Buffy #32 - review and spoilery thoughts

[moscow_watcher]

The revelation of Buffy's masked nemesis' identity as well as Buffy's current situation have reawakened my interest to season 8 comics. The last time I wrote about them, almost a year ago, vampires were "in" and slayers were "out"; Faith and Giles were fighting demons in a bucolic German town, Harmony became a TV star, while Buffy continued to lose

Comments

[stormwreath]

Nice to see you writing S8 meta again. ;-)

fought against tanks and angry Tibetian goddesses and lost the battle.

I think it was a draw, actually. Twilight retreated, after taking several prisoners including Andrew, Faith and Giles; but Buffy also had several of his wounded soldiers as prisoners.

you start wondering why Amy didn't teleport general's soldiers right into Buffy's castle to arrest her.

She did that right back in the first arc, remember? I assume Willow put up magical defences after that plan failed, and Amy only just now figured out a way to bypass them.

Dawn being the only voice of reason? Weird.

Who else would it be, though? Xander's no use, because he's completely in the grip of a multiple nerdgasm. Giles is a prisoner. Willow does eventually agree with Dawn, but at first (a) she's distracted by her own power returning, and too busy trying to find Faith & co to pay attention to Dawn (b) she thinks Dawn is just jealous of Buffy, rather than having a point.

The swearword he stuck in his answer was quite

[moscow_watcher]

Nice to see you writing S8 meta again. ;-)

Hope my take isn't very disappointing to you. ;-)

I think it was a draw, actually. Twilight retreated, after taking several prisoners including Andrew, Faith and Giles; but Buffy also had several of his wounded soldiers as prisoners.

Point. Although the question about Andrew, Faith and Giles is moot; I have the impression that they were abducted later in exchange to Amy, Warren and the general trip to Tibet.

Xander's no use, because he's completely in the grip of a multiple nerdgasm.

I may be wrong, but I think that Xander's nerdgastic reaction is very exaggerated. During the first seven seasons he often saw very nasty consequences of magic. It's a bit strange that he never questions the possible side-effects of Buffy's new powers. I understand that Meltzer needed Xander's nerdish reaction for a number of comedic punchlines, but... I dunno. Xander could express just a bit of apprehension of Buffy's newly-found abilities.

calling SA "anti-Spuffy" seems a radical interpretation of the

[stormwreath]

I may be wrong, but I think that Xander's nerdgastic reaction is very exaggerated. During the first seven seasons he often saw very nasty consequences of magic. It's a bit strange that he never questions the possible side-effects of Buffy's new powers. I understand that Meltzer needed Xander's nerdish reaction for a number of comedic punchlines, but... I dunno. Xander could express just a bit of apprehension of Buffy's newly-found abilities.

You're not wrong. Xander is usually much more genre savvy than this. Meltzer basically replaced his personality with Andrew's for whatever reason. A more in-character reaction would be more along the lines of "So, Buffy's become a flying brick... there's no way this can't not end badly."

[moscow_watcher]

"So, Buffy's become a flying brick... there's no way this can't not end badly."

Xander: "I have a horrible suspicion that poor Buffster is jossed..."

[majingojira]

To me, option 3 is the least likely and honestly most repulsive option available, since undoing Season 7's big change would go against he core thematic values of Buffy (Female Empowerment).

[keith5by5]

Except 'Get It Done' does that very neatly on its own.

[moscow_watcher]

I may be wrong - but I have the impression that Joss's main message in season 8 isn't about female empowerment but about the abuse of power. Again, I may be wrong - but think that currently Buffy is the metaphor of America. She makes some wrong choices, fights some wrong battles, but in the end will will emerge a hero.

[2maggie2]

It's great to see you interested again. There's so much at stake all of a sudden!

Like Stormwreath, I'm sure that Allie's swear word was about the leak. 100% sure. He expressed irritation at it several times throughout the Q&A. I'd hate to be whoever was responsible -- Allie is still steamed a month after the fact.

[moscow_watcher]

There's so much at stake all of a sudden!

Indeed. Joss has managed to stir up all the fandom again! :)

Like Stormwreath, I'm sure that Allie's swear word was about the leak. 100% sure. He expressed irritation at it several times throughout the Q&A. I'd hate to be whoever was responsible -- Allie is still steamed a month after the fact.

Hopefully you're right. I remember the leakage of Chosen script two months prior to the release of the episode. It was quite an uproar online, but it stayed within the fandom. While Twilightgate made it into all the online comics portals.

[fenderlove]

Even for some of us who got all the nerdy references, it wasn't entertaining.

It's very hard for me to believe that Buffy who has had a very calm demeanor about the deaths of the Slayers and the deaths of human soldiers as causalities of a war she doesn't want to fight would suddenly freak out over about using the powers of dead Slayers. "I'm taking their powers! I'm a vampire! Boo hoo!" They're dead. They're staying dead. Vampires, even psychic vampires, need their victims ALIVE. Use the dead Slayers' powers, honor their memory, and kill the thing that took their lives. Death will be their gift in giving Buffy the strength to win.

[moscow_watcher]

Interesting take. It never occurred to me to regard the situation from that POV.

I think Buffy is aghast because this revelation finally hits home how dire her situation is. She may think that PTB show her - directly - that she is responsible for all these deaths.

Death will be their gift in giving Buffy the strength to win.

I love your approach. But I'm not sure we're supposed to see it this way. The way the news are presented to us, we're supposed to be horrified too.

[fenderlove]

I'm horrified all right, and not just by how this comic is written. (Jokingly... sorta.) I'm horrified by the senseless deaths as I'm sure we're supposed to be, but for Buffy this is not the moment to break down. She's been calm and collected thus far, and maybe she's upset because this really hits home the situation, but it seems like she's more upset by the power-sucking than the actual deaths. Now would not be the time to cry, but rather realize that she can't change what's happened, that even though she is indirectly responsible in that she didn't accept the powers offered to her by the Shadow Men and used Willow's spell instead, that Twilight is the one who is really at fault by directly causing their deaths. Every Slayer has an expiration date; the fact that there are hundreds of Slayers didn't change that fact, and if she can use the deaths for a positive purpose, to not let them be a senseless slaughter, then she should pick herself up by the bootstraps and get royally pissed off (and not cry

[moscow_watcher]

I don't remember Buffy crying much. She cries when she finds out about Xander and Dawn; then she will cry in the next issue when it sinks in that she uses dead girls powers.

I think it's because Jeanty can't draw deep emotions so he just adds tears to make them look sad.

What I don't like is *how* he draws tears. They look like streaks of grey paint.

[hkath]

I think Dawn being the single voice of reason here is probably a reference to the fact that 'Forever', a Dawn-centric episode, was heavily influenced by the play 'The Monkey's Paw'. Not sure if it's just supposed to be a bit of tongue-in-cheek self-reference, a way for Meltzer to punch his BtVS credibility card early on in his arc, or if Dawn actually learned something from her experience in that episode that makes her uniquely qualified to be suspicious here before the others. In any case, I found it really amusing-yet-tragic, especially the one panel where she's way off in the background, right before the reveal.

Also, on re-read I noticed that Buffy actually gains a power she didn't have a minute ago (telescopic vision) at the exact moment that Cory dies in Willow's company. So even if we don't see how Willow figures out the power-transfer thing, I think we are definitely meant (probably not on first-read, but after some thought) to come to the same logical conclusion on our own.

[moscow_watcher]

I think Dawn being the single voice of reason here is probably a reference to the fact that 'Forever', a Dawn-centric episode, was heavily influenced by the play 'The Monkey's Paw'. Not sure if it's just supposed to be a bit of tongue-in-cheek self-reference, a way for Meltzer to punch his BtVS credibility card early on in his arc, or if Dawn actually learned something from her experience in that episode that makes her uniquely qualified to be suspicious here before the others. In any case, I found it really amusing-yet-tragic, especially the one panel where she's way off in the background, right before the reveal.

I agree - it could turn really tragic if Dawn is supposed to be the next Twilight's victim. On the cover of #35 Buffy is apparently banished away, Xander is very gloomy and Dawn is nowhere in sight.

Also, on re-read I noticed that Buffy actually gains a power she didn't have a minute ago (telescopic vision) at the exact moment that Cory dies in Willow's company.

Good catch. I haven't noticed it.

[shipperx]

I agree - it could turn really tragic if Dawn is supposed to be the next Twilight's victim.

So Spike then shows up to kill Twangel?

I can see Spike reacting in a variety of ways to a lot of things, but if Dawn were killed, Spike would be out for murder. (Or he should be if it were to be remotely in character).

[moscow_watcher]

So Spike then shows up to kill Twangel?

Or to shag him - thus fulfilling Buffy's nightmares... :)

if Dawn were killed, Spike would be out for murder. (Or he should be if it were to be remotely in character).

The key words are "remotely in character" :)