Buffy season 8 comic SUCKS. Joss what happened?

POSTED BY: OPPYH
UPDATED: Sunday, July 13, 2008 15:23
VIEWED: 9411
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CHRISISALL

Friday, July 11, 2008 2:58 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by OPPYH:
where is this comic going?

I'm not sure, but I can see why you're less than thrilled with it.
Being a comic, I'm not as demanding of it as I would be if it were the show...actually, I think big Dawn is a stupid idea, just an excuse for some good Andrew-Godzilla jokes. And killing Xander's new girl was kinda heartless, in light of how we left Anya.
But there have been some really great stuff in there too, most notably the afore-mentioned Faith arc.

But it looks like you feel about season 8 like I feel about season 5...eh, to each their own.

Fool for Buffyisall

CHRISISALL

Saturday, July 12, 2008 4:26 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by Groosalugg:
I really disliked the 3-part "Serenity" series DH did in 2005 ("Those Left Behind")

While I didn't puddle over it, I liked it well enough.
What was so bad about it for you Groos?

Curious Chrisisall

GROOSALUGG

Saturday, July 12, 2008 4:59 PM

Oh, geez, Chris, way to put me on the spot. It's been almost 3 years since I read it, it's pretty hazy in my memory, and I don't really have the urge to go back and re-read it just to remind myself what it was that I didn't like about it, ya know?

But okay, I'll try:

- The effort they went to to make sure the audience realized that Zoe doesn't like Jayne got real annoying, real fast. The entire first issue, IIRC, every time she'd say something, it would immediately be followed up by a wisecrack about Jayne. Okay, we get it! Enough is enough!

- River's "It smells like sex in here" line sounded SO out-of-character for her. MAYBE if we'd been able to see and hear Summer deliver it it would have worked, but as just words on a page, not so much.

- In their two appearances on the show, the Blue Gloves seemed like a very powerful group that could go wherever they want, and do whatever it took to capture Simon and River; they completely pushed around all the Alliance officials they came in contact with (and then killed a bunch of them), so to suddenly explain that they were just "independent contractors" didn't seem to match what we'd seen of them. And the idea that they'd have to go to Dobson to recruit his help felt a little lame and not in line with their previous appearances. Not that it was impossible to believe, but I think I needed a little more background on them to bridge that gap before I bought the depiction of them in the comics.

- The final issue is the one my memory is REALLY iffy on, but it seems to me that it felt rushed, and tried to squeeze too much action into too little space. They didn't get the money (or whatever it was) on that derelict ship, did they? But I remember that when I read that originally, it just wasn't real clear, and I had to ask about it here before I completely understood what had happened.

In a nutshell, it came across to me as a FF story written by someone who'd never had experience with the FF characters before, and was trying a little too hard to make it "feel" like FF. And yet I know that Brett Matthews wrote for the show ("Heart of Gold"), and that Joss almost certainly went over the scripts for all three issues and edited and tweaked them, but that still doesn't change my opinion. It felt like a "pretty good" fanfic, and nothing more...

WYTCHCROFT

Saturday, July 12, 2008 5:06 PM

while i like 'Those left behind' well enough,
(in fact more so with each re-reading)
it's certainly not flawless -

Quote:

- The effort they went to to make sure the audience realized that Zoe doesn't like Jayne got real annoying, real fast. The entire first issue, IIRC, every time she'd say something, it would immediately be followed up by a wisecrack about Jayne. Okay, we get it! Enough is enough!

i agree! - and it seemed real strange (ie annoying) to me at the time and still does.
But there are fan fics that have addressed the issue. (koff! koff!)

But you should give Better Days a try, it's really excellent (IMHO).

Both Joss and Brett have more experience with the medium now.

i can't guarantee you'll like it -
it's still too short...
but i would say yeah, give it a go, i think you'll be pleasently surprised:)

(apologies for my bad spelling today)

OPPYH

Saturday, July 12, 2008 5:43 PM

Chrisisall,

I feel the comic isn't even trying. I know it's a great seller(duh, it's Whedon's season 8) but I wish sales would drop off, so the stories get better. The story arcs seem to be written on the spot, with no feeling of importance to the main characters. I've always liked Giles, and Buffy continues to treat him like crap. He works for the greater good, hasn't Buffy figured that out yet? Shoddy. The beauty of Joss's work has always been strong storylines, and progressing characters. The characters have so far been stuck in neutral with no where to go IMO. Maybe it's just taking a really long time to get a groove going, but I doubt it. And Xander's girl getting killed ...well let's just say that did not help my liking of the series.
My friend insists it will get better, and he's going to continue to collect it. I told him to let me know when that happens.

ECGORDON

Saturday, July 12, 2008 10:37 PM

You say To-MAY-to, I say To-MAH-to.

I don't have any problems with the comics' storylines. The only thing I don't like about it is that it is not being acted out by Sarah, Nicholas, Alyson, Anthony, etc. The subtleties of Joss' wit just doesn't come across as strongly on the page, and the scene transitions and the voice-overs on preceding/following scenes would have more impact on film.

I could say the same about the Serenity comics as well.

wo men ren ran zai fei xing.

OPPYH

Sunday, July 13, 2008 12:34 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by ecgordon:
I don't have any problems with the comics' storylines. The only thing I don't like about it is that it is not being acted out by Sarah, Nicholas, Alyson, Anthony, etc. The subtleties of Joss' wit just doesn't come across as strongly on the page, and the scene transitions and the voice-overs on preceding/following scenes would have more impact on film.

You know, maybe that's the biggest problem I'm having with the series. It just feels so different from the show that I loved.

GROOSALUGG

Sunday, July 13, 2008 7:15 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by OPPYH:
Quote:
Originally posted by ecgordon:
I don't have any problems with the comics' storylines. The only thing I don't like about it is that it is not being acted out by Sarah, Nicholas, Alyson, Anthony, etc. The subtleties of Joss' wit just doesn't come across as strongly on the page, and the scene transitions and the voice-overs on preceding/following scenes would have more impact on film.

You know, maybe that's the biggest problem I'm having with the series. It just feels so different from the show that I loved.

Have you read any of the novels? I've read a few of the "Buffy" and "Angel" ones, and many many many "Star Wars" ones, so I guess I was already used to reading stories about familiar characters where I have to imagine the actors' faces and voices in my head. It takes getting used to, and you have to go into it realizing that it's NEVER going to be as good as the shows/movies, but it's still so much better than not having the stories continue AT ALL. And S8 is probably the best screen-to-page adaption I've seen yet, because you've got the writers from the show, who already know the characters inside-and-out, working on it.

One thing you should recognize, if you haven't already, is that one issue of the comic does not equal one episode of the TV show. When you read the first 15 issues, you can't expect to have gotten the same amount of story that you'd get from 15 episodes of the show. I'd say it's much closer to one issue equalling about 10 minutes of screentime. There've been 3 four-part arcs so far (#1-4, #6-9, and #12-15), and each one of those is probably the equivalent of one episode (with the standalones--#5, 10, and 11--being sort of like a heavily-abridged episode). So really, reading the first 15 issues have been like watching the first 6 episodes of a season of the TV series. How much had ever happened thru the first 6 episodes?

I think you have to understand the limitations of the format, and be willing to accept those, if you ever hope to really enjoy it...

ECGORDON

Sunday, July 13, 2008 12:40 PM

I view the stand-alone issues more like prologues or epilogues to the other episodes, so it's more like only three full episodes so far, through number 15 at least. I won't read the "Time of Your Life" arc until it is complete, and I plan to reread Fray before then too.

wo men ren ran zai fei xing.

OPPYH

Sunday, July 13, 2008 3:23 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Groosalugg:
Have you read any of the novels? I've read a few of the "Buffy" and "Angel" ones, and many many many "Star Wars" ones, so I guess I was already used to reading stories about familiar characters where I have to imagine the actors' faces and voices in my head. It takes getting used to, and you have to go into it realizing that it's NEVER going to be as good as the shows/movies, but it's still so much better than not having the stories continue AT ALL. And S8 is probably the best screen-to-page adaption I've seen yet, because you've got the writers from the show, who already know the characters inside-and-out, working on it.

One thing you should recognize, if you haven't already, is that one issue of the comic does not equal one episode of the TV show. When you read the first 15 issues, you can't expect to have gotten the same amount of story that you'd get from 15 episodes of the show. I'd say it's much closer to one issue equalling about 10 minutes of screentime. There've been 3 four-part arcs so far (#1-4, #6-9, and #12-15), and each one of those is probably the equivalent of one episode (with the standalones--#5, 10, and 11--being sort of like a heavily-abridged episode). So really, reading the first 15 issues have been like watching the first 6 episodes of a season of the TV series. How much had ever happened thru the first 6 episodes?

I think you have to understand the limitations of the format, and be willing to accept those, if you ever hope to really enjoy it...

I never read any off the Buffy novels although I do own a few, and plan to read them someday. I never put in to perspective that multiple issues equal one episode. That makes things a bit better. I do understand the limitations of the comic book medium, and I know at it's best it still isn't like watching the show. I love the Angel series so much so that It almost feels like the show. I guess The Buffy comics just haven't "clicked" for me yet. I want to like it, I really do.

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