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

[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-loving soul... Though I had no way of knowing that Twilight was not only Angel, but a dimension and a mythical soulless Bangel goblin that was able to talk to Angel before it was technically born. FREAKY BAR. I just figured that this would all end with Buffy eating birth sacks off her litter of young... There's still time for that since we don't need any valuable exposition! *raises fist in the air* Damn you, Joss!

Also, I kinda just realized that Joss totally stole the plot line for S8 from Shoujo Kakumei Utena just as he stole the plot of Firefly from episodes of Cowboy Bebop. Oh, sweet Christ, I know how it's going to end. I guarantee (guarantees not valid in real life) that Buffy will be walking the lone walk of the lone hero down a highway at the end of this, and she may or may not remember who she is. And if SKU is what Joss is "paying homage" to, you're right, Xander's dead in the water. Oh, crap... Spike will be all right at least.

[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 this

I'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 Spuffy ending, but I can see that happening.

[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.

I do wonder if the egg gets destroyed, which will still lead into Fray where the walls begin to break down again after 200 years.

[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.