Buffy #17: Time of Your Life part 2

[locker_monster]

Much joy to see Fray playing a larger role this issue. I can't help but wonder what the readers think of her. If you haven't read Fray then you would be lost. Fray's got a big back story, which is touched on, but it's not the same as actually reading it and seeing it for yourself.

Still, she starts off the issue and it feels like an issue of Fray for a few pages. Someone noted that Fray's tattoo is the wrong colour and it is. I hadn't noticed it before. I'm not sure how that happened. It's the same artist and colourist. I did notice in this issue Fray has bandages wrapped around her hands and elbows, like she's taken a real beating lately. Considering how actively she's been pursuing Harth since the miniseries I can only guess she's been hunting down vampires like there's no tomorrow, which just shows how obsessed she is with finding her brother. Nice that they bring back the spider-monkey demon from Fray's short story in Tales of the Slayers and the Watchers hideout thing, too. Fray says she named the demon "Gates" after the last great Watcher. Speculation is saying it's a misspelling of Giles since Fray's grasp of "old" American isn't that great. I could see that; three of the five letters are the same. Though, the Watchers Council does exist in Fray's time so the title of "the last great Watcher" could mean anything.

The preview pages hinted that Drusilla might play a part in this arc and it did seem obvious. Crazy lady who's lived centuries. Sounds like Dru to me. Turns out it's just Willow in a fancy dress, though you couldn't tell it was Willow. I needed to read the editor's comments in the back to get that it wasn't Dru. That's the problem with comics. Artists do their best to capture the likeness of a character but it only goes so far. If this had been a real episode then it would have been super obvious. But anyway, what looks like Dark Willow in the future, helping Harth plot to take over the world. My first clue should have been the coherence of "Dru's" words. The dialogue sounded way too organized for Drusilla. So we'll see how this all plays out.

I noticed some people over at scans_daily were talking about the future speak and how annoying it is. While future speak is nothing new for Joss (hello, Firefly, with its gorrams and ruttings and other slang), I do have to say that there's a lot more of it suddenly in this arc. In the Fray miniseries there was a smattering of slang, enough that wasn't immediately familiar but you eventually got it after a few uses. Here, every sentence practically had something and it is a bit annoying. I mean, language does evolve over time and it will change in two hundred years, but I think Joss needs to be a little bit conservative. Wow, I actually dislike something of Joss'. That doesn't happen too often.

Randomly: It's so cool to see Fray and Buffy sharing the same panel. It's something hard to picture outside of the comics since Fray isn't a real person. Still. I giggled when Fray took Buffy to see Gunther. Glass floors and dresses do not mix. Actually, it hails back to a line of Gunther's from the miniseries, wishing how it would be nice if Fray visited him in a skirt. Xander riding Centaur!Dawn... Hmm, awkward.

I think word from Comic-Con said a big change was coming after this arc. I didn't read the reports, so that could mean anything. No more Slayers all over the world maybe?

Comments

[ninamazing.livejournal.com]

I totally LOVE Fray. I had no idea she was in the Buffy comics! I just finally tracked down an issue of Tales of the Slayers and was excited to see her in that.

I really need to actually watch all of Buffy Season Seven so I can do the Season Eight comics.

[locker-monster.livejournal.com]

Joss promised more Fray and he delivered. It's easy to overlook how important the miniseries was. It introduced the scythe first, not the show, so its mythology is tied in with what's going on in season eight. Plus, Fray is just an awesome character and totally worthy of more page time. :-)

I don't know if you really need to watch all of season seven. The character arcs from that season really haven't carried over that much.

[currentlytony.livejournal.com]

There's a mistake right on the front cover! Buff's wearing clunky jeans as she stands on Gunther's tank...so where's the skirt?

Also, the back page says the next comic comes out August 6th. (?)

[locker-monster.livejournal.com]

Artistic license? *shrug* But I hadn't noticed that.

They probably meant September, unless Dark Horse has some wacky time travelling skills.