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So we push hard enough and long enough until something like these comic books come out. I can't justify paying any more money in the vain hope that the rest of the book series will be any better, because frankly this first volume is just that bad. In a lot of ways I liken these season eight comics to the season five episode of BTVS where Dawn attempts to bring their mother, Joyce, back to life. So recently I bought myself a copy of this very first volume of stories. Dawn wanted it so bad, like we fans so want there to be another chapter in BTVS.
After that very last episode it was so hard to let those characters go because I was so attached to them and to the show. Did anyone ever wear clothes so melted on like that on the show. Something just didn't feel right. What an innovative way to keep the show running." So I read through it in a couple of days. NO. You can totally see how over-enhanced her breasts and butt are.
I want more Buffy badly. Period.Then the comics came out. It's selfish so to speak but the need is there. Seriously. They feel very indulgent, almost like they were written not by Joss Whedon but by some oversexed, overzealous comic book nerd who writes those crappy Buffy fan-fics that are all over the net. I'm a die-hard Buffy fan.
I really dislike the way the characters are portrayed, especially the women. I honestly can't think of a single good reason. In my head I was thinking "Ok this is going to be cool. How about the image where it shows the potential slayers at the slumber party playing games in scantily clad lingerie. But sometimes the writing just didn't seem to be very coherent. The show is truly, hands-down one of the best television shows ever created. Some of these ideas I would have loved to have seen played out on my TV screen. It's gross to me and it really slaps the show and it's history across the proverbial face.
Dawn bathing in a pond with nothing to cover her up but a few bubbles. Even poor Xander had a double take sequence when he began to hint at his own handling of his manly needs, if you catch my drift. Overall, the story has a nice quality to it. But these comic books just are not it. I found myself having to go back and forth a lot and do a lot of rereading, but often times I just could not make sense of certain lines of dialogue or events that played out. But something is definitely amiss. Like the writers were pulling a page from the "Lost TV show handbook" about how to confuse their readers. I'd heard of them a long time ago, but I had never picked them up.
Why did they have to portray that sequence in that situation. The page of comic art with Willow standing there in the red pants, I mean come on. And then I read through it again. The pieces are all there: Buffy, Willow, Xander, Giles and various other characters from the Buffyverse.
This storyline is certainly taking its time, though, isn't it. What a refreshing change for comic books, in which terrorism is supposed to equal evil (like THE DARK NIGHT RETURNS) and anything alien is demonic. Willow too.The sinister menace of Twilight is clearly limned, but the best stroke is the storyline in which Buffy is branded a terrorist.
And yet there have been some good stories nevertheless, even with all the new slayers that basically I could care less about. Xander makes a great commander, though it is not clear to me how he has come to forget all about Anya and has given his heart to a new slayer. The last season of BUFFY was strictly for die-hards, so I wasn't expecting too much when Joss announced that Dark Horse would print his scripts for Season Eight.
Still, the producers of Season Eight have not forgotten that we value Xander insofar as his first priority is to Buffy, and they have given us several good X-saves-B sequences. Has the monumental popularity of the TWILIGHT vampire series derailed Joss' plans to develop his own version of Twilight. They are better than the Potentials of Season Eight, maybe because they're only pen on paper instead of terrible actresses saying stupid lines.Making Dawn into a giant humanizes her ironically enough.
Whiny and bratty when played by Michelle Trachtenberg, the new Dawn is still whiny but her dilemma leads to some great double page panels, and finally she gives in and tells Xander how she came to be in this fix, though I can't give away the spoilers.
It has the same quality writing that you expect from the Buffy series. If you are a fan of the "Buffy The Vampire Slayer" series then you should definitely pick this up. This is a must for any true Buffy fan. The art work is also very good. I just got it and I'm almost done with it. It's great.
Just because he doesn't have a budget to work with anymore doesnt mean it shouldnt lose the feel of the show.The thing that saved this TPB for me was #5 entitled "the chain" which is a fantastic issue and if the others were even half as good it could have been a classic. Giant dawn, bringing a certain dead character back. It took me a while to find out that there were comics based on a "Season 8" of my beloved buffy, and i was so excited and couldnt wait to give them a read.Needless to say i've enjoyed them so far but the long way home is not one of the ones that i have enjoyed. Joss' writing in this book is (for the most part) horrible, i can honestly say that i have no idea what he was thinking.
I am an old Buffy fan, but I am new to comic books. To make it worse, artists change from issue to issue, so you get used to how a character is drawn and then it changes. The artist renderings of the characters is, perhaps, too artistic. Until they are identified by name, I am not sure who is who.
A novel might have been better. Some of the wit and drama of the TV series is here, and that is why I will probably end up buying all the volumes. It sometimes takes me a couple of read throughs to begin to understand what is happening.I am new to comic books, and so I will admit that I may not have a proper appreciation for what we have here. Still, this is the only season 8 we've got. I am bit disappointed, in that I don't feel this series captures the "magic" of the TV show. So I have a mixed review to offer.The comic book format is difficult for me to fully appreciate.
But, it's comic book pacing, which is not TV show pacing. So, I'll keep watching/reading with the hope that it will grow on me. I know the characters well from the TV show, but I have trouble recognizing them in the comic book. It's sort of like having new actors play the parts.
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