Buffy #37: the Review.

[fenderlove]

This is very late, but here it is... in all its rage-filled glory. Word of warning to those that adored this issue- I didn't, and I make no bones about showing my displeasure in great detail. If I could grade this issue lower than an "F" I would. Wait, I can. I give this issue an "H" for haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaate as well as head-desk. I also warn you

Comments

[infinitewhale]

The whole thing, to me, comes off as a CYA following the glowsex. Buffy's fantasy--the first one, that is--is pretty much Joss talking to the reader to contradict Willow in 34 because they didn't think of the backlash. They have Willow spending way too much time on the topic for me to think we're supposed to question her exposition. Then fandom freaked and they're throwing Buffy and Angel under the bus like Spike in S4. They were themselves! But they weren't! But they were. The glow was powerful enough for it to be affected them 4 issues later, but not enough that it took away free will. OK

[fenderlove]

I don't think Spike even actually snarks at her, I think it's part of the daydream. Her eyes drift off in that panel and I think that's where it starts.
Well, I guess it's how you interpret it. Spike still called her a moron even if that is the panel in which she started to drift off, which she totally deserved if she was in complete control of herself.

They're being too obvious about it and really?They did sorta give away the whole plot in the first arc- pregnancy metaphors, birth metaphors, broken eggs/seeds, Buffy is the Queen Slayer, worlds colliding into one another, the breakdown of reality, Spike's return, Angel being the bad guy... It's all kind of there before issue 12. I just don't think Joss cares about the audience, never did. He just does whatever, mocking every fan grouping along the way. I don't think that Dawn's death is about audience impact; it would be about the impact on Buffy that Dawn's death at the hands of someone Buffy trusts would have... Then again, that might actually make sense, and we can't have

[infinitewhale]

Spike still called her a moron even if that is the panel in which she started to drift off

See, I think she imagines that. If you look at Spike before that panel, he's in exposition mode and when it's obvious she's dreaming, he's still in exposition mode. Why Buffy would daydream about Spike insulting her, is anyone's guess, though. The jab about Giles calling her a crap student would be redundant if he actually said it. Moreover, it really doesn't make sense for Spike to rag her about college since it has nothing to do with college. Even Giles knew nothing about it.

They did sorta give away the whole plot in the first arc

Yeah, we know that now, but it wasn't painfully obvious at the time. The tagline for 38 is 'will Dawn survive?' which is a little over-the-top. You're right that Joss doesn't care about the audience. Still, though, Xander's the only one who's been around awhile and not fucked over in the books, I can't think it's all for nothing. Or maybe I just want him to die because I hate Mary Sues. :|

I'm actually more

[fenderlove]

I think that this is one of those "darn you, comics" moments where they could have been clearer about when her fantasy starts by shifting the colour, which they don't do until she's kissing him in her fantasy. That makes it very unclear about what's fantasy and what's reality when only two panels have that colour shift. They should have muted everything where the fantasy began in the subtle yellow tone and done it that way because how can anyone really be 100% sure of which is which otherwise? Like, they could have even done a panel shifting into a that muted colour scheme to illustrate that she's drifting off into LALALand.

Yeah, we know that now, but it wasn't painfully obvious at the time.I knew the pregnancy/birthing metaphor was coming with the egg (I felt it in my bones because the only overwrought "I AM WOMAN! HERE ME ROAR" metaphor she hadn't gotten into yet was actual pregnancy so she had to get knocked up eventually in some way) and I guessed haphazardly that Angel was Twilight 'cause it just had to be to torture my Spangel

[infinitewhale]

Like, they could have even done a panel shifting into a that muted colour scheme to illustrate that she's drifting off into LALALand.

Maybe the point is we're not supposed to be able to tell. I don't know. :(

Buffy will be walking the lone walk of the lone hero down a highway at the end of thisI'm thinking she's going to get stuck in a dimension somewhere. The first nightmare in the comics ends with her curled up in a ball all alone and there are *heavy* undertones of the mother being cast out in the books. My guess is Buffy smashes the seed/egg/umbilical cord thing, gets her soul/heart back and ends up stuck, sorta like Angel in S2. The Scoobs have all moved past her. Giles has been training Faith to be Buffy, Dawn doesn't need her anymore, Xander is over her, Willow would leave her dead again, etc, so they leave her stuck and abandoned. Then like in the dream, Spike shows up to get her. I mean, the ship has to play into this somehow, right? They didn't go to all that trouble just for a cool entrance. I'm not saying it'll be a

[fenderlove]

If Spike were there, he'd take her in if no one else was there for her because he's Spike. Of course, Angel would too, but that might constitute a happy ending for some people, and no one's getting happy anything when this is over. I've always thought that if either Spuffy or Bangel would work for long periods, even friendship-wise, that it needs to be Spangeffy, like you sorta need all three of them in the relationship as a series of checks and balances between their personalities, so maybe they all three go somewhere in the ship until the new season starts.

I mean, the ship has to play into this somehow, right? They didn't go to all that trouble just for a cool entrance.I see a lot of things in these comics that were done just because that didn't have a lot of purpose. It seems like more of the same "We couldn't do this on the show!" mentality. However, I would hope that they need the ship more than just a Slayer transport

[infinitewhale]

Oh, I don't think it'll be a happy ending, I just don't see Spike as leaving her wherever if that's what happens. Without magic, he has the means to go get her and like I said, I see the ship having some kind of purpose other than Slayer transport. They're going to do backstory on it in S9--most likely what Spike's sidearc will be about--so there must be more to it. Angel, I can see leaving her if it's better for the world, which is a big theme. The Girl or The World, after all. Angel will be back in his own trunk title in S9, I think, so he'll go back to being normal with Buffy not being the center of the universe...not that she was to him even when he was on BTVS, but whatever. We can't apply TV show characterizations to the comics.

I don't think it'll be Spuffy, though, since she'll continue to alienate him.

I do wonder if the egg gets destroyed

It seems it will if the #10 panel is true. Apparently Joss's wife guessed the ending when Angel was revealed as Twilight which is why I think it'll mirror the end of S2.

[kidcyclone]

'Like, I just want to have a flashback comic with the Fanged Four and the Order of Aurelius, no souls, no Slayers (except dead ones), one giant four-poster bed. *le sigh* We didn't get near enough FF craziness.'

Or a whole series... ;>