I also resent the comics for reigniting the nasty shipper wars that marred the BtVS fandom while the series was still in progress. Apparently people are still that invested in the canonicity or otherwise of their ships. So yay, shit writing + shit art add up to a fandom that's disappointed, disgusted, distressed, or disgracefully triumphant for the moment (but cruising for bitter disappointment, if Whedon stays true to form).
Thank you for putting it so succinctly. I have trying to say this over on my own LJ in one form or another and failing miserably.
The comics story is just not worth the pain and the fighting. It's an awful story that undercuts so much of the TV series it hurts my head. Messages of female empowerment from "Chosen"? Say goodbye to all those. Nice to know it was an anti-feminist story all along, Whedon
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Thanks for saying this. It's actually made me feel a little better. The comic has really affected my love of the show, to the point where I've been actively looking (but so far failing to find) another fandom to jump to.
I'm sure you're right that the comics will be forgotten very soon after they cease coming out. People still discover Buffy through DVDs, and if they were to discover the show through the comics, I'm pretty sure they would soon realise how infinitely superior the show was.
And I can quite see why the Giles fans have stopped reading. Apart from the Faith arc, his character has really suffered. This latest arc in particular has trashed him - not as badly as it's trashed Angel, but almost.
As for the Spike fans, I suspect a lot of them carried on reading because they couldn't believe he had been erased from the story the way it appeared he had and were hanging on in ever fading hope. Seems we may have got our wish, but more than likely it'll turn out to be a case of be careful what you wish for.
Do I even want to know what happened in the comic? I never read them, I only hear about stuff from...well, mostly you, actually. A friend of mine just rewatched the series from season 5 because she just realized she never saw season 7. I've been trying to describe how fandom considers the comic a travesty, but failing miserably. We went for a trip to the library on Saturday and she picked up the first one to see for herself what it's like. I'm not sure you intended this, but you're review is making me curious enough to maybe look up the comics myself to see what's going on.
It's nice to be out in the purely fanfictional world of non-canonical ships.
Yanno, I was just reading the latest comics wank and thinking I could start to see the appeal of shipping wholly non-canonical pairings. At least I'd be unlikely to get more disappointed over time. (Then again, getting half of one's ship canon-bashed the way Giles has been lately still might dampen one's shipping enthusiasm a bit...)
But after issue 34, I've changed my mind. If I have to ship Buffy with a vampire, it's Spike all the way.
Heh. You're not the only one. A die-hard Angel fan on my flist recently said she'd rather see Buffy/Spike than Buffy/Angel at this point - as she put it, at least she could enjoy rooting for his demise, and meanwhile he'd be snarky.
I, on the other hand, rather wish they'd left Spike out of it altogether. I'm waiting with sick anticipation to see how they deal with (or don't deal with, more likely) the Buffy/Spike reunion and all their shared history.
My feelings about Spike are complicated, but the end of them is that he's an interesting character. Fascinating, even. He's not boring, not even for a second. And he's snarky, as you say, which is always a win.
I'm completely ignoring whatever the hell the comics are doing with Giles. It's so obviously absurd and and purely in service of the plot of the moment, because it's so much in conflict with what happened in the TV series. Like he would have said Buffy's plan in "Chosen" was brilliant if he'd been worried all his life that she would be "the one". Like he'd have tolerated Buffy sleeping with Angel even for a second if ditto. It's just too stupid to affect how I feel about the character.
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Thank you for putting it so succinctly. I have trying to say this over on my own LJ in one form or another and failing miserably.
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I'm sure you're right that the comics will be forgotten very soon after they cease coming out. People still discover Buffy through DVDs, and if they were to discover the show through the comics, I'm pretty sure they would soon realise how infinitely superior the show was.
And I can quite see why the Giles fans have stopped reading. Apart from the Faith arc, his character has really suffered. This latest arc in particular has trashed him - not as badly as it's trashed Angel, but almost.
As for the Spike fans, I suspect a lot of them carried on reading because they couldn't believe he had been erased from the story the way it appeared he had and were hanging on in ever fading hope. Seems we may have got our wish, but more than likely it'll turn out to be a case of be careful what you wish for.
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You know you have an audience with me for the Buffy/Oz/Xander kink.
Which reminds me, I need to work on my story for SoG. Buffy, Giles and Ethan, what fun!
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Check 'em out from your local library.
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Yanno, I was just reading the latest comics wank and thinking I could start to see the appeal of shipping wholly non-canonical pairings. At least I'd be unlikely to get more disappointed over time. (Then again, getting half of one's ship canon-bashed the way Giles has been lately still might dampen one's shipping enthusiasm a bit...)
But after issue 34, I've changed my mind. If I have to ship Buffy with a vampire, it's Spike all the way.
Heh. You're not the only one. A die-hard Angel fan on my flist recently said she'd rather see Buffy/Spike than Buffy/Angel at this point - as she put it, at least she could enjoy rooting for his demise, and meanwhile he'd be snarky.
I, on the other hand, rather wish they'd left Spike out of it altogether. I'm waiting with sick anticipation to see how they deal with (or don't deal with, more likely) the Buffy/Spike reunion and all their shared history.
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My feelings about Spike are complicated, but the end of them is that he's an interesting character. Fascinating, even. He's not boring, not even for a second. And he's snarky, as you say, which is always a win.
I'm completely ignoring whatever the hell the comics are doing with Giles. It's so obviously absurd and and purely in service of the plot of the moment, because it's so much in conflict with what happened in the TV series. Like he would have said Buffy's plan in "Chosen" was brilliant if he'd been worried all his life that she would be "the one". Like he'd have tolerated Buffy sleeping with Angel even for a second if ditto. It's just too stupid to affect how I feel about the character.
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