Angel & Faith Season 10 No 3

[shapinglight]

Read this today.

Not really a review behind the cut because I can't be bothered.

Spoilers.



In fact, I so can't be bothered that I'm just going to copy and paste something (brief) I wrote elsewhere and add a few bits here and there. As follows:

Nadira just doesn't seem like the same person at all, and since she was my favourite character in season 9 and it feels like she's just...gone, I don't feel I have much incentive to keep on reading. Maybe at some point Gischler will go into why she's changed the way she has, but I suspect by then I just won't care.

Faith's story interests me more than Angel's so far. The London setting isn't working for me. It doesn't feel like London any more by any stretch of the imagination, whereas in season 9, there may have been wonky moments (fire hydrants on the streets, for instance), but the sense of place was a little more authentic. Also, Angel isn't any good on his own. He never has been. He can seem quite boring and generic without a strong ensemble to back him up and inject some humour into the story by giving him a reality check whenever his dark avenger act gets too self-important (not that it ever stopped him from being a self-involved idiot who does stupid things all the time, but whatever). So far, even the supporting cast that Gage provided (Giles's aunts and Alistair Coames) have been mostly absent, and Inspector Brandt on his own isn't filling the gap yet.

Also, Pearl and Nash were boring villains in season 9 and I can't see Pearl on her own being any more interesting.

Faith's part of the book is better. I like seeing Kennedy and the other slayers and their reaction to Faith. I like that Faith, as it turns out, is rubbish with guns. But it's still not doing a lot for me. Gischler's stuff never does, and this as true of his work on the X-Men as it is of that dull as ditchwater Spike mini series.

:Yawn:

Comments

[infinitewhale.livejournal.com]

Agree and disagree on it. Angel's part is indeed boring. I don't think it would be half as bad if not for the stupid voiceovers. Completely unneeded. They don't do what voiceovers should: provide motive or outlook. They're more self-narrations than anything.

That said, I don't think Faith's is any better. For better or worse, at least Angel is moving his own story along even if he's once again guided by voices. Faith, like the Buffy book since S8, is about her screwing up and getting taught lessons. I'm not rooting for her there. Just waiting for something to happen and how it'll be messed up.

And they still haven't learned how to pace anything. Issue 3, the beginning of the end of the arc and nothing really happens in either story. Also they really need to quit with the big full-panel bad guy introductions when they're on the cover of the damned book. Are we supposed to be :O that Pearl shows up there or something? Complete waste of space.

[shapinglight]

I agree about the Pearl-reveal, and about the voiceover. It's just a tool for Gischler's very clunky exposition. At least Gage uses it in a more creative way (ie. Buffy's exposition is part of her character, not part of the story - or am I giving Gage too much credit again? Probably.)

[infinitewhale.livejournal.com]

Yeah, Gage is using it right, it's just his characterization is crappy. :P Even Andrew would be bored with Angel's.

As for Gage... You know if I trusted these writers, there are parts of S10 thus far that I find interesting like the return of Dracula and the abilities to affect reality through willpower and how it's a tie-back to S8 #2 where Buffy and Xander think Dawn is making herself a giant by this. And of course Buffy's dragon (Dracula means dragon). If I trusted these guys, I might even wonder if they might finally be getting around to explaining all the wonkiness in these things.

But I don't.

[shapinglight]

Very wise, I think. As for the things you mention, I suspect they've probably forgotten all about them.

[infinitewhale.livejournal.com]

Oh, I don't know. I'd wager they're more aware of the comic pseudoplot than the show. That's not saying much.

Always did think arc 1 and the Goddard ToV comic (which is canon now, I guess?) referenced each other. The panel of Drac knocking Buffy out the window is reused more or less when she's knocked out of the window and caught by the dragon in the dream. And of course the lecture about how she'll become a joke as he has.

[shapinglight]

It is of course quite true that the Nu!Vamps think both Dracula and Buffy irrelevant.

[kikimay]

I'm so bored by these issues so far. Maybe it's just me, I'm too tired to focus on the story. Agreed on Faith's storyline being more interesting. So far Angel's storyline isn't interesting me. I also think that he needs to interact with other characters. I'm also curious to see the meeting with Buffy.

Also, what about Angel being dressed like Spike? (The boots and the long leather coat.

[shapinglight]

Also, what about Angel being dressed like Spike? (The boots and the long leather coat.

I don't think it means anything. It's just the artist getting it wrong. It mildly amuses me that some of the more militant Bangels don't like it, but :shrug:

In fact, the whole thing is pretty :shrug:

[kikimay]

Uhm. I kinda liked Angel's sense of fashion. I can't imagine him wearing Spike's boots. But yes, it's funny that the Bangels are getting militant about it. XD

[shapinglight]

No, Angel was always quite well dressed. That's why it actually meant something when he first saw Marcus Hamilton and said, "Damn, he is well dressed." :)

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

Honestly the whole Jossworld adventure in comics seems a whole lot of pointless and boring.

[shapinglight]

The Angel part of it certainly does, and the Buffy part was until this year. Now, it's just on probation.