Yep, Buffy comics are fan fic

[kudagirl]

I tried reading the Buffy comics and just couldn't stand them.
Season eight seemed to be badly written fan fic to me and I
might have been right.

"Talking more about the Buffy comics, Whedon addressed the "Buffy and Angel

Comments

[lifefailsme]

I, like you, stopped reading them, for the same reason as you.

[kudagirl]

For one, I hate the art. Most of the characters look far too young. Sometimes I don't even know who the character is because they don't look like the actors. I know David and Sarah have the rights to their images, but the others didn't get that

[lifefailsme]

Yeah the artwork was pretty silly and while some of them caught a feature it was not very many and yeah, they did all look like teenagers. Spike's was just awful in everything I saw with him and I just gave up, sticking heavy cheekbones on a random face does not a Spike make...

Oh IKR, I think it is possible we both stopped reading around the same time!

[kudagirl]

I read only about two issues and then stopped. The little I know of them now is from my flist who still read them.

There was on book cover that had Spike's eyes the wrong color. Many an artist of fandom ranted over that.

[red_satin_doll]

I just gave up, sticking heavy cheekbones on a random face does not a Spike make...

Very much so. It's a bit like a bad fanfic story where the writer settles for tossing in words like "Oi" "pet" "niblet" etc into the dialogue and calling it a day, without going deeper into the actual characterization. And that's true of any character but the more "surface markers" a character has (distinct mannerisms, dialect, features, clothes, habits) the easier it is to rely on those things.

I hate Jeanty's Buffy but Cliff Richardson (sp?) gets Spike all wrong, so apparently there's no making me happy.

[lifefailsme]

Yes! This and other exclamations of agreement :D

Oh dear, another long comment - pretend to be shocked, ok?

[red_satin_doll]

Most of the characters look far too young.I assume we're mostly talking about Jeanty's work. I kept wondering who the hell is this ugly little 14 year old...what, that's not Buffy. No way. Willow seems to have a mostly S4 haircut (and why was she wearing Tara's ren-faire OMWF dress in S8? Are they aware of how fucking creepy that is? I'm sorry, but.) Xander was the one who was the most recognizable (he's the guy with the eyepatch) but as his S1-3 self; they'd taken years and pounds off of him the way my sweetie had to make a client look ten years younger when she did his portrait bust

Re: Oh dear, another long comment - pretend to be shocked, ok?

[kudagirl]

Yes, Jeanty's work is weak to me. I find it interesting that the females are made to look more like children while Xander's gets hulked up. Season seven Sarah was clearly worn out. She was ill in some of the episodes. She lost her voice for a bit. And yes, James has said Sarah had a clause where she didn't have to appear nude. Poor James spent much of Season six with just a sock while Sarah wore coats and gloves. I read somewhere and can't find it now, that both David and Sarah retain rights to their images. I think they had to approve when the comics began

Re: Oh dear, another long comment - pretend to be shocked, ok?

[red_satin_doll]

I find it interesting that the females are made to look more like children while Xander's gets hulked up.

In keeping with the in-story characterizations.

To be fair Sarah has nothing to do with the comics because it's not her job. She isn't paid to be involved with them or promote them. She speaks with great pride of the series on every recent interview I've seen, even when she's promoting other series. She said in the HuffPost interview that we need more Buffys, more female heros, and that there is a definite lack of such characters for women over 35 especially.

Buffy being a bank robber was not Buffy. Buffy was too moral to rob banks.PREACH. That was just - I have no words for it. Then in a later issue "Twilight" says they have to break down her "moral certainty". the point of the series was that Buffy's worldview goes from being black and white to shades of grey. (By Chosen almost everyone fighting on her side had murdered someone another human being let alone demons. Except Xander.) So where the hell does this moral certainty

Re: Oh dear, another long comment - pretend to be shocked, ok?

[kudagirl]

Well, Xander did bring Sweet to town who caused some deaths. And no one really said much about that to Xander. He kept quiet about calling Sweet when he could have given them information about what was going on. I really dislike Xander because of the way he treated women and how his actions were ignored and forgiven so easily.

Riley...reminds me of my ex. My ex wasn't a strong man. He would blame others for his actions. Instead of talking about problems he would use them as excuses to do whatever he wanted no matter who got hurt. It turn his family, his children and me against him. Now he is a lonely guy on his third marriage which is very unhappy. Like Buffy, I made excuses for him and finally just had to cut him loose. So things Riley did bother me as well.

Re: Oh dear, another long comment - pretend to be shocked, ok?

[red_satin_doll]

ALL the guys in the show do things that bother me deeply. But then I have two ex-stepfathers so lots of history and bad memories there. (Did you ever get a chance to check out my Ted meta, btw?)

It's hard to take the thing with Sweet seriously because Joss clearly didn't; that was just very poorly thought-out.

I used to like Riley, although rewatching Doomed made me wonder why - he's patronizing and calls Buffy "stupid" for not wanting to get into a relationship with him, and at the end she's on his lap kissing him. I still can't figure out how him going to vamp whores is in any way Buffy's fault, or how she drove him away, how the writers could come to that conclusion after the fact. It breaks my heart in Intervention that Buffy doesn't even believe her mom knew she loved her when there's nothing on screen that would make me think that for a second.

It's like the comics - the things that happen that make me scratch my head and wonder how can anyone who calls themselves a "feminist" *shoots daggers at Joss* claim to be ok with

Re: Oh dear, another long comment - pretend to be shocked, ok?

[kudagirl]

I can't remember if I read your Ted meta or not. I'll have to look it up. I grew up not expecting much from males. My mom supported us and my dad never gave her anything. So I never expected anything from my husband. I just learned to do for myself, but I came after everyone else in the family.

I think Joss thought of Xander as being him. So Xander got away with all kinds of things. So no one confronted Xander or blamed him about the man who died dancing for Sweet.

Buffy wanted things to work with Riley so badly. He was her chance at normal which he was anything, but normal. It's why she clung to the relationship. Buffy's self esteem was low when it came to relationships. She always believed it was her and that she couldn't make them work. And it didn't help that Xander took Riley's side in it all. Xander just didn't want Buffy with a vampire and since he couldn't have her, he wanted her with Riley no matter what.

Re: Oh dear, another long comment - pretend to be shocked, ok?

[red_satin_doll]

I read once that Joss's real purpose with the show was to depict a male character who was comfortable with strong women and if he saw himself as Xander? that's a head-scratcher. (also disappointing - we need more stories ABOUT women for their own sake

Re: Oh dear, another long comment - pretend to be shocked, ok?

[kudagirl]

Xander's problem was no woman could compare to Buffy. He found fault with Cordy and Anya since they were not Buffy

Gonna get meta-splurgy here, fasten your seatbelt and settle in

[red_satin_doll]

First of all? that Riley icon is FUCKING BRILLIANT. Dude needs to be called on the carpet. ( I wrote about that too, recently. I'm torn between really laying into him in meta or lettting it go and concentrating on what I love - the ladies of the verse.)

He found fault with Cordy and Anya since they were not Buffy. My opinion? His treatment of Cordy and Anya would have happened regardless of Buffy; that's from his father. (Unfortunately we don't see Mr Harris until HB but in this case Xander's behavior is consistent enough from the beginning that we don't have to wait until S6 to infer that

Re: Gonna get meta-splurgy here, fasten your seatbelt and settle in

[kudagirl]

What I meant by Sam looking up to Riley was how she saw him as a partner. She praised him. Buffy hurt Riley's feelings because she didn't want him along what she patrolled. Spike even notice that. Sam and Riley shared the work load. Buffy never was comfortable doing that with Riley. She always held back a bit with him sparing and preferred that he didn't kill demons with her after he had the chip removed.

I think seeing her life through Riley's eyes was when Buffy decided to end it with Spike and that was the beginning of her taking steps to work on her life. Before that she just used Spike to push away her pain. She admitted she was using him and how it hurt her. It was seeing her current life compared to Riley and Sam's that jarred her into change. She still had lots of things to work on, but that was a turning point for her. That was what I meant.