moscow_watcher | "Buffy" season 8, episode 1, The Long Way Home

The Story:

Buffy and her slayer squad attack some temple. During the landing she reminisces about her life: a year has passed, everybody calls her "ma'am", there is about 1800 slayers in the world and about 500 of them work with the Council. To confuse the enemies Buffy has two doppelgangers, one is "underground, literally", the other is in Rome with the Immortal.
As Buffy's squad breaks into the temple, the action switches to Command Central where Xander is giving orders. Young slayer, Renee calls him mister Harris and says there is "a development with Barselona squad". Xander orders to contact Andrew in Italy and tell him to send 10 slayers as reinforcement, "And call me Xander, or sergeant Fury", he adds.
Buffy and her team enter the temple. There are several dead or unconscious people on the floor with several nasty-looking demons looming over them. Girls destroy the demons and find weird symbol on the chest of one victim. They immediately send the photo of the symbol to Xander and Giles. "I think these boys were looking for a fight" Buffy says. As girls try to figure it out, we zoom out und up until we see somebody who's spying on them from some top position, probably in the air. We only see black military boots and small piece of black coat of the observer who may be suspended in the air or sitting on a floor of an open helicopter cabin.
And in the next frame we see a helicopter - but it's flying over the Sunnydale crater, the door of the cabin is closed and none of the people inside wears black coat. They're military and intelligence types and they discuss the actions of slayer squads whom they see as a threat. "Worst of all they have a leader. Charismatic, uncompromizing and completely destructive... Look what she did to her hometown!"
At the crater's edge there is a tent with more military types monitoring people in spacesuits who are digging a hole in the bottom of the crater. A person in a suit goes down ans reports "It's like a museum down there but no bodies and no mystical readings". Some grabby hands grab him.
Meanwhile Buffy and Xander sit in the Council's library discussing mystical signs on the victim's chest. They can't figure out anything constructive. "You're a terrible watcher" Buffy says. "I'm not a watcher" Xander replies and says Buffy has to see Dawn. "There is nothing I can do till we find Willow" Buffy says. "You could be her sister" Xander retorts.
And Buffy tries. But, as you may already know, Dawn's a giant, because she has slept with a thricewise demon called Kenny. Dawn's angry and she doesn't want to talk to Buffy. "Why do we have to be in Scotland?' - " You don't have to be in Scotland. You have to be in Berkeley". - "Believe me, when I'm person-sized, I'm out of here".
Buffy thinks that her and Dawn haven't really gotten along since the destruction of Sunnydale. She goes upstairs to the castle keep, looks at purple Scottish sky and thinks "I miss my mom. I miss the gang. And churros. And sex. Great muppety Odin, I miss that sex." But she has to be strong because she's "a big girl now".
Meanwhile in some Initiative-type facility anonymous military and scientific types demonstrate two "subjects" to a general. Both "subjects" are kept locked in padded cells. The first "subject" whom we don't see is in deplorable condition: "How is that thing alive?" general asks. The second "subject" is Amy who wants to destroy Buffy Summers and offers help in exchange to access to all the magical hardware, weapons and a lab for her boyfriend now and release and full immunity "after Buffy Summers is down".
"And a lot of cheese".

Critique:

The first issue has a very distinct "back to beginning" feel. "BtVS" has started as a funny hip TV show for teenagers and ten years later Joss creates a new funny hip comic for teenagers. Buffy's losing her virginity was agnsty. Dawn's losing her virginity is funny. In season 4 The Initiative produced a homage to Frankenstein. In season 8 The New Initiative cooperates with Buffy's former classmate.

My first impression is that it will be funny, perky and dynamic. Not sure about depth, though. Joss' tries to write consistent dialogues, but they're still very short as compared with those in the show. And, damn, I miss actors!

Obviously, unlike TV show, comics don't have to feature all the regular cast in every issue. Does it mean that the difference between regulars and recurring characters disappears? If Dawn will be sent to Berkeley after the initial issues describing her unfortunate love affair, we may not see her for a long while. The same with the other characters. Frankly, if the seasonal arc will be about Buffy fighting The New Initiative, I can hardly see anything important for Willow in this story (I suspect Amy has been brought back partly to give Willow something to do). If Xander now has taken Giles' place, Giles himself may be redundant. Hopefully Joss will find interesting stories for all of them. So far, I liked Buffy/Xander and Buffy/Dawn interaction, but I've got the impression that I watched a pre-credits teaser and have to wait another month to watch the first act.

Maybe it's because I'm new to comics but I'm surprised how little story an issue produces. It's roughly 5 minutes of screen time (given that Buffyverse characters speak very quickly and the editing is usually very terse).

So, one issue = 5 min.
4 issues = 20-min. episode.

Which means

1. One 20-min. episode in four months. Frustrating and wank-generating.

2. 24-issue season = 2-hour movie. Not much time for character development.

Questions of a confused reader:

Why Any wants to destroy Buffy and not Willow? Because the show is about Buffy or because something happened between them after The Killer in Me and we'll find about that accident later?

Why military types decided to explore the Sunnydale crater only a year after the catastrophe? Because that's when the story starts or because there are some factors we don't know yet?

Who's "great muppety Odin"? A patron saint of orgasm?

Unintentional fanfiction references:

Buffy in Rome being the wrong Buffy:
Newborn by Addie Logan
http://www.athenewolfe.com/justrewards/viewstory.php?sid=325&PHPSESSID=d120f7044462058ff3c2218743e47772

Military types declaring Buffy and friends dangerous terrorists and trying to destroy them
"Habeas Corpses" by Peyton
http://community.livejournal.com/seasonal_spuffy/148315.html

Bottom line: I'm ready for a fun ride even if 99,9999% of it I'll be waiting for the next small jerk forward.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

petzipellepingo.livejournal.com

And sex. Great muppety Odin, I miss that sex."
Way to go Joss, Buffy's former sex partner saves the world, she tells him she loves him and a year later all she remembers is the sex. That'll make all the Spike fans rush out to buy this.

From:

mrs-underhill.livejournal.com

I'm conflicted about this, but I don't take it as all negative. It is just one of her thoughts that we are shown. It doesn't mean she doesn't miss him in other ways, just not on this thought ballon, you know. :)
But mostly it means that she's past that darned AR in her mind, it doesn't bother her anymore. And that's good, in my book.

From:

moscow-watcher.livejournal.com

But, obviously, sex was good since she couldn't find a replacement for her gorgeous walking dildo during the year that followed his supposed death. It took her less then four months to to find a replacement for Angel. [/petty shipper mode]

You see, I'm not bitter because I'm cynical. I'm not disappointed because I wasn't expecting anything but funny story for teenage audience. I suppose new medium dictates new rules and new ideology. Keep it simple and entertaining. With a lot of cheese. Youth rulez. Tough chicks are the modern heroes. They save the day when dumb army and government fail. It's popular culture, after all.

From:

mrs-underhill.livejournal.com

Oh, that's great - I like the linear narrative as I'm still not very comfortable with comics. I missed that in the end the military guys were talking about Emi's boyfrend first. I thought they talked about Emi all the time.
Still not sure about that black figure: is it a giant on a ground or a normal person high in the sky. And can it be?... OK. I hope they'll start leaking teasers for issue#2 soon. But those remarks by Joss, about that giant super-villain which can't appear on every page 'cause he's too important for that (and has to be used sparingly) ... that leads to some speculations.

And muppety Odin? Can it be related to certain muppets? Oh, gah. :) And when exactly that sex that she missed occur? Maybe later? I took it as another thing which she missed about Sunnydale, but it didn't have to be, as she jumped to Dawn in the next thought. Anyway, that's one anmbigous statement to end all ambigous statements... Anyway, I'm 99% sure it's about Spike in Sunnydale, and if that is so, that makes me mosly glad, that she can think about it fondly and without bitterness.

From:

moscow-watcher.livejournal.com

I missed that in the end the military guys were talking about Emi's boyfrend first. I thought they talked about Emi all the time.

There are speculations that Amy's boyfriend may be Ethan Rayne. At least his presence could give Giles something to do since his expository duties are relegated to Xander now.

Still not sure about that black figure: is it a giant on a ground or a normal person high in the sky. And can it be?...

I suppose it's some "third party". Maybe he's the enemy of both the Council and
The New Initiative.

And muppety Odin? Can it be related to certain muppets? Oh, gah. :)

I suppose it's a new jossism. Another shoutout to earlier seasons when writers invented new expressions to make the characters sound "hip".

And when exactly that sex that she missed occur? Maybe later? I took it as another thing which she missed about Sunnydale, but it didn't have to be, as she jumped to Dawn in the next thought. Anyway, that's one anmbigous statement to end all ambigous statements... Anyway, I'm 99% sure it's about Spike in Sunnydale, and if that is so, that makes me mosly glad, that she can think about it fondly and without bitterness.

Sure it's about Spike. But people were expecting something more profound. (I wasn't. I'm a cynic).

Any thoughts on the mysterious signs on a victim's chest? My take: it's a map of Counsil's castle in Scotland.

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