Last night, I watched a Buffy episode where, a mere 6 years into the program, she reveals that the first time she told her parents about vampires, they freaked out and put her into a mental hospital. Then, conveniently, nobody mentioned it ever again up until the point where Buffy needed to bring it up. It’s an undeniably damaging retcon that puts otherwise good episodes where Buffy’s mother finds out about Buffy, in a new, poorer light.

As much as I love Buffy #13, I’m not exactly thrilled by a similar piece of retconning that goes on in its pages. Did you know, for instance, that during Seasons five, six and seven of Buffy, Xander and Dracula kept in touch by writing letters to one another? What the hell, Goddard?!

Now, that aside, it’s an amusing idea that Xander went to stay with Dracula for a while after Season 7, and it’s never anything but hilarious when Dracula throws around terms like “moor” and “manservant” - as ever, the dialogue in Buffy: Season 8 is as sharp as the TV series ever was, and the heavy focus on Xander in this issue makes for entertaining reading. It’s just a pity they had to retroactively invent a Xander/Dracula friendship to make these scenes work.

The plot of the issue is more straight-up fare - the Japanese vampires that stole Buffy’s scythe and Dracula’s powers have apparently come up with a way to remove slayer-powers, and they’re planning to take the slayer-army down with it. Unlike other villains in the series, this seems like genuinely credible threat to Buffy. While supporting slayers are occasionally reduced to the level of cannon-fodder, Buffy herself is largely untouchable, and even with the knowledge that she’s the star of the show, there’s still some chance that she might lose her powers - stranger things have happened in the Buffyverse, after all.

There are other subplots ging on - Dracula gets an interesting scene showing him dishevelled and dejected fifteen minutes before the climax of last issue, that could imply an interesting story there, but could likewise be left in for no extra reason than for the comedy and a little bit of character-building. It works alone to suggest why Dracula is so welcoming of Xander, or as a clue to a bigger story yet to be told.

Not Season 8’s finest hour, but it couldn’t really hope to be after the Buffy/Satsu bombshell last issue (and yes, that development is followed up.) If nothing else, it’s worth getting for those who are eager to see more of the Buffyverse Dracula.

This week, all the usual suspects: Scud, Buffy, and discussion of the latest Scott Pilgrim news. Finally, they say no news is good news - in which case, good news for comics! Continue reading »

Ed Brubaker’s latest Criminal TPB - Lawless - gets looked at by James, there’s some scary news about the future of Buffy Season 8, a tip about one of comics’ up-and-coming artist offering cut-price commissions, some speculation about just what’s going on with the GL Corps’ new rivals and a little more about Morrison’s Batman.

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So, in case you somehow missed the media kerfuffle - Buffy #12 is out. In more ways than one. (See what I did there?)

But let’s get to that in due course. Issue 12 is written by former Buffy/Angel scribe, Drew “Cloverfield” Goddard - the third writer to tackle Season 8, and the second to come from the TV series to do so. As with Vaughan’s run, the comic doesn’t miss a beat in the changeover, and Whedon’s initial arc remains the weakest. Jeanty’s artwork is looking better than ever - it might’ve taken me a while to get used to his style, but a year down the line he’s really reaching impressive heights, having nicely defined the look of the series.

There are two big moments in this issue that are worth mentioning - the second comes on the last page - the return of the Buffyverse Dracula. Some careful solicitation text, as well as the storyline title “Wolves at the Gate” lead many (including myself) to believe that Oz might returning. While I’m disappointed that he’s not back, Dracula is at least an interesting character to have return, having had only one previous appearance and escaping then without much resolution. Anyway - turns out that a gang of Japanese vampires with an oddly familiar bag of tricks - transforming into animals and smoke - may be connected with the aforementioned Unholy Prince. They broke into the Slayer Castle and took Buffy’s scythe, and she wants it back. Hence, Dracula receives a visit.

Now, as if that wasn’t good enough - the first reveal is actually the more popular one. Having learnt last issue that slayer-in-training Satsu is in love with her, we find out this issue that Buffy has done gone ahead and slept with her. Hoo boy. A bold move by the Whedon camp, that’s for certain, but as a lifelong Buffy fan, something I’m definitely intrigued by. It’s certainly in-character for Buffy to get horizontal with the nearest emotionally available person, and the idea that it might be someone who’s female doesn’t seem outside the realms of possibility, as well as being an appropriate topic for a series about female empowerment.

But that said, it is dangerous ground - dangerously close to fanfic, that is - but from what we’ve seen, it should be a development that works, not because Buffy’s going to be gay from now on, but because it’s being treated merely as something that happened between two adults, not as Willow Season 4-style character redefinement. In any case, it results in a hilarious farce scene immediately afterwards that justifies the act alone, being perhaps the funniest Buffy scene never to make it onto TV.

If there’s any real problem, it’s that this whole thing kind of overshadows the rest of the issue a bit, which is still all good. Xander’s relationship with his own slayer-in-training is certainly getting interesting, though this issue does pretty much kill off the Xander/Buffy hopes that I’d still been harbouring. Oh well. As ever, I cannot wait for next issue.

It’s a quiet one this week, but below you’ll find some news about a special event in the Buffy comic, speculation about where Morrison’s Batman run is going, some Eagle Awards suggestions and another FREE comic (one you’d actually want to pay for) from Newsarama!

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Another single-issue Joss Whedon story? I thought Christmas was over already! Whedon’s last two single-issues have been the best the series had to offer, and this is no different. It’s a classic, X-Men-style “down time” issue between arcs, with the natural interruption of the season’s big bad at an entirely unexpected moment just to keep you on your toes. It’s not quite the Mayor strolling right into the Library, circa Season 3, but it’s pretty good nonetheless.

There’s some dealing with the blink-and-you-missed-it subplot of Satsu’s feelings for Buffy, which is entertaining and gives some truly excellent material, but it doesn’t really feel like the intricately woven subplot that it could’ve been. Strangely evident in these scenes is that Whedon appears to be writing his Buffy’s voice somewhere around Season 4. There’s far more of the humour and stream-of-consciousness dialogue than the latter Buffy ever displayed, which is good because part of the problem Season 8 had to address was that by the time the show finished, Buffy was no longer the best character in her own series. Giving her some direction and easing the responsibilities slightly seems to have left her far less earnest, mopey and distracted, hence the lighter tone.

Jeanty continues to deliver, though the first decent appearance of actual vampires in the Buffy comic unfortunately shows us that he’s no better at depicting vampires on the page than any other Buffy artist has been. Oh well. Twilight’s fight with Buffy is a nice sequence, though it’s a little bit of a groaner to hear Buffy calling him the most powerful villain she’s ever seen, because that’s the standard, Buffy, “I don’t know if I can fight this!” trick to try and make the villain seem like a threat, and doesn’t really work because… well, she’s Buffy, she’s going to win - don’t make it about whether she will, but about how she will.

The idea of tricking Buffy into believing she’s on the wrong side is a definite move for genius, and once again, the perfect place to go with the story, especially after Buffy’s recent jewel-thieving antics. The “unmasking” scene had me laughing harder than almost anything in the TV series, and sets up my most favourite of all mysteries. WHO’S UNDER THE MASK? Someone Buffy knows - or at least, who knows Buffy. I’m going to say that it’s Ethan Rayne, because he’s one of the least likely candidates, being, y’know, dead and stuff.

I sometimes wonder if I use the word “genius” a little too liberally when describing Joss Whedon. But then I decide that no, I haven’t. So let me reiterate: This is genius. Genius, genius, genius. Genius.