Fan Poll on Buffy Issue 36 - now that everyone's read and reviewed the thing

[shadowkat]

Probably shouldn't do this, but I'm curious. Hopefully more than five people will respond. Respond even if you haven't read the things. Did this issue work for you or not? Will you keep reading?

[And I can't edit the poll - I tried - so yes there's a mistake. The blank ticky box is for none of the above.]

[Poll #1617025]

Comments

[2maggie2.livejournal.com]

Pretty much a quibble, but are they 'flaws' if they are by design? I get not being interested in the sort of story that's being told. Not gonna challenge you on that. But if the point has been that the world is skew, it's not a 'flaw' that the story has shown the world as skew. Maybe it was a bad idea to tell a story about a world that's skew, but the skewness has been successfully done.

[beer-good-foamy.livejournal.com]

*shrug* A very loud trumpet played blatantly out of tune is still out of tune even if it's deliberate. Listening to it for four years grates. And I disagree that it's been successfully done if all it makes me want to do is plug my ears.

[2maggie2.livejournal.com]

I hate atonal music. I wouldn't say it's flawed because it's atonal. I just make a point of not listening to it.

[beer-good-foamy.livejournal.com]

Exactly. But if you know that trumpet player can play a lot better, and you have good reason to believe that he hadn't noticed how out of tune it was, and you kept expecting someone to fix the monitor... maybe you'd think it a flaw. But if you get confirmation that he hears himself just fine, you either accept that he's suffering from amusia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amusia) or that it's deliberate, and stop listening.

My point is, I thought a lot of the stuff that grated was either accidental flaws or misleads. But if it's deliberate, and if we're supposed to take it seriously... then there's no going back, there's no fixing what they don't consider broken. I don't care how big a tragedy they make of it if it's based on a premise I find utterly ludicrous. If they'd had Spike listening to Giles' explanation of the sentient universe and then laughing his ass off for five panels straight, I would probably have stuck with it. Instead he starts blabbering about aborted universes with mommy issues, and I'm out. (And I didn't mean to respond to this either. Sorry. Done now.)

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

No reason to be sorry. I was admittedly curious as well.
Although have to say, thought much the same thing. Spike, of all people, giving exposition??? LOL! It's sort of like the conductor suddenly deciding you know what - that trumpet player should play piano, while the piano player goes on a bathroom break, even if the trumpet player never played piano and only knows chopsticks.

[angearia.livejournal.com]

I rather thought that was the point. Spike is a hero now. He's in the know. Where as before he gave insight into personal matters--"Death is your art"--now he has opened his eyes to the world around him. His insight is no longer restricted to just the people he cares for, who he's obsessed with. I think it fits perfectly with his entrance where he's shown being a detective.

Spike has always been chaos, the jester, the rebel, the symbol of free will--but he's more than even that.

It's why Whedon calls him the most evolved character. He's still evolving now.

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

Didn't mean to post that comment. Stupid work computer.

Came up with the explanation before posted it. (ie. Restless - Spike as Watcher, and the groundwork being laid for him providing useful information, often more useful than Giles. Plus he is always find artifacts - very linked to artifacts. So yes that works. But...he's not the sort to drone on for two issues with lengthy monologues of exposition.
Normally Spike's like - blah, blah, blah, get to the point already. Not sure I want Spike to become Giles.)

[rahirah]

I think there's a valid difference of opinion over whether the comic has deliberately portrayed a world askew in the sense you mean it, or whether the plotting and character motivation has simply been sloppy.

[2maggie2.livejournal.com]

Oh, I agree! But BGF started by saying he thought these features were deliberate, which rules out 'simply sloppy'.

[beer-good-foamy.livejournal.com]

Just to clarify, then, since you directly referenced what I said: you can do something deliberately and sloppily. :)

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

Ah yes. James Joyce's over-rated masterpiece Ulysess comes to mind.
As does...Lost's final season for that matter.