Pointless Poll

[shapinglight]

I decided I needed the appropriate icon before I can post my X-Men/Buffy comics post, so in the meantime, have a pointless poll. I hope people will answer in comments if they tick that box because I'm really interested to know what you think.

[Poll #1869218]

Comments

[shapinglight]

Me, I feel the same way I always used to feel about the show when I actually watch an episode, but in between times, the comics have definitely affected my view of the show.

In particular, I feel that with the utter irrelevance of Spike and Spuffy to the season 8 story, I didn't see what I thought I saw in season 7, which has had the weird knock-on effect of making me a very militant Spuffy 'shipper, which I actually wasn't before. I was perfectly happy with the way the shows dealt with the so-called love triangle in TGiQ, with Andrew telling Spike and Angel that Buffy loved them both but they should move on, like she had.

[kazzy-cee.livejournal.com]

I don't read the comics.... so I'm completely ignorant of the plots 'development' since the end of Season 7.

*g*

[kikimay]

I feel very much like you: I think that the comics made me a militant Spuffy, like I wasn't before. (I loved Spuffy, but I was also pretty content with all the triangle-stuff)
After "Twilight" I want to see Buffy and Spike together and I want all the ambiguities explained. Joss better solve this mothafucka threesome! *in a Nick Fury's voice*

[infinitewhale.livejournal.com]

Hasn't really affected my view of the shows except for I like Angel (the character from the show) more.

Now, if you wanna know if they've affected my view of Joss...

[ms-scarletibis.livejournal.com]

I like certain characters (even less than before) due to the comics, but i'd have to say overall, it hasn't altered my perception of [actual] canon, no.

[fenderlove.livejournal.com]

I think the comic has made me think more about the things I really disliked and disagreed with about the show. Without the show being on the air, I've had more time to reflect, and I find that I fundamentally abhor a lot of the messages throughout canon. The comics just proved that those things were never going to change.

[aphroditemf.livejournal.com]

I enjoy the show more since reading the comics, mostly in regards to the comics that flesh out the vampires' back stories. I think this is partly because the period settings always looked a bit cheap in the show, but with comic book art the budget isn't an issue.

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

It's definitely worsened my view of both Spuffy and of Angel.

Chosen at least left it open to interpretation that she might have loved him. And at least he was significant. Season 8 convinced me that to her, neither of those things were true. Then there is Angel. OMG did they destroy Angel.

[fenchurche.livejournal.com]

I don't think it's affected my view of the shows, but mostly because I've actively worked to not let it... plus, I quit actually reading the comics awhile ago (because it *was* starting to influence my love of the shows) and have taken to reading recaps and catching the occasional page of it here and there. And to be honest, I'm may quit doing even that.

I wish I could say I'm surprised by how horribly the characters have been trashed in the comics, but then I think back to "Chosen" and how, by the end of the season 7, the writers had made me hate nearly every character I used to love (which is really saying something) and killed off pretty much all the ones I still liked.

[francy-m79.livejournal.com]

I picked the second option "I like the show less becaus eof the comics", even though it's not actually true. The show is always the same great show that gave me my OTP, it's the comics that suck beyond words and should never have been made.

The comics are affecting my views on Spuffy because of how Whedon decided to show Spike and Spuffy as completely irrelevant, obliterating Chosen, never addressing their unresolved issues and disregarding the progress Buffy and Spike had made in season 7 to go back to the same old pre-season 7 dynamic (of which I'm pretty sick of).

So, either

a) Spuffy is real, but Whedon is regressing everyone (Buffy, Spuffy, etc) because otherwise he has run out of ideas on how to continue the story, and he needs to create infinite drama to keep the comics going because drama is the only thing he can write (and that isn't a sign of a great writer)

or

b)all along, Spuffy was never intended to be the epic and important romance some of us thought it was, but rather what many non-shippers saw: a demon redeemed by his love for Buffy, who couldn't reciprocate but supported and believed in him, forging a meaningful friendship.

The jury is still out!!

[missus-grace.livejournal.com]

I'm sure, like many others will say, since I don't read the comics my canon stopped with Why We Fight.

[brutti-ma-buoni.livejournal.com]

Since the comics aren't my canon and are imo a bit crap overall, they have made me realise how good the show actually is. Contrast is a marvellous thing.

[makd.livejournal.com]

I read and followed the Angel "After the Fall" for about 1-1/2 to 2 years. Then, IMO, the quality of the stories sagged and I lost interest.

I haven't read any of the Buffy comics except for 2 of them that were posted online for friends. Didn't like them; wouldn't buy them; still won't buy them.

Heard about the buffy/angel flying/fucking story. Ugh. just...no. Same for Buffy/with a younger slayer. No. just...enough. enough.

The comics have partially ruined my enjoyment of the old Buffy and Angel stories.

[estepheia.livejournal.com]

I stopped reading S8 after Ethan's death. I sometimes read spoilers, and so far I don't regret not reading the comics. I have a couple more comics lying around from a friend who bought the trade paperbackes and gave me his single issues - maybe I will read them once I've completed my Ethan-resurrection fic :)
I read a few mini series, but I've forgotten them (Spike trapped in some sort of asylum? don't remember)

The comics I read never succeeded in bringing the actors' input to the table. The thing I always liked about Joss's work are the characters - and the casting. There was a synergy effect that transcended most TV series. Look at the way some of the Jossverse alumnis still work together - Joss's stories are more than a job for them.
Look at James Marsters. IMHO he never acted his guts out again like he did as Spike. This synergy effect, the emotion that the actors pour into their characters, that is something the comics fail at. And reading them makes me painfully aware that I desperately want more episodes - with live actors acting their guts out!

[gillo]

I haven't read all of the comics, though my family have given me quite a lot of S8 from time to time.

I love the show. The comics are meh, but they occasionally stir plot bunnies. I usually hunt out a couple of reviews when they come out, but feel no great urge to read them for myself. I will happily rewatch, even SR or Beer Bad, though.

[rahirah]

This is complicated, becasue while the comics make the parts of the show I don't like look better in comparison, they don't make me really like them any better. It's just that I can now say, "There are seasons I like less than X." The comics definitely do affect the way I see the characters' TV relationships in retrospect - but then, the show does that too; the later seasons affect how I see the earlier ones.

[elisi]

Now, if you wanna know if they've affected my view of Joss...
Ah yes. This.

[spikes-evilbint.livejournal.com]

I don't read the comics or have any interest in doing so, so I guess really I should have answered that they don't affect my view at all. LOL!

[infinitewhale.livejournal.com]

Hard to take the guy seriously after all his crap associated with them. Whole thing was a big joke to him.

And don't get me going on his never really having a plan and basically being LOL about it now. Unless he's offering a refund to the people who shelled out $100USD+ for them, he should at least have the grace to pretend he actually put an effort in, ya know?

[mrs-underhill.livejournal.com]

I have to admit I'm immensely enjoying yet another rewatch of Buffy and Angel which was prompted by MW.
I used to go there then the place was spoiled for me by that Spuffy blowout, but I'm just enjoying rewatches again, and even felt up for some fanfiction.

Comics are somewhere far away for me, they don't influence me at all. Maybe in some weird way, as they drove me to appreciate the show more.

Hmm, and I tried reading Lynch AtS comics a bit recently, Smile Time one, and it was much more grating for me now, Spike felt very off. I remember jumping off that bandwagon too when the things started to get ugly with Spike's soul.

[red-satin-doll.livejournal.com]

Now, if you wanna know if they've affected my view of Joss...
PREACH.

[slaymesoftly.livejournal.com]

Indeed!

[slaymesoftly.livejournal.com]

I don't think they've affected my view of the show or the characters. Unlike so many, I have followed all the comics - both Buffy and Angel (and any short arcs about Spike/Willow/etc.) Some things I've liked, some things I haven't. I don't expect them to have the same effect on me because two dimensional drawings (some of which are pretty weird/awful, IMHO) can't evoke the same responses as live actors who inhabit those characters. The comics are, to me, as a writer, just an addition to the fandom's plot prospects. Fortunately, they've had that effect on a few other authors too.

Season 8 was so over the top that it didn't seem to inspire fic in anybody (one exception - but I don't think she finished it) until Spike showed up. Then, suddenly, we have fic again. Mostly set on the ship after he shows up, or beginning with the fire escape scene. Just as with the show episodes, there are certainly scenes/plot lines that seem to inspire plot bunnies for fic more so than others.

Season 9 has, so far, given us a few more starting points for fic, so that's a bonus. For those who avoid fic set in the comics-verse, expecting it to be awful, keep in mind that if it's being written by someone who "gets" the characters and writes well, it could be just as enjoyable to read as something set in any of the 7 seasons of the show. The Spike and Buffy you know (talking, mostly, obviously about Spuffy fic) are there and having adventures and relationship issues just as they would be if the fics were set in some non-comics compliant future. If the author is someone you like, trust, and would read otherwise, I think you might be depriving yourself of some good reading by saying "I don't follow the comics, so won't read fic that does." You may not care for the comic characters or the plot lines, but you might enjoy what your favorite authors have done with them.

[treadingthedark.livejournal.com]

When I first saw the spacefucking issue, it totally ruined Buffy for me. I didn't want to see it, discuss it, watch the show or even read fic for a while. I was embarassed to be a Buffy fan. Embarassed!

That has faded, I read a couple of old favorite long fics and got my Spuffy love back, but my Spangel love may never recover. As far as the present comics go, I buy the Spike because so far they amuse me and Spike pictures are pretty, but I don't care about them, wouldn't even care if Spike moved on from Buffy at this point. Comics Buffy is kind of stupid, although not as stupid as Comics Angel.

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

What I've always found to be hilarious about my reaction to the comics - is Whedon managed to kill my obsession to the series, comic books, and to his own works and writings in one fell swoop! Kudos. Particularly considering that my obsession with Buffy and Whedon sprung from my obsession with X-men comics.

I was an X-man fan, then got obsessed with Buffy/Angel and Whedon, and gave up on X-men comics. Stopped collecting.
Then Whedon wrote X-men, and I started collecting comics again, along with the Buffy comics.

Then in 2010-2011 Whedon managed to kill my interest in the comics and in his writing - the Twilight arc did me in. I can't look at Angel the same way again (or Cyclops for that matter) - sort of destroyed that character permanently for me. He became one-dimensional and uninteresting after the comics. I lost interest in all comics eventually..and coincidentally right after that.

I personally don't think Whedon's very good at writing comics - you see all the flaws in his writing process, story, and world-building. And he has no patience for the medium. TV and movies yes. Comics, it's too solitary, not collaborative enough...he needs breathing actors to play with.