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Buffy #34 -review
I'm sorry that I neglect this journal so badly, I'll try and be more consequent with the double posting in the future.
So, got to read it now and here is my review - I'm afraid it contains porn (of the non-Bangel variety).
Ok, I'll start off with some general things. This is actually a quite entertaining issue (for S8 standards of course), mainly because finally finally something is happening. It's still to early to make a final judgement on the season, but it's starting to try "living up to it's potential". Yes it's totally cracky, yes it's jumping the shark...naked...while fucking, but something happens and also it's beginning (though it should not beginn in issue #34) to show a story, maybe even a message.
I'll go through issue bit by bit and throw in my opinions.
The issue starts out with a rorschach picture that can be seen as two people kissing as well as Twilight's mask of evil. That picture is pretty much a sum up of the whole bangeling in the issue. Yes, they're kissing, but it's the opposite of romantic, it's deadly, it's evil and they don't even do it out of their own free will.
The scoobies enter the destroyed HQ and the explaining starts, Xander and to an extent Willow take the role of the reader and ask the same questions we did. What happened? Does Buffy need to be rescued? Xander says "she needs our help", and Willow answers that he really doesn't want to see them right now. The last statement is ironically voiced over our first take on naked Buffy and Twangel. And she sure as hell is right, we don't want to see that. Understand me right, I do love my porn, I do love my pornograhic comics too, but Jeanty just shouldn't do it. His characters look too child-goblin like to be sexy and all in all it's about as sexy as having Asterix and Obelix do it with each other.
Exhibit A: Angel looks like a goblin, his proportions are all screwed up, his legs far to short and that when they are looked at from below actually. Really if you can't draw naked, better keep them clothed.
Without further ado they start with the fucking. Back in HQ the first interesting thing happens. Faith has got her powers back! Can I say yay, I love to have a real slayer again, though I wonder what happened with the others, though Satsu and co appear in the issue there is no mention of their powers. They all finally corner Giles who gives a good old tradtional Giles speech and adds some mythology.
I think this informationdropping would have been a lot cooler if had happened bit by bit over the course of the show, but I guess the story has few to many holes for that and needs to be told rushed to work at all.
Giles starts with playing coy and saying it's just an old watcher's fairytale and Xander voiceover's more Bangel sexing "how much can you shock us with a fairy tale". Another little bit that shows quite how thoroughly Bangel is subverted here. They are the fairytale couple, but it's a rotten apple. Icky and obviously dangerous.
Angel finally gives head, obviously he read in myriards of fanfic that he should have done so all along. It's amazing how the comic manages to be pornish and prudish at the same time. On one hand they do it every which way, yet their bodies looks like a child is doing a goblin and they don't even show a nipple. I wonder if it's meant as fanservice, because it's really the opposite of sexy.
Satsu and Andrew are pissed at the sight and Giles starts out about the balance of nature and how everything had it's place and how Buffy's slayer spell somehow introduced the next step in evolution (where have I heard that before, ah ja heroes...), which is supposedly Twilight. Willow and Xander voice how all of that sounds unfair and like a bad plan. Yes indeed.
Also it sounds very weird in context of the good old slayer empowerment metaphore? So when women become strong and take their place in the world, that means the end of said world? Uhm, yeah.
Angel and Buffy continue to fuck through time and space for the universe's new reality, this time looking exactly like the involuntary child porn I was dreading.
Exhibit B: Yikes.
Twuffel continues to destroy the world with sex induced natural desasters and Willow hangs a lantern on how a Buffy in her right mind would stake Angel, as she tried to do before the Glowhypnol, but now "the universe" (which I'm distinctly starting to dislike) is "not letting" her, giving the sex a decidedly rapish tint.
As they move through time, we see some random scenes through times, namely the pictures of Spike and Willow that leaked a while ago. The cataclysmic event that hit Willow seems to be the opening of the Twilight dimension. And we get a picture of Spike and Buffy side by side facing a horned beast with a box saying "soon".
Exhibit C: :) Spike actually looks pretty! (Yay!) And what's better he's fighting baddies side by side with Buffy. Awwww.
As Twuffel leave the plain of existence, demons swarm in and it's pretty much Apocalypse time. Giles admits that he was searching for a way to kill Buffy should it come to this. I understand why he did not talk about it, he thought he would be able to take her, once the first signs show up not that it would all go so quickly, but I still think it would have been so much cooler, if he had shared this with Faith at some point and we would have had a guilt ridden Faith throughout retreat, who sees herself maybe being forced to once more turn on Buffy.
And of course the whole plot construct would crumble if those people actually communicated...
Twuffel meanwhile awake in the paradisic Twilight dimension, dressed in the silly outfits of Xena-gods. Twangel is still crazy and evil and everything, but Buffy seems to come to her senses again, though it's hard to tell and then the comic is over.
All in all my expectations were so low that I really quite liked it, with some pangs of course. I think as Bangel goes, it really is the best you can do with it. Take all that horribly patronizing "meant for each other" imprinting crap and subverting into something completely evil. Yes, the universe has a bigger plan for them, and also the universe gives a shit about their lives, their friends, their happiness and their free will. It's a very vile hostile force of nature that is at work here, so I'm quite fine with that.
Also Buffy has truest loves, which is nice to read in text :)
That said their comes what I'm unhappy with. Angel. I really like him, his dorkyness, his brooding, his team. It feels like an awesome character is stripped of all his layers here and used for a cheap effect. Angel deserves better, and so do his friends. I'd love to see what Illyria does in that mix, how it affects him, when he gets that he might have doomed Connor to more hell and so on and so on. They really can't possibly give me sufficient background to satisfy me in the remaining issues. Sure, Angel will come out unscathed, used as the universes glowstick (*waits for beavis and butthead* :) ) but still, I like him, when he appears I want to see him, not this bizarro version.
Though they could make a lot of ground good with me if Cordy where to show up, her being a Buffy character as well as a higher being and all.
I'm still a little afraid for Spike (though generally optimistic), because I really don't want him to be part of that destiny bullshit. If he comes in as destinies replacement vampire I'm gonna scream, but hopefully that just wont happen.
Second. A word about porn. Ok, I really do like my porn, at least as long as it's either drawn or written. But it really is either or for me with graphics, either you artfully slide over it and express what happens through the talk and sounds, or you go full blown explicit. But if you do that, like they did in this comic than bloody stick with it! Don't show them naked and fucking, but never show their sexual organs or even Buffy's nipples. It's not artfull, it's pornographic and prudish at the same time. Sex is a natural thing, if you want to show it, show all of it, don't reduce your protagonists to Barby and Ken dolls.
These scenes remind me so of bad fic, were people want to write porn but they don't manage to use the actual words and every cock needs to become a pulsating sparkling euphemism. If you want to do porn, make it real (and don't make your protagonists look like goblins and children) that will make it a hell lot sexier .
As an example for actually pretty flying cataclysmic porn I give you a little bit Manara. Don't read it though, it's very daft.
Exhibit D:See that's how you do flying porn , if you really think you have to go there. So no, blushing was not really an issue for me, more ewwing at how weird and unnatural their bodies looked.
ETA: Ok, every each one of you, who has read the comics had to read this ficlet by beer_good_foamy. It's mandatory.
So, got to read it now and here is my review - I'm afraid it contains porn (of the non-Bangel variety).
Ok, I'll start off with some general things. This is actually a quite entertaining issue (for S8 standards of course), mainly because finally finally something is happening. It's still to early to make a final judgement on the season, but it's starting to try "living up to it's potential". Yes it's totally cracky, yes it's jumping the shark...naked...while fucking, but something happens and also it's beginning (though it should not beginn in issue #34) to show a story, maybe even a message.
I'll go through issue bit by bit and throw in my opinions.
The issue starts out with a rorschach picture that can be seen as two people kissing as well as Twilight's mask of evil. That picture is pretty much a sum up of the whole bangeling in the issue. Yes, they're kissing, but it's the opposite of romantic, it's deadly, it's evil and they don't even do it out of their own free will.
The scoobies enter the destroyed HQ and the explaining starts, Xander and to an extent Willow take the role of the reader and ask the same questions we did. What happened? Does Buffy need to be rescued? Xander says "she needs our help", and Willow answers that he really doesn't want to see them right now. The last statement is ironically voiced over our first take on naked Buffy and Twangel. And she sure as hell is right, we don't want to see that. Understand me right, I do love my porn, I do love my pornograhic comics too, but Jeanty just shouldn't do it. His characters look too child-goblin like to be sexy and all in all it's about as sexy as having Asterix and Obelix do it with each other.
Exhibit A: Angel looks like a goblin, his proportions are all screwed up, his legs far to short and that when they are looked at from below actually. Really if you can't draw naked, better keep them clothed.Without further ado they start with the fucking. Back in HQ the first interesting thing happens. Faith has got her powers back! Can I say yay, I love to have a real slayer again, though I wonder what happened with the others, though Satsu and co appear in the issue there is no mention of their powers. They all finally corner Giles who gives a good old tradtional Giles speech and adds some mythology.
I think this informationdropping would have been a lot cooler if had happened bit by bit over the course of the show, but I guess the story has few to many holes for that and needs to be told rushed to work at all.
Giles starts with playing coy and saying it's just an old watcher's fairytale and Xander voiceover's more Bangel sexing "how much can you shock us with a fairy tale". Another little bit that shows quite how thoroughly Bangel is subverted here. They are the fairytale couple, but it's a rotten apple. Icky and obviously dangerous.
Angel finally gives head, obviously he read in myriards of fanfic that he should have done so all along. It's amazing how the comic manages to be pornish and prudish at the same time. On one hand they do it every which way, yet their bodies looks like a child is doing a goblin and they don't even show a nipple. I wonder if it's meant as fanservice, because it's really the opposite of sexy.
Satsu and Andrew are pissed at the sight and Giles starts out about the balance of nature and how everything had it's place and how Buffy's slayer spell somehow introduced the next step in evolution (where have I heard that before, ah ja heroes...), which is supposedly Twilight. Willow and Xander voice how all of that sounds unfair and like a bad plan. Yes indeed.
Also it sounds very weird in context of the good old slayer empowerment metaphore? So when women become strong and take their place in the world, that means the end of said world? Uhm, yeah.
Angel and Buffy continue to fuck through time and space for the universe's new reality, this time looking exactly like the involuntary child porn I was dreading.
Exhibit B: Yikes.Twuffel continues to destroy the world with sex induced natural desasters and Willow hangs a lantern on how a Buffy in her right mind would stake Angel, as she tried to do before the Glowhypnol, but now "the universe" (which I'm distinctly starting to dislike) is "not letting" her, giving the sex a decidedly rapish tint.
As they move through time, we see some random scenes through times, namely the pictures of Spike and Willow that leaked a while ago. The cataclysmic event that hit Willow seems to be the opening of the Twilight dimension. And we get a picture of Spike and Buffy side by side facing a horned beast with a box saying "soon".
Exhibit C: :) Spike actually looks pretty! (Yay!) And what's better he's fighting baddies side by side with Buffy. Awwww.As Twuffel leave the plain of existence, demons swarm in and it's pretty much Apocalypse time. Giles admits that he was searching for a way to kill Buffy should it come to this. I understand why he did not talk about it, he thought he would be able to take her, once the first signs show up not that it would all go so quickly, but I still think it would have been so much cooler, if he had shared this with Faith at some point and we would have had a guilt ridden Faith throughout retreat, who sees herself maybe being forced to once more turn on Buffy.
And of course the whole plot construct would crumble if those people actually communicated...
Twuffel meanwhile awake in the paradisic Twilight dimension, dressed in the silly outfits of Xena-gods. Twangel is still crazy and evil and everything, but Buffy seems to come to her senses again, though it's hard to tell and then the comic is over.
All in all my expectations were so low that I really quite liked it, with some pangs of course. I think as Bangel goes, it really is the best you can do with it. Take all that horribly patronizing "meant for each other" imprinting crap and subverting into something completely evil. Yes, the universe has a bigger plan for them, and also the universe gives a shit about their lives, their friends, their happiness and their free will. It's a very vile hostile force of nature that is at work here, so I'm quite fine with that.
Also Buffy has truest loves, which is nice to read in text :)
That said their comes what I'm unhappy with. Angel. I really like him, his dorkyness, his brooding, his team. It feels like an awesome character is stripped of all his layers here and used for a cheap effect. Angel deserves better, and so do his friends. I'd love to see what Illyria does in that mix, how it affects him, when he gets that he might have doomed Connor to more hell and so on and so on. They really can't possibly give me sufficient background to satisfy me in the remaining issues. Sure, Angel will come out unscathed, used as the universes glowstick (*waits for beavis and butthead* :) ) but still, I like him, when he appears I want to see him, not this bizarro version.
Though they could make a lot of ground good with me if Cordy where to show up, her being a Buffy character as well as a higher being and all.
I'm still a little afraid for Spike (though generally optimistic), because I really don't want him to be part of that destiny bullshit. If he comes in as destinies replacement vampire I'm gonna scream, but hopefully that just wont happen.
Second. A word about porn. Ok, I really do like my porn, at least as long as it's either drawn or written. But it really is either or for me with graphics, either you artfully slide over it and express what happens through the talk and sounds, or you go full blown explicit. But if you do that, like they did in this comic than bloody stick with it! Don't show them naked and fucking, but never show their sexual organs or even Buffy's nipples. It's not artfull, it's pornographic and prudish at the same time. Sex is a natural thing, if you want to show it, show all of it, don't reduce your protagonists to Barby and Ken dolls.
These scenes remind me so of bad fic, were people want to write porn but they don't manage to use the actual words and every cock needs to become a pulsating sparkling euphemism. If you want to do porn, make it real (and don't make your protagonists look like goblins and children) that will make it a hell lot sexier .
As an example for actually pretty flying cataclysmic porn I give you a little bit Manara. Don't read it though, it's very daft.
Exhibit D:See that's how you do flying porn , if you really think you have to go there. So no, blushing was not really an issue for me, more ewwing at how weird and unnatural their bodies looked.ETA: Ok, every each one of you, who has read the comics had to read this ficlet by beer_good_foamy. It's mandatory.