Buffy season 11 no 2

[shapinglight]

Read this and...

Spoilers behind cut



...I thought it was pretty good, but a cursory skim-read of opinions on another site makes it clear it's not going to go down so well in some quarters.

In short, the reaction to the wholesale destruction of San Francisco sets in, with the US government appointing a new secretary of supernatural affairs, undertaking a mandatory census of 'supernatural individuals' so as to 'normalize' their status, recruiting a bunch of Slayers (not Buffy) to police the situation, then reacting to the rise in hate crimes against supernatural-type beings by sending them off to internment camps 'for their own safety.'

Buffy and her friends react in different ways. Spike doomsays a lot, Mini!Giles ums and ahs, Andrew leaves the country altogether (after yet another group hug, which even Spike joins in).

It all sounds very black and white (government bad/supernatural-types good), but is actually more nuanced than that. For one thing, one of the questions that various posters were getting somewhat exercised about on the other site - that, if vampires and demons aren't all 100% evil (apart from Angel and Spike because they have souls), doesn't that make Buffy a mass-murderer for killing them all the time etc, etc? -gets raised by the characters. In fact, it's Spike who raises it when he says to Willow that he doesn't want the likes of Vicki the vampire to have equal protection under the law, and that if she does, it raises thorny ethical questions about Buffy's job.

No conclusions are reached, but as the issue continues, it's pretty clear that Buffy and Willow come down on the side of not pandering to mob hysteria (Buffy and Spike save a demon who is being beaten up by a crowd, then Buffy refuses to join the government-sponsored Slayers, who want to get back to basics and fight 'the vampires, the demons and the forces of darkness,' then Willow saves some Wiccans who are in danger of being burned alive by a mob with a show of force that goes viral on the 'net because someone filmed it on their smartphone, then refuses the secretary of supernatural affairs' offer to join her team because it would mean becoming a sworn federal agent).

However, IMO anyway, none of the government characters are depicted as 'evil,' and not all the members of the mobs actually want to kill anyone. One of them even thinks they're the ones who're going to end up in camps.

So anyway, yes, I liked it. I'm intrigued to see where the story's going to go. In fact, the only not so good thing about it, IMO, is that the inking is rubbish on some of the pages. Maybe Rebekah Isaacs was pressed for time and had to finish them in a rush?

Comments

[sueworld2003.livejournal.com]

As I said before I'm rather looking forward to reading this. :)

[shapinglight]

I enjoyed it. :)

[infinitewhale.livejournal.com]

Still don't get the notion that this rewrites the shows as the Scoobies=Murderers. They never expressed a demons=evil mindset and they never attacked a demon that wasn't an active threat. There were always good and bad demons and they always acknowledged this as far back as S2. The only demons ever treated as preternaturally evil and killed on sight were vampires. It was their precious S8 that opened the Scoobies/MoG = Killers can of worms by having vamps just decide not to kill people.

[shapinglight]

Still don't get the notion that this rewrites the shows as the Scoobies=Murderers.

Me neither, and this comic doesn't do that. It raises the question, but doesn't answer it, which to me, shows that Gage is aware of the notion, and that it may become a story element at some point that some (Vicki the vampire, possibly) might exploit the rather grey area of it to paint Buffy in a bad light to their own advantage, but that her reaction to demons that aren't vampires in the show has always been more nuanced than the people who are exercised about this element seem willing to admit.

I don't remember Buffy killing a demon (as opposed to a vampire) that wasn't a threat. The same is true for Angel in AtS.

[infinitewhale.livejournal.com]

It was always a fanon thing. There were demon bars in operation throughout the run of the show. Buffy was friends with Clem, ffs. Hells Bells, anyone? Even Xander never had that viewpoint that I saw. He hated vamps, 2 specifically--though he'd probably hate them if they were human, too.

They dealt with that storyline in Angel in a very over-the-top episode. S4 of Buffy handled it more subtly but the message was the same.

I get, fundamentally, why they dislike it. But again: S8.

Not that I've read it, but it seems like this a bit of a retread of what apparently happened prior to S8. Something happened and now the gang is in hiding because of public backlash. Only instead of singling out slayers, it's the whole magical world.

Heh. Maybe it'll be Gingerbread all over again and it'll be something making people react that way.

[shapinglight]

Maybe it'll be Gingerbread all over again and it'll be something making people react that way.

It's possible, but I don't think so. Buffy herself cites part of the problem as being down to the fact that the dragon that caused all the destruction has just vanished and no one knows where it went, so everyone is frightened (understandably) that it might turn up again suddenly. Also, Willow and Giles have managed to work out that it was sent by someone but they don't know who, and in the absence of a single enemy they can focus on, everyone magical is under suspicion.

They dealt with that storyline in Angel in a very over-the-top episode. S4 of Buffy handled it more subtly but the message was the same.

Agreed.

[infinitewhale.livejournal.com]

everyone magical is under suspicion.

I still suspect the VP. Maybe he's a layover from Twilight.

This doesn't sound too bad. However S8-S10 just did too much damage for me.

I wonder if Lorne will turn up.

[shapinglight]

I still suspect the VP. Maybe he's a layover from Twilight.

I suspect the VP too, if only, for reasons previously stated, because the VP is quite often either evil or a buffoon in fiction. ;)

[infinitewhale.livejournal.com]

Yeah. Also I think the slayers will be in on it. There's definitely a "way things used to be" vibe going on with them. They stand to gain a lot in terms of power and prestige with supernatural segregations. Someone magical from the past will have to turn up somehow or another. I can only think of Amy, but she was a rat last we saw her.

I wonder if the thing Angel goes back to stop will have anything to do with the dragon.

[shapinglight]

It might do. I've been kind of ignoring the Angel book so far because everything about it struck me as rather dull. We'll see, I suppose. Maybe it'll be great?

[infinitewhale.livejournal.com]

Maybe it'll be great?

Going from the art? No. I like some of the composition from the preview thingy, but the line art and coloring is ghastly bad, IMO.

I think like all Angel comic seasons, it'll start off with a hint of intrigue, get muddle down in the middle and go out with a whimper.

But yeah, I do think they'll crossover somehow.

[shapinglight]

I think the trouble with Angel comics will always be Angel himself. I like the character, but he's just dull when he's on his own. I'm not sure that Fredllyria on her own is going to be enough of a counterbalance to all the dullness.

[infinitewhale.livejournal.com]

Angel is interesting as long as they let him show the snarky/petty sides of his personality. I just randomly watched Dead End and his interactions with Lindsey are good stuff.

The comics seem to want to remind us that he is A Hero. Understandable after S8, but that's not the reader's fault. It's boring to have it rehashed by all the characters every other page.

Also I found Fred kinda boring and Illyria even moreso. She was Anya without the humor, IMO. I don't know why Gunn, Lorne and Connor are dirty words at Dark Horse. They could bring Lorne in if he's in one of the camps. I doubt it.

[shapinglight]

I don't expect to see Lorne again in anything, even though Andy Hallett's been dead for a while now and I don't think it would be disrespectful to bring the character back.

I like both Fred and Illyria, but they're not enough on their own. Angel really needs more secondary characters - especially someone to point out when he's being an idiot. That was Cordy's role, then Spike's. It's never been Fred's/Illyria's, and it wasn't really Faith's. He needs someone like that urgently.

[lusciousxander.livejournal.com]

I think I mostly saw it in fanfic that the characters, Xander especially, have a "bigoted" view towards demons. The Scoobies accepted Tara as one of them before they knew she was not a demon afterall.

I have not read the issue yet, but this season sounds exciting. I like that it's only 12 issues. I just wish they'd tone down the group hugs and the long speeches in the bubbles. That was the downside of S10 IMO.

[infinitewhale.livejournal.com]

I think I mostly saw it in fanfic that the characters, Xander especially, have a "bigoted" view towards demons

Yeah, it's mainly a fanfic thing that somehow got transposed to discussions. Or maybe it was the other way around. They do it, I think, as a way to make story problems about the gang rather than Spike or Angel.

There seems to be some underlying issues going on in that thread. Can't help but notice it seems it's the Buffy Shouldn't Date Nonhumans crowd singing the loudest.

[feliciacraft.livejournal.com]

Issue #2's out? I need to get my hands on it before reading this! :)

[red-satin-doll.livejournal.com]

I just read it, and I rather liked it - this season is growing on me already despite my misgivings about the "demons = oppressed minority" angle. But it does feel very real and topical, and the fast pace of this issue reminded me of the fast pace of political news the last couple of months.

I'll have more to say about it all when I'm more coherent.

[rebcake.livejournal.com]

That line about Buffy going around dusting citizens without a trial made me think: they are going where the very best fanfic goes! They seem to be trying to think things through to their logical conclusions. So, yeah, I like it.

Of course, it's a little too close for comfort. I just talked to a friend whose teenaged daughter is concerned that the jackboots will be marching down Market Street in a few more weeks. His words were, "It would never happen here." To which I replied, "I'll bet that's what they said in Vienna." It's all very disconcerting.

Your suggestion of Mars has merit. Although Italy doesn't sound terrible either.

(I'll bet Wilow ends up joining the government. And it's silly to say she has to be a "sworn federal agent". There are lots of ways to be involved in the government besides be deputized. Sheesh.)

[shapinglight]

I don't know about Willow. I think she's going to end up as a guerilla leader, personally. And Spike is probably going to get into a big fight with Vicki the vampire and co, who are going to try and exploit their new 'legal' status to make trouble for Buffy.

Actually, I don't really know where it's going. I'm just glad that currently it's saying what it appears to be saying - ie. that the situation is nuanced and there's good and bad on both sides, but also that it's way too easy to slide down the slippery slope that the government lady is inviting Willow to step on to.

I just talked to a friend whose teenaged daughter is concerned that the jackboots will be marching down Market Street in a few more weeks.

God, poor kid! As for 'it could never happen here,' I just don't believe in that phrase. People in the UK are always so up themselves about plucky Britain in the war, but it could so easily have gone a different way. If we'd been invaded, or made peace with the Nazis, we would have been no different to anyone else.