It's not that the center cannot hold, the center isn't even there any more
OMG, the humidity is 61%. THIS IS INHUMAN. Humidity is not meant to be in double digits, and if it is, the one should be in the tens column!
I was thinking the other day about the difference between the Buffy comic and Angel & Faith. A&F obviously has one big important story to tell. Buffy, not so much - every event so far which looked like it might have long-term consequences (pregnancy, losing an arm) has been a fakeout. A&F has a proactive protagonist - Angel has a goal and is working to accomplish it. (The goal in question is dangerous and stupid, but still.) Buffy, until last issue, not so much. Angel's goal (bringing back Giles) is one which invites emotional investment on the part of the audience. Buffy's (making more money so she can afford nice things), not so much. A&F has interesting guest stars who also have interesting goals. Buffy, not so much. In A&F, the characters talk to one another on a fairly regular basis, and say things that further the plot and advance their emotional arcs. We know what the characters want and why they want it. What they want is fairly important in terms of both plot and character. On Buffy... there's been three important conversations between Buffy and Spike. In two of the three cases, Spike's done most of the talking, and Buffy's feelings remain unclear. No other characters have had conversations of similar magnitude. In fact, as of the last issue, all the other original canon characters have been written out or ignored.
So we're left with a comic which is supposedly the flagship of the line, but which has the least interesting and coherent story of the lot. It may be accurate to say that a lot of people in their mid-twenties flail hopelessly around for several years before deciding what to do when they grow up, but as the subject of an action-adventure series, this flailing leaves something to be desired.
I find myself wondering why Willow's quest to restore magic couldn't have been handled in the main comic. If DH is so determined to sweep all the emotional fallout from Twangel under the rug in BtVS, and concentrate only on what an awful person Buffy was to break the Seed, wouldn't it make sense that a major part of Buffy rehabilitating herself in her own eyes would be to do whatever she can to aid Willow in fixing what she broke? It would have allowed a lot of crunchy and interesting interaction between Buffy and Willow. There could still have been a crossover with A&F. Are the revenues from the Willow miniseries so important that they justify gutting the main title of most of its story potential? (Given that I don't think DH ever seriously intended to give Buffy a real relationship with Spike, and his hope of getting one is his main reason for being there, writing him out makes more sense. Of course they could have had Spike develop relationships of other sorts with other characters, and personally I think it would have been wise to do so, but there seems to be some law that he's not allowed to interact with anyone but Buffy. As it is, there's really no reason for him ever to come back.)
Problematic as it was, the preganacy storyline had people passionately involved. But it's turned out to be a red herring. "Buffy Summers Builds Her Dream House" is, let's face it, kind of dull. There's nothing wrong with Buffy having a nice paycheck and a house to match as a long-term goal, but as her only goal? Yawn. Over in A&F, a beloved character's life and the fate of the world lies in the balance; in BTVS, we get Kennedy lecturing Buffy on attendance.
Buffy's become an irrelevance in her own 'verse. Everyone around her is doing way more interesting things than she is. Just once, Dark Horse, I'd like a story where instead of better-off people telling a perpetually down and out Buffy that she's awesome, no really, we get to see her BEING awesome again. (Preferably without needing to make her a bank robber in the process. Though right now if she went all Lupin III it might be an improvement.) Right now I'm dying to know what's up next in A&F, particularly if Whistler's coming back. With BtVS... meh.
Rants Talk to me
I was thinking the other day about the difference between the Buffy comic and Angel & Faith. A&F obviously has one big important story to tell. Buffy, not so much - every event so far which looked like it might have long-term consequences (pregnancy, losing an arm) has been a fakeout. A&F has a proactive protagonist - Angel has a goal and is working to accomplish it. (The goal in question is dangerous and stupid, but still.) Buffy, until last issue, not so much. Angel's goal (bringing back Giles) is one which invites emotional investment on the part of the audience. Buffy's (making more money so she can afford nice things), not so much. A&F has interesting guest stars who also have interesting goals. Buffy, not so much. In A&F, the characters talk to one another on a fairly regular basis, and say things that further the plot and advance their emotional arcs. We know what the characters want and why they want it. What they want is fairly important in terms of both plot and character. On Buffy... there's been three important conversations between Buffy and Spike. In two of the three cases, Spike's done most of the talking, and Buffy's feelings remain unclear. No other characters have had conversations of similar magnitude. In fact, as of the last issue, all the other original canon characters have been written out or ignored.
So we're left with a comic which is supposedly the flagship of the line, but which has the least interesting and coherent story of the lot. It may be accurate to say that a lot of people in their mid-twenties flail hopelessly around for several years before deciding what to do when they grow up, but as the subject of an action-adventure series, this flailing leaves something to be desired.
I find myself wondering why Willow's quest to restore magic couldn't have been handled in the main comic. If DH is so determined to sweep all the emotional fallout from Twangel under the rug in BtVS, and concentrate only on what an awful person Buffy was to break the Seed, wouldn't it make sense that a major part of Buffy rehabilitating herself in her own eyes would be to do whatever she can to aid Willow in fixing what she broke? It would have allowed a lot of crunchy and interesting interaction between Buffy and Willow. There could still have been a crossover with A&F. Are the revenues from the Willow miniseries so important that they justify gutting the main title of most of its story potential? (Given that I don't think DH ever seriously intended to give Buffy a real relationship with Spike, and his hope of getting one is his main reason for being there, writing him out makes more sense. Of course they could have had Spike develop relationships of other sorts with other characters, and personally I think it would have been wise to do so, but there seems to be some law that he's not allowed to interact with anyone but Buffy. As it is, there's really no reason for him ever to come back.)
Problematic as it was, the preganacy storyline had people passionately involved. But it's turned out to be a red herring. "Buffy Summers Builds Her Dream House" is, let's face it, kind of dull. There's nothing wrong with Buffy having a nice paycheck and a house to match as a long-term goal, but as her only goal? Yawn. Over in A&F, a beloved character's life and the fate of the world lies in the balance; in BTVS, we get Kennedy lecturing Buffy on attendance.
Buffy's become an irrelevance in her own 'verse. Everyone around her is doing way more interesting things than she is. Just once, Dark Horse, I'd like a story where instead of better-off people telling a perpetually down and out Buffy that she's awesome, no really, we get to see her BEING awesome again. (Preferably without needing to make her a bank robber in the process. Though right now if she went all Lupin III it might be an improvement.) Right now I'm dying to know what's up next in A&F, particularly if Whistler's coming back. With BtVS... meh.
Rants Talk to me