Geekspace for Women

Posted by ubergeeke on October 13th, 2008 in blogpost

Finally, serious spoilers ahead!

Apparently, a number of BtVS comic fans have hounded the writers for a Fray crossover, and with Season Eight’s #16, they got their wish.

Unfortunately, I haven’t read Fray. More on that some other time, hopefully accompanied by a big fat review. (It’s sitting on my shelf; I just haven’t read it yet. Guess I’ll move it up in the queue. Sorry, “Watchmen”.) I’ll save the crossover commentary for when I actually know what the hell I’m talking about.

I have not once been disappointed with Joss Whedon’s comic continuation of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer”. Sure, it’s not the same as shiny new eps every week on the boob tube, but it is a decent second choice.  The dialog is the same - quick and quirky - as are the characters. Buffy, the savior of the world, is sure in battle but second guesses every personal step in her life. Xander has “manned out”, and leads his own team of Potentials in the never-ending war against evil. Willow is still the most powerful witch in the land, with her girl Kennedy in the wings, and Dawn is still getting into teenage trouble left and right. Even Giles and Faith pop up from time to time.

There are, however, a few subtle differences. The comic medium doesn’t allow for the kind of emotional depth that television or movies can accomplish relatively easily. Sure, you can see the emotional intensity of the characters, but you don’t really *feel* it. Case in point: in “Wolves at the Gate”, the four part arc in Season Eight, Xander falls for one of the Potentials who later dies in battle. (Xander has absolutely *no* luck with the ladies.) While this was of course intense, it didn’t hit as hard as Tara’s death in the television series, or even Anya’s in the final TV episode.

Additionally, while I love comics, sometimes the inconsistent graphics are distracting. Here’s what I mean: with video, the character looks the same no matter the angle, the closeness of the shot, etc. Willow looks like Willow, period. In a comic, sometimes she doesn’t. It takes something away from the experience to have to take a second or two to figure out who the hell I’m looking at. Case in point: Kennedy shows up mid-issue, and the only reason I knew it was Kennedy was because she was wrapped around Willow and called her “Red”. It’s a tiny thing, but it breaks the flow.

On the other hand, I *love* the fact that Whedon et. al. can go just about anywhere with the medium. No scene is beyond budget. Warren’s skinless ass is romping about with the Bad Guys in the same issue where all kinds of cool things happen to Dawn and Buffy, and that would never make it all in the same episode of the TV series because it would blow the weekly budget. Come on - there’s a 50-ft Dawn walking around! How great is that? Even Dracula makes a comeback - and I’m sure we wouldn’t have seen that on TV. Comics are perfect for that.

Once you get past the hype of Buffy sleeping with another woman (WTF?! Bet that sold a few extra issues), you have to admit that the comic is definitely staying true to the series. Even if it doesn’t have the same depth as the television series, it makes up for that lack by covering a helluva lot more plot ground. Highly recommended! If you haven’t been reading, you’re missing out.

Have you been reading Season Eight of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer”? What do you think?