - which is depicting all the ways that men can't handle female power, that our society derides and resists female power, and distorts it. Which would work better if Whedon were female, Scott Allie were female, and George Jeanty were female - and not white men with privileges women don't have. It would be like a white person writing story about slavery or how blacks have been abused. It comes off as patronizing, as well as condescending. Also, there's just certain things you cannot understand.

What annoys me about these comics - is they had the power to make a positive statement, to provide a female superhero comic that explored interesting ideas and was uplifting and empowering.
But instead they...well...it's disappointing. And not what I wanted. Which probably means, I should stop reading and move elsewhere. Except I like the fandom interaction. ;-) Heck if it weren't for the fandom interaction, I probably would have given up on it long before now.

Anyhow...speaking of fandom. I want more of your story - "Thought You Should Know" - because at the moment, Spike is stuck in the trunk of a car having a rather snarky and annoyed conversation with Connor - who can't find Buffy's safehouse, because Willow magically hid it, and Buffy and Faith are out in the field with a rocket launcher and looney tunes cartoons on their arms. I want to know what is going to happen next. I'm actually more interested in what's going to happen in your story than in the stupid comic book. Because I can pretty much predict what Whedon is going to do next there...and it ain't pretty, while I've no clue what you are going to do.

[hkath.livejournal.com]

Re: ruining Angel, I picked other because none of the options worked for me. What I like about Angel is his ability to justify totally horrible choices to himself, so along those lines he's perfect, however "love him" and "so hot" have never really applied to the character as far as I'm concerned.

[infinitewhale.livejournal.com]

Heh, too many poll questions had multiple answers! Other than finding it hilariously bad and offensive, 34 wasn't really as big of a tipping point for me as other people. Buffy was ruined long before jumping Angel/Twangel's bones for no good reason. Buffy was OOC from the beginning hiding out in Scotland while lookalikes ran around--Just simply NOT going to happen.

34, I'm still confused if we're supposed to take it seriously. Are these guys really that threatened by a ship they don't even acknowledge that they had to try to one-up it? And are they that arrogant that they actually think that doodles can come even close to TV? I just don't know. If it were old Mutant Enemy, I'd say they were loling about this stuff. These guys? I don't know.

But in the end, no matter if they reset or leave it like this... None of it will be canon.

[kd0206.livejournal.com]

Great poll. I don't think too many of the characters have been in character so who would we throw off a cliff? As for jumping the shark? Joss has even jumped all the penguins.

[embers-log.livejournal.com]

well this is the first poll when you didn't seem to come close to my position/opinion (except for the whole 'Joss is my Master' thing! lol).

I don't love the comics, I don't hate the comics, I don't find them hilarious, but I'm not so indifferent as to be ambivalent.....
I would say that I'm finding them to be mildly entertaining and I'm curious to see where Joss goes with this. I've never been disappointed by him before, and I'm certainly not going assume that I'll be disappointed this time. I feel that he is doing something very odd here, but I'm still thinking there is a reason behind it, so I'm willing to see what that is (and I'm not so easily offended by cartoon sex).

I was ambivalent about his Astonishing X-Men, but I didn't form any real connection to those characters... I loved Fray, so I do think Joss knows how to write comics (if you are willing to wait years for him to actually get it done).

I was going to say that I didn't want to throw ANYONE off the cliff... but then skinned Warren needs to be put down, and I've never been a Riley fan; so you can throw them off with my good will.

[menomegirl.livejournal.com]

I think Power Play/Not Fade Away ruined the character of Angel and the comics have done nothing for him at all.

[next_to_normal]

I think some of those questions needed ticky boxes so I could choose multiple answers, lol.

I am consistently teetering between ambivalence and incredulity when it comes to the comics. Other than issue #34, which I downloaded just to see what everyone was flailing about, I haven't read the comics in quite a while. I'd long since decided they were so cracky that - canon or not - they were pretty easy to mentally write off. So they have no impact whatsoever on my opinion of the show or the characters. It just lowers my opinion of Joss.

But then I keep thinking it can't possibly get crackier, and THEN IT DOES, and I'm kind of left boggling, even though I don't really care what happens anymore.

[ms-scarletibis.livejournal.com]

Comics = official crack!fic
Whedon = Bug shaggin' crazy

And the comics don't bother me simply because...

It ain't my show.

Teh End ;)