How to Win Friends and Alienate Readers

[thedeadlyhook]

Thank you for all the lovely birthday wishes! And thanks so much for the virtual milk and cookies, lyrstzha! And Happy Belated Birthday to you as well - I hope you had a great day!

I've been reading a few first reactions on my flist to the latest Buffy comic (#35), and... wow. I'm sorta speechless. But only sorta.

Comments

[2maggie2]

I'm still hanging with the comics, at least through #40... but yeah, this is all bang on, I think.

FWIW: I'm not a comic geek, but I did watch Watchmen (and buy the book). Buffy floating cross-legged is a reference to Dr. Manhattan on Mars, and we get a Rorschach mask in the opening panel to #34. So in this case I think it's actually a theme. There are obvious resonances between the current arc and Watchmen.

[rahirah]

Except that so far, it seems that Joss doesn't have the balls to make his protagonists as flawed and messed up as the ones in Watchmen. Adrian Veidt is not presented to the reader as someone who's just a tad misguided, as they seem to be doing with Angel.

[thedeadlyhook]

I'm really unclear as to how Angel is being presented at all. He seemed so... drippy and placid in this issue, even while arguing. Buffy just overrides him. Pretty anticlimactic.

And yeah, "flawed" characters who are also nonetheless upheld as somehow in the right no matter what messed-up stuff they might do is called "having your cake and eating it too."

[2maggie2]

Not going to argue with you. Meltzer's article today was really quite illuminating as to exactly how shallow the artistic vision here is. The only hope I have left is that Joss let Meltzer have this arc to use as a foil for the next. But honestly, even I can hear myself grasping at straws.

[hazel75]

And finally, wow. Am I SO impressed that, at least judging from the promo art, the final arc of Season 8 penned by JW himself revolves around riffing on Twilight, a series that's actually really popular with teen girls right now. Because nothing says "feminism" like mocking what girls read/watch. Especially if one's own franchise fits that category too, or used to. Girls clearly don't know what they should be enjoying, yes? Maybe they really need some male author to get right on that and tell them.

As much as I've ragged on Twilight myself, this really saddens me. Especially, because, from where I'm standing, Joss can't claim any righteousness with regard to his own series at the moment. And he's making himself look very petty, jealous and full of sour grapes.

[thedeadlyhook]

I have a hard time seeing the high ground for the Buffyverse in regards to Twilight since its own popularity was pretty much based on the Buffy/Angel 'ship back in the day. And considering how that relationship turned out for Buffy, I'm not sure I'd slam on Bella as being comparatively unempowered, even. It's actually a fascinating comparison, not that I expect to see any insights from the comic.

[prophecygirrl]

And finally, wow. Am I SO impressed that, at least judging from the promo art, the final arc of Season 8 penned by JW himself revolves around riffing on Twilight, a series that's actually really popular with teen girls right now. Because nothing says "feminism" like mocking what girls read/watch. Especially if one's own franchise fits that category too, or used to. Girls clearly don't know what they should be enjoying, yes? Maybe they really need some male author to get right on that and tell them.

GOD, this makes me want to go hulk!smash. I was outraged before, but only because I perceived JW as wrecking a wonderful 'verse because of sour grapes over Twilight's appeal. I don't like Twilight either, but Of COURSE this is there, too.

Thanks for a post full of insight and sense.

[thedeadlyhook]

It just feels like boys having fun mocking that girl stuff, which always lights me up. Not to mention how it makes me feel to specifically turn Buffy into a snickerfest about how dumb girls are - and by "girls" in this case, I suspect we really mean "readers," as in those who are dumb enough to care about Team Edward or Team Jacob (or Team Angel and Team Spike).

[shapinglight]

Apropos of this, I went to my local comic shop today and did a bit of market research. Apparently, 7 out of the 10 female customers who buy stuff regularly are reading Buffy and Comic Shop Boy says several of them were new to comics beforehand. Now, he's got some of them reading other stuff.

[thedeadlyhook]

Go, Comic Shop Boy!

That's the thing - I do see this comic as an obvious entry point for new readers, but for the most part, I don't think it's taken good advantage of that opportunity. The things that work about Season 8 are mostly things that worked already about Dark Horse's old Buffy comic before JW signed up to write it. Aside from the celebrity appeal, I'm not seeing a particular attempt to show new comics readers what comics can do. Which is sort of sad.

But I do have a comics rec to pass on! The comic version of Pride, Prejudice, and Zombies is hilarious, and even drawn by Cliff Richards, who used to do the Buffy comic back in the old days. It's slay-tastic, and funny - like Buffy speaking Austen.

[shapinglight]

Thanks for the rec. I'll keep a lookout for that.

[angearia]

Oh, thanks for the info! I've been meaning to ask my comics guy, too.

[ladypeyton]

Also, to me, the steampunk spaceship Spike arrives in at the end reminds me a bit of the owlship in Watchmen. (The scene where the ship crashes in the snow in the Antarctic outside Adrian's fortress, specifically - really, aside from some surface detailing, it's even got a similar crash effect here.)

Why? WHO KNOWS!?!?

Obviously because Spike is impotent without his leather dust...wait...nevermind.

But TBH, I've been reading comics since the mid 70s and I still have no real idea what's happening in this one.

[thedeadlyhook]

Ah, the '70s. I miss those comics. And I only recently discovered Tomb of Dracula. Oh yeah, that's the stuff.

I can't even begin to comment on the plot. I can't believe it's being offered seriously. It certainly doesn't read like it.

[rahirah]

Gene Colan FTW!!

[thedeadlyhook]

I adore Colan. I have this urge lately to pull out my old Night Force issues and reread them, even though I doubt I'll understand that story any better no matter how many times I try that. : ) Looked beautiful, tho.