BtVS # 15, AtF # 8 reviews

[moscow_watcher]

BtVS issue 15

Summary:

The majority of panels in issue 15 depict the big battle against Japanese vampires. As it usually happens on BtVS, characters metaphorically fight their fears and frustrations - and win. Dawn faces Mecha!Dawn (complete with a lizard tail!) who is programmed as a whiny teenager - and decapitates her. Willow fights with a witch Kumiko - a metaphor of her dark side resurfacing in a desperate situation - and, thanks to Buffy's intervention, wins. (Looks like Willow and Kumiko had learned their magic from the same source - woman-snake Saga Vasuki). Xander gets the chance to avenge Renee's death thus finishing his transformation from Xander Harris to Xander Fury, as Tallgent says in his wonderful review. Buffy learns to delegate - she orders Satsu to lead Slayers when she jumps down to help Willow. Dracula symbolically hands Xander to Buffy after the battle. Buffy has a farewell sex with Satsu who wants to stay away to stop loving her and stays in Tokyo as a field leader thus getting a promotion. Xander spreads Renee's ashes on the wind.

Spoilery thoughts:

Willow and Saga Vasuki. I think Willow turned to her to resurrect Kennedy. As a result Willow - advertently or inadvertently, traded her knowledge with Saga Vasuki, who, in turn, gave tips to Kumiko. Including the information about the Scythe. Could it be the betrayal in question? By "somebody very close"?

Dawn. As it was already revealed by the cover of issue 18, poor girl will turn into a Centaur. Very unexpected but pretty logical. She has overcome her whiny self, time to deal with inter-species sex. After all, Centaurs were the first hybrid of human and non-human races (I watch too much BSG).

Xander and Buffy. Looks like they both are conveniently single, finally, and Bander ship is ready to raise the sails. (But of course it won't happen immediately because Buffy will to to Frayverse in the next issue).

I wonder if Satsu getting a promotion immediately after sleeping with Buffy should be regarded as a bad thing or it was just a plot convention, like Xander spreading Renee's ashes instead of sending the urn to her relatives. Interestingly, two prominent supporting players - two "love interests" - were written out of the show simultaneously, opening the door to Frayverse characters.

Some musings:

Well, it's official: I'm old. I'm a fan of a previous generation. I expected Godzilla to make an appearance. It never occured to me that Goddard may introduce a mecha. But, at least, the robot has a reptilian tail, so I feel oddly comfortable with Mecha!Dawn.

I'm asking myself again if I will ever learn to enjoy comics properly. My problem is that I got used to texts, to movies. BtVS season 8 were my first comics. When I started reading them I struggled through and wondered if Joss has lost his creative streak. But recently I read the script of Dollhouse pilot - and it was a feast. Gripping story, well-defined characters, intriguing twists - I was totally captivated. And now I think I enjoyed it so much because it was a text. I read it and I could mentally "see" what I read. And the pictures in my brain moved and talked, I could "hear" Eliza's voice with her typical inflections, I could "see" Tahmoh's reactions, I could easily project my own vision on the words on the page.

But I can't make comics panels "move" no matter how hard I try. Maybe it's because I don't have any previous experience in comics - but to me it's like Beethoven's symphonies in a hip-hop arrangement.

On the other hand, deird1's essay helped me to realise one important thing. As long as I regard season 8 not as a sequel but as a reboot, everything is OK. I enjoy the stories, the dialogs, the "editing". The characters... well, they are different, but it's normal. We don't complain that Hugh Jackman's Van Helsing doesn't act like Anthony Hopkins' Van Helsing. We find it normal that Gary Oldman's Dracula turned into "our" sweet old Drac who has a soul, is secretly in love with Xander and agrees to help Buffy. Dracula's mythology survived dozens of reboots and is still alive. Hopefully Buffy's will also survive. This new Buffy who robs banks to get money for medieval castles and radar systems isn't the Buffy who worked at Doublemeat Palace to pay the bills.

Maybe Buffy the Tragic Hero gives way to Buffy the Action Hero? We'll see.

Angel: AtF #8

I'm afraid I don't have much to say about the issue. The stories about Gwen and "civilians" were too short: when I started to get interested, they ended. The art of "Civilians" is very unusual and expressive. And the selection of movies on Sunset 5 Cinema (an actual movie theater in West Hollywood) made my inner filmgeek squee with pleasure. Here they are:

Valentine with David Boreanaz
Chance and House on the Haunted Hills with James Marsters
My Bodyguard with Adam Baldwin
Good Burger with J. August Richards
The Indian the the Cupboard with Vincent Kartheiser
First Knight with Alexis Denisoff
Catch Me If You Can with Amy Acker

The usherette's name is Alice. I wonder if it's a reference to Alice in Wonderland or a tribute to a real person.
The final panels of Civilians are incredibly poignant. I cried when I read them. Curiously, it's the second time when I have such strong emotional reaction to BtVS/AtS comics, and the first time it was also a reaction on a new character - a decoy slayer in issue 5 of season 8. I don't think it's a coincidence; I think I may grew too attached to the characters to enjoy the story about their tribulations. I'm drowning in worries and this is not a good way to appreciate a work of art. But I can't distance from them no matter how hard I try.

Gunn's story is fascinating and frustrating at the same time. Turns out he has been abducted by a group of vampires who "were watching the entire time", who "have an inside line", "work under Wolfram and Hart's radar" and who say that he's "more important than he knows". That's all we find out. So instead of revelations we get another mystery.

flake_sake notes in her review that vampire's words about Gunn's importance are echoing words that invisible voice has said about Wes the issue before. Looks like somebody up there is pulling the strings. Or, for some obscure reason the persons who had a relationship with Fred are crucial for... for... something. It's frustrating to stay in the dark. Thank heavens we'll have the next issue soon!

Comments

[http://users.livejournal.com/woman_of_/]

I guess you enjoyed Season Eight more than me this time. I really didn't like this story arc at all. It is the worse so far!

I liked AtS #8, not a favourite, but I liked Gwen's story the most. I really felt for her when she could no longer touch anymore, and still had not experienced a full relationship!

Great review

[rowanda380.livejournal.com]

Xander and Buffy. Looks like they both are conveniently single, finally, and Bander ship is ready to raise the sails. (But of course it won't happen immediately because Buffy will to to Frayverse in the next issue).

yes, yes...they have been hinting at this since the begining and Renee threw me for a curve...but now we are back on track for...not sure I am happy about it though.

[stormwreath.livejournal.com]

Chance and House on the Haunted Hills with James Marsters

Surely that should be 'Chance, written, directed and starred in by Amber Benson'? Although it's true that Tara never appeared in 'Angel', so...


I think Willow turned to her to resurrect Kennedy.

Possible, but I get the strong impression that Kennedy's death was pre-planned and deliberate. After all, she says "You know I'd die for you - oh wait, I did. Admittedly it was mystical and kinda mellow, but headline: death." Maybe Kennedy died to save Willow's life or something like that, but the idea I prefer is that it was some soert of magical ritual Kennedy volunteered for. (I don't know if you've read 'Legally Dead' but that gets across the same idea in more words...)

[beer-good-foamy.livejournal.com]

Nice review!

She has overcome her whiny self

I really hope that's not the purpose of the Giant!Dawn arc, as tallgent among others speculate - considering she pretty much did exactly that in s7 of the TV show. Even if s7 doesn't seem to be required viewing for the comics writers, it would kind of suck if one of the characters spent half of season 8 just trying to get back to where she should have been at the start of it if they'd left her alone.

Bander ship is ready to raise the sails.

Still not seeing neither the foundation nor the purpose of that. Then again, I didn't see Butsu either, so what do I know? :-)

I can't make comics panels "move" no matter how hard I try. Maybe it's because I don't have any previous experience in comics - but to me it's like Beethoven's symphonies in a hip-hop arrangement.

Nicely put. Especially since I've heard one or two hip-hop songs that actually managed to sample classical music and make it sound good - it's not even close to the real thing, of course, but it's a different take on it. Cover versions can be good sometimes. (Though tying this back to the Tokyo arc, I always hated the way Puff Daddy butchered Led Zeppelin's "Kashmir" on the soundtrack to Godzilla.)

The final panels of Civilians are incredibly poignant.

The more I think about it, that was probably the strongest part of "First Night" - not necessarily all of "Civilians," but that one page; it captured the spirit of Angel a lot better than most of the stories the comics have told so far. If we'd gotten more stuff like that, it might have seemed less frustrating; as it is, I can't help thinking that the last three issues told us very little we didn't already know and I just want them to get on with it. Funny thing; the Buffy comics seem to refuse to tell us how they got to where they are, and the Angel ones are so hooked up on details they can barely get the story started...

[shapinglight]

I agree that as far as 'ships go, Bander's more likely than anything. However, I'm not expecting it in a hurry - maybe not till season 8 ends in two years' time, and maybe not even then if there's to be a season 9, because it's a fundamental rule in comics (as in TV drama) that if couples get together awful things have to happen to them to keep them interesting.

The story of Scott Summers and Jean Grey of the X-Men is a case in point (I'm talking the comics here, not the movies). By now, I think the couple must have been through every twist and turn the writers can think of -in the Summers-Grey case, Jean turning into an all-powerful pan-galactic entity, the Phoenix, dying the save the universe, a doppelganger of her turning up which Scott married, but was later found out to be a clone. Meanwhile, it turned out the Phoenix had never been Jean at all and the real Jean turned up, at which point I think Scott abandoned his wife but that was okay because she turned out to be evil anyway - and so on and so on.

I think at some point Jean turned out to be the Phoenix after all (possibly not, I forget) and I've completely lost track now, but last time I looked she was dead again and Scott was paired up with someone else (not for the first time). Also, there's a possibility that Jean was in love with Wolverine, like in the movies.

Which is all a long-winded way of saying that I don't expect Bander in the near future (and would rather have more Xacula anyway).

I liked AtF 8 but I agree the stories were very brief. Also, I think it's high time to get back to the main event.

Should also have said, I enjoyed your reviews very much. They're always very insightful, especially to do with long-running themes, which I tend to miss a lot.

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

Xander and Buffy. Looks like they both are conveniently single, finally, and Bander ship is ready to raise the sails. (But of course it won't happen immediately because Buffy will to to Frayverse in the next issue).


I'm so glad this happens after the whole thing has been filed in a "totally not canon" folder in my head. If it doesn't feel like the show, it's not canon for the show. It doesn't how much Joss may say so or how logical it would be that it's canon. It simply doesn't feel like canon to me and given the story, I'm more than okay with that.

[deird1]

(By the way, you spelled my username wrong. If people click on my name, they'll end up with a "no such user" message..)

[sonicyouth123.livejournal.com]

Hey. Long time lurker of your LJ, first time....writer? poster? commenter?

First of all, great review. Great reviews for the past six months or so, actually.

Okay, so the question I'm sort of flittering (if that's even a word) towards is thus: I was a massive fan of the Buffyverse, back when it was on our television screens (though probably not quite to the extent of you and a lot of others who post here). I happen to think both series ended just at the right times. Well, when I say that, I would like to have seen more consdering I loved both Buffy and Angel, but at the same time, I think that Buffy in particular was definitely running out of steam, and I'm glad they ended it before it became a parody of itself.

But that's just me. So with that in mind, would you recommend the comics to a non-comic book fan? In terms of 'what happened next in the Buffyverse?', I'm more morbidly curious that desperate to find out. I don't want a series of terrible portrayals of characters I've loved in the past to ruin said characters for me, but at the same time, that niggling feeling of 'so how's Xander doing with one eye anyways?' is still there. I'm sort of up to speed with the comics thanks to your reviews, and others online, but there's no way you can really get the full gist of the stories from reviews.

So what do you think? Sorry if that was kinda long, and if you're a football fan, I wish Russia luck tomorrow. And if you aren't...then I still do, because you play a good game. Thanks.

[caromiofic.livejournal.com]

I guess it's morbid curiosity, but I keep checking on these stupid things every so often. Ugh. It might be easier to accept, if they were new versions with all new people behind it, like someone making a remake, ya know, but.....The fact that it's Joss, and I still haven't heard about a single thing that makes me happy as a fan....bleh. I'll hug my DVDs and stick to fanfic. So sad. :(

[powerofthebook.livejournal.com]

Good reviews!

She has overcome her whiny self

She certainly has. Dawn's grown up in more than one way - she wants to fly the nest, but can't. So she turns instead to action. Interestingly enough, the Greek meaning of "centaur" is "Bull Slayer," or "piercing bull." Perhaps this means she's the member of the Scooby gang now slated with the job of cutting through everyone else's bull?

And yes, the Bander ship has been sighted off the port bow.

Looks like somebody up there is pulling the strings.

Very much so! Lots of cryptic talk about the importance of different people in an overall plan that has yet to go into action. Kind of reminds me of the earlier seasons of the new BSG. Even though they'd nearly exterminated mankind, that wasn't the end of it. And they have a plan...for the people who are left.

Of course, if the vamps that took Gunn are telling the truth, that means there are two big "plans" in existence - although the Wolfram and Hart one seems like much more of a threat at the moment. Again, I wonder about Angel's humanity, and whether or not this is part of the "plan," or will play a key role in upsetting it.

[9ivalent1na5-54.livejournal.com]

Прикольный пост... :)
Всегда завидовала творческим людям... Когда нибудь и я научусь...
Буду очень признательна, если поможете мне победить в конкурсе красоты (http://mis-runet.com/?a=125550).
Победа в этом конкурсе ОЧЕНЬ много для меня значит! Заранее благодарна всем, кто откликнется на мою просьбу.

С Уважением, Валентина.