I need to calm down and start writing on something, do something useful. (quite possibly get rid of my headache first)
It's not so much the comic even. Really, honestly. I stopped reading it around issue 7 when it was clear that the characters in the comic had nothing to do with the ones on screen and that they focused endlessly on characters who lost all my sympathy at the end of Chosen. And then they went and tried to make me stop loving Buffy as well.
What pisses me off, is that they took two great characters, Buffy and Angel, stripped them of anything that made them interesting. Forced them back together in a relationship that was clearly destined to end in fail from the start. No, not because of the Curse. The curse is actually the thing that keeps them still connected at the moment.
We're talking about two characters who barely know one another, have no connection but the physical, see only fantasies about one another that will become clear if they ever talked to one another for more than an hour. And I mean, talk, not have sex, actual spend some time together.
I've mentioned this before, a couple of times. Yes I'm a record on repeat on this one, but the quite simple fact is that if Buffy and Angel ever truly started a relationship, they'd either break up within the month; kill one another and or never talk to each other ever again. That's the basic reality. The fact that the Curse forces them to stay apart is what allowed Buffy and Angel for that matter, to keep their illusions about one another and it's the only reason Buffy hasn't closed of that relationship for good.
Why? Because Buffy is an alpha and so is Angel. And they both want to be in charge. They both want to be, not just a hero, but 'the hero'.
They're just too alike, it's that simple. the reason I support both spangel and spuffy is because essentially, it's the same relationship with the same basic dynamics. And both of those work, because unlike Buffy and Angel, Spike is so NOT an alpha. Not saying here he's some submissive flower. But he's a people person who needs someone to follow. And both Buffy and Angel need someone like that as a partner. Someone who will argue with them, hold them to account for their stupid moves and make them see themselves in a different light. But who will essentially let them take the lead. (it's also why even though I despise B/A, I can still read B/S/A, because Spike makes the dynamics tollerable)
One of the biggest problems for me with B/A is that Angel still treats Buffy like a little girl. In the comics they've made it even worse, by having him be Twilight and decide on killing her slayers, young girls under her protection for what he claims is a greater cause. And he expects her to just... accept it and assume he knows better because he's Angel.
The real Buffy, after hearing that crap last issue and this one, would have kicked his ass over even thinking like that, then she'd have staked him or tied him up, until she knew what the hell was either controlling him or impersonating him.
Right now the only hope comicverse Buffy has, is that she's under some kind of mind control. Because the real Buffy, she doesn't tolerate that kind of crap.
Honestly, what is it with comic book writers and editors these days? It used to be that comics were about people who were better than the general public reading them. But now... Spider-Man got turned into a slimebag, Buffy into a weak little girl who needs men to make her decisions for her...It's just not right.
But more than that though, what annoys me most is the attitude of certain B/Aers.
Back when I was first getting into Buffy, I was still foolish and young and I figured that B/A was cute. (I was a kid, what can I say and I love things like vampire/Slayer romances.)
But even then, when I first got into fandom, I just got sick of over half the crap on the Bangel yahoo groups. Up to the point that I joined a Buffy/Riley com, just to be able to read some Buffy fics that didn't include bashing. Or at least not nearly as much of it.
I never fell in love with the pairing itself, though I never hated it either, but I loved the people on that group, cause they were nice, positively minded and seemed like fun people to hang out with. (even if I was the quiet lurker type most of the time)
After I actually watched IWRY and I lost all interest in B/A, once Angel showed he couldn't handle even a day as a human without wanting to be the big strong vampire again and then blaming it on 'protecting' Buffy - well there was no way I could ever think of their love as real ever again. Angel lost me the moment he found out where the Mohra demon was and decided to go take it out on his own, despite knowing he was newly human, wasn't used to his lesser strenght yet. And still felt it should be him, rather than Buffy to go take out the demon. Because even as a human, he had to be the big strong 'hero'
After that I started joining different coms, first Spike coms. I still wasn't into spuffy, but I wanted to read Spike fics, since he seemed so interesting from s4 on and I loved him in Becoming so...And it wasn't until Intervention that I actually started shipping Spuffy. And I noticed something. That sure, there was still some bashing, unfortunately, but the spuffy people as a whole, where a lot less vitriol than the Bangel crowd. No I don't think that all B/A-ers are like that. I know plenty of people through slash sites and coms who are nice as hell. But...
It's like the B/A pairing seems to bring out an arrogant, demanding and spiteful side in some people that seems to seek a sick kind of pleasure into forcing their own pathetic gloathing into other people's faces.
Once again, not talking about all Bangel shippers, or even the majority of them. Just the very loud, very vicious part of them that seems to only take enjoyment in bringing other people down.
And yes, that does piss me off.