Buffy Season 8 - Issue 6
Well thoughts as usual behind the cut.
Well picked this up. As people know this is my make or break arc for the comic which I have been singularly unimpressed with so far.
Onto this issue which as many know is Joss' and BKV take on Pygmalion with Faith as Eliza (god wonder how long that took them) and Giles.
I'll start with the good and then move onto the bad.
The Jo Chen cover has grown a little on me, still not a great fan but now upgrading it to average. The opening scene with the staking of the vampire children is good. I think clearly Wood thinks they're vampires otherwise any old slayer would do. Faith not so much, so Wood is clearly taking advantage of her here. Which fits his 'Mission' orientated character and a good reason for them not being together which is also of the good.
The pacing and tone of this opening scene and Faith's dialog is good. As is her response.
Not so good is the fact revealed that the scoobies have just abandoned her again not even checking up including Giles. Thus directly going against their incipient relationship as we left it in S7.
On the good side of the art I think Jeanty actually does a reasonable Giles in this issue. Certainly his age stays more consistent. The same cannot be said for his Faith who varies from being fairly close to damn fugugly and dis-proportioned. Mind you I have seen the same problem with other attempts to capture her so I figure she is a difficult subject to capture. Still think overall he sucks.
My big problem though and the reason I'm going to massively mark this down is Faith's ready acceptance of the retirement package and her quick okay with killing the slayer.
THIS IS ENTIRELY OUT OF CHARACTER AND SLOPPY CONTINUITY.
Have BKV or Joss ever watched the other show he did. I think it was called Angel , did they watch 5by5 or Sanctuary, or Salvage, Orpheus etc.
Faith was freaked out by Wesley stabbing an addict. In S7 she tore herself up about the potentials who died. They have basically taken Faith and as they have with all the other characters reset them back to the start of S4.
She would not give a glib okay about murdering someone especially to someone who has abandoned her for the second time .S3 Faith sure . Faith as we left her not a chance another use of the 18 months for lazy writing and consistent characterization.
Giles though clearly does have an ulterior motive. He clearly feels a connection a shared rebellion with Faith and probably sees her as a kindred spirit . This hint is clearly there when she stabs him with a fork which is in keeping with her physical intimacy issues. I actually like this bit and it leads me to hope that the arc will be both their ways of rescuing each other.
Although I hate the fact that he and the scoobs have left her in scuzzy rundown accommodation again. Back with the S4 reset that I have been complaining of. They repeat mistakes merely because it serves the story not because the characters would do that logically.
The Buffy Xander interaction is okay , still think it is a misdirect. Please kill Renee. They need to move beyond the tease .
Loathe the Dr Who shout out although I suppose it fits. A call out from one sloppy writer to another. As for the main plot well JW clearly visits a different Britain than I work in every day. Stereotyped Brits and dialog which made me cringe I kept on expecting a chorus and Dick Van Dyke to turn up.
The last page reveal was telegraphed from the issues announcement so not surprised. Also not surprised that Jeanty managed to make Faith in a dress look ugly.
Oh onto the Good/Bad Joss' status as a sloppy writer and the comics status as canon were shot to bits by the writer himself in the letters page.
He forgot about the first only appearing as dead people.
So he clearly hasn't watched them in preparation or thought seriously about any of his retcons or plots other than that they're cool. He admits this!!
This explains why he was sloppy about that the variable characterization, uber Willow, healing powers, he probably forgot he already did a variant of this storyline in S4. He forgot about Faith's character arc clearly just resetting her back to when she came out her coma. Same way he forgot about the sea filling in the crater, or how easy uber vamps were to kill. So he has already undermined his own retconns despite all the fanwanking that went on to get it to work.
UPDATE: Forgot to add that the letters page also confirmed so other good news . No Tara ressurection which is good as I didn't like the character and death was being cheapened too much anyway. No mystical loophole for her. I figure as suspected she will appear as a ghost or a spirit guide for Willow which is okay.
Still I would say I enjoyed this more than most so give it 5.5/10