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locker_monsterMan, I'm behind on my Buffy comic thoughts. Not that anyone actually cares. ;-) But a little blabbing about issues #18, 19, and 20.
The ending of the Fray crossover kind of sucked, I think. Not much happens with either universe. Fray doesn't stop Harth and Buffy doesn't really learn any lessons while in the future. Sure, she ends up killing Dark Willow, but I think Willow wanted it that way. She's lived so long and is just tired of the world. If she can screw things up while trying to stop the pain, then she'll do it. It remains to be seen what Buffy's reaction will be after returning from the future. The fact that Fray's world doesn't disappear when Buffy returns home says a lot. There doesn't seem to be drastic changes in store and if there are, then the gang's headed on a path that can't be stopped.
You do get some nice interaction between Buffy and Fray. Fray isn't a big picture girl. She was forced into the role during her miniseries, but I don't think it's the sort of role she wants permanently. So you get a clash of objectives between Buffy and Fray. I was kind of hoping Buffy would leave the future and take a good long look at her life. Being the big picture girl might not always be a good thing. But commanding all these Slayers, she has to be that person. Maybe now she can see where Giles was coming from, where he was willing to sacrifice Spike to ultimately push Buffy down a better path. Who knows. Giles is slated to come back in an arc or two, so maybe he and Buffy will actually have a conversation.
Randomly: apparently Riley is Twilight's inside guy. I say apparently because I totally didn't not recognize comic book Riley. One downside to having Buffy in comic form; the artist interprets people in his own style. Who knows where this will lead. Either it's a big fake-out or Joss has decided to make Riley a villian, finally vindicating all the Riley haters. It sort of bugged me how people assume Buffy is the last Slayer mentioned in Fray. Sure Urkonn said the final battle between good and evil happend in the 21st century and that the Slayer had help, but that doesn't mean it was Buffy. The 21st century spans from 2000 to 2099. That's a lot of time for circumstances to change, but anyway...
I think some random person suggested Fray's spider monkey demon, who is names Gates, is named after Giles; only two letters are off. I thought that was sort of pushing it, but then in the last issue, Gates manages to pick a lock that's restraining Buffy. Gates, who can't string together an understandable sentence, can pick a lock. Maybe Gates isn't named after Giles so much as he is Giles? Yes, crazy, but maybe it isn't so far off. When Fray finds Gates in the box in Tales, he recognizes the scythe and leads Fray to that Watchers sanctuary. A demon. I think Fray thinks Gates has been in that box for a long time. Maybe through some mishap, Giles' consciousness ends up in the demon's body? Okay, now I am just pushing it.
Issue #20 makes me wish even more that the Buffy cartoon got made. Funny how the plot is basically the cartoon pilot that showed up on the Internet, but expanded. I can't help but think that maybe the clip was leaked on purpose, to sort of lead the way for this issue.
I thought #20 would just be a straight one shot, separate from the season eight arc but done in animation style. The issue is book ended with contemporary events, and they could easily be pulled out, but I guess you want to set up the contrast. Innocent Buffy in season one to General Buffy in season eight. It was cute seeing everyone in cartoon form, plus you get to see how the pilot cartoon clip ends. Buffy beats Morgan Freeman the dragon, of course. :-) Seems to be a big deal that Jeph Loeb wrote this issue, but having never read his stuff, it was just another comic. I hope this comics stirs up more interest for Buffy the Animated Series. Just a DVD movie or something would be a fine start.
Apparently a few more arcs and then season eight is done. So by a few arcs that probably means another ten or twelve issues, or another year or so. Sigh. Can't Dark Horse release these things any faster?
The ending of the Fray crossover kind of sucked, I think. Not much happens with either universe. Fray doesn't stop Harth and Buffy doesn't really learn any lessons while in the future. Sure, she ends up killing Dark Willow, but I think Willow wanted it that way. She's lived so long and is just tired of the world. If she can screw things up while trying to stop the pain, then she'll do it. It remains to be seen what Buffy's reaction will be after returning from the future. The fact that Fray's world doesn't disappear when Buffy returns home says a lot. There doesn't seem to be drastic changes in store and if there are, then the gang's headed on a path that can't be stopped.
You do get some nice interaction between Buffy and Fray. Fray isn't a big picture girl. She was forced into the role during her miniseries, but I don't think it's the sort of role she wants permanently. So you get a clash of objectives between Buffy and Fray. I was kind of hoping Buffy would leave the future and take a good long look at her life. Being the big picture girl might not always be a good thing. But commanding all these Slayers, she has to be that person. Maybe now she can see where Giles was coming from, where he was willing to sacrifice Spike to ultimately push Buffy down a better path. Who knows. Giles is slated to come back in an arc or two, so maybe he and Buffy will actually have a conversation.
Randomly: apparently Riley is Twilight's inside guy. I say apparently because I totally didn't not recognize comic book Riley. One downside to having Buffy in comic form; the artist interprets people in his own style. Who knows where this will lead. Either it's a big fake-out or Joss has decided to make Riley a villian, finally vindicating all the Riley haters. It sort of bugged me how people assume Buffy is the last Slayer mentioned in Fray. Sure Urkonn said the final battle between good and evil happend in the 21st century and that the Slayer had help, but that doesn't mean it was Buffy. The 21st century spans from 2000 to 2099. That's a lot of time for circumstances to change, but anyway...
I think some random person suggested Fray's spider monkey demon, who is names Gates, is named after Giles; only two letters are off. I thought that was sort of pushing it, but then in the last issue, Gates manages to pick a lock that's restraining Buffy. Gates, who can't string together an understandable sentence, can pick a lock. Maybe Gates isn't named after Giles so much as he is Giles? Yes, crazy, but maybe it isn't so far off. When Fray finds Gates in the box in Tales, he recognizes the scythe and leads Fray to that Watchers sanctuary. A demon. I think Fray thinks Gates has been in that box for a long time. Maybe through some mishap, Giles' consciousness ends up in the demon's body? Okay, now I am just pushing it.
Issue #20 makes me wish even more that the Buffy cartoon got made. Funny how the plot is basically the cartoon pilot that showed up on the Internet, but expanded. I can't help but think that maybe the clip was leaked on purpose, to sort of lead the way for this issue.
I thought #20 would just be a straight one shot, separate from the season eight arc but done in animation style. The issue is book ended with contemporary events, and they could easily be pulled out, but I guess you want to set up the contrast. Innocent Buffy in season one to General Buffy in season eight. It was cute seeing everyone in cartoon form, plus you get to see how the pilot cartoon clip ends. Buffy beats Morgan Freeman the dragon, of course. :-) Seems to be a big deal that Jeph Loeb wrote this issue, but having never read his stuff, it was just another comic. I hope this comics stirs up more interest for Buffy the Animated Series. Just a DVD movie or something would be a fine start.
Apparently a few more arcs and then season eight is done. So by a few arcs that probably means another ten or twelve issues, or another year or so. Sigh. Can't Dark Horse release these things any faster?
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