Buffy season 10 no 12
Feb. 18th, 2015 08:48 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shapinglightReview of the latest Buffy comic behind cut. And when I say review, it's more like a complete summary, so if you want to avoid spoilers, don't read.
Have to say, if the Buffy/Spike kiss in the last issue made the Spike/Spuffy hating subset of fans sick to their stomachs, this issue is going to make their heads explode.
This is because Buffy and Spike have sex. Yes, real, actual sex that isn't in a dream (or if it is a dream, the whole arc is a dream, which I don't think is the case).
Before that, of course, we go back to the end of the previous issue, where, far from pushing Buffy away, Spike does return her kiss. Afterwards, though, he asks her what's going on. Buffy admits it came a bit out of left field, but she realised (because of what Dawn said in the previous issue) that she hadn't really given Spike with a soul a shot, and she'd like to, if Spike's up for it.
Much to her surprise (though not of course to that of us, the readers), Spike says he's not sure. He questions why now, when he was starting to get used to the idea of them as friends and feeling okay about being on his own. "And now you do this?"
Buffy is somewhat peeved, and says, "You say that like I repossessed your car." She insists she's not trying to mess with Spike. Spike says, "Are you sure?" Which needless to say ups Buffy's peeved factor considerably.
Spike says he's not accusing her of trying to hurt him on purpose, but reminds her that when she did want him it was as her soulless naughty secret - an act of rebellion. Likewise, Xander had feelings for her for years but she never looked at him until he started dating Dawn. (Buffy mutters that she should never have let Spike and Xander move in together). Spike goes on to say that after Xander, Buffy was back with Angel, but not the boring version who was a private eye in L.A. 'and would have played house with you', but mad god Angel. Then there was Satsu. And Buffy's not even gay.
(I can at this point hear a chorus of fannish voices from way, way back in 2008, or whenever season 8 started, to the present day, saying the very same thing. It's like Spike is reciting the cliffnotes version of the comics letters pages).
Spike's point is that Buffy has a pattern of wanting something she can't have. If he says yes to her, will she be bored in a month or so and develop a sudden desire for Andrew, Willow, or Giles?
Buffy is now incandescent (and who can blame her), which you can tell even from the not terribly nice art (though it's better than the last issue). Spike realises he's gone too far, but Buffy says he's right. It was a bad idea. She runs off, leaving Spike alone. Spike says, "I'm a wanker."
Back at Spike and Xander's apartment, Spike has told Xander what happened. Xander calls him a moron. Spike protests that Xander told him he gave Buffy the same speech in Tibet (oh God! Tibet! The flying submarine! Don't make me remember!). Xander says the difference is that he was in love with someone else when he said it, whereas Spike is in love with Buffy. "From where I'm standing, it seems she rather courageously broke out of her pattern of dysfunction to reach out to you. And at her moment of greatest vulnerability, you slapped her down. Confirming her worst fears about male abandonment."
(Chorus of fans off again).
Spike repeats that he's a wanker.
Xander says he's not. He's just damaged, same as Buffy. Xander and his therapist have been covering this in sessions. He tells Spike that he, too, has issues, which mean he gravitates towards women who are incapable of having a healthy relationship - "crazy Drusilla, self-hating Buffy, Harmony."
(Poor old Harmony. I think that's a bit unfair. Otherwise, clearly a budding career in the therapy industry looms in Xander's future).
Spike tells Xander not to give him any of that 'head-shrinking jibber-jabber'. Xander responds that he gets it. Love can get you hurt. Xander himself is going through a bad time just now, but he doesn't regret a minute of the time he spent with Dawn.
(Well, maybe the bit where he was losing his temper so much Dawn made him sleep on the couch).
Spike is convinced. He's about to go after Buffy, but Xander stops him. After what he just said to Buffy, anything Spike says now is going to look like further provocation. Spike has to give her time to breathe.
At that moment, Super!Andrew crashes through the window.
The preview panels follow, with Andrew telling everyone what's going on and them going off to fight the Sculptor's giant meat puppet.
Willow, Clive and Julie (the girl Andrew went to the party with) try to cast a spell. It doesn't seem to be working. Super!Andrew starts tearing the flesh golem apart. Pretty soon it's in bits all over the floor. The Sculptor, meanwhile, has run away. Willow says she'll track him and flies off. Andrew asks Clive and the girl if they're okay. Clive says he doesn't know how to thank Andrew for saving their lives. Andrew says he has an idea. He grabs Clive, bends him back over his arm and kisses him.
Everyone is pleased for Andrew, except for Mini!Giles who grumps that he's aware it's the summer of love for everyone except him. Suddenly, Andrew can't hold Clive any more. He's lost his super powers and is back to normal. Clive doesn't seem to mind, but Andrew is instantly back in denial land and runs away, despite a congratulatory hug from Dr Xander, about Andrew coming out of the closet and how cool Xander is with that. Clive and Xander agree that Xander may have overdone the support.
Spike has caught up with Buffy, meantime (if you remember the preview pages, he tried to talk to her in those and she wouldn't). Spike tries to apologise, but Buffy says he doesn't need to, and that if Andrew can take an honest look at himself then she should be able to too. Spike was right. She was being impulsive and stupid and she doesn't want to wreck their friendship. Spike means so much to her. He's one of the few people in the world she can count on, not just to be there for her, but to be honest with her. "I mean, do you know how many guys would've used that as an excuse for a roll in the hay, and only brought up the complications afterwards?"
Spike agrees that would have been wrong.
Buffy says she loves what they have already. It's taken a long time to get there and it would have been stupid and thoughtless to risk that 'by rushing into something.' Spike says it's a pretty speech, and everything she says is true. Only thing is, he's in love with her.
Cue, Buffy and Spike slamming into Spike's bedroom while kissing, and beginning to take their clothes off.
Xander is next door with Dawn and Giles. There're crashing noises from upstairs. Xander says, it's his maquettes. Dawn says he doesn't know that. They go and listen through the wall. Dawn says it doesn't sound anything like-
They realise what they're listening to and move away, trading humorous (actually humorous, I smiled when I first read it) remarks about how maybe they're mistaken and Buffy and Spike are just making sandwiches. Mini!Giles in the meantime is really annoyed. Buffy and Spike are being really selfish, he says. Does it occur to them that there are other people in the world sentenced to years of forced celibacy? Xander protests that surely Giles didn't get that much action when he was old, did he? Needless to say, this does not help Mini!Giles's mood. He stomps off. Xander and Dawn settle down to play Pimp Slap IV (is this actually a real game?), quite companionably.
Best scene they've had together in season 10, in fact. Nick Brendon is co-writer on this issue, and the Xander voice is pretty good, even if he does come across as a bit all-knowing.
In Spike's room, Spike and Buffy are in bed. Buffy is asleep but Spike is wide awake, afraid to fall asleep in case Buffy's not there when he wakes. He tells himself not to be stupid. He's already the luckiest man in the world "Nothing can ruin this." He falls asleep, only to dream of stalking and killing a young couple in the street. He wakes up still in vamp face, turns back to human, tells himself to take it easy. It was just a dream.
But I don't think he really believes it.
Hmm, I suppose this is how they'll cross the storyline with A&F at some point. Angel, too, is having killing dreams that appear to be coming true. Interesting.
On the other hand, it does look very much like Buffy was right. It was stupid and thoughtless 'to rush into something.'
I'm beginning to wonder if they're trying to nix Buffy/Angel and Buffy/Spike in one fell swoop by making it clear that no matter the circumstances - with a soul, without a soul- when a slayer and a vampire have sex badness always follows.
We'll see.
One thing's for sure, though, Buffy and Spike have got together way too early in the series for this to be the endgame. ;)
Not a bad issue. Quite an enjoyable comic book, in fact (as long as you're not a Spike hater/Bangel 'shipper - though I suppose the latter can console themselves by pointing out that Buffy never says she loves Spike back, plus as aforementioned, it's way too early in the series for this to be how it ends). However, I just feel so distant from Buffy herself in it. Not distant in the sense that I don't understand her, more that she isn't the centre of the story, as she should be. It's plain that the writers' in-story avatars are Xander and Spike, and Buffy is someone they look at, rather than being the person whose eyes we see through. I'm unclear what the 'Buffy' of it is.
I don't think Gage is doing it on purpose, btw. I also think Dark Horse are trying hard to make up for the lack of Xander in season 9 and Spike's rubbish storyline in it. However, as always, they've now gone too far the other way.
Best, if you want to enjoy the comic at all, to try and divorce it from the show in your head as much as possible. I'm actually finding that re-watching the show from the start is helping me with that.
Anyway, be ready to duck and cover, although it's possible (not very likely if that guy who shouts at Gage, Megan Levens, even Joss, in capital letters on Twitter is anything to go by) no one will care.
ETA: Hmm, I've just realised there was no sign of the adorable kittens. Where have they gone? There hasn't been time to find them other homes since the last issue.
Have to say, if the Buffy/Spike kiss in the last issue made the Spike/Spuffy hating subset of fans sick to their stomachs, this issue is going to make their heads explode.
This is because Buffy and Spike have sex. Yes, real, actual sex that isn't in a dream (or if it is a dream, the whole arc is a dream, which I don't think is the case).
Before that, of course, we go back to the end of the previous issue, where, far from pushing Buffy away, Spike does return her kiss. Afterwards, though, he asks her what's going on. Buffy admits it came a bit out of left field, but she realised (because of what Dawn said in the previous issue) that she hadn't really given Spike with a soul a shot, and she'd like to, if Spike's up for it.
Much to her surprise (though not of course to that of us, the readers), Spike says he's not sure. He questions why now, when he was starting to get used to the idea of them as friends and feeling okay about being on his own. "And now you do this?"
Buffy is somewhat peeved, and says, "You say that like I repossessed your car." She insists she's not trying to mess with Spike. Spike says, "Are you sure?" Which needless to say ups Buffy's peeved factor considerably.
Spike says he's not accusing her of trying to hurt him on purpose, but reminds her that when she did want him it was as her soulless naughty secret - an act of rebellion. Likewise, Xander had feelings for her for years but she never looked at him until he started dating Dawn. (Buffy mutters that she should never have let Spike and Xander move in together). Spike goes on to say that after Xander, Buffy was back with Angel, but not the boring version who was a private eye in L.A. 'and would have played house with you', but mad god Angel. Then there was Satsu. And Buffy's not even gay.
(I can at this point hear a chorus of fannish voices from way, way back in 2008, or whenever season 8 started, to the present day, saying the very same thing. It's like Spike is reciting the cliffnotes version of the comics letters pages).
Spike's point is that Buffy has a pattern of wanting something she can't have. If he says yes to her, will she be bored in a month or so and develop a sudden desire for Andrew, Willow, or Giles?
Buffy is now incandescent (and who can blame her), which you can tell even from the not terribly nice art (though it's better than the last issue). Spike realises he's gone too far, but Buffy says he's right. It was a bad idea. She runs off, leaving Spike alone. Spike says, "I'm a wanker."
Back at Spike and Xander's apartment, Spike has told Xander what happened. Xander calls him a moron. Spike protests that Xander told him he gave Buffy the same speech in Tibet (oh God! Tibet! The flying submarine! Don't make me remember!). Xander says the difference is that he was in love with someone else when he said it, whereas Spike is in love with Buffy. "From where I'm standing, it seems she rather courageously broke out of her pattern of dysfunction to reach out to you. And at her moment of greatest vulnerability, you slapped her down. Confirming her worst fears about male abandonment."
(Chorus of fans off again).
Spike repeats that he's a wanker.
Xander says he's not. He's just damaged, same as Buffy. Xander and his therapist have been covering this in sessions. He tells Spike that he, too, has issues, which mean he gravitates towards women who are incapable of having a healthy relationship - "crazy Drusilla, self-hating Buffy, Harmony."
(Poor old Harmony. I think that's a bit unfair. Otherwise, clearly a budding career in the therapy industry looms in Xander's future).
Spike tells Xander not to give him any of that 'head-shrinking jibber-jabber'. Xander responds that he gets it. Love can get you hurt. Xander himself is going through a bad time just now, but he doesn't regret a minute of the time he spent with Dawn.
(Well, maybe the bit where he was losing his temper so much Dawn made him sleep on the couch).
Spike is convinced. He's about to go after Buffy, but Xander stops him. After what he just said to Buffy, anything Spike says now is going to look like further provocation. Spike has to give her time to breathe.
At that moment, Super!Andrew crashes through the window.
The preview panels follow, with Andrew telling everyone what's going on and them going off to fight the Sculptor's giant meat puppet.
Willow, Clive and Julie (the girl Andrew went to the party with) try to cast a spell. It doesn't seem to be working. Super!Andrew starts tearing the flesh golem apart. Pretty soon it's in bits all over the floor. The Sculptor, meanwhile, has run away. Willow says she'll track him and flies off. Andrew asks Clive and the girl if they're okay. Clive says he doesn't know how to thank Andrew for saving their lives. Andrew says he has an idea. He grabs Clive, bends him back over his arm and kisses him.
Everyone is pleased for Andrew, except for Mini!Giles who grumps that he's aware it's the summer of love for everyone except him. Suddenly, Andrew can't hold Clive any more. He's lost his super powers and is back to normal. Clive doesn't seem to mind, but Andrew is instantly back in denial land and runs away, despite a congratulatory hug from Dr Xander, about Andrew coming out of the closet and how cool Xander is with that. Clive and Xander agree that Xander may have overdone the support.
Spike has caught up with Buffy, meantime (if you remember the preview pages, he tried to talk to her in those and she wouldn't). Spike tries to apologise, but Buffy says he doesn't need to, and that if Andrew can take an honest look at himself then she should be able to too. Spike was right. She was being impulsive and stupid and she doesn't want to wreck their friendship. Spike means so much to her. He's one of the few people in the world she can count on, not just to be there for her, but to be honest with her. "I mean, do you know how many guys would've used that as an excuse for a roll in the hay, and only brought up the complications afterwards?"
Spike agrees that would have been wrong.
Buffy says she loves what they have already. It's taken a long time to get there and it would have been stupid and thoughtless to risk that 'by rushing into something.' Spike says it's a pretty speech, and everything she says is true. Only thing is, he's in love with her.
Cue, Buffy and Spike slamming into Spike's bedroom while kissing, and beginning to take their clothes off.
Xander is next door with Dawn and Giles. There're crashing noises from upstairs. Xander says, it's his maquettes. Dawn says he doesn't know that. They go and listen through the wall. Dawn says it doesn't sound anything like-
They realise what they're listening to and move away, trading humorous (actually humorous, I smiled when I first read it) remarks about how maybe they're mistaken and Buffy and Spike are just making sandwiches. Mini!Giles in the meantime is really annoyed. Buffy and Spike are being really selfish, he says. Does it occur to them that there are other people in the world sentenced to years of forced celibacy? Xander protests that surely Giles didn't get that much action when he was old, did he? Needless to say, this does not help Mini!Giles's mood. He stomps off. Xander and Dawn settle down to play Pimp Slap IV (is this actually a real game?), quite companionably.
Best scene they've had together in season 10, in fact. Nick Brendon is co-writer on this issue, and the Xander voice is pretty good, even if he does come across as a bit all-knowing.
In Spike's room, Spike and Buffy are in bed. Buffy is asleep but Spike is wide awake, afraid to fall asleep in case Buffy's not there when he wakes. He tells himself not to be stupid. He's already the luckiest man in the world "Nothing can ruin this." He falls asleep, only to dream of stalking and killing a young couple in the street. He wakes up still in vamp face, turns back to human, tells himself to take it easy. It was just a dream.
But I don't think he really believes it.
Hmm, I suppose this is how they'll cross the storyline with A&F at some point. Angel, too, is having killing dreams that appear to be coming true. Interesting.
On the other hand, it does look very much like Buffy was right. It was stupid and thoughtless 'to rush into something.'
I'm beginning to wonder if they're trying to nix Buffy/Angel and Buffy/Spike in one fell swoop by making it clear that no matter the circumstances - with a soul, without a soul- when a slayer and a vampire have sex badness always follows.
We'll see.
One thing's for sure, though, Buffy and Spike have got together way too early in the series for this to be the endgame. ;)
Not a bad issue. Quite an enjoyable comic book, in fact (as long as you're not a Spike hater/Bangel 'shipper - though I suppose the latter can console themselves by pointing out that Buffy never says she loves Spike back, plus as aforementioned, it's way too early in the series for this to be how it ends). However, I just feel so distant from Buffy herself in it. Not distant in the sense that I don't understand her, more that she isn't the centre of the story, as she should be. It's plain that the writers' in-story avatars are Xander and Spike, and Buffy is someone they look at, rather than being the person whose eyes we see through. I'm unclear what the 'Buffy' of it is.
I don't think Gage is doing it on purpose, btw. I also think Dark Horse are trying hard to make up for the lack of Xander in season 9 and Spike's rubbish storyline in it. However, as always, they've now gone too far the other way.
Best, if you want to enjoy the comic at all, to try and divorce it from the show in your head as much as possible. I'm actually finding that re-watching the show from the start is helping me with that.
Anyway, be ready to duck and cover, although it's possible (not very likely if that guy who shouts at Gage, Megan Levens, even Joss, in capital letters on Twitter is anything to go by) no one will care.
ETA: Hmm, I've just realised there was no sign of the adorable kittens. Where have they gone? There hasn't been time to find them other homes since the last issue.
no subject
Date: 2015-02-19 10:54 am (UTC)Well, yes. I wonder if the consensus in certain quarters will then be that the writing has suddenly picked up again?
One good thing, I suppose. If the blurbs for upcoming issues are to be believed at all, if Spike does realise his subconscious is up and murdering people in his sleep, he doesn't try to keep it to himself.
Considering his whole motivation for doing the comics was to tie the two together, I still think they'll attempt it. I mean, what's the point of any of it if they don't? But hey, the entirety is AU from the show, so who knows.
I suppose. They won't go there, though, until they decide that interest in the comics has sunk so low they might as well cancel them. Then they'll try to get Joss back to write the final issue.
no subject
Date: 2015-02-19 11:22 am (UTC)Yeah. Though in Angel's slight defense, it doesn't seem like he's been aware that those things are happening in reality.
Assuming they are the ones doing the killing, after all. I noticed the detail that Spike's shirt is missing after the dream, but I wonder if both aren't seeing through the eyes of some other vampire or something. 'Cause like you said, the cop in Angel's dream is in the US.
Plus I'm reminded of the bit from the first arc about vamps being connected somehow? I can't remember it all that well.
no subject
Date: 2015-02-19 01:20 pm (UTC)Oh, it wasn't a dig at Angel. He's completely unaware that anything from his dreams has true in reality. I suppose the same is true of Spike at the moment, but I'm fairly sure (if the blurbs aren't a complete pack of lies) that he'll find out in the next issue.
Maybe someone witnessed the murders and will identify Spike. Buffy will be furious and confront him with the evidence. He'll deny his involvement, then admit to the nightmare.
Well, whatever. I just know something will come up to be a big stonking obstacle to Spike and Buffy going forward, because this is the Buffyverse and that's how it goes.
Plus I'm reminded of the bit from the first arc about vamps being connected somehow? I can't remember it all that well.
I just re-read it and I don't remember that bit, unless you mean the way all vampires had to accept Dracula as their lord and master because it was written in the Vampyr! book, and then were able to track down where Dracula was hiding?
no subject
Date: 2015-02-19 01:45 pm (UTC)Still, I think that's going to play into it. I noticed on re-read that the soul glutton dude was in those panels, so all three of them are old ones. I'm guessing ol' malokor isn't really dead. Angel's dreams started right after that arc.
Maybe someone witnessed the murders and will identify Spike. Buffy will be furious and confront him with the evidence. He'll deny his involvement, then admit to the nightmare.
I doubt it. The summary doesn't suggest it (not that it matters), but this arc has been pretty Spike-centric. I don't think that'll change for the finale. My guess is like you said before. Dowling calls Spike and he recognizes the couple or whatever. Then he tells Buffy.
no subject
Date: 2015-02-19 03:00 pm (UTC)I did ask Gage in his first Q&A for this season if each arc would focus on a particular character. He denied this was the case, but it does seem to have worked out that way.
The first arc focused on Xander, the second a little on Willow (because of the Tara connection) but mostly on Andrew, and now this third one on Spike. It's not really that clear cut, of course. Xander and Spike have had a lot to do right through the series so far, as has Andrew. Willow and Giles have taken a back seat for the most part. Even Dawn has had more to do than Willow. Buffy is just...there.
no subject
Date: 2015-02-19 05:09 pm (UTC)Buffy is just...there.
Yeah. It is strange going back through it that none of them actually ask what she thinks on the matter, they all just push her toward Spike. Kinda fan-ficcy. The Love Dares You title seems more applicable to Spike than her.
Wonder if they'll do a flashback to how they went from the plant to the apartment. It doesn't really fit that Spike would just jump in bed unless she said something revelatory there. Or not. They're rather inconsistent there.
I don't read those Q&As*. Have they said the name of the next arc yet?
*It was recently revealed to me that Harmony was the person hiding in the apartment. LAME.
no subject
Date: 2015-02-20 11:00 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-02-21 02:42 am (UTC)You say that like they've actually given it thought. :P
Yeah, there probably won't be a flashback. It'll be left up to the fanficcers, who'll gladly fill in the blanks.
I'm admittedly curious. From the submissions, it sounds like they're still together as of 15.
no subject
Date: 2015-02-21 03:13 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-02-21 07:29 pm (UTC)30. Unless they add more, which I doubt.
They might surprise, though. Have to admit, I didn't see this coming. I thought they'd toy with it, but pull the rug. Not that that isn't still possible, of course. If they have them together after the mindwalk*, it'll probably be a long-haul deal until the crossover.
I've always got the impression from some of the things Allie said that Joss had Spuffy in no-go territory. Like bringing Fred or Cordy back. But they've done 2/3, so... I wonder if it's the final season, so those are back on the table or DH finally wised up realized that Joss seems to be the problem.
*Buffy realizes Spike did bad things (which she already knew, but that doesn't matter) vs Buffy sees Spike was talking out his ass in FFL. Which one will it be...
no subject
Date: 2015-02-22 03:55 pm (UTC)I know! I was soo disappointed! I really thought there was some invisible villain lurking in Buffy's apartment.
That there's not makes it more likely, I suppose, that the 'old friend' the three villains talked about is either Evil! Doppelganger Spike, or some other demon who is able to separate the demon from the soul and is sending Angelus and Spikelus out to kill at night.
no subject
Date: 2015-02-22 05:12 pm (UTC)That's the way it's shaping up. Someone on Buffyboards mentioned it being Xander's therapist. Honestly? I think there might be something to that.
no subject
Date: 2015-02-22 05:26 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-02-22 07:08 pm (UTC)Nothing is really obvious, though. Just seems weird that Xander's therapist suddenly has importance to the story. Whatever the demon is supposed to be, it's supposed to be in an expected place.