The 'other' Dark Horse Buffyverse comics: Fray, Tales of the Slayers, Tales of the Vampires
There's very little discussion on LJ or any of the Buffy/Angel forums I frequent about the comics that Dark Horse has published in the past that are set in the Buffyverse universe, while not being a direct continuation of either of the two shows. .
If Wikipedia and Buffy Wiki are right, they are canon. Well, Fray (definitely canon, due to the crossover with season 8) and the compilations Tales of the Slayers (with characters that are referenced in "The Chain") and Tales of the Vampires (at least one story is referenced/followed upon in season 8) seem to be.
In fact, Dark Horse have actually continued to release comics like this during season 8, only now they were loosely putting them under the season 8 banner - like "Tales of the Vampires: The Trill" one-shot and the web-comic "Carpe Noctem", both of which would work as a part of another Tales of the Vampires book. Or for that matter, "The Chain", which despite being a numbered issue, would fit in the Tales of the Slayers (except that it's better than most stories in that book).
So, have you read any of those comics, and did you like them? Would you like to discuss them?
Regardless of the issue whether the Fray future is set to happen or not, I found the comic very interesting, particularly for the character of Harth Fray and his connection to the past Slayers. It seems to be a story of a man appropriating a woman's story, retelling a woman's story, using it for his own ends (and in this case, against his twin sister, who is the Slayer but doesn't have the knowledge about the history of her metaphorical 'sisters'). It certainly gives another layer to the Slayer/vampire mythology and metaphor (The most important men in both your lives are lurks).
The most interesting line is in Harth's monologue, describing his Slayer dreams: "There was always a girl. She was me, she wasn't me. I loved her, I killed her." I find it a fascinating study of identity. It's like he has the Slayer's memories both from the perspective of the Slayers themselves, and the memories about the Slayers from the perspective of an Other (including vampires? The "I killed her" part suggests that). Both from the inside and from the outside.
I can also see Joss saying the exact same words, as a man who is writing a woman's story. He said last year that Buffy was his avatar: "Buffy was me". He could more accurately say: "She was me, she wasn't me".
What I particularly like in both Tales books is that the artwork for each story is different, fitting to the spirit of the story itself. Some of the stories in each book seem cute but rather pointless, but others are quite interesting in themselves as an contributions to the verse.
In Tales of the Slayers, my favorites are Whedon's opening story about the First Slayer, and his story/poem "Righteous". The theme of both ties with season 8 as well - the idea that human community fears the Slayers, even when it wants them as protectors, and would rather have them as far away from them as possible, or is quick to persecute them as the dangerous 'Other'.
In Tales of the Vampires, my favorite is Espenson's "Father", a really poignant story, dealing with a situation that must have happened quite a few times over the millennia, and it's a pity that neither of the shows ever tackled a story like that.
Spoilers for the story in white text: There must have been people who lived and accepted their loved ones even after they had been sired, and vampires who, like the unnamed father in the story, continued to love and protect their family members/loved ones, without siring them, but still killed other people. The story makes it completely believable how this could happen and why the son would turn the blind eye to what he knew his dad did, but only when he was away from him, or that he doted on his grandchild and cared for his son's happiness but had no qualms about killing his son's mother-in-law as soon as she proved to be a nuisance/threat to his ties to the family. Metaphorically, it is very true to life - we know that people with only rudimentary if any conscience can love, to, and there are unrepentant criminals, murderers and dictators who are caring to their own families and people they love, but monsters nevertheless; and that children, families and partners of such monsters differ in their reactions: some are disgusted and cannot accept their crimes, some are in denial, and some accept their family members despite what they are.
Other stories I enjoyed include Edlund's "Taking Care of Business", with a very funny twist, Espenson's "Dust Bowl" and Whedon's "Stacy".
Whedon's framing story introduces a character who is connected to one of the main characters of BtVS (and may get a mention or flashback in the upcoming comics). Espenson's "Spot the Vampire" is very unusual, written as a parody of a Christmas tableau/poem. Goddard's "The Problem with Vampires" is about what happened in Prague and is the one for Spike/Dru shippers who tend over to over-romanticize the relationship (which Goddard does it without any subversion that was always present in the show). The rest are pretty much unnecessary. "Some Like it Hot" is a fun vignette at least, "Jack" is particularly disappointing in its treatment of the Jack the Ripper legend, "Numb" is there just so we could have Angel in the book but doesn't reveal anything new, and Goddard's "Antique", the first look at Xander and Buffy post-Chosen (this is where the subplot of Xander is staying at Drac's castle was first established), is rather poor, and the artwork might be the worst art I've seen in any of the Buffyverse comics.
"Stacy" is interesting because, like "The Chain" and "Fray", it deals with some ideas about vampires and Slayers in general, which have implications for the entire verse. "Stacy" reminded of "The Chain" from the other side: both teenagers are suddenly transformed, and just like Decoy Buffy feels a connection, a "chain" that bides her to other Slayers, Stacy feels a connection, to all beings and things evil. This "connection" is something that was mentioned way back in "The Harvest" with Jesse, and I think that Holden also talked about it, but it was mostly ignored for the rest of the shows, probably because our main vampires are very individualistic characters. Spike felt "alive" when he was sired, powerful and special just like Stacy does, but he never seemed to feel any particular "connection". It's similar with Angel; Darla only seemed to have ties to the Master and Angel, and Dru only felt connected to her vampire family. On the other side, Buffy also never seemed to feel the "connection" to the other Slayers, including season 8 when she's wondering why she can't feel it. She does things her way, and her main ties always were to her friends, family and lovers.
This entry was originally posted at http://timetravellingbunny.dreamwidth.org/. Comment here or there, as you like.
If Wikipedia and Buffy Wiki are right, they are canon. Well, Fray (definitely canon, due to the crossover with season 8) and the compilations Tales of the Slayers (with characters that are referenced in "The Chain") and Tales of the Vampires (at least one story is referenced/followed upon in season 8) seem to be.
In fact, Dark Horse have actually continued to release comics like this during season 8, only now they were loosely putting them under the season 8 banner - like "Tales of the Vampires: The Trill" one-shot and the web-comic "Carpe Noctem", both of which would work as a part of another Tales of the Vampires book. Or for that matter, "The Chain", which despite being a numbered issue, would fit in the Tales of the Slayers (except that it's better than most stories in that book).
So, have you read any of those comics, and did you like them? Would you like to discuss them?
Regardless of the issue whether the Fray future is set to happen or not, I found the comic very interesting, particularly for the character of Harth Fray and his connection to the past Slayers. It seems to be a story of a man appropriating a woman's story, retelling a woman's story, using it for his own ends (and in this case, against his twin sister, who is the Slayer but doesn't have the knowledge about the history of her metaphorical 'sisters'). It certainly gives another layer to the Slayer/vampire mythology and metaphor (The most important men in both your lives are lurks).
The most interesting line is in Harth's monologue, describing his Slayer dreams: "There was always a girl. She was me, she wasn't me. I loved her, I killed her." I find it a fascinating study of identity. It's like he has the Slayer's memories both from the perspective of the Slayers themselves, and the memories about the Slayers from the perspective of an Other (including vampires? The "I killed her" part suggests that). Both from the inside and from the outside.
I can also see Joss saying the exact same words, as a man who is writing a woman's story. He said last year that Buffy was his avatar: "Buffy was me". He could more accurately say: "She was me, she wasn't me".
What I particularly like in both Tales books is that the artwork for each story is different, fitting to the spirit of the story itself. Some of the stories in each book seem cute but rather pointless, but others are quite interesting in themselves as an contributions to the verse.
In Tales of the Slayers, my favorites are Whedon's opening story about the First Slayer, and his story/poem "Righteous". The theme of both ties with season 8 as well - the idea that human community fears the Slayers, even when it wants them as protectors, and would rather have them as far away from them as possible, or is quick to persecute them as the dangerous 'Other'.
In Tales of the Vampires, my favorite is Espenson's "Father", a really poignant story, dealing with a situation that must have happened quite a few times over the millennia, and it's a pity that neither of the shows ever tackled a story like that.
Spoilers for the story in white text: There must have been people who lived and accepted their loved ones even after they had been sired, and vampires who, like the unnamed father in the story, continued to love and protect their family members/loved ones, without siring them, but still killed other people. The story makes it completely believable how this could happen and why the son would turn the blind eye to what he knew his dad did, but only when he was away from him, or that he doted on his grandchild and cared for his son's happiness but had no qualms about killing his son's mother-in-law as soon as she proved to be a nuisance/threat to his ties to the family. Metaphorically, it is very true to life - we know that people with only rudimentary if any conscience can love, to, and there are unrepentant criminals, murderers and dictators who are caring to their own families and people they love, but monsters nevertheless; and that children, families and partners of such monsters differ in their reactions: some are disgusted and cannot accept their crimes, some are in denial, and some accept their family members despite what they are.
Other stories I enjoyed include Edlund's "Taking Care of Business", with a very funny twist, Espenson's "Dust Bowl" and Whedon's "Stacy".
Whedon's framing story introduces a character who is connected to one of the main characters of BtVS (and may get a mention or flashback in the upcoming comics). Espenson's "Spot the Vampire" is very unusual, written as a parody of a Christmas tableau/poem. Goddard's "The Problem with Vampires" is about what happened in Prague and is the one for Spike/Dru shippers who tend over to over-romanticize the relationship (which Goddard does it without any subversion that was always present in the show). The rest are pretty much unnecessary. "Some Like it Hot" is a fun vignette at least, "Jack" is particularly disappointing in its treatment of the Jack the Ripper legend, "Numb" is there just so we could have Angel in the book but doesn't reveal anything new, and Goddard's "Antique", the first look at Xander and Buffy post-Chosen (this is where the subplot of Xander is staying at Drac's castle was first established), is rather poor, and the artwork might be the worst art I've seen in any of the Buffyverse comics.
"Stacy" is interesting because, like "The Chain" and "Fray", it deals with some ideas about vampires and Slayers in general, which have implications for the entire verse. "Stacy" reminded of "The Chain" from the other side: both teenagers are suddenly transformed, and just like Decoy Buffy feels a connection, a "chain" that bides her to other Slayers, Stacy feels a connection, to all beings and things evil. This "connection" is something that was mentioned way back in "The Harvest" with Jesse, and I think that Holden also talked about it, but it was mostly ignored for the rest of the shows, probably because our main vampires are very individualistic characters. Spike felt "alive" when he was sired, powerful and special just like Stacy does, but he never seemed to feel any particular "connection". It's similar with Angel; Darla only seemed to have ties to the Master and Angel, and Dru only felt connected to her vampire family. On the other side, Buffy also never seemed to feel the "connection" to the other Slayers, including season 8 when she's wondering why she can't feel it. She does things her way, and her main ties always were to her friends, family and lovers.
This entry was originally posted at http://timetravellingbunny.dreamwidth.org/. Comment here or there, as you like.