The only positive reaction you'll find on LJ, probably

[angearia]

Or at least it will be until Stormwreath posts when he gets his issue this Friday. :)  I'm going to copy/paste my collected thoughts from the Buffy Forums thread for "Last Gleaming Part I".

Comments

[shapinglight]

I'm sorry, Emmie. I've read the relevant dialogue (ie. where Buffy talks to Angel and then to Spike) and I don't think there's supposed to be anything wrong with her. It is as it is.

Joss has written both couples the way he sees them.

[angearia]

Deb, reading the dialogue just really isn't the same. And which snippets in particular? You need the whole picture to really take it home. Plus the images (well, I'm one of the few people who takes Jeanty seriously so I doubt the art would help here).

I have to say, I don't think reading the dialogue out of context is enough here. Maggie actually read the entire issue and came to a negative conclusion, then after reading my review, thought there were two possibilities here.

I think so many fans are just unable to have faith in this. Remember how everyone thought Spike was going to be horribly trashed? Even if Spuffy is a blip in the rearview mirror, he's still the big hero of this issue, perfectly IC and is insightful, hilarious and witty. But if we went by what almost everyone expected on LJ for the past 3 years, we would have never gotten Spike's wonderful appearance--the first in-character appearance I've seen of him in yearsWhedon has all sorts of textual cues to possession and Angel acting OOC. And for Angel to have a

[shipperx]

Small voice (Could someone give me some of the Bufangle and Buffy/'whatevs Spike' dialog? It's for a snarky project though.)

[bogwitch]

You might be proved to be right and it was all Joss' intention, but it might be too late by then.

[angearia]

For most of the fans who think it's too late, it was too late three years ago.

If this ends well, if people come out of it saying it's great, I bet future rereads will be different. How many fans hated Season 6 the first time around but now love it? Or ask gabrielleabelle how she feels about Buffy's character the first time around, then how she feels now.

I see a lot of people on LJ making rash judgments and they haven't even READ it yet. Same old, same old.

[sueworld2003]

Rash? Lord he's had. what, 36 issues to play this thing out already. *g*

I'd hardly call that rash.

[kudagirl]

I pray that you are right. I want to believe there is a deeper meaning to all this mess I've read about the comics. I've always loved Joss even when he tortures me. I hate to think he has gone off the deep end and into the dark side.

[angearia]

I'm hopeful and I think I have reason to be. We'll see in a few months! :)

[beer_good_foamy]

Just off to bed so I'll read this in full tomorrow, and I'm glad you're liking it, but... I've thought a lot of decisions made by a lot of characters, and Buffy in particular, have been glaringly OOC pretty much from the beginning, starting with the ridiuclous castle, continuing through blackmails and refusals to help and Xacula and and and right up to the big spacefuck. I've thought "This has to be a plot point. They can't be expecting us to read this straight. Something's wrong here and we'll find out what it is." And every single time I've been told, not just by fans but by writers, editors, cartoonists and exec producers and the story itself that no, this is perfectly in character, this is exactly the way it's supposed to be, there's nothing weird here at all, what you see is what you get, this couldn't possibly happen any other way, don't worry about why they would do this, just look at the shiny drawings.

And at some point, I'm afraid I have to believe them.

[angearia]

I can understand what that's like for you.

The difference to me is that there are in-text cues all over the place to this being OOC from Angel even asking himself why he's using words he's never used before. To Buffy using words she's never used before.

Do I actually think Buffy and Angel are going to be true love saccharine sweet OTT "baby you hang up"/"no, baby, you hang up" lovers? NO.

Why? Because this is Joss Whedon here. He's gearing up to suckerpunch Bangel so hard that I feel sorry for the nice fans of the ship who are on my flist and I'm friends with, but my schaudenfraud is waiting for the wailing of the extremists who hate me oh so much.

The pain is coming. This is the first issue of this arc, the set up. This happy bubble is gonna get burst painfully.

[infinitewhale]

Do I actually think Buffy and Angel are going to be true love saccharine sweet OTT

I always thought the googly-eyed stuff from 35 looked a little *too* much like Buffy and Angel from Xander's POV in The Zeppo.

[angearia]

Exactly!

[dipenates]

I'm so super pleased that you're happy!

[angearia]

Thanks! That's so sweet of you! Have you been reading?

[dipenates]

The comics? I bought and read the first couple, but I didn't like them. I find it really hard to get in to comics as a genre of art/literature, and they just didn't 'feel' right. At the time, I thought I would wait until the end of the season in the hopes that there would be (a) trade paperback(s), but now I think I'll wait and see if it all turns out well or badly. (The glowhypnol is going to take a *lot* of explanation.)

[penny_lane_42]

Your reactions have been exactly the same as mine. I already have difficulty connecting to comics as a medium on a personal level, and I'm only really interested in reaching the end of this to see if it all works out. If it does, I'll probably give it a chance. For now, I'm just not worrying about it.