Buffy Season 8
Dec. 12th, 2010 07:47 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
aunt_zelda I have such mixed feelings about these comics that I want to make an LJ post about it.
I don't think they're bad per se ... I just think that some of the stuff is really bad, and some of the stuff is really good, and instead of getting a NERDRAGE feeling or a ZOMGAWESOME feeling after reading one I just get a '... meh' feeling. Instead of joy or disgust I get a neutral feeling, which is, I think, just as bad as getting a bad feeling.
I've thought a lot about this, trying to distill my thoughts (because as much as I'd love to rant a ranty rant, I've got lots of reading in The Once and Future King to do, and lots more Donation Drive videos to watch) and I think it comes down to one simple critique: Just because you CAN do something doesn't mean you SHOULD.
Let's elaborate on that, shall we?
Comics do not have the budget constraints of a TV show or movie. You want your characters to fly? Done. Want them to face a giant monster with a tv on its tail? Done. Want your redheaded lesbian to shack up with a Naga? Done. Want to go to Tibet? Done. No locations, no wireworks, no technicians. In a way this is good, it means that if you want to film three superpowered people in a duel to the death, you can show that, instead of just showing us flashing lights and another character making shocked faces at a keyhole. (DAMN YOU HEROES! DAMN YOU TO THE FIREY PITS OF HELL! ... I love you ... *cries*) On the other hand ... this means that there's no drive to show something awesome despite your budget constraints. You can do anything you want, you have nothing to hold you back. In my opinion, Buffy has suffered because of this in its latest volumes.
They got too big. Too big, too crazy, and too much. Too many times I'd have to re-read a section in a vain attempt to ascertain what the hell was going on and what the stakes were and why I should care. Random stuff was thrown in, seemingly because someone wanted to and there was nothing stopping them. Not because the story needed it or would be driven in a positive way by it, but because some yahoo thought it would be sweet if Buffy was suddenly Superman or Angel was Buffy's twu luv or Dawn and Xander *spittakes* shacked up. (I have ... issues with all of those things but that's not what this is about so I'll limit myself to this: BUFFY SHOULD NOT BE THAT POWERFUL, BUFFY SHOULD NOT HAVE ONE LOVE BUT MANY AND ANGEL WAS RIGHT FOR HER THEN BUT NOT NOW NOT EVER AGAIN, DAWN AND XANDER??!?!?!?!?!? THAT IS DISGUSTING WHAT WERE YOU SMOKING YOU PERVS!?!??!?!?!?!)
Moving on, I think the series would have been far better if things were taken much slower. How about starting right after Sunnydale? Or, if that would have been too slow, how about following the different Slayer training facilities from their stumbling beginnings to their elite status before throwing the stupidstupidgorram Initiative and a full-blown myth arc in their faces? I want to know who these characters are and what their stories are and why I should give a damn when they die like Red Shirts. I don't. I don't know who half these people are or what's going on and why people are doing the things they're doing.
This is why Book 1 (I read them in the collections and will refer to them as Book 1, Book 2, etc. during this) worked so well. Familiar characters mixed with unfamiliar ones and situations that I could grasp. Old friends and new relationships, and a final chapter that showed us one Slayer's life and death in a truly heartbreaking way. THAT is what Season 8 should have been. THAT is what they should have stuck with: characters we know and love evolving and interacting with new characters, some backstory on new characters and situations, and a slowly growing myth arc that doesn't start ginormous and become bigger than ridiculous before you could say 'Nerf Herder.'
Book 1: Very good. Not perfect, but what I wanted from Buffy Season 8.
Book 2 was mostly about Faith and her inferiority complex towards Buffy, but it also did what the first book did: familiar characters interacting with each other and new characters, advancing the new dramas and new myth arcs, and just being plain enjoyable.
Book 2: Also very good. Better than Book 1 in that the series was starting to find its legs and get its bearings somewhat.
I love Book 3. Not only was it well put-together and doing all the right things: advancing the plot, developing the old and new characters, and entertaining us, it was full of Japanese vampires and had Xander calling Dracula 'Master.' What's not to love? (The handling of the Satsu/Buffy thing was irksome but nicely handled, and the Xander/Renee thing was great and then brutal. Overall it was good, though.) This was a book where the ridiculousness and non-budget-constraint was ok: you want a giant Mecha Dawn with a tail? Done. Want a bunch of Japanese vampires fighting a bunch of Slayers? Done. And it was AWESOME.
Book 3: AWESOME. THAT'S HOW YOU DO IT!
Book 4: gets a pass because it's all epic future and Meleka Fray, who is badass and wonderful and GUH I love it I love it I love it all.
Book 5 was pretty good (despite the ridiculousness of some bits) because it mixes up all the characters and plot threads and new and old characters and manages to get a lot done and established and moving.
On the other hand, it set up the 'Slayers are eeeeevil, the media says so!' concept, which I can see looking good on paper, but in the story itself is just awful.
Book 5: Good, but I'm nervous.
Books 6 and 7 are where I started to get annoyed. I don't know what happened, but I don't like it. Too much and too soon and too much pointless craziness. WHY? If someone wanted Buffy and Angel having superpowered sex, they should have gone to a freaking Kink Meme, not thrown it into the canon story for no apparent reason but to get their rocks off. Suddenly every little thing from the previous books that was irksome was now blow way out of proportion and instead of focussing on the characters, threads, and various Slayers around the world, now it's was just a lot of fast-paced crazy without much emotional impact. Lots of Red Shirts die. Oz appears, has a wife and son ... and she dies. Triplet Kalis erupt out of the ground and suck all the powers out of the Slayers ... and Buffy is now Superman. WTF?! What happened?! Things were going so ... so ... so WELL, and then this crazy shit happened!
What bothers me especially is the idea that the entire world is suddenly for demons with horns and teeth and cravings for human flesh and blood, and against a group of teenage girls from around the whole world who say they fight demons. Where are the interviews of people who have been saved from slathering demons, cults, and hundreds of vampires by these teenage girls? Where are the magic-users? Where are the annoyed, good demons who get along just fine with people and want to be left alone by vigilantes? In short, where are the other people who are in on the Masquerade? You can't have both demons and the military hunting the Slayers at the same time without the military going "hmmm, if those evil hell-spawn who eat people are after these girls, maybe we ought to re-think our priorities here" AND have the public decrying Slayers all at the same time. No way are all vampires getting the message and not attacking people anymore to preserve their public image. No way are all demons hunting the Slayers and not chomping down on people in alleyways. They are still eating people, and someone's gonna get it on their cellphone and put it on youtube and the whole 'vampires are just misunderstood and the Slayers are eeeeevil terrorists' plot will fall apart quicker than you can spell 'LOL.' This is dumb and poorly handled and not explored enough and it makes me MAD.
Also, Twilight is Angel? And he and Buffy have superpowered sex and end up in heaven and the world is ending because Buffy is a super special Slayer? No. No no no no NO!
My only hope is that somehow this story can be made right as quickly as it was made wrong. Why do I have hope?
Spike. Spike Spike Spike Spike SPIKE. I love him. I love him for all the wrong reasons: I love his accent and his fashion taste and his bad-boy-ness and how he's this snarky kinky leather-jacket wearing vampire. I loved him when he was evil and I loved him when he was reluctantly helping the Scoobies and I loved him when he was a good guy.
I'm hoping that I will love him in the comics, because if there's anything Spike can do well, it's take something and turn it into awesomesauce.
P.S. Trying to end on a positive note here: one thing I do consistently love about these comics is Andrew. He didn't exactly get to shine on the show, but he's transitioned to the comics very nicely and found a place to shine. His story arc in Book 5 was perfection, and the only thing I could latch onto in Book 7 was him decked out in geek gear prepared to fight Twilight. I saw that, paused, and then SQUEED for all I was worth. ILU Andrew! If you die I'm not buying the comics anymore!
I don't think they're bad per se ... I just think that some of the stuff is really bad, and some of the stuff is really good, and instead of getting a NERDRAGE feeling or a ZOMGAWESOME feeling after reading one I just get a '... meh' feeling. Instead of joy or disgust I get a neutral feeling, which is, I think, just as bad as getting a bad feeling.
I've thought a lot about this, trying to distill my thoughts (because as much as I'd love to rant a ranty rant, I've got lots of reading in The Once and Future King to do, and lots more Donation Drive videos to watch) and I think it comes down to one simple critique: Just because you CAN do something doesn't mean you SHOULD.
Let's elaborate on that, shall we?
Comics do not have the budget constraints of a TV show or movie. You want your characters to fly? Done. Want them to face a giant monster with a tv on its tail? Done. Want your redheaded lesbian to shack up with a Naga? Done. Want to go to Tibet? Done. No locations, no wireworks, no technicians. In a way this is good, it means that if you want to film three superpowered people in a duel to the death, you can show that, instead of just showing us flashing lights and another character making shocked faces at a keyhole. (DAMN YOU HEROES! DAMN YOU TO THE FIREY PITS OF HELL! ... I love you ... *cries*) On the other hand ... this means that there's no drive to show something awesome despite your budget constraints. You can do anything you want, you have nothing to hold you back. In my opinion, Buffy has suffered because of this in its latest volumes.
They got too big. Too big, too crazy, and too much. Too many times I'd have to re-read a section in a vain attempt to ascertain what the hell was going on and what the stakes were and why I should care. Random stuff was thrown in, seemingly because someone wanted to and there was nothing stopping them. Not because the story needed it or would be driven in a positive way by it, but because some yahoo thought it would be sweet if Buffy was suddenly Superman or Angel was Buffy's twu luv or Dawn and Xander *spittakes* shacked up. (I have ... issues with all of those things but that's not what this is about so I'll limit myself to this: BUFFY SHOULD NOT BE THAT POWERFUL, BUFFY SHOULD NOT HAVE ONE LOVE BUT MANY AND ANGEL WAS RIGHT FOR HER THEN BUT NOT NOW NOT EVER AGAIN, DAWN AND XANDER??!?!?!?!?!? THAT IS DISGUSTING WHAT WERE YOU SMOKING YOU PERVS!?!??!?!?!?!)
Moving on, I think the series would have been far better if things were taken much slower. How about starting right after Sunnydale? Or, if that would have been too slow, how about following the different Slayer training facilities from their stumbling beginnings to their elite status before throwing the stupidstupidgorram Initiative and a full-blown myth arc in their faces? I want to know who these characters are and what their stories are and why I should give a damn when they die like Red Shirts. I don't. I don't know who half these people are or what's going on and why people are doing the things they're doing.
This is why Book 1 (I read them in the collections and will refer to them as Book 1, Book 2, etc. during this) worked so well. Familiar characters mixed with unfamiliar ones and situations that I could grasp. Old friends and new relationships, and a final chapter that showed us one Slayer's life and death in a truly heartbreaking way. THAT is what Season 8 should have been. THAT is what they should have stuck with: characters we know and love evolving and interacting with new characters, some backstory on new characters and situations, and a slowly growing myth arc that doesn't start ginormous and become bigger than ridiculous before you could say 'Nerf Herder.'
Book 1: Very good. Not perfect, but what I wanted from Buffy Season 8.
Book 2 was mostly about Faith and her inferiority complex towards Buffy, but it also did what the first book did: familiar characters interacting with each other and new characters, advancing the new dramas and new myth arcs, and just being plain enjoyable.
Book 2: Also very good. Better than Book 1 in that the series was starting to find its legs and get its bearings somewhat.
I love Book 3. Not only was it well put-together and doing all the right things: advancing the plot, developing the old and new characters, and entertaining us, it was full of Japanese vampires and had Xander calling Dracula 'Master.' What's not to love? (The handling of the Satsu/Buffy thing was irksome but nicely handled, and the Xander/Renee thing was great and then brutal. Overall it was good, though.) This was a book where the ridiculousness and non-budget-constraint was ok: you want a giant Mecha Dawn with a tail? Done. Want a bunch of Japanese vampires fighting a bunch of Slayers? Done. And it was AWESOME.
Book 3: AWESOME. THAT'S HOW YOU DO IT!
Book 4: gets a pass because it's all epic future and Meleka Fray, who is badass and wonderful and GUH I love it I love it I love it all.
Book 5 was pretty good (despite the ridiculousness of some bits) because it mixes up all the characters and plot threads and new and old characters and manages to get a lot done and established and moving.
On the other hand, it set up the 'Slayers are eeeeevil, the media says so!' concept, which I can see looking good on paper, but in the story itself is just awful.
Book 5: Good, but I'm nervous.
Books 6 and 7 are where I started to get annoyed. I don't know what happened, but I don't like it. Too much and too soon and too much pointless craziness. WHY? If someone wanted Buffy and Angel having superpowered sex, they should have gone to a freaking Kink Meme, not thrown it into the canon story for no apparent reason but to get their rocks off. Suddenly every little thing from the previous books that was irksome was now blow way out of proportion and instead of focussing on the characters, threads, and various Slayers around the world, now it's was just a lot of fast-paced crazy without much emotional impact. Lots of Red Shirts die. Oz appears, has a wife and son ... and she dies. Triplet Kalis erupt out of the ground and suck all the powers out of the Slayers ... and Buffy is now Superman. WTF?! What happened?! Things were going so ... so ... so WELL, and then this crazy shit happened!
What bothers me especially is the idea that the entire world is suddenly for demons with horns and teeth and cravings for human flesh and blood, and against a group of teenage girls from around the whole world who say they fight demons. Where are the interviews of people who have been saved from slathering demons, cults, and hundreds of vampires by these teenage girls? Where are the magic-users? Where are the annoyed, good demons who get along just fine with people and want to be left alone by vigilantes? In short, where are the other people who are in on the Masquerade? You can't have both demons and the military hunting the Slayers at the same time without the military going "hmmm, if those evil hell-spawn who eat people are after these girls, maybe we ought to re-think our priorities here" AND have the public decrying Slayers all at the same time. No way are all vampires getting the message and not attacking people anymore to preserve their public image. No way are all demons hunting the Slayers and not chomping down on people in alleyways. They are still eating people, and someone's gonna get it on their cellphone and put it on youtube and the whole 'vampires are just misunderstood and the Slayers are eeeeevil terrorists' plot will fall apart quicker than you can spell 'LOL.' This is dumb and poorly handled and not explored enough and it makes me MAD.
Also, Twilight is Angel? And he and Buffy have superpowered sex and end up in heaven and the world is ending because Buffy is a super special Slayer? No. No no no no NO!
My only hope is that somehow this story can be made right as quickly as it was made wrong. Why do I have hope?
Spike. Spike Spike Spike Spike SPIKE. I love him. I love him for all the wrong reasons: I love his accent and his fashion taste and his bad-boy-ness and how he's this snarky kinky leather-jacket wearing vampire. I loved him when he was evil and I loved him when he was reluctantly helping the Scoobies and I loved him when he was a good guy.
I'm hoping that I will love him in the comics, because if there's anything Spike can do well, it's take something and turn it into awesomesauce.
P.S. Trying to end on a positive note here: one thing I do consistently love about these comics is Andrew. He didn't exactly get to shine on the show, but he's transitioned to the comics very nicely and found a place to shine. His story arc in Book 5 was perfection, and the only thing I could latch onto in Book 7 was him decked out in geek gear prepared to fight Twilight. I saw that, paused, and then SQUEED for all I was worth. ILU Andrew! If you die I'm not buying the comics anymore!
