Buffy season 11 no 1
Nov. 23rd, 2016 09:02 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shapinglightNot using this icon because Spike kisses Illyria in this comic or anything, but it's a nice icon and I just want to use it. ;)
Okay, the first issue of season 11...feels a lot more zeitgeist-y than Christos Gage was ever expecting it would, I suspect (for which see his comment about issue 2 on Twitter).
Spoilers behind cut
Mind you, Trump supporters will get something out of it (apart from the hump at the negative commentary on Trump's immigration pledges- Buffy describes Spike jokingly as an 'illegal immigrant' and Spike responds 'we prefer undocumented') because San Francisco gets trashed in it and I suspect lots of them hate San Francisco.
In short, Buffy and co are living the dream, as it were. Buffy and Spike are working part time for the SFPD fighting demons in the sewers (which is rather an odd definition of 'living the dream,' admittedly) and seem to be getting on great together - though when Spike says to Detective Dowling that he feels like he's grown as a person and Dowling responds that he bets Buffy feels the same way, Spike says, "From your mouth to the deity of your choice's ears, mate," and looks doubtful. Later in the book, Buffy complains to Dawn that everyone else has moved on with their lives whereas she's still doing what she's been doing since she was fifteen years old. So there are seeds of doubt/discontent in the mix right from the start.
Elsewhere, Willow is running what looks like a sort of coven start-up scheme, where she helps various magic-users find out what sort of coven they want to belong to, Mini!Giles is basically being GrownUp!Giles in a child's body, and Xander and Dawn are back together and Dawn is doing great at college.
It's all too good to be true, of course, and in short order a huge Chinese storm dragon (maybe the Trump supporters will like this bit too? Evil foreign dragons wreaking havoc?) has trashed half the city and killed lots of people, in typical comic book villain-destroys-New-York-type fashion. Buffy and co do what they can to fight it but it's too strong for them. Then they do what they can to rescue the victims, but many people have died (basically, everything at sea level has been completely trashed). In the aftermath, Buffy and Spike are talking, and he hints to her that, having seen a lot of history, he fears what is to come. Buffy asks him if he means the dragon's arrival is an act of war. Spike says it might be, but even if it isn't, the world's just changed in a big way.
Cut to the White House, where the president and vice-president (both of them middle-aged white men) are being briefed by some general. Turns out the vice-president is a hawkish Dick Cheney caricature who says the question before them isn't really what happened but what they're going to do about it.
So, yes, what started off as possibly a not very veiled commentary on 9/11 and its aftermath, takes on a much more up-to-date tone due to comments made during the election campaign about various ethnic groups, not to mention illegal immigrants. Gage is possibly going to get massively trolled for this. Or maybe BtVS is so old-hat now no one will notice?
Quality-wise, the comic is much the same as season 10. The writing's okay, if somewhat exposition-heavy and on-the-nose at times. We'll see how it goes, I guess.
Okay, the first issue of season 11...feels a lot more zeitgeist-y than Christos Gage was ever expecting it would, I suspect (for which see his comment about issue 2 on Twitter).
Spoilers behind cut
Mind you, Trump supporters will get something out of it (apart from the hump at the negative commentary on Trump's immigration pledges- Buffy describes Spike jokingly as an 'illegal immigrant' and Spike responds 'we prefer undocumented') because San Francisco gets trashed in it and I suspect lots of them hate San Francisco.
In short, Buffy and co are living the dream, as it were. Buffy and Spike are working part time for the SFPD fighting demons in the sewers (which is rather an odd definition of 'living the dream,' admittedly) and seem to be getting on great together - though when Spike says to Detective Dowling that he feels like he's grown as a person and Dowling responds that he bets Buffy feels the same way, Spike says, "From your mouth to the deity of your choice's ears, mate," and looks doubtful. Later in the book, Buffy complains to Dawn that everyone else has moved on with their lives whereas she's still doing what she's been doing since she was fifteen years old. So there are seeds of doubt/discontent in the mix right from the start.
Elsewhere, Willow is running what looks like a sort of coven start-up scheme, where she helps various magic-users find out what sort of coven they want to belong to, Mini!Giles is basically being GrownUp!Giles in a child's body, and Xander and Dawn are back together and Dawn is doing great at college.
It's all too good to be true, of course, and in short order a huge Chinese storm dragon (maybe the Trump supporters will like this bit too? Evil foreign dragons wreaking havoc?) has trashed half the city and killed lots of people, in typical comic book villain-destroys-New-York-type fashion. Buffy and co do what they can to fight it but it's too strong for them. Then they do what they can to rescue the victims, but many people have died (basically, everything at sea level has been completely trashed). In the aftermath, Buffy and Spike are talking, and he hints to her that, having seen a lot of history, he fears what is to come. Buffy asks him if he means the dragon's arrival is an act of war. Spike says it might be, but even if it isn't, the world's just changed in a big way.
Cut to the White House, where the president and vice-president (both of them middle-aged white men) are being briefed by some general. Turns out the vice-president is a hawkish Dick Cheney caricature who says the question before them isn't really what happened but what they're going to do about it.
So, yes, what started off as possibly a not very veiled commentary on 9/11 and its aftermath, takes on a much more up-to-date tone due to comments made during the election campaign about various ethnic groups, not to mention illegal immigrants. Gage is possibly going to get massively trolled for this. Or maybe BtVS is so old-hat now no one will notice?
Quality-wise, the comic is much the same as season 10. The writing's okay, if somewhat exposition-heavy and on-the-nose at times. We'll see how it goes, I guess.
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no subject
Date: 2016-11-23 02:06 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-11-23 02:09 pm (UTC)I didn't think there would be many takers, but I'm glad that someone read it.
no subject
Date: 2016-11-23 07:54 pm (UTC)In fact, on the strength of your S10 reviews, I intend to buy the collected season 10 book thingies. After season 8, I was afeared, but I'm going to give the comics another try.
no subject
Date: 2016-11-24 09:26 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-11-23 09:18 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-11-24 09:28 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-11-23 11:28 pm (UTC)Actually, having grown up with all the '06 quake history, and having lived through the '89 quake, it all looks a little too familiar. *sigh*
I what you mean about the writing being good but a bit too on point. Since there are only going to be 12 issues, it doesn't sound like there's going to be any time to do meander into just for fun territory. But I'm still curious to see what they'll do.
(I am surprised that they had the Dick Cheney dude as President. Maybe they had 2 versions of that scene, and put the white guys in after the election?)
no subject
Date: 2016-11-24 09:31 am (UTC)I know! It's really upsetting.
But I'm still curious to see what they'll do.
Me too. I'm expecting plenty of X-Men parallels.
The Dick Cheney dude is actually vice president - no doubt due to that other thing I've noticed in American TV shows, apart from the negative mother fixation thing, about how the vice president is nearly always the villain (except in that Veep series, I guess, but that's a comedy, isn't it?). The President himself is usually without fault or misled or something.
no subject
Date: 2016-11-24 06:12 am (UTC)Not reading, but I will comment on your review!
It'll probably turn out that VP was in on it, that's why the focus on response rather than cause. I don't think that's much better than the opposite, though.
Buffy complains to Dawn that everyone else has moved on with their lives whereas she's still doing what she's been doing since she was fifteen years old. So there are seeds of doubt/discontent in the mix right from the start.
I really wish they'd get off this. 4 seasons of comics have dealt with this and it was never an issue since S3 of Buffy.
Since when does Spike just randomly bite demons? I know they did it before, but it never made sense then, either. I can maybe see biting a humanoid demon, but I don't see Spike just random biting, which really wouldn't have an effect anyway.
no subject
Date: 2016-11-24 09:33 am (UTC)I'm sure it'll turn out he has an agenda, and vice presidents are usually the villains, aren't they?
I don't think Spike ever once bit a demon in the show - unless you count him biting Cordelia in AtS season 5 when he thought she was evil. And that was hardly random.
no subject
Date: 2016-11-24 10:16 am (UTC)I'm sure it'll turn out he has an agenda, and vice presidents are usually the villains, aren't they?
I can't remember the VP in most fiction. :P Usually they're nonexistent. But I rarely read things where the President is the character outside of disaster movies like Independence Day.
Come to think of it, I think the President would probably discuss this sort of thing with the head of homeland security and/or the secretary of defense rather than the VP. That further suggests him being in on it, I suppose. Maybe they didn't want to have him be SoD because then the Rumsfeld angle would be undeniable.
I don't think Spike ever once bit a demon in the show - unless you count him biting Cordelia in AtS season 5 when he thought she was evil. And that was hardly random.
Yeah, never on the show. They had him biting demons in S9 or S10... I think? Surely a sword or knife would be a better weapon. For all he'd know the blood could be acid or something.
no subject
Date: 2016-11-30 04:29 pm (UTC)I can definitely remember a few evil vice-presidents. There was one in an early series of 24 - possibly two. I think DB Woodside played one (or maybe he was the president's evil brother, I've forgotten?). There was also one in Babylon 5, though that was the Earth president (which, in that show, was basically the same as the US president).
Maybe they didn't want to have him be SoD because then the Rumsfeld angle would be undeniable.
Maybe, but I doubt Gage thought about it that deeply.
For all he'd know the blood could be acid or something.
Not to mention, even if he was in the habit of biting opponents, he tried it on the Soul Glutton in season 10 and that didn't work too well for him. You'd think he's remember.
no subject
Date: 2016-12-01 02:17 pm (UTC)Not to mention, even if he was in the habit of biting opponents, he tried it on the Soul Glutton in season 10 and that didn't work too well for him. You'd think he's remember.
Yea, I guess they're trying to play up the always having his weapon angle. Thing is... A vamp probably wouldn't bite as a weapon since it's how they feed and damaging a fang could be catastrophic. It would make eating a pain, you know? I don't know what they're thinking doing that.
no subject
Date: 2016-12-03 05:10 pm (UTC)Me too. I think watching the first two series of 24 was a big aberration for me. I never watched more than that.
I don't know what they're thinking doing that.
Probably more like not thinking at all. ;)
no subject
Date: 2016-11-24 06:48 am (UTC)Under Obama, SF got very little heat. A hostile and insistent president, otoh, could really turn up the pressure in terms of withholding federal funding from a Sanctuary City. This is something Trump said he would do if elected. There's precedent of legal action being taken against a safe haven city as well. It's...not good.
Ugh. Sorry to bring politics into your Buffy comics review. It's just that...it's my city, and there's so much uncertainty right now. A lot of tension. A lot of fear. If only we had Buffy!
no subject
Date: 2016-11-24 09:35 am (UTC)I'm sure it is. Gage meant it as veiled (or not so veiled) commentary on the election campaign rhetoric, and probably thought he was being even-handed.
Don't worry about bringing politics in the comics review. I suspect the whole story will turn out to be a lot more politically relevant than Gage ever imagined it would.
no subject
Date: 2016-11-24 10:24 am (UTC)probably thought he was being even-handed.
It's one of those things where metaphors don't work and only serve to convey the opposite meaning.
Like, I remember some fans trying to equate vamps with minorities (and thus, the Scoobs were quasi-racists) back when the show was on. It never occurred to them how racist saying beings who murder thousands and drink blood=minorities is.
Same thing here. Except here the writers *do* seem to be doing that.
That's why I hate when Joss goes political. Metaphors often backfire when dealing with this stuff.
no subject
Date: 2016-11-30 04:30 pm (UTC)Yes, judging by this first issue, they do seem to have fallen into that trap head first.
no subject
Date: 2016-11-24 06:00 pm (UTC)So far the only person that has actually brought US bipartisan politics into this is you. Good job! [slow clap.gif]
no subject
Date: 2016-11-25 10:27 am (UTC)