Buffy season 8 no 25
May. 8th, 2009 06:01 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shapinglightWent down the comic shop, though sadly once again there are no gems of wisdom from Comic Shop Boy, as two friends of his were in the shop and the three of them were reminiscing about other mutual friends I know nothing about. Comic Shop Boy did manage to slip into the conversation that he'd been thinking of stripping one of these mutual friends naked and flushing his clothes down the toilet, but since he didn't actually do it, maybe it doesn't count.
Brief disenchanted review of Buffy Season 8 no 25 (with spoilers) behind cut.
While this issue is better than the previous one (it would be hard for it to be worse), I can't say I thought much of it. It contains the resolution to Dawn's storyline (so far) and to me comes across very much as dull and contains very little we haven't seen before (and far better done) in the show. Plus, it's now two months until another issue comes out and IMO this story arc of one-offs has been largely a waste of time. The only one I consider even faintly necessary to the overall story is 23, the Buffy and Andrew issue (unless the Harmony issue counts as part of this arc because yes, that's relevant too). The rest are meandering around the houses for no good reason. YMMV, of course.
Things I liked
The cover's great of course, though Kenny isn't exactly eye-candy.
The ongoing Buffy/Xander banter is quite amusing, though at times seems rather forced.
Kenny's interesting. Pity that according to Scott Allie, he won't be back. I also enjoyed Andrew's contribution to the book, which, considering I don't like Andrew, says a lot about how I feel about the rest of it.
Dawn's third transformation isn't quite as irritating as the first two, but Jeanty still manages to get her naked.
I suppose I should mention the Buffy/Dawn bonding. Yes, it's nice, and in fact, given that Dawn mentions how she feels upstaged by the baby Slayers, at least resolves something that began in the actual show (in Potential).
And that's about it.
Things I Was Meh! About
I found the Baby Slayers particularly irritating in this issue. That panel of them exercising outside the castle had me gritting my teeth and wanting to throw the comic across the room. Not sure why it provoked such a strong reaction. Maybe because they're all such boring cyphers.
'Gepetto' and the cottage in the woods just seems a rip-off of Fables. Maybe it's an homage?
Just how many castles in Scotland does Buffy own? Not that it looks like Scotland. More like one of the magic lands at the top of the Faraway Tree, a sort of primary colours kids' book Neverneverland.
As for the actual meat of the story, the resolution of Dawn's arc, or this part of it, whichever it is, firstly I can't see why it had to be dragged out so long if getting Dawn turned back to normal was so easy? And yes, there may be themes running through the story with the puppet maker and Buffy both wanting to keep Dawn safe and being shown/realising they couldn't, but I found the whole thing so facile and dull and preachy that I'm afraid I just don't care.
Judas Cradle? Oh, for f**ks's sake!
This latest arc is the worst by far. And even now it's over, the whole 'vampires are cool and trendy and everyone loves them' still remains far more tell than show and frankly, I just don't believe in it.
5 out of 10, because it's better than the previous issue and I think I gave that 4 so I have to give this a little more.
Which is still better than I would give any issue of Angel: Aftermath, a comic so truly dire both storywise and artwise, that your brain automatically expunges all memory of it immediately after reading.
Brief disenchanted review of Buffy Season 8 no 25 (with spoilers) behind cut.
While this issue is better than the previous one (it would be hard for it to be worse), I can't say I thought much of it. It contains the resolution to Dawn's storyline (so far) and to me comes across very much as dull and contains very little we haven't seen before (and far better done) in the show. Plus, it's now two months until another issue comes out and IMO this story arc of one-offs has been largely a waste of time. The only one I consider even faintly necessary to the overall story is 23, the Buffy and Andrew issue (unless the Harmony issue counts as part of this arc because yes, that's relevant too). The rest are meandering around the houses for no good reason. YMMV, of course.
Things I liked
The cover's great of course, though Kenny isn't exactly eye-candy.
The ongoing Buffy/Xander banter is quite amusing, though at times seems rather forced.
Kenny's interesting. Pity that according to Scott Allie, he won't be back. I also enjoyed Andrew's contribution to the book, which, considering I don't like Andrew, says a lot about how I feel about the rest of it.
Dawn's third transformation isn't quite as irritating as the first two, but Jeanty still manages to get her naked.
I suppose I should mention the Buffy/Dawn bonding. Yes, it's nice, and in fact, given that Dawn mentions how she feels upstaged by the baby Slayers, at least resolves something that began in the actual show (in Potential).
And that's about it.
Things I Was Meh! About
I found the Baby Slayers particularly irritating in this issue. That panel of them exercising outside the castle had me gritting my teeth and wanting to throw the comic across the room. Not sure why it provoked such a strong reaction. Maybe because they're all such boring cyphers.
'Gepetto' and the cottage in the woods just seems a rip-off of Fables. Maybe it's an homage?
Just how many castles in Scotland does Buffy own? Not that it looks like Scotland. More like one of the magic lands at the top of the Faraway Tree, a sort of primary colours kids' book Neverneverland.
As for the actual meat of the story, the resolution of Dawn's arc, or this part of it, whichever it is, firstly I can't see why it had to be dragged out so long if getting Dawn turned back to normal was so easy? And yes, there may be themes running through the story with the puppet maker and Buffy both wanting to keep Dawn safe and being shown/realising they couldn't, but I found the whole thing so facile and dull and preachy that I'm afraid I just don't care.
Judas Cradle? Oh, for f**ks's sake!
This latest arc is the worst by far. And even now it's over, the whole 'vampires are cool and trendy and everyone loves them' still remains far more tell than show and frankly, I just don't believe in it.
5 out of 10, because it's better than the previous issue and I think I gave that 4 so I have to give this a little more.
Which is still better than I would give any issue of Angel: Aftermath, a comic so truly dire both storywise and artwise, that your brain automatically expunges all memory of it immediately after reading.