BtVS # 15, AtF # 8 reviews
BtVS issue 15
Summary:
The majority of panels in issue 15 depict the big battle against Japanese vampires. As it usually happens on BtVS, characters metaphorically fight their fears and frustrations - and win. Dawn faces Mecha!Dawn (complete with a lizard tail!) who is programmed as a whiny teenager - and decapitates her. Willow fights with a witch Kumiko - a metaphor of her dark side resurfacing in a desperate situation - and, thanks to Buffy's intervention, wins. (Looks like Willow and Kumiko had learned their magic from the same source - woman-snake Saga Vasuki). Xander gets the chance to avenge Renee's death thus finishing his transformation from Xander Harris to Xander Fury, as Tallgent says in his wonderful review. Buffy learns to delegate - she orders Satsu to lead Slayers when she jumps down to help Willow. Dracula symbolically hands Xander to Buffy after the battle. Buffy has a farewell sex with Satsu who wants to stay away to stop loving her and stays in Tokyo as a field leader thus getting a promotion. Xander spreads Renee's ashes on the wind.
Spoilery thoughts:
Willow and Saga Vasuki. I think Willow turned to her to resurrect Kennedy. As a result Willow - advertently or inadvertently, traded her knowledge with Saga Vasuki, who, in turn, gave tips to Kumiko. Including the information about the Scythe. Could it be the betrayal in question? By "somebody very close"?
Dawn. As it was already revealed by the cover of issue 18, poor girl will turn into a Centaur. Very unexpected but pretty logical. She has overcome her whiny self, time to deal with inter-species sex. After all, Centaurs were the first hybrid of human and non-human races (I watch too much BSG).
Xander and Buffy. Looks like they both are conveniently single, finally, and Bander ship is ready to raise the sails. (But of course it won't happen immediately because Buffy will to to Frayverse in the next issue).
I wonder if Satsu getting a promotion immediately after sleeping with Buffy should be regarded as a bad thing or it was just a plot convention, like Xander spreading Renee's ashes instead of sending the urn to her relatives. Interestingly, two prominent supporting players - two "love interests" - were written out of the show simultaneously, opening the door to Frayverse characters.
Some musings:
Well, it's official: I'm old. I'm a fan of a previous generation. I expected Godzilla to make an appearance. It never occured to me that Goddard may introduce a mecha. But, at least, the robot has a reptilian tail, so I feel oddly comfortable with Mecha!Dawn.
I'm asking myself again if I will ever learn to enjoy comics properly. My problem is that I got used to texts, to movies. BtVS season 8 were my first comics. When I started reading them I struggled through and wondered if Joss has lost his creative streak. But recently I read the script of Dollhouse pilot - and it was a feast. Gripping story, well-defined characters, intriguing twists - I was totally captivated. And now I think I enjoyed it so much because it was a text. I read it and I could mentally "see" what I read. And the pictures in my brain moved and talked, I could "hear" Eliza's voice with her typical inflections, I could "see" Tahmoh's reactions, I could easily project my own vision on the words on the page.
But I can't make comics panels "move" no matter how hard I try. Maybe it's because I don't have any previous experience in comics - but to me it's like Beethoven's symphonies in a hip-hop arrangement.
On the other hand, Deird1's essay helped me to realise one important thing. As long as I regard season 8 not as a sequel but as a reboot, everything is OK. I enjoy the stories, the dialogs, the "editing". The characters... well, they are different, but it's normal. We don't complain that Hugh Jackman's Van Helsing doesn't act like Anthony Hopkins' Van Helsing. We find it normal that Gary Oldman's Dracula turned into "our" sweet old Drac who has a soul, is secretly in love with Xander and agrees to help Buffy. Dracula's mythology survived dozens of reboots and is still alive. Hopefully Buffy's will also survive. This new Buffy who robs banks to get money for medieval castles and radar systems isn't the Buffy who worked at Doublemeat Palace to pay the bills.
Maybe Buffy the Tragic Hero gives way to Buffy the Action Hero? We'll see.
Angel: AtF #8
I'm afraid I don't have much to say about the issue. The stories about Gwen and "civilians" were too short: when I started to get interested, they ended. The art of "Civilians" is very unusual and expressive. And the selection of movies on Sunset 5 Cinema (an actual movie theater in West Hollywood) made my inner filmgeek squee with pleasure. Here they are:
Valentine with David Boreanaz
Chance and House on the Haunted Hills with James Marsters
My Bodyguard with Adam Baldwin
Good Burger with J. August Richards
The Indian the the Cupboard with Vincent Kartheiser
First Knight with Alexis Denisoff
Catch Me If You Can with Amy Acker
The usherette's name is Alice. I wonder if it's a reference to Alice in Wonderland or a tribute to a real person.
The final panels of Civilians are incredibly poignant. I cried when I read them. Curiously, it's the second time when I have such strong emotional reaction to BtVS/AtS comics, and the first time it was also a reaction on a new character - a decoy slayer in issue 5 of season 8. I don't think it's a coincidence; I think I may grew too attached to the characters to enjoy the story about their tribulations. I'm drowning in worries and this is not a good way to appreciate a work of art. But I can't distance from them no matter how hard I try.
Gunn's story is fascinating and frustrating at the same time. Turns out he has been abducted by a group of vampires who "were watching the entire time", who "have an inside line", "work under Wolfram and Hart's radar" and who say that he's "more important than he knows". That's all we find out. So instead of revelations we get another mystery.
Flake_sake notes in her review that vampire's words about Gunn's importance are echoing words that invisible voice has said about Wes the issue before. Looks like somebody up there is pulling the strings. Or, for some obscure reason the persons who had a relationship with Fred are crucial for... for... something. It's frustrating to stay in the dark. Thank heavens we'll have the next issue soon!