moscow_watcher | Spike: Shadow Puppets issue 4 summary and review

Issue 1 review Issues 2-3 review
The last issue's title is Doppelgangbang - a reference to another classic Joss episode that spawned a lot of fanwank and fanfics (including the ones written by yours truly). In this issue Spike's story goes global only to end on a small intimate note.

Previouslies are courtesy of Ratio Hornblower. Quite a bold move - to pass the narrative to a bad guy and make him quite funny. His remark about Tok "practicing the ancient art of ninja stealth by wearing a cande apple red costume" made me chuckle and suspense my disbelief, and it was the right thing to do because issue 4 is quite ingenious it testing the limits of writers' licence.

As Puppet!Angelus pierce Puppet!Spike with a sword and Spike, undeterred, attacks him with sais, two Evil!Puppet!Gunns join Angelus. It was the first surprise. I knew that many characters has to make guest appearances but I never expected two different versions of the same chjaracter.

The fight is kickass. Movements, facial expressions, composition of the page - everything is flawless. Flying stuffing - white and fluffy - reminded me an idea Alan Parker used in Bugsy Malone: he parodied classic gangster movies by substituting real guns with fake weapons that shoot creme (a homage to silent comedies, obviously). Urru achieves similar results with white stuffing instead of red blood: his visuals are unusual and a bit surrealistic almost-monochrome with expressive red splatters of Angelus shirt and eyes.

The dialogues are sparkling with humor and po-mo references: Spike to Fake!Puppet! Gunn: "Who's writing your dialogue, Chuck?"

As Spike fights evil puppets, Tok and Lorne climb the broadcasting tower and reach the stage where Dickie Duck is performing live. His act is broadcast all around the world. But turns out it's not a Dickie Duck. It's Smile Time posing as Dickie Duck and sucking life force from the audience. (Right. Aren't all these dumb politically correct children shows the products of the same Disney corporation?)

Meanwhile the number of Spike's puppet enemies grows. Puppet!Drusilla with Puppet!Miss Edit. (Puppet!Puppet - can you imagine something more surreal?) Three Wesleys: classic!Wesley in suit; bloodied!Wesley from NFA and - squeee! - new!Wesley (obviously, from upcoming season 6) - kinda undead, judging by the color of his skin. Puppet!Cordy and puppet!Connor in unexpected cameos. Half-Illyria, half\Fred (could it be another spoiler for upcoming season 6?).

But these enemies prove to be ineffective. They quickly forget about Spike and start to sort out their relationships. I wonder if's a reference to fanfiction - it's no secret that the majority of fanfics are focused on ships and dismiss plot as an unnesessary distraction.

Anyway, Puppet!Angelus declares that Smile Time has gone global and is sucking the energy from everybody who watches the broadcast. Nobody is safe. Even Joss Whedon and Brian Lynch who happen to watch Duck's performance.

It's the most surreal and the most hilarious panel of the issue. Partly - because of the current sutiation in the fandom: right now a shipper war is raging on Dark Horse forums and the most vocal is a shipper group usually referred as Ducks. So a panel with showrunners watching Duck's antics is a highlight.

But, besides unintentional fun there is an intentional beautiful (if a bit narcissic) metaphor on this panel.

Writer's self-insertion into the story is a tricky thing. Fanfic-y even. But it's a continuation of already established tradition (only on a bigger scale) and it works. In TV episode it was David Fury who played the role of a puppeteer whose puppets became stronger than him. It was an incredibly clever and subtle commentary to Fury's attitude towards Spike. In the comic it's Whedon and Lynch who are victims of their characters. Yes, the characters you create may suck you dry and leave exhausted and half-dead. And these characters may save and reinvigorate you.

Of course, our heroes save the day (as well as Whedon and Lynch). Finally, Lorne has a chance to shine. In the time of artificial TV starlets he's the one who knows about live performance, and Dickie Duck can't compete with him. Tok deals with the minions - dragon and Hornblower. Spike blows up the broadcasting dish with the "official cannon", Beck uses her pirokinetic abilities to burn the evil egg.

Yay team! And Spike finally has an epiphany: "I'm people who bloody damn well need people". On the last panel he accepts Mrs. Konikoff's invitation and plays mah-jong with four old ladies.

Looking forward to his adventures in "Angel: After the Fall". I'm intrigued by Lynch's approach although I'm not sure this game-playing with the audience could be viable on Angel: AtF. Spike Shadow Puppets is a perfect playground for post-modernist experiments because of its quirky, whimsical premise. I think A:AtF needs more straightforward storytelling. Anyway, Joss Whedon has inserted himself into Buffy's dreamspace and it was quite cute and funny. Although in reality it's the other way around.

Is it November already?

P.S. There is a fanfic very similar to the ambience of issue 4 - Buffy the Cliche Slayer by Steve-0 Highly recommended. :)))

Spike: Shadow Puppets issue 4 summary and review

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