I’m sure I’m not the only Buffy fan who has been following season 8 in the comics. With the recent (and very delayed) issue of comic #19, the conclusion of the story “Time of Your Life” I was wondering what everyone’s opinion was of Season 8 in general and this storyline in particular. I’ll give my opinion in a bit.
Spoilers are anticipated, so be warned!!
I just finished vol. 3 “Wolves at the Gate.” So, far it was the weakest of the 3 collections (I’m not buying the issues monthly). I thought the sex scenes with Buffy and Satsu, while very sexy, was pretty pointless.
Overall, though, great writing and artwork.
I’m following it out of loyalty more than anything else. It’s not bad, but it suffers from the same problem the show did (toward the end): too many characters involved. Personally, I think they should do away with the Slayerettes and return to a smaller cast and focus on them.
One of the reasons the first three seasons of the show worked so well was that the allegories drove the show; the magic, campy effects, they were incidental (which isn’t to say they weren’t interesting). You could shrug them off and focus on the people because the people were the important element of the story. With comics… not so much. The expense of the effects helped stay the hands of the showrunners; now that they can do pretty much everything, the Buffyverse is turning into being about the environment and losing connection to the meaning behind the story. Sure, you pick up a metaphor here and there, but the experience lacks the oomph of the television show.
Angel started to suffer the same way toward its end (too many characters spreading the story thin and unraveling the tight focus it once had), but didn’t fail as quickly as Buffy did by its addition of a cast of thousands (potential slayers). That said, Season 6 of Angel is a much better effort; I’m enjoying that much more than Buffy, and look forward to the next issue. And I have to admit that part of the reason I like it is because (next bit spoilered for those who didn’t follow Angel on television)
… it promises to explore Shansu, to which, in the season 5 finale, Angel supposedly signed away his right. No matter how rushed they were to end the series, that was sloppy writing and a huge disappointment. I know they had a season 6 planned and waiting in the wings, so until the comic came out, we could only suspect that Angel’s surrendering of that destiny was a quicky (but arguably necessary) gimmick written to deal with a pesky four season + plot device.
I’ll probably follow Buffy for a little while longer, but quite honestly, her story needed to end following her death in season 5. There were some great episodes in seasons 6 and 7, but nothing that truly needed to be said (or sung–no matter how much I enjoy the musical). Season 8 is just prolonging a watered-down set of characters, so unless they really hit a homerun, the comic is not going to be able to differentiate itself from hundreds of other comic titles out there.
I’ve been basically enjoying it, but this last issue confused the heck out of me. So what was the point of the entire time-travelling thing. And was that Riley who showed up at the end?
I said I’d post my opinion later, and now it is time to do that, except it is too late because MaxTheVool here summed up exactly what I was going to say. Thanks for stealing my thunder.
And that sure was Riley at the end.
OK, fair enough, except for Beta George. If you asked me what Angel needed, an air- floating mind-reading fish would not be my answer.
The art in Ange: After the Fall is atrocious. Just God-awful.
That being said, seriously, what was the whole “future evil Willow” deal? She wanted Buffy to be in the future because…? Near as I can tell, Buffy does something back in “the past” (the present) that “future Willow” thinks is bad., so she brings her to the future so she can either be killed by the Lurks, Fray, or just get stuck there.
Exactly why I can’t bring myself to read it.
No, Dark Willow brought Buffy to the future to kill Dark Willow. We don’t know why she wanted and/or needed Buffy to kill her, but that was her plan the entire time. Maybe she just got tired of living so long.
I read the first two volumes of season 8 and finally figured out that it just wasn’t for me. I’m one of those people who thought Buffy should have ended after season 5, season 6 was atrocious though it had a few good episodes, and while season 7 was an improvement it was clear that they had ridden the Buffy horse as far as it would go.
One of the things I found charming about the BtVS was the relatively normal life the characters tried to live while they were doing very abnormal things. They were concerned about grades, concerned about jobs, etc., but with season 8 every scrap of a normal life has been thrown out the window. They have a secret headquarters located in an old castle, a super secret army, and funding out the wazoo. If the S.H.I.E.L.D. heli-carrier put in an appearance I wouldn’t bat an eye.
I didn’t particularly care for the antagonist. I never liked the Initiative from season 4 (the weakest of the first 5 seasons) so I’m not thrilled with another govt. group involved in supernatural doings even if their strings are being pulled by some mysterious group. I also didn’t care for the return of Warren (albeit skinless) or Amy but I could have lived with those two were it not for the Army being involved.
Like SkipMagic, I think there are to many characters which makes for story telling that isn’t as tight as I’d like it to be.
The best thing I can say about season 8 is that they’ve finally allowed Xander to man up. I could never figure out why Xander was such a wimp. By the time season 3 rolled around he had faced all manner of supernatural beasties yet he was still intimidated by what he thought was a run of the mill high school bully. I thought this would change in season 5 when he said he was tired of being everyone’s “butt monkey” but he couldn’t even be a man and marry the woman he loved in season 6. Honestly I don’t really see what function he had on the show after season 5 and I don’t really buy the “guy who sees it all” thing they had going for him. At least in season 8 Xander appears to be a competent individual who has something important to add to the effort.
I’ll give season 8 a pass from here on out. It’s a good reminder to me that at some point you have to let a franchise you love go because it’s just going to go all to hell eventually.
Odesio