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shadowkatAs I write this review first in my head then on the page, it occurs to me that I can't win. I'm going to piss someone off, most likely royally. My flist, those who actually are still into the comics or are reading them in some format or other, is split down the middle. Writing a review on this issue is a bit like when I wrote about Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and Sarah Palin during the infamous 2008 American Election (lost a few friends over that one, here's hoping I learned from my mistakes). Actually as you may have gathered from reading the discussion threads - writing a review of issue 40 is a bit like writing a review of the NY Yankees and posting it to the NY Daily News and the Boston Globe right before the Yankees meet the Red Sox in the World Series. Like I said? You're going to piss off someone.
As for those of you who aren't reading the comics and could care less? Eh. Don't worry, this is most likely my last review on the topic, and my last post on Buffy for that matter. (Although I'm not making any promises - this journal is called spontaneous musings for a reason.) We'll be back to our regularly scheduled programming shortly.
At the comic book store - I did ask, out of curiousity, how well the Buffy comics were doing. According to St. Marks Comics in Brooklyn Heights - pretty damn well. It has a devoted following. They were shocked when I said people in the midwest were having difficulty finding them and that subscriptions had dropped. From their perspective - Buffy's always sold incredibly well. Make of that what you will.
Okay, a couple of gentle reminders: I'm not flocking, filtering or screening this post or the comments. And yes, I'll be making fun of the comic book in much the same way that I make fun of all of the comic books that I read. No, I did not like it that much - so this is not a positive review. There's a lot about this comic that bothers me. And I'll be unpacking some of that in the review. Like all my reviews - it's not edited or betaed. There will be errors and I reserve the right to edit at a later point.
So...if you decide in your ultimate wisdom to risk commenting on this post, please refrain from insulting me or anyone else who comments on it. I don't care if you think we are talking out of our butt or have insane troll logic. Respect our opinions - even if it is the polar opposite of yours and seems to have come from the planet Mars or maybe Neptune. I know how some of you guys love to argue, but let's keep it civil. It's not like this is commentary on a major political election or the World Series, it's just a somewhat cheeky review of a comic book.. Note - if you continue to ignore this caveat after I've warned you, I may delete your ass. Okay? Thank you.
Buffy Issue 40 - Last Gleaming Part 5 - Coda or Answering the Wrong Questions (What Happens When a Writer Loses His Muse)
1) Detailed Comic Review - or I read Buffy so you don't have to.
"The Trouble with Changing the World is..." - The theme of this series and this issue appears to be that you can't really change the world that much. Whedon apparently feels depressed about his attempts to write strong powerful female characters and that it hasn't really empowered women or changed things. I'm not sure what planet he's living on but it's not the same one I am. I see changes. Major ones. But we shall get to that. This is a line by line critique.
We enter a book/coffee cafe in San Francisco, where there's a sunny girl with blond hair, a cute uniform, and a name tag (oh look it's Penny! Oh sorry, that 's the Big Bang Theory (a situation comedy taking place in San Francisco- in an alternate universe, Buffy and Penny would most likely be buds). And if you look closely she is wearing a name tag, just in case we can't figure out that it's not Penny. My bad.)
Buffy voice-over (which apparently only pops up in Whedon scripted issues, although I could be wrong about that.) "I know. This looks bad, right? I'm back to waitressing." [Actually, it looks like a severe lack of imagination on the writer's part. Let me think...what would be a logical occupation for a slayer who has killer fighting skills to do? And is in top physical shape? And spent the last four years training people on how to fight supernatural creatures? Hmmm. Oh, I got it? How about a P.E. teacher? Or an aerobics instructor? Or a kung-fu/black belt teacher? Or Self-Defense trainer? Or a security guard? Or a body guard? Or a circus performer? And by the way they make more money than a waitress at a coffee shop.(well maybe not the circus performer). Another bit - this, waitressing, is a typically "female" occupation in Hollywood films, stories, etc. All the occupations and roles in this comic are "traditional female ones" bordering on cliche. Buffy == of course is a waitress at a coffee shop with a cute hair-do with big guys commenting on how she handles those big trays (I've seen waitresses handle more than that, but that comment is always made). Also the coffee shop doesn't appear to have male waiters - highly unrealistic considering it's a coffee shop catering to a decidedly male gay clientel. Dawn is (as far as I can tell) unemployed and letting Xander "take care of" her. We aren't told what she's studying. The girls are all "clutzs" or described as "clumsy". The weapon is a stake. And the only one with an army is a man. ]
"Plus side, I'm not clinically depressed (well one wouldn't blame you if you were, personally I'm guessing you should have a bit of PTD (post-traumatic stress disorder) going on...which would be interesting actually, but that's just because I'm obsessed with it at the moment) "or wearing a hat with a chicken on it" (that's only because burger king and KFC protested - true story, they did, they told UPN that Whedon had to change that bit, everything else was fine), "so this would be my best service-industry job to date "(possibly the lowest paying, since I can't imagine coffee shops pay more than Denny's. But I may be wrong about that. Why isn't this girl tending bar - great place to spot and kill vampires. Plus much higher tips. And she could sleep during the day. Whedon - a coffee shop waitress? Can you be any more cliche? No offense to the people on my flist who do this for a living.)"Lotta cute guys too." (With incredibly short arms, big heads, and big hands...and hardly any shoulders, sorry perspective bugs me). "Cute guys who are into other cute guys" (well if you like big head and tiny bodies - Jeanty's eye for perspective is bit off here.), "but it's still nice after living in girltown all that time." (yes Buffy has traded Lesibian town for Homosexual town. And apparently prefers male company, because of course male company is better than female company! I can see her point, but it grates after all the other bits.)
Just in case we don't get the hint, the Scottish slayer with the hat and peasant skirt trips Buffy. (Okay maybe it's not the Scottish slayer, but it looks like her. Wasn't she killed in the big fight? Guess not.) And Buffy being super-coordinated manages to catch the tray with her foot not spilling anything. (They are not paying this girl enough. She can serve coffee and do headstands at the same time.)
"Lotta clumsy people in San Franscico. All of them girls." [Apparently Buffy's slayer army is still pissed at her. Can't think why. Oh, wait they are about to tell me. Also note - yet another comment about girls in the derogatory sense. That's the fourth in the space of less than two pages.]
Is it just me or are we spending a lot of time talking about things that I already know the answers to or have already been addressed multiple times in multiple different ways? Just me then.
Just in case we can't figure out why Willow dumped Kennedy, we get a conversation about it.
At any rate...if you've seen Wrecked, you know the conversation already. It's more or less the same one.
Now we get Buffy's nightmare - which is basically Twangel killing Giles and Giles dying again. Then Twangel, sorry Angel now, looking really confused about the whole thing. As if he wasn't present during any of it. Still unclear on what Angel was mentally present for and therefore culpable and what he wasn't. Can a character be culpable for constantly being manipulated into killing people and destroying the world? I think they lock those people up in insane asylums for life? Oh well, it does have a nice corollary to her nightmares regarding Angel in the S3 BTVS epiode Anne I suppose. (actually this whole issue feels very similar to that episode.)
Dawn pokes Buffy awake. Okay here's the big Dawn/Buffy bonding conversation. Which again doesn't really tell you anything you don't know.
First of all, let's clarify something that's been annoying me in regards to every recap I've read to date - Buffy is NOT crashing on Dawn's couch - she's crashing on Xander's (or if you prefer XANDER and Dawn's couch - since they are ahem, living together). Xander has decided to support Dawn, who has gone back to school. Xander has a job. Buffy has a job. Please note - Dawn does not to our knowledge hold a job. If anything he implies she does not have one, because she's in school, not even one working at a coffee shop or bookstore. Dawn has never had a job. Dawn has never worked, well outside of a very brief gig with Anya, but that was to pay off the amount she stole from Anya. In short Dawn basically sponges off others while she goes to college, which would be justifiable if Dawn were a) from a rich family, b) had a father who was supporting her (who according to everything we've been told is most definitely not), c) did not have an older sister who has no money, has struggled to make ends meet, spends most of her time fighting demons and vampires and possibly is suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, and had to drop out of college to pay for Dawn. Does Dawn get a job? No. I mean you can - that actually is who works in coffee shops - kids going to college to pay their way (not highly effective method of paying one's way but they usually have people like Xander supporting them while they are doing this, so it doesn't matter). So, to say Buffy is crashing on Dawn's couch is not true. Dawn didn't pay for the couch and is not married to Xander (as far as I know). Also, it should be noted that Buffy is actually working and has a job. Two. By day she makes money which I'm guessing contributes to Dawn's tuition(?) (unless Dawn lucked out and is going tuition free at some public university - is that still possible? I think they tried to overrule that a while back which resulted in a huge protest?) and rent (can't imagine it pays for much) and food (probably just that), and by night she kills vampires which keeps Dawn and Xander safe.
Xander clearly has another high profile construction job. And promptly leaves for it. We get very little of Xander in this issue, except for the fact that he has convinced Dawn to move in with him, they are definitely a couple, and he is working construction. My hero. Now my difficulty with Dawn and Xander is the same difficulty I had with Cordelia and Connor. Or for that matter Buffy hooking up with Giles. But I'm also incredibly amused by the fact Whedon did it - particularly since I'm willing to bet that Noxon and Fury would have been squicked by it, as would Nicholas Brendan and they would have talked him out of it - had thDis been on tv. (Nick Brendan actually said as much in his blog - stating quite clearly in response to Xander/Dawn - Ewww.) How do I know this? Because they were squicked by Dawn/Spike in Bargaining and Buffy/Giles ships. They say so in the commentary.
Now to be clear: It's not the age difference that bugged them or me for that matter. It's how Whedon chose to build this relationship - which is built as a paternal/big brother mentoring a little sister/adopted daughter that he is helping raise. Note - when Joyce Summers dies, and Buffy is tasked with taking care of Dawn, Xander increasingly takes on a paternal role - notably in S7 - where he pep talks Dawn, and listens to her, and guides her as Giles did for Buffy. The dialogue exchanges are similar. In the comics - this becomes even more clear - with both Buffy's initial dream sequence, where she thanks Xander for being her paternal help for Dawn, and in later issues. Xander's relationship with Dawn is a bit too similar to Gile's with Faith. Hmm, maybe Giles slept with Faith. Would certainly fit the pattern.
The other problem with Dawn/Xander - is Xander is the big cheese. He's older, wiser, and stronger than Dawn. Unlike his relationship with Renee - where they were actually equals or even Cordelia and Anya. Dawn is dependent on Xander - on his money and his physical strength. Yet they are the most stable relationship. And a point is made in the conversation that follows that Dawn has abandoned the fight for her schooling - so she's not even assisting, not that she ever really was. She was constantly being saved in the comics. (And people say Whedon isn't a feminist. I really have no idea why anyone would say that.)
Finally...this is a very cliche and predictable. But the Dawn/Xander relationship has been cliche and predictable from the start. It does not pose any interesting questions or change anything. It's not subversive in the least. Unless you think an older guy dating and setting up house with a girl that is the kid-sister of his best friend and he helped raise is subversive? No, Buffy shacking up with Connor would be subversive. But this tale dates back to Gidget and well half a dozen other 1950s and 1960s tv shows. Hardly new turf. Actually, the X-Men did more or less the same story a while back. Oh...I always saw her as my kid-sister or my friend's sister...now she's all grown up and I'm in love! (Personally? I liked Dorothy Dunnett's take the best in the Chronicles of Lymond with Lymond and Phillipa- it was built well and the most convincing.) Also, it's a common theme in the series - Buffy hooks up with older men never men her own age, and Dawn hooks up with older men. *cough*Daddyissues*cough*.
Now Dawn asks if Buffy misses the War. What a dumb question. Wait, she clarifies - she means being a leader.
We go see General Voll (I'm guessing this is still Voll. He looks more or less the same, no new cast changes.)Voll doesn't seem all that happy with what happened. Depressed more like. Apparently being put out to pasture doesn't sit well with him. So he dejectedly pushes a button on the elevator to leave the military compound - only to be shot by Simone the Rogue Slayer (who I almost forgot about). How Simone managed to infiltrate the compound, no idea. Or how she got out without anyone noticing.
We jump to Giles funeral - which I'm guessing is a flashback, we aren't exactly told one way or another.
Giles leaves everything but the Vampyr book that we saw in Season 1 to Faith. This includes the money, the flat, the farm and the horses. (So what - Giles is wealthy? If this is the case - why in the hell was Buffy working at the Doublemeat Palace or at all? Why wasn't Giles paying her a living stipend so she could focus her time on slaying? Some watcher. This guy has tons of money, is being paid by the council (Buffy even made sure he got back-pay in S5) and I'm guessing a good portion of that dough came from the council - and Buffy's doing menial labor to afford to live? The best he can do is write her a check for bad plumbing? Also, what exactly is he getting paid to do exactly? Research? Somewhat ineffectively by the way.)
Next up is a conversation with Spike. They've neatly juxtaposed the Spike/Faith(Angel) tale.
Spike knocks on Buffy's window, and she opens it. I only know this is Spike - for the dialogue, the blond hair and the blue eyes, otherwise I'd think it was Andrew. Yes, Jeanty is drawing Spike like Andrew now.
That actually read "shippy" to me. Although oddly out of character for Spike. It felt off somehow. Probably just me. Lots of monologues and speechifying in this thing. And about stuff we already know. Yes, yes, it's Buffy's fault. Yes, yes, Buffy feels guilty. Yes, yes, Buffy must pay.
Buffy voice over again - Alone, every night. I guess I got used to having an army around me, and now I'm ... (actually she had the same complaint in the first issue of this series and at that point it was more interesting and far less depressing). Dawn at this point decides to disgust Buffy and me by making noises of having sex with Xander.
Buffy: Thinking about getting my own place, like really soon. (Has got to be awkward listening to Xander and Dawn get it on...considering. But on the other hand, they had to watch Buffy shag Angel to outter-space and back, after almost being killed by the Dude. (Twangel not well the Dude from The Big Lebowoski, although I can see how one might get confused.) So Dawn's certainly entitled. Just wish it didn't have to gross me out. This is odd. The only sexual relationship in this series that worked for me was Satsu and Buffy. (Note:I'm not counting Willow and Kennedy - since we rarely see them together). Dawn it turns out is just doing it to tease Buffy into going out on patrol - would serve Dawn right if Buffy didn't come back and got killed. But, hey, at least it was a tease, and we didn't actually have to see Jeanty's artistic rendering of it. (Yes, there is a god, dear readers.)
Buffy voice-over: If I didn't know Dawnie, better, I'd swear she was doing that on purpose. (You clearly don't know her. Sadistic creature your sister.) Don't mind getting out though - the night air, the city beneath me...this feels right. (ah, maybe not so sadistic - getting Buffy out is a good thing.) Feels like home. (Until she gets attacked by a bunch of slayers who aren't calling themselves slayers because they justifiably hate her for well shagging the guy who tortured and killed their sisters, almost destroyed the world - no, wait, that's not the reason they hate her. That would actually make logical sense. Who am I kidding. This is the whedonverse. No, they hate her for saving the world and destroying the seed of all magic, because it did what exactly? Stop slayers like themselves from being called? Or stop the Wiccans from practicing magic? Not quite clear on this.)
And we get another speech. "You betrayed us..." (But we are saved having to hear it, I'm guessing Whedon got tired?) Instead Buffy gives us her version.
Buffy: I betrayed the cause. I cut off the line of slayers. (--long sidebard about them not calling themselves slayers anymore. Don't want to be associated with me.---) I destroyed the wiccan community, tainted the earth, let all my friends down...Jesus..do they think I don't already know? (Okay, destroying the seed did all that? So women are no longer empowered. They don't get power?) Buffy refuses to fight them, they insist, Buffy easily beats them. (See - she should be teaching kick-boxing not serving coffee.) She tells them if they don't leave her alone, she will fight them. (Pointing out that kicking their ass just then, wasn't really fighting them. Sigh. This is so old hat.) So that sucked. And as bad as it feels to take out my own girls...I know there's more coming -- and not just cause Spike's playing cub reporter. I know because that's how betrayal works. (Actually it would have happened anyway. This is a horror story that appears to be endless.)
And we see the potential villains for season 9 - Willow looking at Aliwuyn Saga Vasku, who Buffy robbed her of. Tinkerbell the fairy who is flying up from the grating (not sure what her beef is - maybe the end of all magic is the end of her kind?). Simone - who has killed Voll and some fat guy and is now gunning for Buffy (but wasn't she always).
"Sometimes I'm not even sure which part was the betrayal. Everyone's got their own version. I'm pretty sure it was boinking Twilight, but still (you'd be right on that score, that's what I think too. Although why you boinked Twilight still doesn't quite play for me. But then I never quite bought the whole Xander/Dawn/Buffy triangle either - and you sort of have to, in order to buy into the whole boinking Twilight. )There's a picture of some bleeding guy with glasses who looks like a demented John Lennon as played by John Barrowman. Maybe he's the Immortal? Maybe the whole Twilight bit killed Buffy's double in Italy and he's seeking revenge? (No wait, that was a fanfic I read. I doubt Whedon will go there. )
She fights a vampire.
"The trouble with changing the world is...you don't. Not all at once. You just inch it forward, a bit at a time and watch it slip back like the greek guy with the rock (apparently Whedon can't spell Sisyphus either. And I thought that was the theme of Angel? And Firefly? Way to borrow from yourself). And you hope that when you're done, you've moved it up a little changed it just enough you hope. Let's go to work."
So ends S8. Buffy's back to square one. Men rule, women...fight in the shadows, hiding their strength. (I got that from the Good Wife, which actually handles this particular theme in a far better manner, far more realistically, and with more shades of gray. This rendering is a tad black and white for my taste.)
This story feels a bit too familiar. I've seen and read it before. It's status quo. People dislike change. They prefer S1-3 and want those seasons repeated ad naseum. Change is uncomfortable and painful. They fight against it. And whine incessantly about it. Particularly Hollywood, and the male power structure that sits behind it.
This is a reminder of how short-sighted the Hollywood power structure is and men who write comic books with their male pals, while their wives stroke their colossal egos. About a year or so ago, an amazing thing happened. Cathernne M. Valente beat Joss Whedon for Best Web Series - for her YA novel, The Girl Who Circumnavigated Her Way Through Fairyland with a Ship of Her Own Making. Whedon was up for the typical guy piece entitled Doctor Horrible's Sing-a-Long Blog. What was wonderful about this is Valente - a fan of Whedon, who got her start writing fanfic, has managed slowly over time to build a nitch for herself in fantasy and sci-fi. Most recently she did an online comic of one of her fantasy stories, Deathless. Another success story - Felicia Day - wrote a best-selling web-series entitled The Guild and did a comic off of it. Shondra Rhimes, a Whedon fan, wrote and directed and ran an emmy-winning tv series about female surgeons on network tv - which has been on for Seven years and is critically acclaimed in its seventh season and will most likely outlast the series Whedon did, which inspired her. Last year, a woman won the Oscar for Best Director for an War Film, The Hurt Locker. And soon, a woman will write the script for the Buffy reboot, which with any luck will be directed by a female director.
The thing is? The world is changing Mr. Whedon. More and more women are writing comic books, tv shows, and films. Julie Plec is executive producer and co-show-runner on Vampire Diaries. Nikita - a show about several strong women is doing rather well. JK Rowlings wrote the best-selling Harry Potter series and Stephanie Meyer did Twilight - the other Twilight.
Hillary Clinton ran for President. And almost got the Democratic ticket. She is now, Secretary of State - the second woman Secretary of State.
I work as a Contract Administrator for a Railroad - which back in the day was a field only available to men.
Is the US sexist? Yes. But it's getting better. So much better. Comics are still fairly sexist and this one is no exception, but there are comics out there that aren't. Gail Simone. Elena Casagrande.
Rebecca Issaks. The author of Persepolis. To name a few. Janet Evanovich is writing them now as well. Women are breaking into the boys club. Mariah Hueher is another one. And Felicia Day.
So, actually, the world does change a lot and sometimes all at once (look at the iphone and the internet - which is by the way freeing up the concourse for brainy women). And it does happen gradually too (We have a black president - something I did not think I'd see in my lifetime). And you do empower others. (In ways you don't even understand.) Books like the Buffy comics really aren't realistic depictions of what is happening, they are just one writer's narrow and somewhat limited perspective from the ivory tower of Hollywood. A skewed magic mirror of celebrities and party cheese.
2. Review of S8 generally speaking and Whedon's letter to fans
I read Whedon's letter to his fans...which made me roar with laughter. In it he thanks Scott Allie for being, get this, the reason why there are editors and.. the best season show-runner ever - keeping track of the big picture and the minutia. (Hmmm... Apparently the main role of an editor, according to Whedon, is to write the story while the writer is unavailable and tell the writer how great he is. And take all the heat on fan-forums, while the writer is applauded. ). Reading Whedon's letter makes me realize that Whedon doesn't see the flaws in his work. That there were far too many writers involved (too many even for him to count or thank apparently), and that Brad Meltzer was a master of structure (couldn't tell from the comics, but hey he might have been if he knew what was happening between his arc and Long Journey Home). There are so many things wrong here..
*Whedon had his editor write the culminate arc of his story, and only took time out to write the coda
*Whedon did not think it necessary to inform the other writers, outside of Brad Meltzer, who the villain was or what the main story was.
*Whedon did not think it necessary to clue Brad Meltzer who wrote the climax and big reveal what happened prior and what was going to be written between the intro and that reveal or how he was going to wrap it up.
Those are just off the top of my head.
I entitle this review answering the wrong questions or what happens when the writer loses his muse.
This whole story or Season 8 if you prefer feels very derivative to me. The questions the writer poses and answers aren't questions that haven't already been answered over and over again. The plot makes little logical sense - so the coda in some respects feels off, like it's been pulled from another tale. The characters seem to go in circles. And do not grow. (Well outside of maybe Faith - who was never front and center, and we only got five issues on anyhow). No real change happens in this story..except maybe the Xander/Dawn relationship - which was so last year anyhow. The writer does what he's always done which is take his characters from high point to low point to high point to low point, but without any clear evolution. It's hard for me to care what happens to these people. They don't appear to do anything "new" or different. The writer isn't taking any real risks with either his verse or his characters, instead he just puts in a bunch of special effects. In some respects this story reminds me of AVATAR - lots of hype, little substance, although to be frank - AVATAR had more substance. Which is saying something.
Does Buffy realize her mistakes? Do we learn why she did what she did? Do we learn why Angel did what he did? Do we know what happened to the other slayers? To OZ? Or Why Spike is still in a dirigible with insects, why he's in one to begin with? Do we care? The questions regarding Spike and Angel may actually be answered by Lynch and Mariah. But not by Whedon.
I have to make dinner. I've spent too much time on this already. More than I planned. And it is long enough. Also I'm not sure who if anyone will bother with it. Was it a waste of time? Did I even add anything new to the party?
I hear there's a season 9? For those who want it? I wish you well, you deserve happiness. This reviewer won't be along for the ride. Because the writer appears to have nothing new to show or tell me. It's as simple as that. But I'll be reading your reviews should you choose to post them to see if that remains the case.
As for those of you who aren't reading the comics and could care less? Eh. Don't worry, this is most likely my last review on the topic, and my last post on Buffy for that matter. (Although I'm not making any promises - this journal is called spontaneous musings for a reason.) We'll be back to our regularly scheduled programming shortly.
At the comic book store - I did ask, out of curiousity, how well the Buffy comics were doing. According to St. Marks Comics in Brooklyn Heights - pretty damn well. It has a devoted following. They were shocked when I said people in the midwest were having difficulty finding them and that subscriptions had dropped. From their perspective - Buffy's always sold incredibly well. Make of that what you will.
Okay, a couple of gentle reminders: I'm not flocking, filtering or screening this post or the comments. And yes, I'll be making fun of the comic book in much the same way that I make fun of all of the comic books that I read. No, I did not like it that much - so this is not a positive review. There's a lot about this comic that bothers me. And I'll be unpacking some of that in the review. Like all my reviews - it's not edited or betaed. There will be errors and I reserve the right to edit at a later point.
So...if you decide in your ultimate wisdom to risk commenting on this post, please refrain from insulting me or anyone else who comments on it. I don't care if you think we are talking out of our butt or have insane troll logic. Respect our opinions - even if it is the polar opposite of yours and seems to have come from the planet Mars or maybe Neptune. I know how some of you guys love to argue, but let's keep it civil. It's not like this is commentary on a major political election or the World Series, it's just a somewhat cheeky review of a comic book.. Note - if you continue to ignore this caveat after I've warned you, I may delete your ass. Okay? Thank you.
Buffy Issue 40 - Last Gleaming Part 5 - Coda or Answering the Wrong Questions (What Happens When a Writer Loses His Muse)
1) Detailed Comic Review - or I read Buffy so you don't have to.
"The Trouble with Changing the World is..." - The theme of this series and this issue appears to be that you can't really change the world that much. Whedon apparently feels depressed about his attempts to write strong powerful female characters and that it hasn't really empowered women or changed things. I'm not sure what planet he's living on but it's not the same one I am. I see changes. Major ones. But we shall get to that. This is a line by line critique.
We enter a book/coffee cafe in San Francisco, where there's a sunny girl with blond hair, a cute uniform, and a name tag (oh look it's Penny! Oh sorry, that 's the Big Bang Theory (a situation comedy taking place in San Francisco- in an alternate universe, Buffy and Penny would most likely be buds). And if you look closely she is wearing a name tag, just in case we can't figure out that it's not Penny. My bad.)
Buffy voice-over (which apparently only pops up in Whedon scripted issues, although I could be wrong about that.) "I know. This looks bad, right? I'm back to waitressing." [Actually, it looks like a severe lack of imagination on the writer's part. Let me think...what would be a logical occupation for a slayer who has killer fighting skills to do? And is in top physical shape? And spent the last four years training people on how to fight supernatural creatures? Hmmm. Oh, I got it? How about a P.E. teacher? Or an aerobics instructor? Or a kung-fu/black belt teacher? Or Self-Defense trainer? Or a security guard? Or a body guard? Or a circus performer? And by the way they make more money than a waitress at a coffee shop.(well maybe not the circus performer). Another bit - this, waitressing, is a typically "female" occupation in Hollywood films, stories, etc. All the occupations and roles in this comic are "traditional female ones" bordering on cliche. Buffy == of course is a waitress at a coffee shop with a cute hair-do with big guys commenting on how she handles those big trays (I've seen waitresses handle more than that, but that comment is always made). Also the coffee shop doesn't appear to have male waiters - highly unrealistic considering it's a coffee shop catering to a decidedly male gay clientel. Dawn is (as far as I can tell) unemployed and letting Xander "take care of" her. We aren't told what she's studying. The girls are all "clutzs" or described as "clumsy". The weapon is a stake. And the only one with an army is a man. ]
"Plus side, I'm not clinically depressed (well one wouldn't blame you if you were, personally I'm guessing you should have a bit of PTD (post-traumatic stress disorder) going on...which would be interesting actually, but that's just because I'm obsessed with it at the moment) "or wearing a hat with a chicken on it" (that's only because burger king and KFC protested - true story, they did, they told UPN that Whedon had to change that bit, everything else was fine), "so this would be my best service-industry job to date "(possibly the lowest paying, since I can't imagine coffee shops pay more than Denny's. But I may be wrong about that. Why isn't this girl tending bar - great place to spot and kill vampires. Plus much higher tips. And she could sleep during the day. Whedon - a coffee shop waitress? Can you be any more cliche? No offense to the people on my flist who do this for a living.)"Lotta cute guys too." (With incredibly short arms, big heads, and big hands...and hardly any shoulders, sorry perspective bugs me). "Cute guys who are into other cute guys" (well if you like big head and tiny bodies - Jeanty's eye for perspective is bit off here.), "but it's still nice after living in girltown all that time." (yes Buffy has traded Lesibian town for Homosexual town. And apparently prefers male company, because of course male company is better than female company! I can see her point, but it grates after all the other bits.)
Big head Bearded guy to Buffy : You got that okay.
Buffy: You're gonna ask me that every time, aren't you.
Big head Bearded guy who looks like Whedon: Well it's big and you're little. [Some day I need to meet Joss Whedon just so I can deliver that same line to him while I'm looking down at him. Whedon from photos is about 5'4 if that. I'm 6 ft. **Note: Whedon feels the need to have someone say this to Buffy in just about every episode. Wood said it in Lessons. Jenny said it in Prophecy Girl.]
Buffy: In four months have I ever spilled a drink? [Yes, Buffy is that rarity amongs women and definitely not a clutz and has killer coordination due to her slayer superpowers - we get it. What boggles the mind is why you can't come up with a better job for her than a cliche that is in every tv series from here to the UK. And they say, too much tv warps the brain.]
Just in case we don't get the hint, the Scottish slayer with the hat and peasant skirt trips Buffy. (Okay maybe it's not the Scottish slayer, but it looks like her. Wasn't she killed in the big fight? Guess not.) And Buffy being super-coordinated manages to catch the tray with her foot not spilling anything. (They are not paying this girl enough. She can serve coffee and do headstands at the same time.)
"Lotta clumsy people in San Franscico. All of them girls." [Apparently Buffy's slayer army is still pissed at her. Can't think why. Oh, wait they are about to tell me. Also note - yet another comment about girls in the derogatory sense. That's the fourth in the space of less than two pages.]
Kennedy: What did you expect? (I don't know - that you and Willow would live happily ever after, with you fighting and Willow going back to school and becoming an awesome computer wiz.) You sucked all the magic out of the world. (except the magic that gives Buffy and Kennedy superstrength and enables vampires to keep on trucking...but hey, let's not be picky. The writer merely simplified his universe so that he could match it up with the much more dystopic Frayverse. Besides super-powered witches are passe.)
Buffy: I didn't have a choice...(To be honest that plot was so confusing, that I'm not entirely sure what your choices were..)
Kennedy: Willow could have beaten them back. You weren't up there. You didn't see. (Apparently Kennedy does know what they those choices were...although if I remember correctly Willow wasn't doing such a swell job beating back the vagina demons (for want of a better word) or was she creating vagina demons to beat back vagina demons? (the jury is still out on that one) I could be wrong about that - the beating them back not the vagina demons. Seemed to me - all she was doing was making things worse - so much so, that Xander (and Giles) were ready to destroy the seed himself. Hey, if Xander (or Giles for that matter) destroyed the seed - would that have made everyone mad at Xander (or Giles) and all men?)
Buffy: No I was underground, watching Giles die. (Actually watching Twangel, who you decided was your one true love (silly girl) kill Giles. But hey, same diff.)
Kennedy: You want the whole history lesson? The one where that's your fault too? Where you superliterally fucked (I'm sorry but I'm not going to use weird symbols for a word that is clearly fucked and do the British versions of the comic get the actual word fucked? Are there different versions of this comic? OR is it the same? I'm guessing the same?)
Buffy: Okay, all my fault, let's enjoy that reality but Willow needs you now. More than ever. She's lost her powers. How can you just leave.
Kennedy: Missed it again, genius. Willow dumped me. (Yeah, Willow's playing with a full deck.)
Is it just me or are we spending a lot of time talking about things that I already know the answers to or have already been addressed multiple times in multiple different ways? Just me then.
Just in case we can't figure out why Willow dumped Kennedy, we get a conversation about it.
Willow: It was coming. She couldn't see it. And she'd never admit it if she did, but...Kennedy liked being with a superhero. (No, Willow, it's you who thinks you need to be a superhero for anyone to want to be with you. Xander and OZ did a real number on you back in high school - neither got intrigued until you got all witchy. And it did not help that Tara was much the same way - Tara fell for you when you were magical. Poor Kennedy. But, unfortunately all of this turf has already been tread upon - you'd think Willow would have figured it out. But no. I'm highly tempted to go to Buffyscripts or whatever it's called and pull up Willow's dialogue with Buffy in Wrecked, but instead of doing that - I'll just refer you to my old meta on the topic, because honestly I don't feel like rehashing the same discussion all over again. So go here: 1)http://shadowkat67.livejournal.com/444538.html#cutid1 and 2)http://shadowkat67.livejournal.com/446994.html#cutid1 and here http://shadowkat67.livejournal.com/443565.html#cutid1 and finally here:http://shadowkat67.livejournal.com/438475.html#cutid1.)
At any rate...if you've seen Wrecked, you know the conversation already. It's more or less the same one.
Willow: But she (Kennedy) still got the fighty. All the slayers that were called before you destroyed the seed are still slayers. (At least that answers one question - which was bugging me. Do the slayers that Buffy empowered still have their power? Yep.) There's no army. (wait, no army? No...no army of slayers because they can't forgive Buffy for cutting off the line or because they can't forgive her for shagging the guy who was hunting them down and torturing and murdering them? I'm guessing the latter? In which case, can't say I blame them. Anyhow there's still a "male" army with guns and submarines...) And no new slayers being called. (Well, that's proven wrong in the Frayverse when Fray gets called...so just for now. Which you know, not exactly a bad thing. It's not like you don't have quite a few already. Nor do you exactly know what to do with the ones you've got.) No magic. (So apparently magic isn't what is keeping Angel and Spike kicking, and all those other vamps rampaging about, or Buffy super-powered. Good to know. Care to share what is? Oh, wait, Willow's talking about her magic or the earth magic that she could access...got it.)
Buffy: Kind of went off on a tangent there...kind of the same one every time we talk. (Nice to know I'm not the only one experiencing deja-vue here.)
Willow: Kennedy likes power. (Actually Willow you like power. That's what attracted you to Tara, Kennedy, and to Buffy in the first place. They had power, which you wanted.) And not the power to program computers. (which you really shouldn't disdain...considering...look at Zuckerberg (the guy who invented Facebook).)
Buffy: That's a pretty neat power (oh look Buffy agrees with me), though. Make good money...computers are becoming quite popular with the young people nowadays (Isn't Buffy 25? I'm never quite sure in these things. They are as bad bloody soaps - the writers can't do basic arithmetic. These characters stay 25 forever. I have no idea how old any of them are supposed to be. Technically - Buffy turned 30 this week, but...I can't tell if that's true in the comics.)
Willow: You made everything different Buffy. (No, that was a group of crazy writers - Buffy just did whatever they told her to do, even if she thought it was insane troll logic at the time. Sort of like in S7 - "Scythe? There's a Scythe now? And it's always been lying around the Sunnydale vineyard, with an old woman sitting about in tomb in the Sunnydale cemetary who knew where it was...where were you Ms. Guardian - when Glory was attacking me?" and now - "Seed"? There's a Seed in the Hellmouth? Which the Master was supposed to be guarding, which was why he came here and got stuck? And we didn't know about this because..?" I mean it's not like Buffy had much guidance here - the writer threw mcGuffins at her from left field and told her to deal, without, mind you explaining what they were supposed to do. Which wait - wasn't Willow's original and main purpose to help with the research? Bad Willow.).
Buffy:Wasn't that the idea? (Buffy like me isn't sure what Willow's talking about here. There's less vampires, no external demons, no Twilight, no end of the world...and they aren't being hunted. Plus still lots of slayers.)
Willow: Not this time. Not this way. (Okaaay...) I know you need me to tell you it's not your fault, it's gonna be okay. I know you thought you had to do it. (Not exactly like she was being given any other options here. Protect the seed - watch the universes clash, give the seed to Twilight, watch her universe crumble and live in new one with her honey, destroy the seed, watch new universe go by-by, and live in old one. ) But the world is less. It doesn't even know it yet. But it's lost its heart. (Except up until issue 35 no one knew, including I suspect the writer, that this heart even existed? If it was sooo important why is it just coming up now? Bloody convenient if you ask me. Yeah, I know, applying logic to Whedon is a scarey thing.)
Buffy: Is that worse than being destroyed? ( Remember who you are talking to here, Buff.)
Willow: Not yet. Eventually, I think it will be. (I don't know...how was it exactly better with magic and exactly what magic is gone? This has not been clarified people. (Well unless you count interviews with Scott Allie and George Jeanty - which, uhm, no. I shouldn't be expected to track down their interviews in order to figure out the factual plot points in a comic book written by Whedon.))
Buffy: You've given up magic before. (Actually, no. She pretended to. Or have you forgotten? And it only lasted five or six episodes...I think. Would have to go back and check. This was the big mislead of S6 - where the writers attempt to fool the audience into thinking that Willow won't go crazy with magic and it's just a crack addiction. Ah.. the good old days.)
Willow (in case you have forgotten): This isn't an addiction. (Could have fooled me). Don't even pretend I'm still that little girl. (Then stop sounding like her. Willow - you even have some of the same dialogue.).
Buffy: And don't take my mista--my actions out on Kennedy! or Yourself. Come on. I'm rooting for Kennedy here! That deserves special consideration. (Considering Buffy hates Kennedy, I'd agree. Oddly Kennedy has grown on me. She has spunk. And no, not that kind of spunk - get your head out of the gutter please. Thank you. Moving on.) And possibly a plaque. (Not to be confused with plague. Easy to do trust me. And that may be going a tad far...(regarding plaque not plague although I guess it works for both)..not sure you deserve either, Buffster, Kennedy's not that bad. )
Willow: You...You're never not you, are you? (And who is she supposed to be Wills? The Queen of Sheba? I mean come on...how long have you known her? I guess that statement's supposed to mean that Buffy's self-absorbed bitca? Or it means that she's telling Willow what to do based on how she feels about it? ) The fact is...there's someone else. (Gee, I wonder who.) I didn't realize it - or I kidded myself -- for a long time but now (see told you Willow had a thing for power, it's not Kennedy. I mean who is more appealing to you - all powerful snake lady or super-powered slayer? The metaphor by the way is not exactly...how to put this...pro-female. Willow has the hots for a trickster, a negative female mother goddess with a snake tale (used often to connote male genitalia), and the subconscious or female anima - snake eating own tale. While Kennedy, a feminine lesbian with the ability to throw a guy against a wall, and has physical stamina is dumped. And this is all bracketed with the you know you just can't change the world...and they say Whedon's not a feminist.)
Buffy: Uhhh (now to give Buffy credit - Willow is touching Buffy's face in a rather gentle and somewhat suggestive fashion, as she states this...and how in the hell is Buffy supposed to know Willow has the hots for a snake goddess - outside of that brief bit in Anywhere But Here - I vaguely remember it and that's only because I looked at the pages recently.)
Willow: It's not you. Dumb-ass. It's someone I'll never see again. (Sigh. A moment to feel sorry for Willow and Saga Vasku (the snake goddess with the big tits and phallic tale)'s doomed romance.)
Now we get Buffy's nightmare - which is basically Twangel killing Giles and Giles dying again. Then Twangel, sorry Angel now, looking really confused about the whole thing. As if he wasn't present during any of it. Still unclear on what Angel was mentally present for and therefore culpable and what he wasn't. Can a character be culpable for constantly being manipulated into killing people and destroying the world? I think they lock those people up in insane asylums for life? Oh well, it does have a nice corollary to her nightmares regarding Angel in the S3 BTVS epiode Anne I suppose. (actually this whole issue feels very similar to that episode.)
Dawn pokes Buffy awake. Okay here's the big Dawn/Buffy bonding conversation. Which again doesn't really tell you anything you don't know.
First of all, let's clarify something that's been annoying me in regards to every recap I've read to date - Buffy is NOT crashing on Dawn's couch - she's crashing on Xander's (or if you prefer XANDER and Dawn's couch - since they are ahem, living together). Xander has decided to support Dawn, who has gone back to school. Xander has a job. Buffy has a job. Please note - Dawn does not to our knowledge hold a job. If anything he implies she does not have one, because she's in school, not even one working at a coffee shop or bookstore. Dawn has never had a job. Dawn has never worked, well outside of a very brief gig with Anya, but that was to pay off the amount she stole from Anya. In short Dawn basically sponges off others while she goes to college, which would be justifiable if Dawn were a) from a rich family, b) had a father who was supporting her (who according to everything we've been told is most definitely not), c) did not have an older sister who has no money, has struggled to make ends meet, spends most of her time fighting demons and vampires and possibly is suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, and had to drop out of college to pay for Dawn. Does Dawn get a job? No. I mean you can - that actually is who works in coffee shops - kids going to college to pay their way (not highly effective method of paying one's way but they usually have people like Xander supporting them while they are doing this, so it doesn't matter). So, to say Buffy is crashing on Dawn's couch is not true. Dawn didn't pay for the couch and is not married to Xander (as far as I know). Also, it should be noted that Buffy is actually working and has a job. Two. By day she makes money which I'm guessing contributes to Dawn's tuition(?) (unless Dawn lucked out and is going tuition free at some public university - is that still possible? I think they tried to overrule that a while back which resulted in a huge protest?) and rent (can't imagine it pays for much) and food (probably just that), and by night she kills vampires which keeps Dawn and Xander safe.
Xander clearly has another high profile construction job. And promptly leaves for it. We get very little of Xander in this issue, except for the fact that he has convinced Dawn to move in with him, they are definitely a couple, and he is working construction. My hero. Now my difficulty with Dawn and Xander is the same difficulty I had with Cordelia and Connor. Or for that matter Buffy hooking up with Giles. But I'm also incredibly amused by the fact Whedon did it - particularly since I'm willing to bet that Noxon and Fury would have been squicked by it, as would Nicholas Brendan and they would have talked him out of it - had thDis been on tv. (Nick Brendan actually said as much in his blog - stating quite clearly in response to Xander/Dawn - Ewww.) How do I know this? Because they were squicked by Dawn/Spike in Bargaining and Buffy/Giles ships. They say so in the commentary.
Now to be clear: It's not the age difference that bugged them or me for that matter. It's how Whedon chose to build this relationship - which is built as a paternal/big brother mentoring a little sister/adopted daughter that he is helping raise. Note - when Joyce Summers dies, and Buffy is tasked with taking care of Dawn, Xander increasingly takes on a paternal role - notably in S7 - where he pep talks Dawn, and listens to her, and guides her as Giles did for Buffy. The dialogue exchanges are similar. In the comics - this becomes even more clear - with both Buffy's initial dream sequence, where she thanks Xander for being her paternal help for Dawn, and in later issues. Xander's relationship with Dawn is a bit too similar to Gile's with Faith. Hmm, maybe Giles slept with Faith. Would certainly fit the pattern.
The other problem with Dawn/Xander - is Xander is the big cheese. He's older, wiser, and stronger than Dawn. Unlike his relationship with Renee - where they were actually equals or even Cordelia and Anya. Dawn is dependent on Xander - on his money and his physical strength. Yet they are the most stable relationship. And a point is made in the conversation that follows that Dawn has abandoned the fight for her schooling - so she's not even assisting, not that she ever really was. She was constantly being saved in the comics. (And people say Whedon isn't a feminist. I really have no idea why anyone would say that.)
Finally...this is a very cliche and predictable. But the Dawn/Xander relationship has been cliche and predictable from the start. It does not pose any interesting questions or change anything. It's not subversive in the least. Unless you think an older guy dating and setting up house with a girl that is the kid-sister of his best friend and he helped raise is subversive? No, Buffy shacking up with Connor would be subversive. But this tale dates back to Gidget and well half a dozen other 1950s and 1960s tv shows. Hardly new turf. Actually, the X-Men did more or less the same story a while back. Oh...I always saw her as my kid-sister or my friend's sister...now she's all grown up and I'm in love! (Personally? I liked Dorothy Dunnett's take the best in the Chronicles of Lymond with Lymond and Phillipa- it was built well and the most convincing.) Also, it's a common theme in the series - Buffy hooks up with older men never men her own age, and Dawn hooks up with older men. *cough*Daddyissues*cough*.
Dawn: Nightmare?
Buffy: What else?
Dawn: Is this the one where Angel and Spike get it Awwn?
Buffy: Worse. Like True. (Yeah, I'd have to agree - issues 34- 40 have been worse than Always Darkest Before the Dawn...wish we'd known that at the time. There's something to be said for waiting until the entire series has been published before buying it.)
Dawn: It's every morning, you know...you're like an alarm clock.
Buffy: I'm sorry. I will get a place real soon.
Dawn: No, it's good. (should be, considering Buffy didn't kick you out of her castle even though you were a Giant pain in her arse. And make you work for a living.) We don't have an alarm clock. (hee - funniest line of the entire comic. That's a great comeback line.)
Dawn: And I like having you around. (obviously, or you wouldn't have stayed in that castle.)
Buffy: Me too. Even if you have abandoned the fight for your "schooling" whatever that is..(Huh? Okay, Buff, just because you chose to be a college drop-out and Willow dropped out of college, doesn't mean Dawn should - unless of course you are paying her way...then I completely see where you are coming from. This begs the question - did Dawn get a scholarship? Inquiring minds want to know. Or is her tuition free because she's a California resident and going to a state school?)
Dawn: Please everybody knows I was the Scrappy-Doo of that gange. (still are in my opinion. And yes, that about sums it up. Although I admittedly liked you in S5 -7. S8 was when you began to get on my nerves.)
Buffy: No! You weren't -- Giant you was pretty Damn handy. (How exactly? Oh right in Tokyo. Is it just me or does anyone else think that Whedon would kill to do a remake of Land of the Giants?)
Whatever happened to mecha-you? (this is Whedon talking not Buffy. Buffy wasn't into Giant Dawn, Whedon was into Giant Dawn. Buffy saw Giant Dawn as a pain.)
Dawn: Besides no more fight. (eh, you wish.)
Buffy: No more gang. (deja-vue big time. They said the same thing at the end of S6, actually this feels a lot like the S6 ending, Lesson's beginning.)
Buffy: Still plenty of vampires though. (fancy that). And vampire wannabees (can they still become vampires? That question has never been truly answered. Yes or no? And please provide "Textual" backup. I don't want speculation (ETA: this includes whatever Allie or Jeanty state in some interview on the internet). I can do speculation on my own. Or interpretation for that matter.)
Thought that craze would pass.
Dawn: Are you kidding? Have you watched tv lately? Or a movie? Or a greeting card? (Kinda busy, working, fighting vamps, trying not to have nightmares - not everyone has had your cushy life, pet.)
Buffy: At least Harmony's show got canceled. (Yay! No more killing slayers on reality tv. Still doesn't answer my question though.)
Dawn: She's doing Dancing with the Stars. (Apparently Harmony is the Bristol Palin of the Buffyverse, who knew?)
Buffy: Balls. (so Buffy actually does use Giles and Spike's curse words?)
Now Dawn asks if Buffy misses the War. What a dumb question. Wait, she clarifies - she means being a leader.
Dawn: Not the war part. Being a leader. I mean with an army. You got to be what you were born to be. A leader. Without them. You're back to being bossy. (Actually I never thought of Buffy as all that bossy. Dawn yes. Buffy no. Dawn also is incredibly whiny - and Buffy keeps telling her to get over it and take care of herself. Which isn't exactly bossy. Sorry the whole sister vibe is lost on me. I was raised with a younger brother - brother's don't whine, they are stoic and kick you for whining.)
Buffy: I don't know. No. That was nightmare. It's just...everybody else woke up. Forgot the nightmare. So I'm back to living it alone. (I don't know, you were going on about how alone you were in issue one of this series way back in 2007. There's just no pleasing you. Although I get it. I don't understand Xander though - he's so wishy-washy. He joins the big fight when they are in a castle, he has cool outfits, cool equipment, and it's fun. But when there's no money and it's just Buffy alone in the dark with vampires - he's back to pretending it's not a fight for him anymore. Same deal with Willow - if it's cool - she's there, if it's not, she's out. I noticed this dichotomy in S6 vs. S7 and S5. In S7 they are all - oh we have to fight with Buffy. In S6 - when Buffy actually needs them, no, no, we don't want to help, we have our own more interesting lives to lead. Gee, with friends like these who needs enemies. Although that is actually quite realistic. Depressing, ain't it?)
Dawn: Not alone. (She sits down next to her sister and hugs her.) Not till Xander and I get sick of you. (Actually I don't think you or Xander have the right to kick Buffy to the curb, considering all the crap she's done for you with little payback. I mean - Castle, Destroying the Seed, paying your way...hello. Sure there was the whole Twangel shagfest, but as far as I can tell that didn't hurt you that much.) Then you're on the street. Bossy-pants. (Personally, if I were Buffy, I'd hitch a ride to Rome and become a personal body-guard, maybe even look up the Immortal who is supposed to be frolicking with the other me, but that's just me.)
We go see General Voll (I'm guessing this is still Voll. He looks more or less the same, no new cast changes.)Voll doesn't seem all that happy with what happened. Depressed more like. Apparently being put out to pasture doesn't sit well with him. So he dejectedly pushes a button on the elevator to leave the military compound - only to be shot by Simone the Rogue Slayer (who I almost forgot about). How Simone managed to infiltrate the compound, no idea. Or how she got out without anyone noticing.
We jump to Giles funeral - which I'm guessing is a flashback, we aren't exactly told one way or another.
Giles leaves everything but the Vampyr book that we saw in Season 1 to Faith. This includes the money, the flat, the farm and the horses. (So what - Giles is wealthy? If this is the case - why in the hell was Buffy working at the Doublemeat Palace or at all? Why wasn't Giles paying her a living stipend so she could focus her time on slaying? Some watcher. This guy has tons of money, is being paid by the council (Buffy even made sure he got back-pay in S5) and I'm guessing a good portion of that dough came from the council - and Buffy's doing menial labor to afford to live? The best he can do is write her a check for bad plumbing? Also, what exactly is he getting paid to do exactly? Research? Somewhat ineffectively by the way.)
Buffy: I didn't come to contest the will Faith...
Faith: But you gotta be asking everyone else is...Xander practically stared a hate-beam through me and that's just with the one eye. So, straight up - I don't have the answer. (That's good, because I do. This one is obvious. Faith got the money because at the time Giles wrote up the will - Buffy was living in a Castle, had special funding (apparently Giles didn't know about the bank robbery? ) and didn't need his help - except with the research. Granted way back in S6 - he should have helped a bit more and in particular in S5, but hey, that was then, this is now.)
Faith: I got a theory is all. He thinks you're stronger than I am. (No, that makes no sense. I'm not sure where you got that from.) I'm not blowing smoke. Pretty much means he thought I was a puss which irritates the hell out of me, but..(why would he think you're a puss? Because you didn't want to kill Gigi? ) Hah! Got it! He must have figured I needed more help. So I get the money, the flat, the farm, the horses...
Buffy: You get horses? (poor Buffy, she always wanted a pony. You'd think Faith could let her have one, for old times sake.)
Faith: And you get this one crappy item. You know what that says? It says you're the slayer...
(Sigh, the cheesy book from Season One.)
Faith: You're the only slayer. You always were.
Buffy: Then I really did fail. (not exactly, you empowered people. You just made the mistake of shagging Twangel is all. No idea why you did that...)
Faith: I don't wanna watch you blubber, B. Your "everybody into the pool" empowerment trick brought down the First, but it also put a lot of girls through the meat grinder. (Actually it didn't. They would have gone through that anyhow. It's how they chose to handle the power, much as it was how Faith chose to handle it. That's on them not Buffy. People need to own their mistakes in life not blame others. ) I spent a lot of time trying to put some of them back together. (When exactly? Gigi?
How'd that go for you? See - this happened off stage and it was interesting. It had interesting questions - such as how we own our actions, how we handle power, and what power means on an individual basis. It's not like they couldn't have explored it - as opposed to that weird issue where Giles and Faith fight a monster being feed slayers by a bunch of Watchers in Victorian Germany or the Pgymallion four issue arc where they set Faith up to charm Gigi in Victorian England which was actually now, but in the Whedonverse - Europe stays in Victorian times while America is all 21st century.) Guess that training should come in handy now.
Buffy: Faith are you sure you can handle...
Faith: I'm sure of dick, except that I'm the only one willing to handle. You can't look at him. Everyone else wants his head on a pike..me..I'm all about forgiveness. [And we get a picture of a battered Twangel, sorry Angel now, in a catatonic state in Giles' house, make that Faith's.] (Yeah, yeah, I get it Faith, if first you don't succeed in redeeming Angel, try try again. Well, that is until Angel stakes someone you desperately love...and we'll see. Sorry. I'm all about the staking. Let's back up a bit...Angel's not human. He's a 245 and counting year old vampire. ie. HE's already dead. Who to my knowledge has attempted to end the world at least five times, albeit a few of those were either by accident or inadvertent, but still. Forgiving Angel is a bit like forgiving Hitler or Charles Manson, there comes a time in which we all just have to let go and do what needs to be done. The guy isn't human. He's lived past his time. He really can't contribute anything. And he keeps trying to kill everybody. Why is he still alive? And if you're keeping him alive, why bother slaying the other vamps? Shouldn't we just have a redemption camp for all vampires? I get that we shouldn't apply logic but - the guy has killed more people than Hitler.)
Next up is a conversation with Spike. They've neatly juxtaposed the Spike/Faith(Angel) tale.
Spike knocks on Buffy's window, and she opens it. I only know this is Spike - for the dialogue, the blond hair and the blue eyes, otherwise I'd think it was Andrew. Yes, Jeanty is drawing Spike like Andrew now.
Spike: Oi. (Remind never to complain about fanfic writers using dialect and slang again.)
Buffy: Are you parked on the roof again? (apparently this is a recurring thing?)
Spike: If you'd invite me in, I wouldn't have to crawl about, would I? (considering he invited her and her gang into his ship.)
Buffy: Not my house, blondie bear. (so it's a house? Xander apparently has money stashed somewhere. Or is making big bucks on that construction gig. San Fran ain't cheap.)
Spike: I've Begged you not to call me that. Reminds me of that moron who -- among other things -- has completely ruined Dancing with the Stars this Season. (Apparently Spike is not a fan of Harmony, any more than I am.)
Buffy:Did you come here for any reason at all?
Spike: Rumblings pet. While you're gadding about serving cappuccinos, I'm keeping my ear to the ground. (actually cappuccino's are passe, it's lattes now or frappoccinos). Somebody's coming for you. (aren't they always. This gal never gets a break.)
Buffy: Who? (does it matter. I'm sure you have a list somewhere of all the people you've pissed off. Spike and you could compare notes.)
Spike: I haven't actually got that yet. (Spike has apparently taken over the role of Giles in the Buffyverse. He not only provides confusing exposition but also is the provider of cryptic warnings. Wait, was that Giles or Angel on the latter?)
Buffy: Wow. Thank God you've got my back. (And now Whedon's using the same dialogue he used in Welcome to the Hellmouth and most of Buffy's interactions with Angel. Apparently it was Angel who provided the cryptic warnings. Got to love the symmetry and the repetition. Nice and comforting that.)
Spike: Well, who else does right now? (Good point.)
Buffy: Don't worry about me. Giles left me this super-useful book. (yep, same dialogue, except it was Giles has this super-useful book. Which come to think of it, was never very useful. It seemed to be lacking key things like Scythe's, Guardians, Key's, and Seed's - but hey, at least it told her how to kill vampires.)
Spike: Look I know everybody thinks you're a useless bint that ruined everything right now...
Buffy: why did we ever break up? (You were together? I thought that was just meaningless sexcapades. Or are we talking about that weird pseudo/not relationship during S7? Need some help here. This reminds me of the throw-away line in S7 - "why does everyone still think I'm in love with Spike?" In which the audience responded - with a collective - Huh? )
Spike: But I know the truth. You were faced with decisions no one has to make. Attacked. Controlled. By forces no one comprehends (including the writer) And you pulled your people through. (well except for the 200 slayers killed, possibly OZ, Bay, their kid, and Giles...but hey whose counting.) So honestly? Fuck anybody who thinks they could've done better. (I wrote fucked. Whedon wrote f#%&. Just so we're clear.) The world was on Fire. (That's an understatement). The world always is on fucking fire and you're always right in the thick of it and the only difference this time is that people actually noticed. (Spike certainly likes to make long speeches...wait he's not done.) So they judge. And they carp, and debate. But put the scythe in their hands and they'd shake like a trifle on a train. (Now he's done...apparently he's also taken on Xander's role of giving long cheerleading speeches. Hmmm, guess we don't need Xander any more either. I don't know about anyone else? But I preferred evil Spike's speeches, they were funnier and shorter.)
Buffy: I broke the scythe.
Spike: Yeah, I didn't really get what that thing was. (Neither did I to be honest. But according to the last issue - it apparently is the only thing that can destroy the seed of magic and empower the slayer line. Oh and it can make mincemeat of Turok-Han otherwise known as Noodles the Vampire. That's about all I got.) The point is...
Buffy finally breaks down in tears: Got it.
Spike: What's wrong with you? (Is it just me or was he more empathetic when he was soulless and evil?)
Buffy: Nothing! Good talk! Come again!
Spike: You're weird. (Well, yeah, she shagged the bad guy and almost destroyed the world.)
Buffy falls in the window. Apparently Spike brings out the clutz in Buffy, good to know.
Spike: I live in a dirigible run by insects. (Sigh, apparently the end of magic didn't change that.) And you're still particularly weird.
Buffy: Got it! You're still not invited in. Bye Now! (She desperately wants to get rid of him for some reason.)
That actually read "shippy" to me. Although oddly out of character for Spike. It felt off somehow. Probably just me. Lots of monologues and speechifying in this thing. And about stuff we already know. Yes, yes, it's Buffy's fault. Yes, yes, Buffy feels guilty. Yes, yes, Buffy must pay.
Buffy voice over again - Alone, every night. I guess I got used to having an army around me, and now I'm ... (actually she had the same complaint in the first issue of this series and at that point it was more interesting and far less depressing). Dawn at this point decides to disgust Buffy and me by making noises of having sex with Xander.
Buffy: Thinking about getting my own place, like really soon. (Has got to be awkward listening to Xander and Dawn get it on...considering. But on the other hand, they had to watch Buffy shag Angel to outter-space and back, after almost being killed by the Dude. (Twangel not well the Dude from The Big Lebowoski, although I can see how one might get confused.) So Dawn's certainly entitled. Just wish it didn't have to gross me out. This is odd. The only sexual relationship in this series that worked for me was Satsu and Buffy. (Note:I'm not counting Willow and Kennedy - since we rarely see them together). Dawn it turns out is just doing it to tease Buffy into going out on patrol - would serve Dawn right if Buffy didn't come back and got killed. But, hey, at least it was a tease, and we didn't actually have to see Jeanty's artistic rendering of it. (Yes, there is a god, dear readers.)
Buffy voice-over: If I didn't know Dawnie, better, I'd swear she was doing that on purpose. (You clearly don't know her. Sadistic creature your sister.) Don't mind getting out though - the night air, the city beneath me...this feels right. (ah, maybe not so sadistic - getting Buffy out is a good thing.) Feels like home. (Until she gets attacked by a bunch of slayers who aren't calling themselves slayers because they justifiably hate her for well shagging the guy who tortured and killed their sisters, almost destroyed the world - no, wait, that's not the reason they hate her. That would actually make logical sense. Who am I kidding. This is the whedonverse. No, they hate her for saving the world and destroying the seed of all magic, because it did what exactly? Stop slayers like themselves from being called? Or stop the Wiccans from practicing magic? Not quite clear on this.)
And we get another speech. "You betrayed us..." (But we are saved having to hear it, I'm guessing Whedon got tired?) Instead Buffy gives us her version.
Buffy: I betrayed the cause. I cut off the line of slayers. (--long sidebard about them not calling themselves slayers anymore. Don't want to be associated with me.---) I destroyed the wiccan community, tainted the earth, let all my friends down...Jesus..do they think I don't already know? (Okay, destroying the seed did all that? So women are no longer empowered. They don't get power?) Buffy refuses to fight them, they insist, Buffy easily beats them. (See - she should be teaching kick-boxing not serving coffee.) She tells them if they don't leave her alone, she will fight them. (Pointing out that kicking their ass just then, wasn't really fighting them. Sigh. This is so old hat.) So that sucked. And as bad as it feels to take out my own girls...I know there's more coming -- and not just cause Spike's playing cub reporter. I know because that's how betrayal works. (Actually it would have happened anyway. This is a horror story that appears to be endless.)
And we see the potential villains for season 9 - Willow looking at Aliwuyn Saga Vasku, who Buffy robbed her of. Tinkerbell the fairy who is flying up from the grating (not sure what her beef is - maybe the end of all magic is the end of her kind?). Simone - who has killed Voll and some fat guy and is now gunning for Buffy (but wasn't she always).
"Sometimes I'm not even sure which part was the betrayal. Everyone's got their own version. I'm pretty sure it was boinking Twilight, but still (you'd be right on that score, that's what I think too. Although why you boinked Twilight still doesn't quite play for me. But then I never quite bought the whole Xander/Dawn/Buffy triangle either - and you sort of have to, in order to buy into the whole boinking Twilight. )There's a picture of some bleeding guy with glasses who looks like a demented John Lennon as played by John Barrowman. Maybe he's the Immortal? Maybe the whole Twilight bit killed Buffy's double in Italy and he's seeking revenge? (No wait, that was a fanfic I read. I doubt Whedon will go there. )
She fights a vampire.
"The trouble with changing the world is...you don't. Not all at once. You just inch it forward, a bit at a time and watch it slip back like the greek guy with the rock (apparently Whedon can't spell Sisyphus either. And I thought that was the theme of Angel? And Firefly? Way to borrow from yourself). And you hope that when you're done, you've moved it up a little changed it just enough you hope. Let's go to work."
So ends S8. Buffy's back to square one. Men rule, women...fight in the shadows, hiding their strength. (I got that from the Good Wife, which actually handles this particular theme in a far better manner, far more realistically, and with more shades of gray. This rendering is a tad black and white for my taste.)
This story feels a bit too familiar. I've seen and read it before. It's status quo. People dislike change. They prefer S1-3 and want those seasons repeated ad naseum. Change is uncomfortable and painful. They fight against it. And whine incessantly about it. Particularly Hollywood, and the male power structure that sits behind it.
This is a reminder of how short-sighted the Hollywood power structure is and men who write comic books with their male pals, while their wives stroke their colossal egos. About a year or so ago, an amazing thing happened. Cathernne M. Valente beat Joss Whedon for Best Web Series - for her YA novel, The Girl Who Circumnavigated Her Way Through Fairyland with a Ship of Her Own Making. Whedon was up for the typical guy piece entitled Doctor Horrible's Sing-a-Long Blog. What was wonderful about this is Valente - a fan of Whedon, who got her start writing fanfic, has managed slowly over time to build a nitch for herself in fantasy and sci-fi. Most recently she did an online comic of one of her fantasy stories, Deathless. Another success story - Felicia Day - wrote a best-selling web-series entitled The Guild and did a comic off of it. Shondra Rhimes, a Whedon fan, wrote and directed and ran an emmy-winning tv series about female surgeons on network tv - which has been on for Seven years and is critically acclaimed in its seventh season and will most likely outlast the series Whedon did, which inspired her. Last year, a woman won the Oscar for Best Director for an War Film, The Hurt Locker. And soon, a woman will write the script for the Buffy reboot, which with any luck will be directed by a female director.
The thing is? The world is changing Mr. Whedon. More and more women are writing comic books, tv shows, and films. Julie Plec is executive producer and co-show-runner on Vampire Diaries. Nikita - a show about several strong women is doing rather well. JK Rowlings wrote the best-selling Harry Potter series and Stephanie Meyer did Twilight - the other Twilight.
Hillary Clinton ran for President. And almost got the Democratic ticket. She is now, Secretary of State - the second woman Secretary of State.
I work as a Contract Administrator for a Railroad - which back in the day was a field only available to men.
Is the US sexist? Yes. But it's getting better. So much better. Comics are still fairly sexist and this one is no exception, but there are comics out there that aren't. Gail Simone. Elena Casagrande.
Rebecca Issaks. The author of Persepolis. To name a few. Janet Evanovich is writing them now as well. Women are breaking into the boys club. Mariah Hueher is another one. And Felicia Day.
So, actually, the world does change a lot and sometimes all at once (look at the iphone and the internet - which is by the way freeing up the concourse for brainy women). And it does happen gradually too (We have a black president - something I did not think I'd see in my lifetime). And you do empower others. (In ways you don't even understand.) Books like the Buffy comics really aren't realistic depictions of what is happening, they are just one writer's narrow and somewhat limited perspective from the ivory tower of Hollywood. A skewed magic mirror of celebrities and party cheese.
2. Review of S8 generally speaking and Whedon's letter to fans
I read Whedon's letter to his fans...which made me roar with laughter. In it he thanks Scott Allie for being, get this, the reason why there are editors and.. the best season show-runner ever - keeping track of the big picture and the minutia. (Hmmm... Apparently the main role of an editor, according to Whedon, is to write the story while the writer is unavailable and tell the writer how great he is. And take all the heat on fan-forums, while the writer is applauded. ). Reading Whedon's letter makes me realize that Whedon doesn't see the flaws in his work. That there were far too many writers involved (too many even for him to count or thank apparently), and that Brad Meltzer was a master of structure (couldn't tell from the comics, but hey he might have been if he knew what was happening between his arc and Long Journey Home). There are so many things wrong here..
*Whedon had his editor write the culminate arc of his story, and only took time out to write the coda
*Whedon did not think it necessary to inform the other writers, outside of Brad Meltzer, who the villain was or what the main story was.
*Whedon did not think it necessary to clue Brad Meltzer who wrote the climax and big reveal what happened prior and what was going to be written between the intro and that reveal or how he was going to wrap it up.
Those are just off the top of my head.
I entitle this review answering the wrong questions or what happens when the writer loses his muse.
This whole story or Season 8 if you prefer feels very derivative to me. The questions the writer poses and answers aren't questions that haven't already been answered over and over again. The plot makes little logical sense - so the coda in some respects feels off, like it's been pulled from another tale. The characters seem to go in circles. And do not grow. (Well outside of maybe Faith - who was never front and center, and we only got five issues on anyhow). No real change happens in this story..except maybe the Xander/Dawn relationship - which was so last year anyhow. The writer does what he's always done which is take his characters from high point to low point to high point to low point, but without any clear evolution. It's hard for me to care what happens to these people. They don't appear to do anything "new" or different. The writer isn't taking any real risks with either his verse or his characters, instead he just puts in a bunch of special effects. In some respects this story reminds me of AVATAR - lots of hype, little substance, although to be frank - AVATAR had more substance. Which is saying something.
Does Buffy realize her mistakes? Do we learn why she did what she did? Do we learn why Angel did what he did? Do we know what happened to the other slayers? To OZ? Or Why Spike is still in a dirigible with insects, why he's in one to begin with? Do we care? The questions regarding Spike and Angel may actually be answered by Lynch and Mariah. But not by Whedon.
I have to make dinner. I've spent too much time on this already. More than I planned. And it is long enough. Also I'm not sure who if anyone will bother with it. Was it a waste of time? Did I even add anything new to the party?
I hear there's a season 9? For those who want it? I wish you well, you deserve happiness. This reviewer won't be along for the ride. Because the writer appears to have nothing new to show or tell me. It's as simple as that. But I'll be reading your reviews should you choose to post them to see if that remains the case.
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no subject
Date: 2011-01-24 03:46 am (UTC)*College kids can get loans to go to school and California residents are tuition-free at Cal, though fees are high. Dawn might be contributing to the rent. In any case, if Xander is putting her through school in a shared apartment, it's hers, too.
*Buffy isn't, on the other hand, earning enough as a cafe waitress to afford her own place in San Francisco. Or even near San Francisco. Maybe she could share a place with several roommates. In a bad neighborhood.
*Yeah, Willow's hanging by a thread again. Nobody seems to notice.
*If no squick at all is 1 and Connor-Cordelia is 9 then Dawn-Xander is 3 or 4. He was a friend of her older sister, three or four years older than her. Once she hit eighteen, that was only a little ooky. More so to Buffy.
*"The writer isn't taking any real risks with either his verse or his characters, instead he just puts in a bunch of special effects." At first I thought he'd really been slandering them. But when you say this I can see that he isn't willing to let them be real at all so they aren't really vulnerable enough to be damaged. They're just cartoons of their real selves.
*The whole hunting Buffy for revenge thing doesn't make any sense at all. Why bother? I could see hunting down Angel maybe.
*"And soon, a woman will write the script for the Buffy reboot, which with any luck will be directed by a female director." I hope they do a good job on this. I want to like it.
*"I have to make dinner." Me, too.
no subject
Date: 2011-01-24 04:12 am (UTC)Except that's not how they wrote it. They wrote it as Xander taking on an increasingly parental role at the beginning of S7 - to the point of taking Dawn to school. He even spends the time with Dawn and gives the parental advice throughout that Season and well into S8. He also acts as somewhat parental figure in S6 at times.
If they hadn't written it like that? I'd agree with you. It's like Cordy and Connor. If Cordy hadn't taken on an increasingly parental role with Connor - it wouldn't have been gross. It's not the age that is the problem, it's the parental suggestion that is.
At least that's the case for me.
I've read fanfic that built this differently and in a way that the relationship isn't gross. Where Xander is more of Buffy's friend and takes an interest in Dawn who has more in common with him...as opposed to how it was written here. But here - Xander is written in a mentor/parental role. Slowly they pull him out of it. But the fact he starts there...is a bit unsettling. I'd have overlooked it, if it weren't for the fact that it's becoming a pattern with Buffy and Faith as well. The idea of the older/richer/bigger guy taking the little girl under his wing - shouts paternalism to the rooftops.
*College kids can get loans to go to school and California residents are tuition-free at Cal, though fees are high. Dawn might be contributing to the rent. In any case, if Xander is putting her through school in a shared apartment, it's hers, too.
Okay - Xander and Dawn's couch. ;-) Not sure it's her's - if they break up, she's gone. But if they live together ten years - yeah, it's her's.
Didn't know about the tuition is free thing. Just bugs me that Dawn never has to do anything and has basically done little but be a Damsel. Dawn's arc bugged me.
Buffy isn't, on the other hand, earning enough as a cafe waitress to afford her own place in San Francisco. Or even near San Francisco. Maybe she could share a place with several roommates. In a bad neighborhood.
Hence the reason she's on the couch. Hmmm, at least Dawn and Xander had bedrooms in Buffy's castle.
At first I thought he'd really been slandering them. But when you say this I can see that he isn't willing to let them be real at all so they aren't really vulnerable enough to be damaged. They're just cartoons of their real selves.
Yep. That's exactly it. It feels as if they are merely pawns for some big theme.
The whole hunting Buffy for revenge thing doesn't make any sense at all. Why bother? I could see hunting down Angel maybe.
Why isn't anyone doing anything about Angel? Or tracking down Angel? I wondered this too. Sure Buffy screwed up in a lot of little ways...but Angel..whoa.
Yeah, a lot of that is similar to what I thought. Except you seem to have liked it a lot more than I did.
Really? Hard to imagine. Although I tried really hard not to go into rant mode. ;-)
no subject
Date: 2011-01-24 03:53 am (UTC)I greatly appreciate Your direct and personal approach of Your difficulties with the comics. You, flake_sake and londondks have written the most thoughtful and well written critiques of the comics so far.
For me, the comics feel like one long prologue to a - maybe - interesting story. And then i remember that this is the story, going on for four years...
I don'z know. I want to like the comics. It ijust - as You say - nothing new, very convoluted, very cliché, somewhat esoteric and, well, the story never takes off. The coda reads as a setup (which it is, for season 9). But where was the new and interesting story?
no subject
Date: 2011-01-24 05:21 pm (UTC)For me, the comics feel like one long prologue to a - maybe - interesting story. And then i remember that this is the story, going on for four years...
I don'z know. I want to like the comics. It ijust - as You say - nothing new, very convoluted, very cliché, somewhat esoteric and, well, the story never takes off. The coda reads as a setup (which it is, for season 9). But where was the new and interesting story?
I think for me, the writer has more or less lost my trust in his ability to construct an interesting story.
Also, londonkds makes a good point about Whedon's inability to tell a good "political" story. Whedon's at his best when he's discussing "high school" or "teen issues", but when he tries to do a broader political tale....he falls flat. Political tales particularly in sci-fi and fantasy require a lot of world-building and detail. Example: Caprica - which was a political story, or for that matter Babylon 5 or Farscape. The world is essential and consistency paramount.
Whedon really can't build a verse, he takes short-cuts. Jumps over things, or skims over them. If the verse gets too complicated - he kills half of it off willy-nilly, or pushes a reset button. Reading the Buffy comics, made me appreciate the hard work people like Neil Gaiman, George RR Martin, Jim Butcher, Alan Moore, and Ursula Le Quin put into building their verses - the fine detail. It also made me appreciate plots.
Whedon doesn't want to work at it that hard. It's a lark, not worth his time, so he just throws something together - unfortunately it shows.
I strongly suspect S9 will just be more of the same, since Whedon doesn't appear to realize that the problem wasn't just the special effects and scope.
no subject
Date: 2011-01-24 05:08 am (UTC)She could actually have a job and be paying for it. We don't know. It's like everything else in the comic. We actually know very little. Volumes could be written with what we don't know. It's all left to the audience to make up for themselves... and that's a problem. Because if we're making it up for ourselves, why in the hell should we pay them for this comic?
no subject
Date: 2011-01-24 10:54 pm (UTC)This has become my main issue with Whedon's writing of late, too many gaps in the story. Which is odd, I guess, because I actually do like stories that have gaps in them - where I can fill in the details, and figure them out and interpret them any which way. But there are far too many gaps in this tale. When the editor of the comic has to explain in interviews if vampires can still sire one another, if Andrew is still alive (or was he killed on that panel), etc...there's a major problem.
no subject
Date: 2011-01-24 07:00 am (UTC)so much so, that Xander was ready to destroy the seed himself.
Yeah, so was Giles. Andrew tells Kennedy right to her face they're losing, plus mass slaughter everywhere, so... I don't think we're supposed think she's the voice of reason, like Willow with her "The world would be better off completely destroyed!" nonsense. She's just voicing why people are angry with Buffy. Slayers hate her for boinking Twilight and betraying the Slayer Cause (Which was what, really? Maybe I missed it, but they never really seemed to have an objective), Witches hate her for ending magic. And Faith has gripes about the Slayer spell all of a sudden... like everyone didn't agree to it at the time and the unpowered girls weren't getting butchered by The First all year.
here's the big Dawn/Buffy bonding conversation. Which again doesn't really tell you anything you don't know.
Yeah, I don't think we're supposed to learn anything other than Dawn's back to school. The purpose, I think, is to show they're getting along...which goes back to my first paragraph about him just jumping characterizations. (Also to make it clear Buffy's spontaneous "feelings" for Xander are gone, sorry Banders.)
Actually I never thought of Buffy as all that bossy.
Yeah, me either. I mean, it's a theme in the series for people to call her bossy, but she never came across that way to me. But then like you mention with the Scoobs--they help when it's the cool thing to do and doesn't detract from their lives (that's what Buffy's for)--they tend to want to have it both ways. Buffy should be their leader, just as long she doesn't tell them what to do.
Faith got the money... - Buffy was living in a Castle,
Ah, but you forget, Giles was planning to kill Buffy for most of the season. She's lucky she got the book, really. I've seen lots of reasons, but you know, none of them make him look like less of a jerk for it. So Buffy had a castle, what about Dawn, Xander and Willow? Since he was planning to kill her big sister, you'd think he'd have set up something for Dawn. Why *was* Buffy near poverty while he lived like a king (especially when a substantial portion of that money came from her telling off the Council for him)?
That actually read shippy to me.
I think it's shippy, too. Bear in mind, I don't believe for a second DH will write Buffy/Spike romantically in S9, but there are undertones in that scene for the first time (again, paragraph one). Most likely it's an attempt to get Spuffies back on board. Spike is the new Angel, definitely, even has his clothes--has Spike ever worn a white button down undershirt before? I think Spike is supposed to be the balance between the Slayers and the Witches. Buffy was controlled (glowed) and did what she had to do to fix it, which I guess is an accurate summation of the last two arcs, but whether this also references rest of her nutty behavior, who knows. I guess it would explain the big characterization shift from 39 to 40. Not that it will ever be clearly explained, of course. Buffy and Co. just caught the catastrophically stupid bug for 39 issues. As far as the Space-boinking goes, the Universe slipped her a mickey and she'll spend all next season atoning for her it. How feminist.
There's a picture of some bleeding guy with glasses.
He's wearing gloves so he's definitely evil. I confess I think he looks interesting. Not interesting enough for me to wait 9 months or read S9, but nice attempt, Joss.
I never read Whedon's letters. Ever. All he does is piss me off with his "Yeah, this wasn't good, next time it'll be better" crap when he never ever does anything better. He does is worse usually. He can write what he wants, but the false sincerity grates my cheese.
no subject
Date: 2011-01-24 03:22 pm (UTC)Being awesome?
Yeah, I was never totally clear on why the needed to go military grade. It's a chicken and egg thing I guess, and yet another offshoot of the big gap between 7 and 8. We don't know what was cause and what was effect, just that things were really bizarre before we arrived.
Most likely it's an attempt to get Spuffies back on board.
Well, I think Spuffies are pretty substantially divided at this point. The comic can convince some and they'll never convince others (nor will they try hard to convince those others). It is what it is at this point. It's enough or it's not. It's enough to keep some from leaving but I don't think it's going to bring anyone back.
(no subject)
From:no subject
Date: 2011-01-24 07:13 am (UTC)I agree it feels like the writer lost his inspiration and also like he was missing a proper feedback loop to really make any ideas that might be there work.
At first I thought that it's mostly the OOCness all over the place that kills the fun for me, but in the end it's really everything together.
It doesn't work even on a purely metaphorical level because the message, like you pointed out, makes Avatar look deep.
no subject
Date: 2011-01-24 09:55 am (UTC)Yes. Thank goodness for small mercies.
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Date: 2011-01-24 09:57 am (UTC)Dawn: This is a girl who could translate ancient Sumerian age 16. Many (most?) fics have her train to be a Watcher. The Scrappy-Doo comment annoyed me, and I have to say I whole-heartedly approve of her going back to school. She's a smart girl. (Living off Xander is still problematic though. Although in an ideal world she'd go off and have some kind of high-flying career, and he'd stay at home minding the children.)
Buffy: I don't understand where the whole 'Buffy you were born to be a leader' thing comes from. Part of Buffy's arc in S7 was how uncomfortable she was playing the general. It's not a role that comes to her easily. (Although I still think that s8 makes her screw up in wildly OOC ways. But if we take her actions at face value I really can't understand why anyone would talk about her being a 'born leader'.) Re. waitressing, then yes, there are far better jobs out there. But also - why isn't she studying?
And as for the 'feminism' etc, then for some reason I was reminded of this:
Women: Know Your Limits.
(Sorry about all the edits.)
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Date: 2011-01-24 05:58 pm (UTC)That women get their power from men. That men guide women.
That men watch over them.
In the TV show - Dawn actually has more to do than Xander, she can translate Summerian, and is capable of slaying things.
She also takes Xander out and drives back to Sunnydale in S7.
But in the comics...she has no role in the proceedings.
Outside of stomping about Tokyo as Mecha-Dawn, a male fantasy and yet another comment on impossibility of female empowerment without male influence. And she never aids with research. She appears to just be underfoot. Sure she helps Xander get away at one point, when he literally rides her (another sex joke).
But you never feel that they are truly equals.
And this final issue...ugh.
The Scrappy-Doo comment annoyed me
That comes from the boards, in particular Whedonesque. I don't know about Buffyforums. Was used quite a bit when the tv series was on.
Annoyed me at the time too. Except in the comics...when she started to grate on my nerves. ;-)
Truth is Whedon never quite knew what to do with her after she was added.
I don't understand where the whole 'Buffy you were born to be a leader' thing comes from. Part of Buffy's arc in S7 was how uncomfortable she was playing the general. It's not a role that comes to her easily. (Although I still think that s8 makes her screw up in wildly OOC ways. But if we take her actions at face value I really can't understand why anyone would talk about her being a 'born leader'.)
She has to a degree always been their leader. As far back as Prophecy Girl. And she came up with the final plan in Innocence, What's My Line, Prophecy Girl, The Gift, etc. So I get the leader line. What she wasn't comfortable with was being the leader of an army of 200 and counting teenage and post-adolescent girls (can't say I blame her - I doubt most people would be.) So that bit worked for me, more or less...but I didn't find it all that interesting. Buffy never seemed happy with it. I think Dawn envied Buffy her leadership quality and what Buffy was doing...without realizing Buffy wasn't that into it. But the discussion or the need for the discussion has a disturbingly sexist connotation, particularly the implied assumption that Giles or some other guy would have been better in the role, which is not true.
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Date: 2011-01-24 08:19 pm (UTC)Because her sister got to Xander faster...
It is just... i don't want to think about it too hard. Makes my head hurt and my eyes bleed.
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Date: 2011-01-24 04:52 pm (UTC)The thing is? The world is changing Mr. Whedon.
Because yes. Bloody hell, yes. It's been said a hundred times already, but I'm going to say it again - how dare Joss sit in the position he is in and tell us (through his story) that one woman can't make a difference, that progressive change naturally dissipates into nothing to leave you back where you were before? How dare he? It's creating a climate where that sort of thing's believed that stops people trying and it's so unfeminist it's pathetic.
(I could complain more, but it makes me too angry; great review though.)
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Date: 2011-01-24 05:10 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-01-24 05:31 pm (UTC)how dare Joss sit in the position he is in and tell us (through his story) that one woman can't make a difference, that progressive change naturally dissipates into nothing to leave you back where you were before? How dare he?
It's a bit presumptive of him, isn't it? Not to mention terribly arrogant.
One of the many reasons that I removed Whedon's name from my interests and am unlikely to watch or read anything he does in the future. The writer simply has nothing of interest to offer any longer.
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Date: 2011-01-25 12:45 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-01-24 05:16 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-01-24 05:42 pm (UTC)It's what bugged me the most about the comics as a whole. There's a subtextual pattern emerging in Whedon's work that is disquieting, particularly for someone who keeps insisting he's a feminist. It's that men give women power. You are empowered through or by us. As opposed to you have equal power to us, and have power in spite of us. We gave you the power and now you have the chance to go beyond us and become better.
Very patronizing. I kept thinking, okay, maybe I'm wrong...but the comics, this issue in particular, underlines that pov and capitalizes it. Making it difficult not to see the same theme radiating through all of Whedon's other work from Firefly through Dollhouse. Even Angel and Doctor Horrible. Which is why I find it so wonderful that Catherynne M. Valente's web novel - The Girl Who Circumvented Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making beating out Whedon for a Hugo for best web project. It is also why I will not buy or read or watch anything else Whedon does.
There's better writers out there, and better stories - that I haven't read yet. I've wasted far too much time on Whedon's.
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Date: 2011-01-24 06:26 pm (UTC)You asked whether there was any word on whether vampires can still sire other vamps. According to Scott Allie they can’t –siring involves a demon being summoned from the now unreachable magical dimensions. I’m still a little unclear what questions you thought hadn’t been addressed and what you already knew. You probably already know more than me. The one about whether Buffy had leant anything, though. I think one good thing she’s learnt that she doesn’t have to be everything people want to believe she is. She can be a fallen idol and it’s not (quite) the end of the world. It shows in her fighting back against the granola eaters and Fraying it from rooftop to rooftop without a safety rope or a helicopter.
One last thing (because it’s something that’s always bugged me). Waitressing may not be the best paid profession but there are reasons it’s a staple for aspiring actresses (and hence, no doubt, Holloywood). The work is easy to come by and the terms are flexible. Working in a bar would let Buffy spot vampires but not go after them, she needs a day job. She hasn’t any qualifications for self-defence instruction, she never learnt the names of all her moves and most of them would be downright impossible for an ordinary human. I can believe she’s be a good teacher to other slayers with the same strength and body memories but to ordinary people? Even if she looked the part enough to be hired.
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Date: 2011-01-24 11:47 pm (UTC)To clarify: textual support is limited to the text of the comics. If you can't figure out the answer to the question from the comic book without ever reading an interview with Scott Allie, then the answer is not there.
I had a creating writing prof once who told me that if you have to tell the reader what you meant or answer factual questions that are key to your story - because they are not actually in you story, then you did a really bad job of writing your story and communicating your ideas to your reader. Providing these answers in an interview after the fact - is cheating. Plus, you are expecting all your readers to hunt down these interviews.
The story should stand on it's own two legs.
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Date: 2011-01-24 07:15 pm (UTC)Or are we talking about that weird pseudo/not relationship during S7? Need some help here. This reminds me of the throw-away line in S7 - "why does everyone still think I'm in love with Spike?" In which the audience responded - with a collective - Huh? )
This.
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Date: 2011-01-24 09:56 pm (UTC)The story left me disappointed and confused. I can say the same about Whedon's letter (mid season he changed his plan about S9: probably deciding to end the magic in S8 and that's why the last two arcs are so weird spiraling)
"boinking Twilight" as the major mistake - is this Joss talking?
I'd like to ask him if it's worth it sacrificing 12 Tv seasons for an 8 issues comic - one season and a half per one issue of Fray tale. Or maybe he wrote S8 because he got bored of being asked "why did you write so powerful female characters?"
*randomness of the day: Jeanty announced on Twitter that he just finished the alternate cover for the new Angel series at DH
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Date: 2011-01-24 11:50 pm (UTC)One can only hope? I don't think so, but who knows? ;-)
Maybe he'll someday do an interview explaining in detail what he intended? Although I highly doubt it. I don't think he cares.
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Date: 2011-01-25 07:19 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-01-27 08:12 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-01-28 02:00 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-05-05 05:59 am (UTC)Xander and Dawn are at least 5 to 6 years apart. She was fourteen years old at the time of her introduction. He was at least 19 or 20. How can that be considered part of the ick factor? If this story is two years after "Not Fade Away" ( I could be wrong), Dawn should be at least 20 years old. That's Dawn's 20 years to Xander's 25 or 26 years. Again, what's wrong with that?
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Date: 2011-05-05 06:00 am (UTC)Okay. Now I see your point.
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Date: 2011-05-05 06:05 am (UTC)Thank you!! Thank you!! I've always had a problem with Buffy's relationship with the Scoobies on some level. And you've finally pointed it out.