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beer_good_foamySo I finally got a hold of #28. I was already spoiled on some stuff, and I'm sure most of the fine details have already been ironed out elsewhere, but here's a kind of review anyway.
"Have you tried not being a Slayer?" - Joyce Summers, Buffy the Vampire Slayer 2.22
"But what if I can't? I've seen too much. I know what goes bump in the night. Not being able to fight it... What if I just hide under my bed, all scared and helpless? Or what if I just become pathetic? Hanging out at the old Slayer's home, talking people's ears off about my glory days, showing them Mr. Pointy, the stake I had bronzed." - Buffy Summers, Buffy the Vampire Slayer 3.12
"I feel weak. I don't like it." - Satsu, Season 8 #28
"Cheap holiday in other people's misery." - Sex Pistols, "Holidays In The Sun"
So, the good news is that Dawn didn't continue her trend of falling for abusive assholes. The bad news is that as a love interest for Xander, I'd be very surprised – shocked, even - if she makes it past the preview of #29.
And just like the whole Buffy/Satsu brouhaha (which I'm still waiting for some sort of follow-up for, btw), the OMGSOMETHINGSHOCKINGWILLHAPPEN thing just distracts from what continues to be a decent story. Even if I feel the writers ought to focus more on piecing the still haphazard plot together rather than introducing brand-new ships, it helps develop the story – assuming the story is connected to how Buffy feels at the moment – and frankly, the shippiness angle is the least interesting thing here. As in the previous issue there is (finally) plenty of character interaction, and they're (finally) TALKING to each other. All of them. How fucking cool is that? Rather than just mope around behind each other's backs and digging holes to fall into, they're actually talking things out. Trusting each other to be able to take each others' bad sides. And digging holes. Well, you can't have everything.
We get a very nice conversation between Buffy and Faith (which seems to ignore their encounter in "No Future For You", but I guess since that that fallout was just a way to isolate Buffy further, it's served its purpose). Faith wanting to give up her power? Well, it's in keeping with her Season 8 story, I guess. Plus it explicitly contradicts #24, which I suppose makes it good by lack of association.
And then all the major discussions – Xander and Dawn, Buffy and Xander, Willow and Oz, Willow and Buffy – all focus on the issue that the TV series got at least a couple of seasons out of, but which it's been clear for some time that we're going to repeat: how do you reconcile fighting evil and trying to live your own life? But it's nicely done, and if there's any complaint here, it's that every conversation seems to be a little too self-consciously on-topic – everyone's talking about how good it would be to give up the fight and have a life, have something to be for rather than just fight against, to "point to the safe", love and babies and turnips and everything but the fact that they've got 7 billion people and an unknown number of demons trying to kill them. Surely at least some of them would be talking about yaks, which are a source of endless comedy? Then again, the whole thing is edited together by Andrew, so I can buy that. (Not sure they needed to repeat the exact same joke about him and Jonathan facing Dark Willow as in "Storyteller", though. It was funnier the first time.)
And all of it does something that's been sorely lacking for long stretches of the comic: show us how the characters feel, what they want, and then reflect it back on our main protagonist. The only one who remains a complete cipher by the end is Giles, who's starting to look mighty suspicious (note the Sex Pistols t-shirt... it's looking like an unlimited amount of problems, no feelings, no fun, and possibly bodies in Giles' future.)
One key scene is the discussion between Willow and Oz. Because as enviable as Oz' life may seem, Willow has a point: what Oz does is giving up, in a sense, at least to her. Here's the big problem/opportunity of the setup of the series, the clash between fighting your own metaphorical demons and fighting the real demons in the metaphorical story. Oz is happy (for now), he's at peace; he's beaten his own demons.
OZ: You can be done, Will. You can just be Willow Rosenberg. Just let the Earth take the magic and you'll feel it sliding away...
Which would be fine if it wasn't for the fact that Willow has actual real-life flesh and blood (and scale) demons to face, too. Or, if you prefer, that what brings peace to one person doesn't necessarily bring peace to another. Just like working in one more-or-less uniform Slayer organisation doesn't work for everyone, neither does farming turnips for the rest of one's life work for everyone. One person's retreat is another's flight. Which makes Willow's turnaround in the end rather sad; as nice as it is to see her start to find peace, we all know that it's not going to last. And the odds on Oz' trusting her with his son getting a much darker revisit within two issues are dropping the whole time.
WILLOW: We can all have futures, Buffy. Even you.
Even if they didn't have Twilight breathing down their necks, this would still feel all wrong. Buffy's words in "Restless" weren't "Some day I'll settle down and have babies." Nor was it "I'll be a soldier till it kills me." It was "I'm gonna be a fireman when the floods roll back" – which obviously can't be taken literally (though I'm sure there's been fic of that), but still: the idea is toget the girl keep fighting. That's what Buffy was built for, that's what she's always returned to in some sense. There's more than one fight to fight, more than one arena to fight it in, more than one way to skin a bat. Having a future that's your own involves not simply buying someone else's package deal. (Not to mention that the idea of Slayers getting rid of their power in order to do housework is... iffy, to say the least.)
But for the most part it's a very welcome and seductive wake-up to the need for having a long-term goal of living rather than just slaying (which would work even better if it hadn't been painfully obvious since #1, but hey.) Don't get me wrong, there's still some very odd moments, like Willow's wild mood swings in her conversation with Oz and her later complete lack thereof upon finding out that her best friend expects to kill her... I mean, has killed her... no wait, will have has killing-ed... whatever, but that's obviously a plot point showing us that Willow is going to – no? OK, my bad. I guess the scoobies see nothing out of the ordinary in killing each other at this point. But at least it's out there, which is a huge improvement, as is Buffy starting to listen to others. We've had the thesis, we've had the antithesis, and they both look like (metaphorical or even actual) suicide; now let's have something else, let's have a plan that doesn't involve remote mountains.
But so far everyone continues to stick to Operation Sitting Duck, one or three dissenting voices notwithstanding. OK, given how many readers still seem to assume that the message of Season 8 will be "power is bad" and end with everyone getting de-slayerified, I suppose Joss had to adress why that would be a bad idea, and it certainly does that. And also, sure, this issue goes a long way towards establishing the theme of reconnecting to their "human" side (since they've bought into the dichotomy) after spending an unknown number of years hiding in Scottish castles. Maybe this is an inherent flaw of the format; I'm sure that when Joss pitched this story in 10 minutes it sounded a lot better than when we actually have to wait 6 months (or 4 years) to see how this collective brain-freeze inevitably turns to disaster. People are debating what's going to happen to get to the surrender scene depicted on the TPB cover; I'm pretty sure we've already seen it. The plan to get out of this by essentially doing to themselves what their enemies were trying to do – or what the vamps did in "Wolves at the Gate" – and doing it in this manner is still... DUMB. And it's not even simply dumb, it's needlessly complexly dumb since they know several easier ways to do it. It's Jonathan committing suicide by assault rifle dumb. BSG finale dumb.
Which I guess will be obvious now that Twilight has found them. So evidently, the "man on the inside" wasn't so much a man as a cat. Named Amy. I have no idea how that's supposed to work with the fact that they already had a "man on the inside" in #9, but whatever. Now that the cat's out of the monastery, I guess they'll simply have to drop this experiment, get back their powers and finally do something constructive... right?
(Aside: I'm reading Left Behind for laughs at the moment, and in comparison to that shit Season 8 is looking damn good... though in both cases, we have a world-wide event that we're just being told happened without actually ever seeing it except when it mildly inconveniences our heroes... um...
The authors sought to provide an illustration that would persuade readers of the truth of the coming events supposedly prophesied in their premillennial dispensationalist interpretation of the Bible. But their best efforts to portray such events occurring in a "real world" fictional setting have instead served only to illustrate the implausibility and impossibility of those events actually happening in a world that is anything like the one we live in. The only way they are able to conceive of and present a scenario in which such events might occur is to have everyone in their story behave irrationally, inhumanly and inexplicably.
...nevermind.)
And so I end on a rant anyway, which is unfair to this issue. Whatever the problems of the season arc, well done, Jane. What's the quote again?
DOMINIC: You played a good hand, ma'am.
DEWITT: I played a very bad hand very well. There is a distinction.
Random notes:
- Apparently, Scott Allie has said that Willow in Season 8 is a different character from the one in the TV series. Nice to see that we agree on something. Now, about Buffy...
- Willow and Xander both look bizarrely happy on the last page when they realise Twilight is about to kill them all.
- Now even Andrew is explicitly talking about Dark Willow, and a repeat of her season 6 storyline is (thankfully) looking less and less likely.
- Buffy suddenly decides to make a move on Xander after 12 years, underlining the need to get out into the world and meet other people. Well, you snooze, you lose.
- In #27, Oz recommends being a river. In #28, Willow is afraid of being just a force. Fittingly enough, they're synonyms.
- OK, the "sit with his friend Buffy and yak" joke was funny.
- ETA: BAY: It's not about "giving up" the magic. (...) We've found that it's easier to give up the magic if you connect with the land. So is it not about what it's about, or is it about what it's not about?
"Have you tried not being a Slayer?" - Joyce Summers, Buffy the Vampire Slayer 2.22
"But what if I can't? I've seen too much. I know what goes bump in the night. Not being able to fight it... What if I just hide under my bed, all scared and helpless? Or what if I just become pathetic? Hanging out at the old Slayer's home, talking people's ears off about my glory days, showing them Mr. Pointy, the stake I had bronzed." - Buffy Summers, Buffy the Vampire Slayer 3.12
"I feel weak. I don't like it." - Satsu, Season 8 #28
"Cheap holiday in other people's misery." - Sex Pistols, "Holidays In The Sun"
So, the good news is that Dawn didn't continue her trend of falling for abusive assholes. The bad news is that as a love interest for Xander, I'd be very surprised – shocked, even - if she makes it past the preview of #29.
And just like the whole Buffy/Satsu brouhaha (which I'm still waiting for some sort of follow-up for, btw), the OMGSOMETHINGSHOCKINGWILLHAPPEN thing just distracts from what continues to be a decent story. Even if I feel the writers ought to focus more on piecing the still haphazard plot together rather than introducing brand-new ships, it helps develop the story – assuming the story is connected to how Buffy feels at the moment – and frankly, the shippiness angle is the least interesting thing here. As in the previous issue there is (finally) plenty of character interaction, and they're (finally) TALKING to each other. All of them. How fucking cool is that? Rather than just mope around behind each other's backs and digging holes to fall into, they're actually talking things out. Trusting each other to be able to take each others' bad sides. And digging holes. Well, you can't have everything.
We get a very nice conversation between Buffy and Faith (which seems to ignore their encounter in "No Future For You", but I guess since that that fallout was just a way to isolate Buffy further, it's served its purpose). Faith wanting to give up her power? Well, it's in keeping with her Season 8 story, I guess. Plus it explicitly contradicts #24, which I suppose makes it good by lack of association.
And then all the major discussions – Xander and Dawn, Buffy and Xander, Willow and Oz, Willow and Buffy – all focus on the issue that the TV series got at least a couple of seasons out of, but which it's been clear for some time that we're going to repeat: how do you reconcile fighting evil and trying to live your own life? But it's nicely done, and if there's any complaint here, it's that every conversation seems to be a little too self-consciously on-topic – everyone's talking about how good it would be to give up the fight and have a life, have something to be for rather than just fight against, to "point to the safe", love and babies and turnips and everything but the fact that they've got 7 billion people and an unknown number of demons trying to kill them. Surely at least some of them would be talking about yaks, which are a source of endless comedy? Then again, the whole thing is edited together by Andrew, so I can buy that. (Not sure they needed to repeat the exact same joke about him and Jonathan facing Dark Willow as in "Storyteller", though. It was funnier the first time.)
And all of it does something that's been sorely lacking for long stretches of the comic: show us how the characters feel, what they want, and then reflect it back on our main protagonist. The only one who remains a complete cipher by the end is Giles, who's starting to look mighty suspicious (note the Sex Pistols t-shirt... it's looking like an unlimited amount of problems, no feelings, no fun, and possibly bodies in Giles' future.)
One key scene is the discussion between Willow and Oz. Because as enviable as Oz' life may seem, Willow has a point: what Oz does is giving up, in a sense, at least to her. Here's the big problem/opportunity of the setup of the series, the clash between fighting your own metaphorical demons and fighting the real demons in the metaphorical story. Oz is happy (for now), he's at peace; he's beaten his own demons.
OZ: You can be done, Will. You can just be Willow Rosenberg. Just let the Earth take the magic and you'll feel it sliding away...
Which would be fine if it wasn't for the fact that Willow has actual real-life flesh and blood (and scale) demons to face, too. Or, if you prefer, that what brings peace to one person doesn't necessarily bring peace to another. Just like working in one more-or-less uniform Slayer organisation doesn't work for everyone, neither does farming turnips for the rest of one's life work for everyone. One person's retreat is another's flight. Which makes Willow's turnaround in the end rather sad; as nice as it is to see her start to find peace, we all know that it's not going to last. And the odds on Oz' trusting her with his son getting a much darker revisit within two issues are dropping the whole time.
WILLOW: We can all have futures, Buffy. Even you.
Even if they didn't have Twilight breathing down their necks, this would still feel all wrong. Buffy's words in "Restless" weren't "Some day I'll settle down and have babies." Nor was it "I'll be a soldier till it kills me." It was "I'm gonna be a fireman when the floods roll back" – which obviously can't be taken literally (though I'm sure there's been fic of that), but still: the idea is to
But for the most part it's a very welcome and seductive wake-up to the need for having a long-term goal of living rather than just slaying (which would work even better if it hadn't been painfully obvious since #1, but hey.) Don't get me wrong, there's still some very odd moments, like Willow's wild mood swings in her conversation with Oz and her later complete lack thereof upon finding out that her best friend expects to kill her... I mean, has killed her... no wait, will have has killing-ed... whatever, but that's obviously a plot point showing us that Willow is going to – no? OK, my bad. I guess the scoobies see nothing out of the ordinary in killing each other at this point. But at least it's out there, which is a huge improvement, as is Buffy starting to listen to others. We've had the thesis, we've had the antithesis, and they both look like (metaphorical or even actual) suicide; now let's have something else, let's have a plan that doesn't involve remote mountains.
But so far everyone continues to stick to Operation Sitting Duck, one or three dissenting voices notwithstanding. OK, given how many readers still seem to assume that the message of Season 8 will be "power is bad" and end with everyone getting de-slayerified, I suppose Joss had to adress why that would be a bad idea, and it certainly does that. And also, sure, this issue goes a long way towards establishing the theme of reconnecting to their "human" side (since they've bought into the dichotomy) after spending an unknown number of years hiding in Scottish castles. Maybe this is an inherent flaw of the format; I'm sure that when Joss pitched this story in 10 minutes it sounded a lot better than when we actually have to wait 6 months (or 4 years) to see how this collective brain-freeze inevitably turns to disaster. People are debating what's going to happen to get to the surrender scene depicted on the TPB cover; I'm pretty sure we've already seen it. The plan to get out of this by essentially doing to themselves what their enemies were trying to do – or what the vamps did in "Wolves at the Gate" – and doing it in this manner is still... DUMB. And it's not even simply dumb, it's needlessly complexly dumb since they know several easier ways to do it. It's Jonathan committing suicide by assault rifle dumb. BSG finale dumb.
Which I guess will be obvious now that Twilight has found them. So evidently, the "man on the inside" wasn't so much a man as a cat. Named Amy. I have no idea how that's supposed to work with the fact that they already had a "man on the inside" in #9, but whatever. Now that the cat's out of the monastery, I guess they'll simply have to drop this experiment, get back their powers and finally do something constructive... right?
(Aside: I'm reading Left Behind for laughs at the moment, and in comparison to that shit Season 8 is looking damn good... though in both cases, we have a world-wide event that we're just being told happened without actually ever seeing it except when it mildly inconveniences our heroes... um...
The authors sought to provide an illustration that would persuade readers of the truth of the coming events supposedly prophesied in their premillennial dispensationalist interpretation of the Bible. But their best efforts to portray such events occurring in a "real world" fictional setting have instead served only to illustrate the implausibility and impossibility of those events actually happening in a world that is anything like the one we live in. The only way they are able to conceive of and present a scenario in which such events might occur is to have everyone in their story behave irrationally, inhumanly and inexplicably.
...nevermind.)
And so I end on a rant anyway, which is unfair to this issue. Whatever the problems of the season arc, well done, Jane. What's the quote again?
DOMINIC: You played a good hand, ma'am.
DEWITT: I played a very bad hand very well. There is a distinction.
Random notes:
- Apparently, Scott Allie has said that Willow in Season 8 is a different character from the one in the TV series. Nice to see that we agree on something. Now, about Buffy...
- Willow and Xander both look bizarrely happy on the last page when they realise Twilight is about to kill them all.
- Now even Andrew is explicitly talking about Dark Willow, and a repeat of her season 6 storyline is (thankfully) looking less and less likely.
- Buffy suddenly decides to make a move on Xander after 12 years, underlining the need to get out into the world and meet other people. Well, you snooze, you lose.
- In #27, Oz recommends being a river. In #28, Willow is afraid of being just a force. Fittingly enough, they're synonyms.
- OK, the "sit with his friend Buffy and yak" joke was funny.
- ETA: BAY: It's not about "giving up" the magic. (...) We've found that it's easier to give up the magic if you connect with the land. So is it not about what it's about, or is it about what it's not about?
