Brief thoughts on the web comic

[shapinglight]

Hmm.

A few more thoughts on the web comic. Spoilers for it, of course.



Glorious OTT slashiness aside, there is some darker stuff here. Buffy is obviously still very lonely and feeling abandoned. Now she's dreaming that even the two men who are supposed to love her most ("I'm the love of your lives!", my favourite line apart from the sound effects) prefer each other to her. Plus, unless Caleb's reappearance is just further evidence of Joss's total fanboying of Nathan Fillion, the presence of the uber-misogynist and his questioning of her possibly suggests Buffy still has doubts about her abilities.

Then there's the presence of Tara at the 'wedding' (which could symbolise Buffy's old longing for 'normality', which she must realise is a pipe dream, given this scenario), showing that Buffy is still carrying a boatload of guilt about so many things.

In short: poor Comics Buffy.

or maybe it's just all about cheese, who knows?

Comments

[xc-runner50.livejournal.com]

I'm going with the cheese. But then again I am a mouse. ;)

[shapinglight]

Cheese still seems like the safest option to me too.

[angearia.livejournal.com]

Some more analysis:

"It's the one less you always forget, girl. You can't kill what's inside you." - dream!Caleb/Joss

Which is exactly what Buffy is trying to do in the Retreat arc, but Joss tells us it's doomed to fail. But we already knew that Buffy running away and trying to hide her Slayerness was a bad plan.

[beer-good-foamy.livejournal.com]

But we already knew that Buffy running away and trying to hide her Slayerness was a bad plan.

Since early season 3, in fact. But hey, maybe Angel's line is meant to imply that Buffy's a real blonde, with all that that entails? ;-)

[angearia.livejournal.com]

Ouch. ;)

[shapinglight]

Are you going to do a review of the latest Buffy comic, btw? I hope so. I love your reviews.

[beer-good-foamy.livejournal.com]

Soon as I get a hold of it... :-)

[shapinglight]

Well, I haven't read Retreat yet, so I wouldn't know. Also, doesn't Caleb mean 'one lesson', not 'one less'?

[angearia.livejournal.com]

Typo. ;)

[kseenaa.livejournal.com]

Slash-porn in comic. Epic win. But yes. Poor Buffy indeed.

[shapinglight]

Comics Buffy is definitely in a bad place.

[ruuger]

Yeah, poor Buffy was my main thought as well even though I haven't been following S8 in ages.

(although my enjoyment of the comic was also greatly dampened by the fact that I've already seen the Buffy bashers crawl from the woodwork to cheer at Buffy finally getting what she deserves...)

Joan Chen's art was very pretty though - has she replaced Jeanty, or was this just a one-off?

[mrs-underhill.livejournal.com]

Oh yes, Buffy has her mind thouroughly f** up here, to a scary degree, but for me, acknowledgement of a problem is a first step towards redemption. Which I hope will come at some point - but the problem has to be identified first.
Season 8 wasn't really clear on that - on what they were trying to show, and so I just gave up on them. Buffy was obviously not well, but they just danced around it.
But maybe it will come to some satisfying conclusion after all.

[shapinglight]

Buffy was obviously not well, but they just danced around it.

Well, I've yet to see evidence that they're doing more than that. I suppose we'll see. I'm hoping Jane E's arc will be better than the last two (it could hardly be worse).

[shapinglight]

(although my enjoyment of the comic was also greatly dampened by the fact that I've already seen the Buffy bashers crawl from the woodwork to cheer at Buffy finally getting what she deserves...)

I didn't see any of that yesterday, but I don't understand that attitude.

I'm afraid this was just a one-off. If it weren't I might find it easier to actually care about Comics Buffy and co.

[elisi]

Cheese. 'season 8' is a *dream*!

[shapinglight]

Or a nightmare. :)

[mrs-underhill.livejournal.com]

Sorry, I can only bounce off walls now, running in circles and doing "I told you so, I told you so". ;)
I trusted in Joss, and he didn't dissappoint.
We finally get some beautiful Spangel on screen (and how pretty the boys are there, eh, eh?) in a way Jossverse can get away with.

And Buffy has some hardcore reckoning and regrets in her, after all - which I also loved.

Biiig sigh of relief. But I didn't doubt it, really. :)

[shapinglight]

I'm happy for you, Nata. I'm a little less happy today, but we'll see how it pans out.

[empty-mirrors.livejournal.com]

I've not read the comics and really only know about the storylines secondhand, but one quote from this Ecomic made me think.

"Caleb: Why would they bother with you? You're just a dirty girl.

Spike: But I'm a very clean boy."

This, followed by the Spangel snogging (is happy fangrrl) could be read as evidence of Buffy's internalised homophobia about her relationship with Satsu. The idea that a girl is dirty, but a boy clean.

And that's about as far as that meta thought got. T'was a fun little comic though.

[shapinglight]

This, followed by the Spangel snogging (is happy fangrrl) could be read as evidence of Buffy's internalised homophobia about her relationship with Satsu. The idea that a girl is dirty, but a boy clean.

Boy (er - inappropriate word to use), I hope not! I think that's a little convoluted even for Joss.

But it was fun, and it looked pretty.

[rahirah]

I'm just mildly pleased that my prediction that if Buffy really saw Spike and Angel going at it, her reaction would be hurt and jealousy rather than glee seems to be more or less correct...

[shapinglight]

I think it might have been different in a different context.

[rahirah]

Could be. But Buffy's emotional issues being what they are, I suspect that as long as Spike and Angel Doing It is her fantasy, under her control - a performance they put on for her, because it turns her on - she's fine with it. However, if (as in this nightmare) it's not for her, and it in fact specifically excludes her, not just sexually but emotionally... not so fine with it.

[shapinglight]

True.

[jamalov29.livejournal.com]

Buffy is obviously still very lonely and feeling abandoned. Now she's dreaming that even the two men who are supposed to love her most ("I'm the love of your lives!", my favourite line apart from the sound effects) prefer each other to her. You nailed exactly why underneath the so called fun of those images I was stressed and very sorry for her - even if canon!Buffy doesn't really exist for me.

[shapinglight]

Well, everyone says Joss puts layers into his work. Personally, I think some of those layers are fan-created, but that doesn't mean what you see is always what you get, even in the comic (though it often is).

[rebcake.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure what to say, here. I loved it (though I won't let McDiva read it), but yes, it is a nightmare for Buffy. I don't have a problem with her thinking slashy thoughts, but still being disturbed by them when she is not the focus. I'm also pretty sure she still thinks that there is something wrong with her (possibly sexually), and like everybody else in the world who isn't perfect, she's right. She has a lot of regrets, no surprise given the interesting life she's led. It's bound to get to her.

The thing that is not clear to me about the comics is where they line up with AtS 5. Since Harmony has gone reality show, I guess it's post AtF (which I didn't read, 'cos I don't like the art). Andrew must've already collected Dana and found that Spike is alive. Does Giles know? Does Buffy? It isn't explicitly laid out, and it could go either way. If she knows, she's probably thinking that Spike staying with Angel, rather than returning to her, is a slap (and why wouldn't she?). But she could also still just be misinformed that he permanently died in the Hellmouth. I'm guessing that this not-knowing what Buffy knows is driving many readers crazy.

Maybe I should post this query on my journal, rather than taking up real estate on yours, since I'm getting seriously off-point.

[shapinglight]

I'm also pretty sure she still thinks that there is something wrong with her (possibly sexually), and like everybody else in the world who isn't perfect, she's right. She has a lot of regrets, no surprise given the interesting life she's led. It's bound to get to her.

Perfectly true. I've been saying to myself since the initial squee wore off that I had to remember this was All About Buffy.

As for when this comic takes place, I think it's supposed to be at least a year post-NFA, and whether Buffy knows Spike is alive or not remains a mystery. One I suspect that Joss doesn't care enough about to delve into.

[lyr]

Indeed, poor comics Buffy. There are clearly many more issues for her to work through.

But yay for the Spike/Angel moment!

[shapinglight]

But yay for the Spike/Angel moment!

Yes, I think I'm back to looking at it that way now. Perspective is a wonderful thing. :)