The other day, another person wrote asking if I was going to do ATPo analyses of the Season 8 comics. With the usual argument–“Joss says they’re canon!” Yeah. Uh. Joss also once said spatulas were haunting him.
Anyway, leaving aside the fact that a great deal of what’s going on in the comics is just recycling of old villians (and not even the most interesting ones), in a medium (comics) where the sky *ought* to be the limit with new and interesting stuff from the master’s imagination,
one of the main points of ATPo analyses was to explain what the frig is going on in an episode (or issue) and I can’t for the life of me figure it out! Every panel, I’m like…”*Now* where are we?!” “Who’s that?!” “How’d we get from what was just going on to *this*?” “What are they *talking* about!?”
If I can’t understand it, I can’t explain it, and…
I suppose there’s a part of me that wants Season 8 up at ATPo for completeness’ sake, and that’s why I’m even bothering to mention it. ‘Cause, not impressed with it (the paranoid military story line’s kinda cool, but still feels a bit recycled….) for the most part, and, I guess I’m one of those fans who was satisfied with season 7 being the end of the story.
Author Nancy E. Shaffer 
How would you feel about other AToPers doing the writing? It seems that you don’t really want to do it yourself, and perhaps don’t feel as adept at reading the comic as you do at reading the television program. Unfamiliar media and all that.
Maybe waiting until the end of season 8, then reading them all at once and seeing how it fits with the previous 7 seasons, and whether you want to include it.
I also agree about being happy where the show left off. But I will probably read the comics at some point.
Hey! No badmouthing the spatulas.
they can hear you and will haunt your dreamsThat was one idea I had–waiting for the trade pb to come out and reading the whole thing through, like, seven zillion times until I’ve got it figured out. That’s *after* I read all the reviews on my flist again that explain stuff.
*gulp*
Well, I’ve gone on record and said I’m not a fan of the S8 comics (and got bitched out for it, BTW… Which I thought was a bit odd). I don’t agree with the whole comics=canon thing, if only because comics are notorious for retcons. And if Joss ever does another Buffyverse television, you better bet he won’t feel obligated to use the comic continuity.
Honestly, I’m an avid comic reader, but even *I* have trouble keep track of what’s going on. I just don’t think Buffy really suits comics.
I agree with . If there are other ATPoers who are up to covering the comics, you might want to pass it on. That way, ATP would have something on the comics, but you wouldn’t have to push yourself to try and come up with something.
BtVS is a remarkably complex show–the characters, their motivations, the metaphysics, the story-lines. Compressing that into a comic and having it be coherent is really a tough job.
I’m not a big comics reader, but I did enjoy Fray quite a bit and was able to follow it just fine.
Of course my insistence that TD is canon is unrelated to any feelings I might have about the BtVS Season 8 comic.
I was excited about the season 8 comics, but then my local comic shop couldn’t be bothered to get them, so I missed the first one, and now I’m just waiting for the trade paperback, or something. Life’s been too interesting (read stressful) for comics of late anyway. Since I didn’t get #1, I’m going with ‘not canon if I didn’t read it’ and I’ve decided to finish my post-Chosen fic before I read them, regardless.
I liked what Joss was doing with Astonishing X-Men before I got behind, and I’ve read enough comics to completely understand your confusion with them. I can blow through a novel in the time it takes me to read two or three little comic books. If the art is good, it’s a distraction, because you have to slow down to enjoy it. And if the art is bad, it’s a bigger distraction, because it’s bad art, and you have to look at it to figure out what’s happening.
I think I had a point, but I’ve forgotten it.
The art is so-so. In the first couple issues, I couldn’t tell the blonde girls apart, and since one of those blonde girls is Buffy, I could never tell when it was her or someone else.
I once knew a woman who took orders from her blender, at least until the toilet brush got jealous.
That pretty much sums it up, really. And frankly, I’m sick of “Surprise! Guess who’s around NOW!” But that’s just my personal opinion.
Fray is different, definitely. While it’s in the Buffyverse, it’s not BUFFY. It has been tailor-made for the format. On the flipside, I don’t know how well Fray would work as a television series.
Oh, definitely unrelated. Mine too.OTOH, an Angel Season 6 comic *would* be canon iff:
(1) it’s well-done
(2) It has Connor
(3) Connor has a decent story line in which he’s neither so messed up he can’t function, nor ultra-well-adjusted Stepford!Connor
The thing is, we didn’t *need* a BtVS season 8. It’s sprinkles on an already-iced cake. AtS was stolen from us prematurely.
Word. I totally agree. But somehow, I doubt that would happen. I dunno. I guess I’m just a pessimist.
I have some issues of season 8, but I’ve stopped reading them at the moment because I’ve just lost interest. It’s hard for me to explain; I think it’s that the individual comics have a lot less actual material in them than an episode would. So it feels too short.
I like to consider TD canon as well.Since I’ve been coming by my copies of the comics illicitly (I don’t feel guilty–I’m waiting for the tpb), I’m still reading them, but I think I maybe ought to wait for the tpb, since maybe it will make more sense if I have the paper version (not a scanned on-line version) and I have the whole thing at once?
Thanks!