SlayAlive Q&A with Georges Jeanty #36

[angearia]

Here's the SlayAlive Q&A with Georges Jeanty for Season 8 | #36.  Thanks to Xi for all his hard work and to Georges for taking the time to talk with the fans.

I normally don't post these on my journal, but hey, I'm  on pins and needles waiting for #37 to come out this Wednesday, so I thought it might make for interesting discussion.

Comments

[stormwreath]

Thanks for this. ♥ Another example of fans desperately trying to press Georges into giving away spoilers... ;-)

With Angel and Buffy, it mostly seemed like more of a perfect love affair, sappy glares of doe eyed longing, and with Spike and Buffy it seemed like a more realistic, looking more like at some point, Spike, you're probably gonna piss me off.

I'm going to be bold and daring, and predict that this line is going to be much quoted and discussed in the next day or two. :D

[2maggie2]

Hey, they've made us wait a loooooong time for this, of course we're desperate for spoilers.

[eilowyn]

Already Bolded and Quoted.

[gryfndor_godess]

I'm confused...I thought issue 37 was the season finale- are there going to be more now or are issues 38-40 all part of S9?

In many ways I think this is the completion of her arc that Joss never got to do on the show.

See, this just upsets me. It implies that Buffy was not a well-rounded character by the end of S7, and I think her S7 arc was probably one of the better ones. I liked the mature, hopeful woman she had become by the end. I feel like comments like this are a slap in the face to fans of the TV show, and I don't like how the comic props itself up by implying that the show wasn't good enough. :(

Again, I disagree that these guys don't sound like themselves. I assure you that Joss looks at EVERYTHING that goes into Season 8 and who better to monitor this book and these characters than him?

And yet, how many of the fan questions have started by saying that the characters seemed OOC? I don't like writers telling fans what to think.

If there are any of you who like their Buffy nice, neat and wrapped up in a pretty

[local_max]

No, 40 is the season finale and has been marketed as being the definite end of the season.

I know what you mean about Georges' comments, but I don't read him as telling anyone what to think so much as saying that he really thinks that the season and the characterization works, and that he sees Joss' personal involvement and thought process in a way we can't personally.

[gryfndor_godess]

Thanks for letting me know about issue 40.

I think he could be much more diplomatic in his answers though. And the fact remains that even if Whedon's thought process is IC, that's not translating to the page. There seems to be a lot of "Joss is involved, so clearly everything is the way it should be and the fans don't know what they're talking about" on the writers' parts, whereas it's perfectly possible that Whedon is out of touch with the characters too.

[shipperx]

The late tv writer/producer Douglas Marland once did a list for 'how not to ruin a show' and one of the items on the list is that if the audience tells you 'but the character would never do that!' then the writer has failed, explaining that if you're going to make a character do something extreme that fans may feel is 'out of character' then you actually have to write and build toward it adequate to the extremity of the action. So if you have a character do something and fans scream it's OOC, then the writer did not adequately develop the story.

[2maggie2]

There's so much here, and yet nothing here! It's very frustrating.

[shipperx]

I would ask in return that you give this Buffy a chance to win you over

I can only hope that the writers make the effort. It really will take there being some effort involved, they can't just say she did it and you accept it. There needs to be... more.

You know Joss. He's going to give you what you want, but not the way you want it.

I just don't even...

[2maggie2]

Gotta agree. On this subject giving us what we 'want' but not how we want it is, in fact, not giving us what we want.

[shipperx]

*sigh*

[gryfndor_godess]

Well said.

[diamondtook862]

Thanks for posting!

This seemed kind of telling-

Georges: I think the glow was a lot like radiation. When you're first exposed to it you tend to low, but as time goes on that glow diminishes. Of course with radiation your skin boils and your hair falls out, but I don't think there's any of that here.

Is that his veiled way of telling us that she is still under the influence? Am I grasping at straws here?

[eilowyn]

I already decided there was some influence involved, dubious consent was dubious, and Buffy wasn't in her right mind. Reader-response is a legitimate reading, what of it?!

[diamondtook862]

lol! Confirmation is just like, uh, icing on the pie then?