BtVS season 8 issue 4: summary, analysis and conspiracy theories

[moscow_watcher]

BtVS season 8 issue 4: summary, analysis and conspiracy theories about that pesky kiss of true love, Ethan Rayne's fate and DH's anti-Spike stance.

In a nutshell: the first arc looks like magnificent storyboards for Michael Bay's next movie. And - Bander, sir!



Summary:

Issue 4 starts with the flashback of the scene in Villains in which Willow kills Warren. Inexplicably Willow's hair is red in this scene, although it was black on TV. Obviously media change causes some weird color shifts, because Willow's eyes are absolutely blue right now.

Meanwhile Buffy talks with Dawn about Willow outside their Scottish castle; the shadows they cast suggest two suns in the sky. Is it AU? Dawn says that Willow is like a mom for her. (In the previous issue we were told that Buffy and the rest of the Scoobies hadn't had news from Willow for a long time. In seasons 5-7 Willow\Dawn interaction was minimal except the moments when Willow tried to kill her - first unintentionally, then intentionally. Just saying.)

Meanwhile Warren tortures Willow (we only see her eyes and hands in (quoting Joss in Chosen) "a rictus of revelatory pain". Warren channels his inner Darth Vader and tempts Willow with darkness. She refuses: her spirit is strong because she is helped by five mystical beings connected with her in some supernatural way.

Back at Slayer Central, girls, who are reopening the portal, say that they can send one or two persons maximum through it. Buffy chooses a slayerette named Satsu - beautiful Japanese girl with cool katana - as her back-up. Before entering the portal Buffy asks Satsu is she has a lipgloss, and notices that Satsu's lipgloss has cinnamon taste - like the one on her lips after the kiss of true love. (Heh. In penultimate panel on issue #2 we saw Satsu on the castle wall fighting zombies when the kiss of true love occured.)

Portal reopens, evil military types on the other side send a death ray through it. But turns out good guys had magically figured out that bad guys will send a ray. They have put a mirror in front of the portal so that reflected ray is sent back to destroy bay guys. Buffy with her scythe and Satsu with her katana enter the building of The New Initiative throught the portal. Two girls armed with one scythe and one katana defeat about a hundred men heavily armed with guns.

Xander locates their position: they're two miles south of Sunnydale.

Buffy finds Amy who does her magic thingie against the slayers. Somehow Willow's spirit transmits to Buffy her magic abilities and Buffy defeats Amy too. A spirit of Amy's mother makes a cameo appearance and says that she saw Amy's nightmares. Warren and Amy escape with generic "This isn't over, Slayer". Buffy rushes to Willow who is OK and smiling. "Problems?"

Buffy asks Willow to heal wounded and dying soldiers. She sees a door with a number "30" on it. "OK, Ethan", she says. "You got yourself get out of jail free card." But Buffy's late. General Voll kills Ethan Rayne and tries to kill Buffy. She slams him at the wall and discover *that* sign on his chest.

"Twilight is coming", general says. "For you, for all your monstrous spawn ... You've upset the balance, girl. Do you really think we were going to sit by and let you create a master race? ... You're not human. You've been to war with demons, with the First, but, believe me, you've picked the wrong side. 'cause God help us, if you win then you'll decide that the world still isn't the way you want it, and the demon in you will say just one thing: "SLAY". We're not waiting for that to happen. We will wipe you out. Not just monsters anymore. It's you against the world. You're at war with the human race."

"Oh", Buffy says. "...kay".

Analysis:

The conclusion of the first arc is exhilarating and sad at the same time. The ambition looks enormous. So far, nobody wrote a convincing "human race vs super-human race" story.

I suppose on a RL level the situation is unsolvable. What happens when the principle of equal opportunities stops working naturally, from within? The race of superhumans can't peacefully co-exist with the race of humans. Their very existence creates a huge inferiority complex in ordinary people. They can either live in isolation from each other or fight for survival and the humans can't win by definition. The situation is very Joss Whedon-worthy, because he, as nobody else, can write natural human reactions in supernatural situations.

The problems he tackles in The Long Way Home are epic and, so far, they had never been explored properly. The greatest sci-fi writers tried to create a model of co-habitation of humans and superhumans, but nobody was able to find a convincing formula. I suppose Joss had been planning to explore this issue in Firefly, with the character of River.

Could Joss pull off such compelling story in comics without compromises? The tragism of "human race vs super-human race" story has a very Jossian scope, that's for sure.

But...

The choices Joss made so far give me the impression that he won't dare to delve into the heart of the matter and will boil the season down to more traditional and superficial "Bad Initiative vs good slayers" story. Because he consistently eliminates any serious stuff (Ethan Rayne's death is just another proof that this story doesn't need adult characters) and basically serves teenage audience with teenage love agnst, funny quips and cool fights.

The very idea of fighting against evil humans without modern weapons sounds very artificial. Opposing a mirror to high-tech weaponry works OK as a trick but what if bad guys used a bomb instead a ray? Obviously we're not supposed to care about such trifles. Anyway, Willow will heal everybody with a wave of her hand.

There is nothing wrong with it. It's just a different genre. It's all very McGyver-ish, and it works great if we accept the fact that the story has the McGyver level of credibility - i.e. is flippant, light-minded fun where we suspend our disbelief and don't mind implausibilities and give-aways.

Like, Warren is torturing Willow, but she's OK because some magick-y superbeings help her, and, as soon as Buffy arrives, she heals herself instantly. And she can heal everybody else. But she can't restore Xander's eye. Obviously because he looks super-cool with his eye-patch.

The same with Amy: she's a super-witch, she can do almost anything but for some inexplicable reason she has spent a couple of years in Sunnydale crater unable to get out.

The same with supernatural props; portals were hardingers of apocalypses in TV show, but in comics they became just a handy means of transportation.

I see no room for adult characters and adult themes in this kind of story. It's very season one-ish so far. So I think that "human race vs super-human race" story will boil down to "good slayers vs evil Initiative" type of story. Soon we'll find out that The New Initiative is only claiming tо represent the human race and they're just a bunch of evil misogynists whom Scoobies will defeat with quips and jokes.

Commercially, it's a great project. The core audience need good cheesy fun; they couldn't accept dark seasons and now Joss fixes his mistakes and caters to his audience because he needs a successful project after a number of flops.

I wonder if Joss had ever pondered upon the idea to write a novel. Because I think that his current ideas are more suitable for a novel than for a comic. Is writing novels so un-prestigious in America? Or it's just the matter of money?


Conspiracy theories:

Theory #1. The Kiss of True Love, or Bander!

Buffy has been kissed by somebody who had Satsu's lipgloss on his\her lips.

It can't be Satsu herself since she was on the castle wall fighting zombies and shouting "kill the head isn't working!" in her walky-talky when the kiss of true love occurred.

It can't be Willow because she has just arrived.

It can't be other slayerettes because creating such a complex mislead, with the participation of one extra, for another extra is stupid waste of time and paper.

The answer is evident. It was Xander.

I think Joss is repeating himself. (I remember reading somewhere that people lose their ability to create anything original after 40. Just saying.)

I suppose Joss recycles his kiss trick from Our Mrs. Reynolds. In Firefly 1.06 Mal Reynolds, inaware about Inara's love for him, thinks that she has kissed his fake "wife" - a con woman whose kiss puts people to sleep. Since both Mal and Inara fell asleep, Mal assumed that Inara has also kissed "mrs.Reynolds'. But in fact Inara kissed unconscious Mal and got her poison from *his* lips.

The situation is easy to apply here: Satsu tried to seduce Xander at the same time as Amy was performing her spell on Buffy, so she has left some cinnamon lipgloss on his lips.

Xander-as-the-kisser explains why Willow, who, AFAIK, doesn't have telepathic abilities, knows there is a person who's in love with Buffy in the room. She has just arrived and she doesn't know anybody but Xander. And she knows that he loves Buffy since season 1.

It's as simple as that.

Theory #2: Ethan can't die, or clutching at straws.

Has anybody paid attention to weird shadows in Ethan's cell? The light from a rectangular door creates a triangular pattern on one wall, then - oval pattern on another wall. Is it hack-work or it means that the whole tableau is an illusion created by Ethan who is very much alive?

I asked many people including professional artists, could the forms of these shadows mean something. All of them told me that it may be the matter of composition, balancing the light and the dark on the panel. Still, I hope that Ethan isn't completely dead. It just doesn't make sense.

Theory #3: Dark Horse vs Spike, or old wounds

People who read letters column, may have noticed a message of a fan who calls himself Shawler. (S)he hates Spike with a vengeance and colorfully describes how he loathes him. "Spike raped Buffy of most of her humanity and all of her humility... Please don't have Angel or disgusting Spike show up in this series!"

Interestingly, it's the second anti-Spike letter DH publishes. One may assume that the letter is carefully chosen to represent DH official policy: forget about dark themes, season 8 is about cool guys and cute girls. (And a lot of cheese.)

But there is something more. Back in 1998 DH had a row with James Marsters who played Spike. According to James Marsters Question and Answer Database by Bookworm54 JM was very vocal about his displeasure.

(4-04 Starburst) I'm angry about the comic book. I wrote a story that was very clear - it was a twisted romance. They hired a writer and treated it as a Gothic gross-out tale, which wasn't what I wrote. It was a good story, people responded to it, I appreciated that. But if they had done it the way I wrote it, it would have been ten times better. Dark Horse was dishonest with me with how they brought me into the project and what they told me it was going to be. I feel now, unless I can have total control over every single stage of it, I don't have any trust at all. I thought, in all my naivety, that I would have more control if I stopped being an actor and started being a writer. Of course, I found out that is not true.

I can't remember any other occasion of James dissing anybody. He's the nicest guy, he always complimentary on everybody. If he's so harsh on DH in an official interview (!), it means their row was truly epic. Could the editors have a personal vendetta against Spike due to the kerkuffle with the actor who played him?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

To sum it up, the first 4 issues of BtVS s8 indicate that it's a solid commercial project. It's sad to think about the missed opportunities - but I'm trying to look forward to cheesy fun. The first arc looks like magnificent storyboards for Michael Bay's next movie and I don't mind good entertainment.

And, last but not least, I recommend to read great reviews by stormwreath, aycheb and elisi,

http://stormwreath.livejournal.com/16910.html?#cutid1
http://aycheb.livejournal.com/52334.html#cutid1
http://elisi.livejournal.com/258408.html#cutid1

owenthurman's musing on Willow's and Amy's eye color as well as discussion of the issue 4 on Whedonesque

Comments

[sueworld2003.livejournal.com]

Oh I think Ethan's dead alright. Joss probably doesn't see him of any value, as he's not a 18 year old nymphet. *sigh*


Great review love. I wish I loved the comic, but I just don't, sadly.

[speakr2customrs.livejournal.com]

this story doesn't need adult characters) and basically serves teenage audience with teenage love agnst, funny quips and cool fights.

But the Scoobies are adult characters. They're approaching their mid-twenties.

The "humans versus super-humans" aspect just seems silly to me. The Slayers can't be a different race because they are all female; they either breed with human males, and there is nothing to suggest that the offspring of such unions will necessarily be Slayers, or they die out. The only real impact they will have on humanity as a whole will be on the Women's Tennis circuit and Track & Field events at the Olympics. Basically, if you're not a Slayer there's no point in even turning up. But it's hardly a threat to the Earth.

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

I have to say that my impression of the Season 8 thus far is that it's a mess of retcon and a tone that doesn't really fit the series (too X-Men). One thing the Ethan death really clears for me (and my complete non-reaction to it) is that on a very visceral level, on a level below conscious thought, it simply doesn't register as canon for me. It feels and plays in my heart as fanfic and exists in a separate place as a separate universe. Can't change the way I feel. And, honestly, that's more than okay with me as it makes it pretty easy to ignore.

It does seem like somewhere along the line Joss got stuck. He doesn't have new story to tell with these particular characters, so it feels like with the canon characters that he's just moving chess pieces around a board. As far as the Slayettes, he didn't make me care for them in Season 7 and it turns out that I still don't in Season 8.

Basically, I think the comics have an audience, and that's fine. Hope they enjoy it. But really, on just about every level, it seems completely irrelavant to myself and my view of the Whedonverse. My reaction with every issue has been to roll my eyes and poke quasi-affectionate fun of Joss and his predictability.

As for the letters to the editor, I just go on the assumption that controversy is 'fun' to them and making more controversy is all the more 'fun' to them and they're onlyl wating for an equally out of control response in defense of Spike. It seems ridiculous to me, but what the hell.

[cursedfire.livejournal.com]

I don't think DH is against Spike. It!s just probably anti-Spike letters stand out and they have fun printing stuff that might interest people like you and me...


About these comics not needing adult characters, hello? They are adults now. Buffy is supposed to 23 or 24 and that's an adult age.


Please, please, please, no Bander.

[lusciousxander.livejournal.com]

I still don't get it when people say that Joss has something against adult characters. Joss' beloved character Andrew only appeared in two issues, just like Giles, and Giles seems to have something interesting going for him that we'll see in later issues. Buffy, Xander and Willow are also adults: 23 year olds, who act more mature than ever IMO, especially Buffy and Xander, without losing what makes them special: witty puns and quips. Seriously, it's good to see some life into these characters after the dullness of S7, where they were mostly dead on the inside. Being an adult doesn't equal being dull and serious all the time. Adults can joke and have fun, makes them more alive. Also Buffy and Xander seemed dead serious when Willow got kidnapped.

All issues seem adult-y to me, especially the last one, it was quite serious with less jokes and filled more with actions. Bander was only hinted at in #2, which we still don't know if it's true or just Buffy feeling horny and having only Xander as male around.

Anyway, I liked what I read especially the Buffy, Xander and three slayers (Leah, Satsu and Rowena) parts. The Giles parts were interesting, especially his thoughts in #2. I admit the whole Willow arc disappointed me a little. I still wish Dawn will get normal-sized. I wish Ethan wasn't killed. But other than that, it was all cool and didn't give me the S1 feel at all. It was early S7 that gave me the S1 feel (perhaps that's why it was the best part of S7) this one gives me a S4 feel instead.

[aycheb.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the rec.

Some quibbles:

Inexplicably Willow's hair is red in this scene.
The whole panel is in a pinkish sort of sepia, red would be the new black in that context.

In penultimate panel on issue #3 we saw Satsu on the castle wall fighting zombies when the kiss of true love occured.
Zombie fighting was in #2. I think the kiss of true love occurred after the zombies had be sent to the ball so unless Satsu really felt compelled to gavotte there’s no problem with her making back to the bedroom for cinnamon smoochies.

Amy: she's a super-witch, she can do almost anything but for some inexplicable reason she has spent a couple of years in Sunnydale crater unable to get out.
Amy’s powers were augmented by the Initiative. Being in the hellmouth was helping her and Warren grow stronger and from the look of her when they first dug her up, bat-shit insanier, she probably thought she liked it there.

Ethan Rayne's death is just another proof that this story doesn't need adult characters
I’d say Ethan’s death was showing exactly the opposite, it stomps on the happy redemptive ending with big adult boot. I was shocked to see it and shocked that I cared. Typical Joss.

Overall I’d say they were going for something a little more complicated than either man vs. superman or Slayers vs. patriarchs. We've only the General's word that the Slayers being women plays no role in his belief that they won’t ultimately be able to control themselves but within the Buffy universe their demon origin is a serious alternative cause for concern. The shooting of Ethan shows how ruthless the Twilight people can be. They're not nice but then neither is the Buffy who cold-bloodedly ordered the mortal wounding of human soldiers so they could be used as bargaining chips to get Willow back. When all's said and done both the Slayers and the Twilight are completely self-appointed guardians of humanity. I think it'll be very interesting to see how things play out.

[shapinglight]

So far, nobody wrote a convincing "human race vs super-human race" story.

I have to disagree with this, I'm afraid. The X-Men comics have been doing this for years (from the 1960s actually). This whole storyline seems very derivative to me, though of course it's possible that the only reason why Joss is going with it is because he's not satisfied with any of the myriad scenarios exploring this theme that the X-Men has come up with in the last 40 years.

As for the maturity/lack of maturity of the characters, I'm finding it very hard to judge. It's a big problem for me that they look so much younger. It adds to the whole simplified season 1 feeling I'm (like you) getting from the comics so far.

[lusciousxander.livejournal.com]

About Willow and Dawn, here's something from Real Me:

DAWN: (smiling) Willow, hi.
WILLOW: Hey Dawny! (They hug) How's my favorite chess partner? Still leading with your knight?

Dawn shrugs in embarrassment.

DAWN VOICEOVER: Willow's the awesomest person.

Cut back to Dawn in pajamas, now lying on her bed writing in the diary with a smile.
DAWN VOICEOVER: She's the only one I know who likes school as much as me.

[marvelgirl-art.livejournal.com]

ох, васкез, я б с тобой о стольком поспорила.
но не в письменной форме, ибо мартышкин труд такие темы пальцами тараторить)

[frenchani.livejournal.com]

I'm mad about the way Joss used Ethan and killed him off. It's such a waste. As if I needed another proof that those comics aren't for me.

When you think of what BTVS used to be, the depth it had. It feels like Joss is ruining his own work on the comic format. The show twisted clichés, the comics sound like clichés.

:-(

Один из них.

[ntshpp.livejournal.com]

Это не Сатцу. Ее же не было в комнате, в момент «киссинга». Плюс, она никак не отреагировала на слова Баффи о cinnamon – помаду она наверняка взяла у подруги. Да и некрасивая уж больно.
К тому же, слова Сатцу в 9 стр. – «это должна была быть одна из вас» (типа hint). Значит эта одна из тех двоих слеерш - мальчикоподобная блондинка, или рыжая, обе говорят с акцентом. Я ставлю на блондинку.

Для меня эти трое (Сатцу, Леа и Ровена) одинаковы. У них нет индивидуальности. Например, если снять с блондинки бейсболку, переодеть и поставить с в ряд с остальными слейершами - она сразу потеряется. Леа, Сатцу и Ровена близнецы братья – говорим Ленин, подразумеваем Партия!

[mrs-underhill.livejournal.com]

I wish I could say more in reply, but after this issue I'm paralized with not caring. I see they are not going to tie up the arcs but instead to streatch little things forever. I just can't care for who kissed Buffy and what's up with Willow and who's behind Gen.Voll if the resolution won't happen in years. Different media - I can see it at last. I can't care much about Buffy's story in this media.
As for theories:
1) I too think it'll be Xander. Unless they make a joke out of Satsu and kill her soon. If any meaningful storyline is to follow out of it, it has to be Xander.
2) Ethan is dead. I respected Joss for this move - it was gutsy. It stings, and that's how Joss is supposed to make us feel.
3) I think DH printed this letter for its entertainment value. For the readers to say "gaah, what a nutcase". I thought they were ridiculing those views, not endorsing them. They printed a similarily nutty letter about Tara last time, for the same purpose. No, I absolutely don't think they did it because they share this opinion.

[uglybusiness.livejournal.com]

As usual, I enjoyed reading your rewiev much more than the issue itself :) I agree with basically everything you said, only I am even less optimistic about the upcoming issues than you. I feel that instead of bringing "my" "Buffy" back the comics just say with the finality I have avoided for several years that the show and characters I used to love are gone for good. Also, I can't agree more with what one of the posters above said summarizing their impression of the season, "It feels like Joss is ruining his own work on the comic format". That may be my bitterness as well, of course :)

Anyway, thanks for sharing your thoughts (and helping me sort out mine) :) It was a very interesting read!

[stormwreath.livejournal.com]

Interesting review, and your analysis of the long-term conflict was particularly thought-provoking. There were a few other things I didn't agree with, though...

Inexplicably Willow's hair is red in this scene, although it was black on TV. Obviously media change causes some weird color shifts, because Willow's eyes are absolutely blue right now.

It did look odd, because the whole image is a magenta and black duotone but Willow's hair looks red - which almost suggested to me that it's S8 Willow standing looking at a mental image of S6-Warren. The eyes thing is especially odd, especially given that in the final fight scene, they make a big thing of Buffy's eyes turning green (Willow's normal colour) then black - rather than the blue she's been drawn as so far. I speculate that the artist asked what colour Willow's eyes were rather than actually looking at photos of Aly, was told "green", and assumed that meant blue-green rather than her actual green-brown...

Meanwhile Buffy talks with Dawn about Willow outside their Scottish castle; the shadows they cast suggest two suns in the sky.

Or that there's a big spotlight 30m above them, rather than the sun 93 million miles away. :)

In seasons 5-7 Willow\Dawn interaction was minimal except the moments when Willow tried to kill her - first unintentionally, then intentionally.

Apart from the time after 'The Gift' when Willow and her partner moved in with Dawn to act as her surrogate parents, you mean? :)

Buffy chooses a slayerette named Satsu - beautiful Chinese girl with cool katana - as her back-up. Before entering the portal Buffy asks Satsu is she has a lipgloss, and notices that Satsu's lipgloss has cinnamon taste - like the one on her lips after the kiss of true love. (Heh. In penultimate panel on issue #2 we saw Satsu on the castle wall fighting zombies when the kiss of true love occured.)

Satsu's Japanese, not Chinese (her name is Japanese, the katana's Japanese, and her whole Helly Kitty dress sense is pretty Japanese as well). And you've got the timing confused. Satsu's in the big zombie fight at the end of #2. In #3, Willow Jane-Austenises the zombies, Dawn stomps Amy and Willow magically binds her; then we cut to another scene some time later with Willow, Xander and a group of Slayers gathered around Buffy's bed - that's when the kiss happens. (Incidentally, Willow's telepathic enough to hear someone think her name real loud, so I'm not surprised she can also pick up someone in the room lusting after Buffy...). So it's perfectly possible for it to be Satsu who kisses Buffy - which makes possible all sorts of stories about hero-worship and inappropriate crushes, accusations of favouritism by Leah and Rowena, etc. It's an aspect of leadership that Buffy probably never imagined she's have to cope with: what to do when someone younger than you and whom you're in a position of authority over fancies you...

But turns out good guys had magically figured out that bad guys will send a ray.

Or alternatively, the 'magic mirror' would have reflected any spell that was cast at the portal. Making it a ray gun just made for a more obvious visual effect.

Xander locates their position: they're two miles south of Sunnydale.

Which unfortunately, if Sunnydale is based on real-life Santa Barbara, would put them under the Pacific Ocean. :) But I suppose Buffyverse geography is flexible...

A spirit of Amy's mother makes a cameo appearance and says that she saw Amy's nightmares.

That was Buffy saying that, using Willow's magic to take on Catherine Madison's appearance.

(to be continued)

[lorelei-frolick.livejournal.com]

I'm coming really late to the party here, but I have to say I really enjoyed your analysis. I completely agree with you about the portal and Willow's magic. In issue #1 Joss has the magic-scientist-type guy tell Voll that there are no rules with magic, but I'm very sorry that he decided to go that way. Since anything is possible it destroys the tension of the story.

I want Ethan to stay dead. After Warren being not-dead, and Willow being not-mutilated and all the soldiers being healed and everything being all nice and good, I took Ethan's death as proof that people can still die in the Buffyverse. I don't want that taken back.

About novels, they're a totally different medium. Personally, I love writing scripts, hate writing prose. Joss is a visual story-teller. His talent won't necessarily translate well into novels.

And I disagree anyways that comics are unsuitable for dealing with serious issues and themes. Comics have dealt with serious, complicated themes. Graphic novels are really coming into their own now as a serious literary genre too, so I think that opens up the possibilities of being serious in mainstream comics as well. Also, comic books are a subculture genre, and I think it's possible to push the envelope a lot more in terms of disturbing content in comics than, say, on TV.

[sum1-different.livejournal.com]

Hey, thanks for the summaries. Good commentary too. :)