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Ahh... the Spike and Faith Comics...
Oct. 6th, 2007 06:14 pm[As an aside, I find it highly amusing that I stopped buying/obsessing over X-men comics and lost all interest in them back in 2001, when I got obsessed with Buffy, Spike and the Angel series. Then, in 2007, I'm back to buying comics every month (albeit Buffy not X-men) - because - the Buffy character's stories are being continued by their creators in comic form. This amuses me greatly. The morale? You never can quite break yourself of a weird time/space and money consuming habit/addiction/obsession - you just end up replacing it with another similar one. I can blame Joss Whedon and Brian Lynch for this, but I know full well they are merely the drug pushers, I'm the buyer.]
Bought issue 4, the finale of the Spike: Shadow Puppets mini-series, and issue 7, part II of the four part, Faith story, in Buffy Season Eight comic this afternoon. Took me about an hour and a half to read both.
I loved Spike:Shadow Puppets. It provided me with everything that I wanted from the mini-series. Character exploration, humor, great art, good dialogue, and a sense of the character actually growing and advancing on his journey. Changing. It is admittedly one of my kinks - I need characters to evolve and change in stories, to learn from their mistakes and progress. This gives me hope for the human race and makes me feel better about myself. Stories in which this does not happen, just upset me and who wants that? Life is tough enough without having those things we use to comfort ourselves upset us instead.
Now, I admittedly have an odd sense of humor. Which Brian Lynch apparently shares. It is snarky and a bit self-deprecating in nature. What am I talking about? Ah, here is a bit of dialogue from the latest issue of Spike:Shadow Puppets that made me laugh out loud.
"Official canon is so complicated. So many people with so many opinions!"
LOL!
And -
"Seriously, I'm still feeling puppety. I can't go canon as a puppet. The internet is complaining about me as it is."
"I'm so sure the internet is complaining about something. Get real for a second."
Hee Hee.
And... "Demons love murdering but hate research."
I want icons of those!! Particularly the first one.
The story also worked for me - it explored Spike's envy of Angel, his struggle to define himself (he keeps seeing himself as a lone wolf who doesn't get on with people when it is clear that he is the opposite and does need people), and how others perceive him.
As for the art? I continue to be impressed by Frank Urru - who manages to create characters that do not look alike or dress alike, who have different facial expressions, and are older.
Unlike the Buffy comics - the women in Urru's drawings aren't all one age - we see children, adolescents, elderly women, and their faces are very different. When I read a comic, I look at the art first - it's first and foremost in my mind, then the writing, then the thing as a whole. Lynch and Urru's styles blend beautifully together. The work to me feels almost three dimensional and continues to be in my opinion amongst the best graphic novels I've read and I've read quite a few and a wide variety, including Magna and underground. I draw or have drawn and taken numerous art classes in my lifetime and am picky about art. If I can do it?
I don't think it's that great. If I can't? I'm in awe. Jeanty's? I've drawn stuff like that.
Urru? I couldn't begin to draw like that even in my dreams. Of course it's all very subjective isn't it? What floats my boat more than likely won't float yours. Arguing over it seems to be a waste of time. Yet, being human, we do it anyway. Go figure.
Which brings me to the Buffy Comic. Read this baby first. And....
Well. It was lukewarm.
The good? I am enjoying the exploration of the Faith character and her unresolved feelings towards Giles, Buffy and the gang, which were not explored to my satisfaction in S7 due to the fact that they were busy doing five storylines at once in the space of four or five hours with thirty characters. Also enjoying the exploration of how Faith is not exactly the killer that everyone likes to believe she is. So on the character exploration? It's working for me.
( what I didn't like about the comic, includes dialogue spoilers, but no real plot spoilers... )
Overall ratings?
Spike:Shadow Puppets: A+
Buffy Season Eight - Faith Issue 7, Part II: C
Bought issue 4, the finale of the Spike: Shadow Puppets mini-series, and issue 7, part II of the four part, Faith story, in Buffy Season Eight comic this afternoon. Took me about an hour and a half to read both.
I loved Spike:Shadow Puppets. It provided me with everything that I wanted from the mini-series. Character exploration, humor, great art, good dialogue, and a sense of the character actually growing and advancing on his journey. Changing. It is admittedly one of my kinks - I need characters to evolve and change in stories, to learn from their mistakes and progress. This gives me hope for the human race and makes me feel better about myself. Stories in which this does not happen, just upset me and who wants that? Life is tough enough without having those things we use to comfort ourselves upset us instead.
Now, I admittedly have an odd sense of humor. Which Brian Lynch apparently shares. It is snarky and a bit self-deprecating in nature. What am I talking about? Ah, here is a bit of dialogue from the latest issue of Spike:Shadow Puppets that made me laugh out loud.
"Official canon is so complicated. So many people with so many opinions!"
LOL!
And -
"Seriously, I'm still feeling puppety. I can't go canon as a puppet. The internet is complaining about me as it is."
"I'm so sure the internet is complaining about something. Get real for a second."
Hee Hee.
And... "Demons love murdering but hate research."
I want icons of those!! Particularly the first one.
The story also worked for me - it explored Spike's envy of Angel, his struggle to define himself (he keeps seeing himself as a lone wolf who doesn't get on with people when it is clear that he is the opposite and does need people), and how others perceive him.
As for the art? I continue to be impressed by Frank Urru - who manages to create characters that do not look alike or dress alike, who have different facial expressions, and are older.
Unlike the Buffy comics - the women in Urru's drawings aren't all one age - we see children, adolescents, elderly women, and their faces are very different. When I read a comic, I look at the art first - it's first and foremost in my mind, then the writing, then the thing as a whole. Lynch and Urru's styles blend beautifully together. The work to me feels almost three dimensional and continues to be in my opinion amongst the best graphic novels I've read and I've read quite a few and a wide variety, including Magna and underground. I draw or have drawn and taken numerous art classes in my lifetime and am picky about art. If I can do it?
I don't think it's that great. If I can't? I'm in awe. Jeanty's? I've drawn stuff like that.
Urru? I couldn't begin to draw like that even in my dreams. Of course it's all very subjective isn't it? What floats my boat more than likely won't float yours. Arguing over it seems to be a waste of time. Yet, being human, we do it anyway. Go figure.
Which brings me to the Buffy Comic. Read this baby first. And....
Well. It was lukewarm.
The good? I am enjoying the exploration of the Faith character and her unresolved feelings towards Giles, Buffy and the gang, which were not explored to my satisfaction in S7 due to the fact that they were busy doing five storylines at once in the space of four or five hours with thirty characters. Also enjoying the exploration of how Faith is not exactly the killer that everyone likes to believe she is. So on the character exploration? It's working for me.
( what I didn't like about the comic, includes dialogue spoilers, but no real plot spoilers... )
Overall ratings?
Spike:Shadow Puppets: A+
Buffy Season Eight - Faith Issue 7, Part II: C
