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moscow_watcher) wrote2007-09-08 06:35 pm
moscow_watcher) wrote2007-09-08 06:35 pm
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"Buffy" issue 6 review
I've got the impression that, contrary to the title "No Future For You" future belongs to Faith. The issue screams "Faith spinoff".
Summary:
Faith the Vampire Slayer arc starts with Faith slaying in Cleveland. She gets a phone call from her ex, former director Wood, who asks her to take care of the kids whose mother has become a vampire. Turns out the kids have also been sired so Faith has to dust them. She returns into her small and dilapidated apartment utterly frustrated and miserable to find Giles waiting for her.
Faith informs him wants to retire, but she can't do it because she hasn't a passport or any other papers. Giles proposes her a job after which she could call it quits forever. She has to kill a rogue slayer, Lady Genevieve Savidge, "wealthiest and most-protected heiress in the British Isles" because Giles' sources predicted that if the girl won't be stopped, there will be another end of the world.
Seems that Genevieve also has a watcher (well, kind of): wizard Roden, who encourages her darkness and provokes Genevieve to kill a slayer. Genevieve is genuinely shocked when she sees that the girl is dead, but Roden tells her not to worry: "his boys" (flying demons) will take care of the body. Roden seems to be a mighty wizard, and he is carrying a book with New!Initiative logo on the cover.
Giles explains that there is no way to attack Genevieve directly so Faith has to impersonate an aristocratic debutante and infiltrate Genevieve's inner circle. Giles teaches Faith the rules of etiquette. She has a weird gallucination of a man (a vamp) calling her a whore and she stabs Giles in the arm with a fork (weird moment; hopefully it will be explained later on).
Meanwhile Buffy and Xander have a funny interlude in their Scottish castle. Muscled, fit and manly Xander punches a bag while Buffy ogles him. He mentions his sparring sessions with Renee but quickly adds that he and Renee are just pals. He mentions that Giles in "incommunicado" for several weeks now. Buffy tells him that she has nightmares of "things" chasing her and, before swallowing her, declaring "The queen is dead".
"Long live the queen" - echoes the beast at the background.
Faith and Giles arrive in London (which, for a change, is identified not by Big Ben but by Doctor Who and Rose in front of their phone booth). Obviously, Faith has mastered her English manners as she now speaks like Spike, using the word "sodding". Then again, Giles, seeing Faith in the designer dress, suddenly starts to talk like Faith, saying that she looks "five by five"...
Analysis:
The fish-out-of-the-water set-up is classic and is considered better suited for comedic purposes. The analogy with My Fair Lady is obvious. But No Future For You strives for a dramatic storytelling. Faith-Giles banter is huge fun, but the story is grim and controversial. Two mentors set their respective charges to kill Slayers. Will the darkness of the material clash with whimsical mood of the set-up? So far, fun and darkness go hand in hand without becoming jarring.
Obviously writers "rewound" Faith the way they rewound Spike for AtS season 5. In 2003 Spike turned into a "BtVS season 4 character" as soon as he has crossed over to "Angel". Today Faith is rewritten in a very similar manner, as a "BtVS season 4 character" - bitter, lonely escaped convict who doesn't have a purpose in life.
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stormwreath has interesting meta dedicated to Faith's character development. I basically agree with him - Faith's current problems are nothing but a plot device. Lonely, desperate hero is much more compelling than a character who has everything under control. Problem is, Faith has always been more compelling than Buffy - for that exact reason. And I suppose Vaughn has a reason to enhance her status.
The first thought I had when I finished the issue was about the possibility of Faith spinoff. I can't shake off the impression that Vaughn is using this arc as a "test-screening" of a possible long-running franchise.
Faith is clearly positioned as a Campbellian Hero at the beginning of the Journey. Her voyage from Cleveland to London and her current mission could be the Crossing of the First Threshold; at least all requisite elements - The Call to Adventure, Refusal of the Call, Supernatural Aid - are present. Faith's hallucinations might be another indication: they may be introduced as a convenient plot device (similar to Buffy's dreamspace) and, at the same time, a mystery she has to comprehend. The theme of slayed family (OK, vampire family, but still) may be a prologue to Faith's psychological journey of self-discovery and, maybe, partial re-establishment of family bonds with Scoobies. I remember reading a spoiler that Faith will face her mother's past; her first lines in the issue obviously confirm it.
Could spinoff potential be the reason Faith's isolation from the Scoobies? I suppose so. After all, writers could make Faith accept this mission even if she wasn't that desperate and lonely. But if Vaughn was zeroing in on possible spin-off when he was writing this mini-arc then he had to keep Faith more or less apart from other characters.
Vaughn could be a good writer of Faith spinoff. He confessed that he loves Faith more than Buffy and it shows: Buffy's presence in the issue boils down to expository stuff and Xander-ogling.
Speaking of ogling, Bander vibes become louder with every issue. The Buffy\Xander scene screams "shippy". They may talk about Renee and Giles, but it's not talk, it's set-up that matters. Buffy and Xander could discuss their problems in the library or armury or anywhere else where the writer doesn't have a chance to disrobe the character.
Seasonal arc development is frustratingly absent in this issue too. Of course, the secret of good storytelling is story being a bit ahead of the reader to make him gasp in amazement. But in this case the story is too much ahead. Or behind. Obviously the events of issue 6 happen after the events of the first arc which has ended with a lot of questions; yet nobody mention (even in passing) anything related to The Long Way Home. Does Buffy keep general Voll a prisoner in her castle or she has let him go and continue his nefarious deeds? Did she and her friends researched the archives of the New!Initiative and found out who they are and what they conspire? Does Giles know about the events of the first 4 issues? Is Dawn still a giant? What happened between Willow and Kennedy?
Obviously something kept happening to the characters all this time, but we're not allowed to know. Then again, it's "comics timeline", which means that time doesn't exist. It could be a month that has passed between issue 4 and 6. It could be a day. I wonder how many issues later we'll find out what happened after Buffy's "Oh... kay" and if we'll find it out at all.
Curiously, with each issue Buffy looks younger and younger. On the latest panel she has pigtails and she looks like a 16-years old girl. Will she reach kindergarten age by the end of the season? But formally she's the Big Boss. In Giles' absence she runs everything (although she never bothers with legal and financial matters... OK, I agree to suspend my disbelief). Faith's panels are very uneven: some close-ups are beautiful and inspired, some are plain ugly. As to Genevieve, on her full-face panels she looks like Renee's twin. Seriously, when I saw the first panel with Genevieve, my first thought was "Renee and Xander are having a very good time, but why is Xander wearing a red jacket?"
Bottom line: I like the issue. But I still like fic Ransomed byanaross better (it's a story about Faith, Spike, Giles, Xander and Andrew running a Slayer school in California).
Summary:
Faith the Vampire Slayer arc starts with Faith slaying in Cleveland. She gets a phone call from her ex, former director Wood, who asks her to take care of the kids whose mother has become a vampire. Turns out the kids have also been sired so Faith has to dust them. She returns into her small and dilapidated apartment utterly frustrated and miserable to find Giles waiting for her.
Faith informs him wants to retire, but she can't do it because she hasn't a passport or any other papers. Giles proposes her a job after which she could call it quits forever. She has to kill a rogue slayer, Lady Genevieve Savidge, "wealthiest and most-protected heiress in the British Isles" because Giles' sources predicted that if the girl won't be stopped, there will be another end of the world.
Seems that Genevieve also has a watcher (well, kind of): wizard Roden, who encourages her darkness and provokes Genevieve to kill a slayer. Genevieve is genuinely shocked when she sees that the girl is dead, but Roden tells her not to worry: "his boys" (flying demons) will take care of the body. Roden seems to be a mighty wizard, and he is carrying a book with New!Initiative logo on the cover.
Giles explains that there is no way to attack Genevieve directly so Faith has to impersonate an aristocratic debutante and infiltrate Genevieve's inner circle. Giles teaches Faith the rules of etiquette. She has a weird gallucination of a man (a vamp) calling her a whore and she stabs Giles in the arm with a fork (weird moment; hopefully it will be explained later on).
Meanwhile Buffy and Xander have a funny interlude in their Scottish castle. Muscled, fit and manly Xander punches a bag while Buffy ogles him. He mentions his sparring sessions with Renee but quickly adds that he and Renee are just pals. He mentions that Giles in "incommunicado" for several weeks now. Buffy tells him that she has nightmares of "things" chasing her and, before swallowing her, declaring "The queen is dead".
"Long live the queen" - echoes the beast at the background.
Faith and Giles arrive in London (which, for a change, is identified not by Big Ben but by Doctor Who and Rose in front of their phone booth). Obviously, Faith has mastered her English manners as she now speaks like Spike, using the word "sodding". Then again, Giles, seeing Faith in the designer dress, suddenly starts to talk like Faith, saying that she looks "five by five"...
Analysis:
The fish-out-of-the-water set-up is classic and is considered better suited for comedic purposes. The analogy with My Fair Lady is obvious. But No Future For You strives for a dramatic storytelling. Faith-Giles banter is huge fun, but the story is grim and controversial. Two mentors set their respective charges to kill Slayers. Will the darkness of the material clash with whimsical mood of the set-up? So far, fun and darkness go hand in hand without becoming jarring.
Obviously writers "rewound" Faith the way they rewound Spike for AtS season 5. In 2003 Spike turned into a "BtVS season 4 character" as soon as he has crossed over to "Angel". Today Faith is rewritten in a very similar manner, as a "BtVS season 4 character" - bitter, lonely escaped convict who doesn't have a purpose in life.
stormwreath has interesting meta dedicated to Faith's character development. I basically agree with him - Faith's current problems are nothing but a plot device. Lonely, desperate hero is much more compelling than a character who has everything under control. Problem is, Faith has always been more compelling than Buffy - for that exact reason. And I suppose Vaughn has a reason to enhance her status.The first thought I had when I finished the issue was about the possibility of Faith spinoff. I can't shake off the impression that Vaughn is using this arc as a "test-screening" of a possible long-running franchise.
Faith is clearly positioned as a Campbellian Hero at the beginning of the Journey. Her voyage from Cleveland to London and her current mission could be the Crossing of the First Threshold; at least all requisite elements - The Call to Adventure, Refusal of the Call, Supernatural Aid - are present. Faith's hallucinations might be another indication: they may be introduced as a convenient plot device (similar to Buffy's dreamspace) and, at the same time, a mystery she has to comprehend. The theme of slayed family (OK, vampire family, but still) may be a prologue to Faith's psychological journey of self-discovery and, maybe, partial re-establishment of family bonds with Scoobies. I remember reading a spoiler that Faith will face her mother's past; her first lines in the issue obviously confirm it.
Could spinoff potential be the reason Faith's isolation from the Scoobies? I suppose so. After all, writers could make Faith accept this mission even if she wasn't that desperate and lonely. But if Vaughn was zeroing in on possible spin-off when he was writing this mini-arc then he had to keep Faith more or less apart from other characters.
Vaughn could be a good writer of Faith spinoff. He confessed that he loves Faith more than Buffy and it shows: Buffy's presence in the issue boils down to expository stuff and Xander-ogling.
Speaking of ogling, Bander vibes become louder with every issue. The Buffy\Xander scene screams "shippy". They may talk about Renee and Giles, but it's not talk, it's set-up that matters. Buffy and Xander could discuss their problems in the library or armury or anywhere else where the writer doesn't have a chance to disrobe the character.
Seasonal arc development is frustratingly absent in this issue too. Of course, the secret of good storytelling is story being a bit ahead of the reader to make him gasp in amazement. But in this case the story is too much ahead. Or behind. Obviously the events of issue 6 happen after the events of the first arc which has ended with a lot of questions; yet nobody mention (even in passing) anything related to The Long Way Home. Does Buffy keep general Voll a prisoner in her castle or she has let him go and continue his nefarious deeds? Did she and her friends researched the archives of the New!Initiative and found out who they are and what they conspire? Does Giles know about the events of the first 4 issues? Is Dawn still a giant? What happened between Willow and Kennedy?
Obviously something kept happening to the characters all this time, but we're not allowed to know. Then again, it's "comics timeline", which means that time doesn't exist. It could be a month that has passed between issue 4 and 6. It could be a day. I wonder how many issues later we'll find out what happened after Buffy's "Oh... kay" and if we'll find it out at all.
Curiously, with each issue Buffy looks younger and younger. On the latest panel she has pigtails and she looks like a 16-years old girl. Will she reach kindergarten age by the end of the season? But formally she's the Big Boss. In Giles' absence she runs everything (although she never bothers with legal and financial matters... OK, I agree to suspend my disbelief). Faith's panels are very uneven: some close-ups are beautiful and inspired, some are plain ugly. As to Genevieve, on her full-face panels she looks like Renee's twin. Seriously, when I saw the first panel with Genevieve, my first thought was "Renee and Xander are having a very good time, but why is Xander wearing a red jacket?"
Bottom line: I like the issue. But I still like fic Ransomed by
anaross better (it's a story about Faith, Spike, Giles, Xander and Andrew running a Slayer school in California).
no subject
Obviously writers "rewound" Faith the way they rewound Spike for AtS season 5. In 2003 Spike turned into a "BtVS season 4 character" as soon as he has crossed over to "Angel".
Yes and no. Yes, in AtS S5 Spike was much more laddish than he had been since S4, but a lot of this could be put down to Angel's influence (Angel also turned all petulant around Spike). The difference that I'm seeing is that S5 Spike (although being sucked into hell etc), is clear on who he is - he's a hero. Angel tries to undermine this of course (because he feels threatened), and it works to some extent, but we never see Spike do anything ambiguous until he tortures the Doctor in 'Shells' - and by then he and Angel are very much Champions working side-by-side, all bickering put to side for the time being. Faith however seems to be back to her S4 *mindset*, fighting against a feeling of worthlessness (trying to get fake passports echoing her theft of Buffy's). So rather than character *development* it feels like a backslide. This is of course entirely possible, esp given the set-up, but it makes me sad.
Speaking of ogling, Bander vibes become louder with every issue.
You think so? Sorry, I see only friendship - Xander's refusal of anything 'going on with Rene' only re-inforcing that he *is* interested in her (Rene). Xander was always 'the heart', and Buffy confiding in him is very nice, considering how they were beginning to mend their fences at the end of S7. But I don't get a single shippy vibe, sorry. (Also it's icky.)
Seasonal arc development is frustratingly absent in this issue too.
I thought it a big plus. One character, one story - hurrah! Couldn't care less about the Buffy side.
Will she reach kindergarten age by the end of the season?
Bwah!
no subject
I won't say icky :) but I agree. The scene was mostly about friendship for me, especially since by S7, Buffy and Xander were growing closer as friends. Her staring at Xander screamed more 'Buffy mockingly gaze at something silly Xander is doing', she usually did that on the show.
no subject
I don't see mocking. Maybe because I correlate this page to Buffy's erotic dream about Xander. And her next close-up shows that she's uphappy with Renee being Xander's "sparring partner". After many sparring sessions with Spike Buffy perfectly realises the implications... :)
no subject
I'm trying to be optimistic about it. In the majority of cases BtVS characters develop along the "good - evil" axis. So when a characters starts on a good side there is a strong chance to see them turning evil (Angel, Willow). OTOH, Spike and Faith have started as evil but eventually both turned good.
So I say to myself that Faith accepting a wetwork is the beginning of a long and compelling journey with many twists and revelations.
I see only friendship - Xander's refusal of anything 'going on with Rene' only re-inforcing that he *is* interested in her (Rene). Xander was always 'the heart', and Buffy confiding in him is very nice, considering how they were beginning to mend their fences at the end of S7.
I rather see Buffy seeking a chance to see Xander shirtless. And Xander being clueless about Renee's feelings.
I thought it a big plus. One character, one story - hurrah! Couldn't care less about the Buffy side.
I wouldn't mind the absence of seasonal arc development if issue 6 didn't mention Buffy at all. But she and Xander have a pretty long (by comics standards) talk and there pages don't move the story along at all. Buffy has caught general Voll when he has commited a murder. And? Was he arrested? Has he managed to escape? Has Buffy just let him go, his crime notwithstanding? Or maybe Joss has already forgotten about it?
I tend to believe the latter. The scene in the training room was written to demonstrate sexy manly Xander and everything that happened in the first 4 issues won't have any consequences.
no subject
Oh same here. Or as many twists and turns as can be packed into 4 issues...
I rather see Buffy seeking a chance to see Xander shirtless. And Xander being clueless about Renee's feelings.
It's a dream. Buffy *might* be interested, since there's no one else, but even dream!Xander is trying to hide.
I tend to believe the latter. The scene in the training room was written to demonstrate sexy manly Xander and everything that happened in the first 4 issues won't have any consequences.
Ouch! But I have to say that I can't really see any layers, which is sad. It's interesting though, because I'm re-watching Doctor Who (it's on every night at 7pm), and even the rubbish episodes usually have lots of metaphorical and thematical stuff going on, which is v. nice to discover. I'm praying that something similar will be the case with S8 - that once we know what's happening stuff will show hidden meanings. Um, prayer alone might not do... how does one perform a ritual sacrifice?
no subject
Joining your prayers. But I have more hopes for AtS s6 than for BtVS s8.
no subject
no subject
ominousinteresting?