So I was mysteriously untempted by the Buffy Season Eight comics for a really long time, and then Fyrefly (inventor of the book blog search, hooray!) started getting all reviewy of them, and that reminded me that I love Buffy like a fat kid loves cake (or a skinny kid – any kid really), and today I went to Bongs & Noodles and (don’t tell) read all four volumes that they had, which was The Long Way Home and No Future for You and Wolves at the Gate and Time of Your Life, but there’s apparently another one after that. But they didn’t have Fray. So I wasn’t always sure what was going on with Fray. Many will be the Buffy spoilers coming up, because, you know, I assume you’ve all already seen Buffy. If not you should. It is lovely.
Several years on from the end of the series, Buffy and Xander are at Slayer Central handling up on a large-scale slaying the bad guys operation. Willow is off getting trained in some super-fancy magics by a v. sexy mermaid type character, and feeling the Tara guilt (I miss Tara – couldn’t we bring Tara back to life?). Giles and Buffy are not speaking, and Anya, as you may recall, is dead. And Dawn has turned into a giant, a situation whose causes are unclear and Dawn’s not saying (until she does). The Big Bad for this season (will there be more seasons?) is a shady character called Twilight, who is leading something that looks a lot like the Initiative, in that it’s American military and doesn’t like Buffy and Riley (pfft) is part of it.
Riley. Oh how I dislike him. Remember that time when he was all, “Yeah, Buffy’s great, this and that, I’m so in love…But she doesn’t love me,” throwing poor Xander and THE ENTIRE AUDIENCE into agonizing uncomfortableness for the rest of Riley’s story arc? Blech. How glad was I when he finally left?
I’m so pleased I took the morning to read these Buffy comics. It is just like Buffy as a TV show – insofar as the characters all still have their same voices and relationships, and it’s all old friends again. I would still like to see it as a TV show, although with all the different locations and special effects and Christian Bale fantasies, that might be difficult to swing. I would especially like to see Michelle Trachtenberg do the Dawn storyline – she has such a fun storyline, and Michelle Trachtenberg is so adorable… I miss Michelle Trachtenberg! I am going to watch the end of series five – except that would be the hugest downer ever. I am going to watch some part of Buffy that contains lil Dawnie!
I will say, I have seen the writers of the comic say that it’s great to have a limitless special effects budget, and – well – I don’t know that it’s good for them to have an unlimited special effects budget. There are only a certain number of monsters and destruction my eyes can take in all at once, and then I get tired and start flipping pages that aren’t all green and screamy.
However, I was enchanted by the fact that Buffy was having a fantasy featuring Little Women Christian Bale and Reign of Fire Christian Bale. Not because I like Christian Bale, because I don’t, pretentious mouth face, but because I SO FEEL IT. When my sister and I are picking out our dream casts for films and books that we like, we make cast choices like Snarly Hugh Jackman, and Charlotte Gray Billy Crudup (mmmm).
I know that it has been suggested that Buffy is too angsty about it being lonely to be her, but I never stopped feeling sympathetic with Buffy. Oo, except for in the seventh series when she was being totally mean to everyone. I don’t care how mean she is to Spike, but she was totally mean to Xander, who by then was my favorite character because everyone else had been evil by then. But mostly, poor little Buffy. It would be a total bummer to be her, and I can see why Satsu would be an appealing prospect. I am completely enjoying this season, and I hope they continue and do a ninth one. Is that greedy?