Buffy Season 8 No 27 & Angel No 24 (the Drusilla story part 1)

[shapinglight]

Now if LJ will only behave itself....My hands are in slightly better shape at the end of this week than they were at the end of last but still not that great. Consequently, I'm trying to keep posting/commenting to the minimum for the time being. Considering how much I post normally (a lot), this is really difficult, involving all that hard stuff which I'm not good at, like self-restraint etc. :(

That said, I felt I had to go on doing the comics reviews. I think that once you start something, you should finish it - possibly the only way in which I am in any way remotely like Spike.

So, went down the comic shop, to find Comic Shop Boy in a Very Serious Mood. He ticked me off for not wanting the IDW Not Fade Away comic because he claimed they'd only ordered it because they thought I wanted it, though I can't remember saying I did. Can't think of anything that could be a greater waste of time than a comics retelling of a TV episode, except maybe Angel: Aftermath. Anyway, on to the reviews.

Spoilers of course. Also, those of you I buy the comics for, I haven't posted them yet due to the postal strike and have no idea when I'll be able to. Sorry.



The Buffy comic first, and I'm not going to do the things I liked/things I didn't like thing because this month they're too bound up in each other. See, the story's quite fun, the writing is good (it's Jane E. Of course the writing's good). The art, however, is truly horrible. I'm not much of a Jeanty fan, as I'm sure everyone's realised by now, but in this issue all the things I don't like about his work are there ten times over. He can't draw a likeness to save his life and in this issue, with its cast of thousands, that just makes things horribly confusing. The only characters we can identify with any certainty are Xander because of his eyepatch and Giles because of his glasses. Oh yeah, and Twilight I suppose, from his Deadpool rip-off costume. The action sequences are confusing, so at times it's very hard to tell what's meant to be happening, and there are a huge number of panels where everyone's mouths are missing. There're also some (possibly) unintentionally hilarious panels, like the one where Oz either has a long furry tongue or has swallowed most of a squirrel. Maybe it's meant to be funny, but if so, it comes across more as just plain ridiculous.

Worst of all IMO are the places where the poor art detracts from the emotional impact of the story, such as in the scene where Oz says to Willow, re: the baby, "We're not okay, are we?", and you realise that Willow is supposed to be upset, because there's no clue in the art previous to this that this is case. You can't tell anything about Willow except that she's wearing a rather peculiar hat.

Finally, I guess it's silly after all this time to expect Jeanty to do any actual research, but I'm still irritated by the fact that he's drawn Tibet - the highest desert in the world -looking like the Swiss Alps. Wouldn't surprise me at all to see a chorus of (Buddhist) nuns go by singing "The hi-ills are ali-ive" etc etc.

So yeah, I hate the art even more than usual, especially because it ruins what would otherwise be a good issue, because as long as you leave logic at the door, the story's enjoyable, Oz's partner is a really good character (Jane once again proves she can write interesting OCs), the baby is very cute, and the dialogue is great. I enjoyed the 'Spike' conversation between Not-Riley, Clueless Nerd and Twilight, because I was hoping Jane might be able to shoehorn Spike in somewhere (though I don't take from this conversation that Twilight knows who Spike is, or that he is Spike, as one of the more Desperate-For-Spike-To-Be-Twilight-So-He-Can-Say-I-Told-You-He-Was-Still-Evil Spike-hating posters on Buffyforums was trying to fanwank yesterday). I also very much like the confirmation from Dawn that the Slayer power is demonic in origin. I'm glad that's settled. All that said, Buffy's plan is nuts, and if her friends/the other Slayers know what it is and are going along with it, they're nuts too. For reasons why they're nuts, probably best to go and read beer_good_foamy's review of the issue, which is much more coherent than mine.

I think I'd better just stick with story fun, writing excellent, art bloody awful, dragging what should have been a 9/10 comic down to a 6/10 IMO.

Angel 24 from IDW is in many ways the polar opposite of the Buffy comic. It's the first part of a two part story co-written by Juliet Landau and Brian Lynch, and though a fair bit happens in it, it's very unclear as yet how it relates to the bigger picture (in this A: AtF, I think, rather than anything that comes after it). The first part takes place over a very brief span of time and mainly features Drusilla being bonkers and killing people, with certain characters turning a blind eye to the murders becuase they've been ordered to by mysterious entities offscreen. Whether we'll discover who those entities are, only the next issue will tell. In the meantime, as I said, Dru gets to be bonkers and kill an awful lot of psychiatrists (that'll teach them to put her in a straitjacket), and it looks absolutely beautiful. I've liked Franco Urru's work from the first time I saw it, but I think in this issue he excels himself. Dru looks like Dru in every panel, even if she doesn't always look exactly like Juliet Landau (a trick he's previously pulled off very successfully with Spike and Angel, making them look like them without necessarily always looking like JM and DB). The two page sequence where Dru kills the doctors is particularly well done, like some kind of murderous ballet. The colouring is also very striking.

So, there we have it. One comic that looks beautiful but isn't about very much (or if it is, we won't know what it is until the next issue), and one that's almost about too much and looks terrible.

Finally - and I really have to stop now, hands are hurting and fingers are going numb - I also came back with the latest Authority which contains the most romantic scene in any of the comics this week, of the Midnighter and Apollo about to kiss. Sadly, the romance doesn't last as first Apollo turns into a ravening monster and then Midnighter wakes up. However, he does take the dream as a sign that he has to go and find a cure for what ails his lover, and off he goes. See? Romantic.

Comments

[beer-good-foamy.livejournal.com]

Can't think of anything that could be a greater waste of time than a comics retelling of a TV episode, except maybe Angel: Aftermath.

Heh. Glad I'm not the only one who fails to see the point of that.

Worst of all IMO are the places where the poor art detracts from the emotional impact of the story, such as in the scene where Oz says to Willow, re: the baby, "We're not okay, are we?", and you realise that Willow is supposed to be upset, because there's no clue in the art previous to this that this is case.

I actually thought that one panel worked pretty well. Not the ones preceding it, but that one... yeah. Though granted, take out the speech bubbles and it could be Andrew and Willow discussing video games.

Thanks for the rec, btw, and hope your hands are getting better or will be soon...

[shapinglight]

Thanks for the rec, btw,

No prob. Your review was way, way better than mine. I couldn't get my head around it somehow, partly because I was so frustrated by the bad art, partly because I've a lot of other stuff on my mind.

I probably didn't explain myself very well. I actually thought the "We're not okay, are we?" panel worked okay too. It's just that comics being a visual medium, you expect clues that Character A is upset beforehand. Trouble with comics is, you can never say the writing is everything, it doesn't matter about the art. The art is equally important.

[beer-good-foamy.livejournal.com]

Ah, gotcha. And yeah, I agree. There are comics where the art is secondary, but that requires the writer to know that it is and write based on the assumption that the pictures will just be there to support the words - and like flake_sake says, that's not the sort of comic Joss and Jane seem to be writing.

[shapinglight]

that's not the sort of comic Joss and Jane seem to be writing.

Joss's total faith in Jeanty to express the story he's trying to tell bewilders me, have to say. I think flake_sake is right too. Joss and Jane are, to some extent, writing the story in their heads like TV writers, not like comics writers. I say to some extent because obviously they couldn't do things like plant a submarine on top of a Himalaya on TV, but that sort of thing is really just silly window-dressing anyway.

I should grit my teeth and go back through all the issues to see if I can identify other places where the art has badly let the story down. Even I'm not so anti-Jeanty as to say this is always the case, but I think he's very limited. He can't do action scenes that well, for instance, which is a big failing in a comics artist.

[angearia.livejournal.com]

Glad I'm not the only one who fails to see the point of that.

I fail to see the point too and agree that Aftermath is even more useless.

[shapinglight]

and agree that Aftermath is even more useless.

I'm still hoping that IDW will quietly bury any reference to that series and pretend it never happened.

[yourlibrarian]

Wouldn't surprise me at all to see a chorus of (Buddhist) nuns go by singing "The hi-ills are ali-ive" etc etc.

Ok, that just made me snort out loud.

So, there we have it. One comic that looks beautiful but isn't about very much (or if it is, we won't know what it is until the next issue), and one that's almost about too much and looks terrible.

Sounds like reader whiplash.

[shapinglight]

Sounds like reader whiplash.

Well, that's probably giving it too much credit, but yeah, there' an element of that.

[flake-sake.livejournal.com]

Sadly I haven't been able to get the Angel comic yet. Aftermath has really damaged the scanners motivation, so I'll probably have to wait till I order something from vienna again to get issue *grumble* (that is if I can get my comic book dealer there to order them again)

I read retreat however and I agree on the art. Poor Oz. I'm just rewatching season two and he looks so cute.

Worst of all IMO are the places where the poor art detracts from the emotional impact of the story, such as in the scene where Oz says to Willow, re: the baby, "We're not okay, are we?", and you realise that Willow is supposed to be upset, because there's no clue in the art previous to this that this is case. You can't tell anything about Willow except that she's wearing a rather peculiar hat.

Totally agree, the problem is that it's much harder to express complex emotions on comic book faces. Only the best can do it and Jeanty isn't the best by far. That wouldn't be such a problem if the writers got it.
After the Fall worked so much better for the characters, because you could recognize the people you loved from their inner monologues. They allow someone to say one thing and think another, which was always an element of the tv show.
I loved Jane's writing too, but she has the same problem as Joss, she writes for actors, not for pictures.
It's also a problem of the set up. If all your story is build up around making one character a traitor, you can't have a look inside their heads, or it would kill the suspense. And this lead to the characters becoming two dimensional and their motivations being incomprehensive.

Also it damages the villain. So far Twilight ranks en par with Adam. No sense of humor, no clear motivation. The motivation hopefully is going to be delivered but all this time now he doesn't have a personality.

Concerning artists though, have you seen the preview page by the new Angel artist for the Willingham arc. Now they hired a good guy this time it seems. I really hope they haven't lost too many readers through the Aftermath mess, because the new projects look very very shiny.

[shapinglight]

Aftermath has really damaged the scanners motivation

Can quite see why. Good luck tracking the Dru issues down. As I said, Part 1 looks beautiful and it's obvious a lot of care and attention has gone into it on the part of everyone involved.

After the Fall worked so much better for the characters, because you could recognize the people you loved from their inner monologues. They allow someone to say one thing and think another, which was always an element of the tv show.

Yes, absolutely. I agree. Though I have a lot of problems with that series, character 'voice' is not one of them. Lynch nails it completely, and Urru's art complements the story beautifully instead of detracting from it, as Jeanty's does. There've been several moments in the the Buffy comic where I know Joss was going for the angst big-time, such as Renee's death etc, but every single time he was let down by the artist. A: AtF and S: AtF also had those moments, such as Jeremy's death at the hands of Illyria and Angel discovering Connor alive, and thanks to Urru and the internalised monologue, those got me every time.

If all your story is build up around making one character a traitor, you can't have a look inside their heads, or it would kill the suspense. And this lead to the characters becoming two dimensional and their motivations being incomprehensive.

Absolutely true. You've hit the nail on the head. It's no wonder many of us have a hard time understanding this Buffy. Most of the time, there's no clue, either writing-wise or visual-wise, what she's really thinking.

[flake-sake.livejournal.com]

Can quite see why. Good luck tracking the Dru issues down. As I said, Part 1 looks beautiful and it's obvious a lot of care and attention has gone into it on the part of everyone involved.

I'm looking forward to it. It's bound to pop up somewhere soon, I hope.
I haven't read Aftermath yet, only bits and pieces and it sounds terrible.

Still grouchy that Joss didn't give a canon ok to IDW when they're really trying to do their best with the books.


Lynch nails it completely, and Urru's art complements the story beautifully instead of detracting from it, as Jeanty's does.

I'm just rereading ATF and Mooney's art was distracing though. Cordelia looks like a goblin, drawn from the screencaps with the overly many shadows, urgh. But you could still read because Lynch voices were so brilliant.

There've been several moments in the the Buffy comic where I know Joss was going for the angst big-time, such as Renee's death etc, but every single time he was let down by the artist. A: AtF and S: AtF also had those moments, such as Jeremy's death at the hands of Illyria and Angel discovering Connor alive, and thanks to Urru and the internalised monologue, those got me every time.

Exactly that yes, there are some panels, where I think Jeanty does very good work, usually when he's had a break and lots of time for the issue. But when he's drawing quickly people become urecognizable gnomes and he doesn't transport the drama, not at all. Urru made scenes visiually dramatic. In Renee's death scene I mainly saw botched perspective.

You've hit the nail on the head. It's no wonder many of us have a hard time understanding this Buffy. Most of the time, there's no clue, either writing-wise or visual-wise, what she's really thinking.

Thank you. I think this whole idea of corrupting Buffy could have worked great on screen. You'd still love her but see her spiral down this crazy path. It would be alienating too, but if she'd still be same old SMG you couldn't help but feel for her.
Here she and the others become strangers to a large extent.

I just had another look at the book and there is one panel were Willow seems to be deliberately looking away from Oz'happy family, in all the others she looks perfectly fine (or has no mouth), you can't possibly notice that the same way you'd notice a fidgety Willow on the show.

[shapinglight]

I haven't read Aftermath yet, only bits and pieces and it sounds terrible.

I wouldn't bother. Really I wouldn't. Best to do what I'm trying to do and pretend it doesn't exist. As for Joss declaring the IDW books canon, I'm glad he hasn't. That means if they do anything I don't like, I can happily ignore them.

I'm just rereading ATF and Mooney's art was distracing though.

I agree. I don't think he's very good at all. I can't understand the way people rave about him. Don't think I'll ever forgive him for the Spike screen captures he chose to reproduce for A: AtF. Almost every one of them was a poor choice. Mind you, it makes me appreciate an artist like Urru even more. He's pretty awesome.

and there is one panel were Willow seems to be deliberately looking away from Oz'happy family, in all the others she looks perfectly fine (or has no mouth), you can't possibly notice that the same way you'd notice a fidgety Willow on the show.

Quite true. I notice from his Q&A on Slayalive, though, that Scott Allie is perfectly happy with Jeanty and would want to use him for any season 9. Eh, dear!

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

Completely agree with you on the art. Although, I think I'm getting used to Jeanty. But his art reminds me a lot of bubblegum Archie comics. Or kids comics. Simplistic. Also, yes, it is confusing, I had to work a bit to figure out who was who.

Urru's art is the polar opposite. Beautiful. Striking in fact. And his ability to depict movement - admirable. Drusilla appears to be actually dancing. And it has a three-dimensional quality that as an artist myself - I am in awe of.

Also agree about the skippable "Angel:Aftermath" - I stopped subscribing during that arc, then when Lynch and Urru came back with the Gunn one shot, and the Dru arc - I started up again. You are correct - reading a comic version of a television episode is a colossal waste of money and time, and so was Angel:Aftermath. I couldn't make it through the first issue of that one.

[shapinglight]

But his art reminds me a lot of bubblegum Archie comics. Or kids comics. Simplistic.

Yes, that's very much why I don't like it. I've never liked that style of art in comics. I prefer dark and dramatic.

And his ability to depict movement - admirable.

Oh yes, agreed. He obviously knows something about anatomy and the way a human body actually works.

and so was Angel:Aftermath. I couldn't make it through the first issue of that one.

I managed to get through 3, but I couldn't make myself read the last one. It was execrable. I'm still hoping the whole storyline and the OCs will be quietly buried.

Thanks for friending me, btw. Have done the same in return. I remember your name from Buffy Cross and Stake/Angel's Soul Spoiler Board days.

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

Oh, you're quite welcome! And thank you!

On Jeanty? Yes I'm the same way. I don't tend to like the bubblegum style. It's quite popular in female Magna and female underground comics - which may be why Joss chose it? But I'm not a fan of it.
I prefer the dark, gritty, more realistic style, with less lines and softer edges. Also Urru has a sense of anatomy that I find lacking in Jeanty's work.

I'm thinking from what I've read that they are going to forget the Angel:Aftermath comics. No one has mentioned them in the interviews.
The editors almost act as if they weren't done. And I'm guessing Kelly Armstrong's engagement was not extended. I give you credit for making it through three of them, I couldn't make it through the first one. From what I could see - she romanticized Angel a bit, and that does not work for me.

[shapinglight]

From what I could see - she romanticized Angel a bit, and that does not work for me.

Well, I was a bit flabbergasted by her pre-series declaration that after A: AtF, Angel has paid his dues. Having said which, I suspect Brian Lynch may well think the same and my personal opinion is that neither Angel nor Spike get out of it that easy. Or at all, for that matter.

So that was off-putting, but not nearly as off-putting as the inclusion of an actual angel in the comic, (overt religious stuff like that has no place in the Buffyverse IMO, except as window-dressing on the fringe, like Buffy thinking it might be nice to become a nun), and her were cat OC just didn't seem to fit either. The whole story read as if she'd never actually watched the show.

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

Oh god. I am very glad I skipped Aftermath. Although londonkds reviews had pretty much warned me off. And the first issue...not to mention Armstrong's interviews. From the interviews, she appeared to be a fan, but a somewhat bewildering one.
(There are times I wonder what show people think they are watching. She sounded like she had been watching Charmed and thought it was Angel. Of course, I'm not a fan of Armstrong's writing - I thumbed through one of her books in a bookstore once and..well, it's not my cup of tea.)

I don't think Lynch regards Angel or Spike that way - because that would sort of kill story potential for one thing, also like you said - it's never that easy. Plus Angel made a lot of mistakes in After the Fall, as did Spike. If it weren't for the reboot, everyone would be dead. Also the interviews seem to state that the Angelverse is about consequences. Will have to see how it plays out, I suppose.

The closest they've come to overt religious stuff in Angel is the Powers that Be - which I always sort of saw as short hand for the writers. LOL! Angel is into religion himself, but the writers often show how that belief or reliance gets him into trouble. Introducing a real "angel" into the works plays against the whole genre. That alone would have made the comics impossible for me to read.

[shapinglight]

Introducing a real "angel" into the works plays against the whole genre.

I'm glad you agree. Introducing that overt religious element was a deal-breaker for me, and will continue to be so if that character isn't scrapped.

I don't think Lynch regards Angel or Spike that way

I'm not so sure of that myself. We'll see, I suppose, when the Spike comic begins.