My critique of BtVS season 8 so far

[norwie2010]

The following is a critique of the BtVS comic book "season 8". I'm not delving into interpretion of a sentence or a panel, i'm aiming for a more formalistic approach. Nonetheless is the following more or less a "rant", despite my best intentions to disguise it as something resembling coherent thought, aka Meta.

Over the last days my friends here on

Comments

[2maggie2]

I agree with a lot of this -- though on balance it's not enough to detract from what I now take to be the overall strength of the comcis. I also think some of it will seem different when the whole story is finally out there.

The one thing I wanted to push back on is the idea that this is written because of the Twilight phenomenon. The comics first came out in April 2007. They'd been planned earlier. I'm not sure when Twilight became a phenomenon, but I don't think it was a big enough deal in 2006 and early 2007 for Joss to have wanted to go to all the work of putting out this enormous story as a counter. He's obviously put in some comments in places since then. But I think the engine of the story is in BtVS. Buffy's journey wasn't complete; and the whole spell had changed the world.

[norwie2010]

...though on balance it's not enough to detract from what I now take to be the overall strength of the comcis

I dearly hope that's what it'll look like when this run is over.

I also think some of it will seem different when the whole story is finally out there.

Oh, definitely, that's what i say, too. It is the reason this won't be my last word on season 8.

The one thing I wanted to push back on is the idea that this is written because of the Twilight phenomenon.

"Eight publishers competed for the rights to publish Twilight in a 2003 auction" (taken from wiki) (a near million dollar deal).

Twilight was published in 2005 and won New York Times Editor's Choice and Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year the same year. It reached #1 on the New York Times Best Seller list within 1 month after being published. Foreign rights to the novel were sold to over 26 countries. Filming began in 2007 (which means big waves in the industry even before that

[2maggie2]

Publishers competing for rights to a novel doesn't mean that the thing is objectively going to turn into a big cultural phenomenon.

If you are just talking about the popularity of Anne Rice novels -- that *was* well-established before BtVS got up and running. Those books were big deals in the 1980's (though still not a cultural phenomenon). They sold well without having the mark that Twilight has ended up having. That's why publishers would have wanted the rights to Meyer, without being in a world where Twilight is the phenomenon it currently is.

And I do get where you are coming from on the rest!

[norwie2010]

Forget about the stuff i said about Anne Rice - doesn't matter to the argument (i meant the film: "queen of the damned", not the novels).

And, yes, perhaps i'm off on this one. But 2005 is still 2 years before season 8. I just think - why did Whedon feel the need to go there again? We had lots and lots of text on the TV show to account for the rejection of this kind of romanticism, and now here we are, many years later, and it is one of the main themes of season 8. I hope there's something more to it and dealing again with B/A just does fit nicely in (as opposed to be the main focus of the story).

Thank You for letting me know what You think (i get that You're probably tired of negativism at this point). :)

[infinitewhale]

I've made a lot of jokes about the comics being written by The Trio given their penchant for self-acknowledgment, cracked-out plot lines and tropes. But on a more series note, one of the biggest flaws I see in the comics is that, like the Trio, they have big plans but don't want to put the work in, end up fighting with themselves and screwing it all up. It seems like they're so concerned with being OMG!EPIC they've abandoned the fundamentals of good writing and what made the show great.

Art

I don't mind Jeanty's art as much as some (I actually think the ink and coloring people make things worse), but I definitely agree and it's not helped by the opaqueness of some of the writing. Also, he cannot draw Buffy. :P

EditingI'm probably biased here. I don't like Allie. I think he's done an abysmal job. When dealing with a continuation, you have to make yourself an expert in the source material and I don't believe that's the case here. Just my unqualified opinion, but I think he's more concerned with spinning and selling than crafting a

[norwie2010]

Thank You for Your extensive comment.

I've made a lot of jokes about the comics being written by The Trio

I've read that and it made me laugh, yes, it is snarky but also an easily made comparison.

About the art, yeah, i prefer Jeanty to Riefenstahl - but that's about it. ;-)

Yes! The whole thing reads like Joss is preaching--and really, I'm not a fan of what he might be trying to say. The comics are way too aware of themselves and fans and that's never a good thing.

I didn't put it that way, but i know what You mean. While writing a story about stories (especially stories Whedon wrote himself) it is easy to fall into a narcistic trap. While there obviously is a narrative - it seems lost under all the tongue-in-cheek commentary by the man himself.

*Slightly tangential ramble: engaged* I don't mind. :) Ramble away! I'll make no assumption where this story is headed apart from a slight "anti-twilight" stance it seems to support. Wether the actual "moral" of the story is one i can get behind or not - that's for a review

[ever_neutral]

Nicely put. No arguments here.

[norwie2010]

Thanks for reading. :)