Buffy #24 (kinda) review
I haven't written anything about issue #23 because, frankly, I felt I had nothing to say. The issue was ridiculous setting-wise and plot-wise, it had funny Andrew bits and it inequivocally demonstrated that Joss plans to tease shippers ad infinitum.
I was looking forward to issue 24 with certain trepidation, because recently I grew fond of Faith and I appreciate Richards' art more than Jeanty's. So, at least, I hoped to get a couple of decent Faith panels.
I got them. Richards' Faith is luscious, edgy, sexy and determined. Another plus is that she looks like Faith would look now. Like Eliza Dushku looks in Dollhouse. My favorite panel is the one on the train, where Faith says that the new slayers have the right to choose whether to fight or to live peacefully.
But the the plotting - or, rather, the concept - is more than clumsy. It goes against everything we know about vampires.
So, Faith and Giles meet a slayer who ran away from her squad. She tells them about a slayer sanctuary in Hanselstadt. Giles decides to find the place. They board a train at platform 9-3/4 and arrive in a bucolic town where only old folks live. Turns out there is a demon in residence who feeds on fears and regrets. He eats children and slayers (yes, the "sanctuary" is a trap!) and, as a side-effect, protects the town from vampires.
Because, as an evil ex-Watcher declares, "the vampire is regret personified. A hunger for life that's been damned to never be satisfied." That's why vampires eschew Hanselstadt.
Huh?
Looks like the further into season 8 we go, the more we stray from the tired premise of vampires as pure evil. Now, vampires personify regrets. I'm curious if this new development was a one-issue plot necessity or a new trend.
The issue is more Giles-centric than Faith-centric. shadowkat67 wrote an in-depth analysis of Giles' character development in this issue so I won't go there. Faith doesn't have much to do here. Of course, she fights the demon and with Giles' help she kills it but she doesn't face any of those controversial moral dilemmas that make Buffyverse so fascinating.
I wonder if the demon is supposed to work as a social commentary on the demographic situation in Europe where many places have negative natality rate, or, as shadowcat67 thinks, a metaphor of regrets sucking the passion out of our souls. Or both.
Anyway. What bothers me is how uninspiring - to me - this story looks. Issue #24 is a typical MOTW one-shot. It features the characters I love - yet nothing of it lingers in my mind except a couple of beautiful Faith panels. I think I had the same problem with the previous issue - it was OK but there was nothing compelling in it.
I have the impression that this is the biggest problem with season 8. It's doomed to be either sensational or boring. There is no middle ground. To be compelling it has to be controversial. The comics don't grab me unless Buffy turns out to be a lesbian, or an enemy of humanity, or a bank robber. Or she (arguably) destroys the Fray timeline. Or?...
Writers have to up the ante with every issue to make the story compelling. How long could they do it until it fizzles out ot goes out of hand completely?