Season 8 #7 and #8

[rogin]

My father went to Vienna and I got him to pick them up for me *cheers for him*. It's torture to see all the reviews online and to stay away from them, when I get the issues so late *grmbl*. I really wish there was a decent comic store in my town or that the shipping would not cost more then the actual comic. I usually wait, until I order RPG-books, which is only every two to three months, but here they are, and so shiny :)

#7 First things first, I love Brian K. Vaughan and I think overall he does great job, writing the characters, especially Faith. I liked, how he portrayed her feelings about Buffy. Of course  they made up in Season 7, but a lot of things have gone down between them and it's very doubtful, if they can ever work together without getting competitive. Feeling second to Buffy will always get to Faith, no matter how good she gets.I always found the Buffy/Faith dynamics very interesting and I wonder were this will lead. Gigi is obviously much more Faith's type than Buffy.
I really wonder, what kind of big bad this series is going to develop. The warlock, the military, Amy...how does it fit together?
Artwise I'm still ok with the comics. The heads tend to be a bit large with Georges Jeanty, but they're all recognizable.

#8: Ok still good, but it had me wondering at times:
Gigi has gathered that much intelligence about Buffy and she has never heard of Faith, the only other slayer, that was here before the spell? Seems a bit strange.

On the Buffy side:
I loved that Willow set up their radar system in Linux. heh.
Also i find Buffy's current dilemma quite intriguing. If she has to fight humans, that is a conflict, that the TV series has been evading most of the time. That a lot of true and pure evil is manmade. Also Buffy needs to define herself as the defender of humanity, and the slayer of demons, otherwise she would have a hard time living with herself. Having to wonder, whether this or that demon was really all that evil or how to react to menmade atrocities.

Ahhh, and then there was the fight in the water. That scene reminded me so strongly of the fight of Agnes and Isabeau in "La fille sous la dunette" by Francois Burgeon. I wonder if it was inspired by that comic, since the fight evolves around the same issues too. Two girls, one threatening the others place in the world.

But what I didn't get is, why Buffy was that hostile. It's true, that she is less forgiving with Faith, than she is with any of the other redemption seeking characters. Faith always did bring up a bad side in Buffy, but like that? It seemed a little OOC for my liking.
Faiths characterization imho was brilliant, how all the bad stuff is still there, but she's more reflecting now, dealing instead of  reacting in panic, but Buffy seemed a bit shallow in comparison.
In general I like Vaughan's story arc a lot. He transports more of the series conflicting emotions and character depths into the comics, than I had ever thought possible.

And now I don't want to think about how long I'm going to have to wait for #9 . On to After the Fall #1!

Comments

[elisi]

Faith always did bring up a bad side in Buffy, but like that? It seemed a little OOC for my liking.
Same here. I had a few other problems, but Buffy was the main one. Anyway, I shall not bring all that up again! *g*

Enjoy AtF! :)

[flake-sake.livejournal.com]

Same here. I had a few other problems, but Buffy was the main one. Anyway, I shall not bring all that up again! *g*
I saw that you reviewed #9 on your LJ, but i try to stay spoiler free, so I could not read it. Missing half the online discussion is what I hate most about getting the comics so late! Thanks for dropping by anyway :)

Enjoy AtF! :)
Thank you :) I think I will, though there seems to be no Spike in the first issue *hangs head*

[lusciousxander.livejournal.com]

I think Buffy's reaction is in character, notice that she was surprised when she saw Faith first, not angry, but then she jumped to the conclusion that Faith had gone bad again (hearing about Gigi and Roden's plan to kill her, why else was Faith there with them?), especially that they were on the outs, and what hurts more was that it seems that Giles sent Faith into this mission without telling Buffy. That gotta sting.

[flake-sake.livejournal.com]

You have a point there. She did not have much time to think in that moment and Buffy tends to react quickly on the gone-evil-condition, since she has witnessed it so often. Also, it's always pretty cool when Faith and Buffy fight, so I can see how Vaughan would not want to let that opportunity pass.
I guess, I'll wait and see how things turn out in #9

Thanks for commenting, makes me happy to have some people around here :)