Buffy Season 8 #39 comin at ya

[recognitions]

Hoo boy.



Hokay. So Buffy and Angel had crazy space sex which created a new universe, one that threatens to wipe out the old one. (Don't ask.) Demons are invading the earth in vast multitudes. Meanwhile, the universe they created has possessed Angel and is attempting to get revenge on Buffy for abandoning it. Buffy and the gang have gone to Sunnydale to protect the Seed, a mystical doohickey which can allegedly save the universe. Got all that? Programs will be handed out in the lobby.

We'll start out with something light (trust me, you'll thank me later); a little Angel/Spike shippery. Buffy saves Spike from possessed Angel, and mentions that "I liked you both better when you were kissing." Guess Buffy must have watched the Angel DVD commentaries.

Meanwhile, Willow's getting her megawicca on:



Enjoy that power shot of Willow, folks. It may be--well, you'll see.

The battle rages, with Slayers and the army fighting interdemensional demons as Buffy fights Angel. Oh yeah and the Master's there, but he doesn't do anything except get killed again.

Giles meets Faith on the battlefield:



Maybe I'm reading too much into this, but I like to think there's some nice, subtle character work going on here. There've been hints of, at least, strong feelings between Faith and Giles for several issues now. My feeling is that Faith wants Giles but that Giles is too much of a gentleman and feels it would be wrong, and Faith isn't about to make the first move. Either way, her reaction in the third panel is telling. I like that we can't even see her face, but her posture and that studied "Right," say a lot. Once again, Buffy wins, and Faith comes in second. It's a measure of how much she's grown that she goes right back to work.

Xander and Giles meet outside the crypt where Buffy and Angel are fighting. They have a quick conversation. Giles is about to jump into the battle between Buffy and Angel, Xander is all, "What are you, nuts?" Giles makes the point that Buffy won't kill Angel unless she's forced to.

Get ready for it, folks.



Et vale, Rupert Giles. I knew he was done as soon as I saw him on the cover; they haven't figured out shit to do with him all series. It's an oddly unaffecting death for such a great character, but honestly he hasn't felt like the real Giles since Chosen. At least he went out a hero. Also note how perfectly Giles' death mirrors Jenny's, all those years ago.

As Giles predicted, his death causes Buffy to go nuts, and she smashes the seed they were allegedly there to protect.

The ripple effects of the seed breaking are shown. All magic instantly disappears from the Buffyverse (which takes out Warren again, for those keeping score), the demons are sucked back out of our dimension, and the world is saved. Or Is It?



I'm not sure what Willow means here; presumably, she's referring to the loss of magic, but it's unclear if there are other effects the destruction of the seed may have. Some folks may remember Willow being warned that destroying the seed would rob her of her magic, and very deliberately not telling Buffy about it. We all remember how much Willow doesn't enjoy being ordinary. Also, do my eyes spot a Crisis reference?

Gotta say, I'm sad about Willow losing her powers. Buffy always felt cooler when there were two awesomely powerful kickass girl protagonists instead of just one.

The last page shows Buffy lying on the ground, apparently stricken with grief as opposed to hurting or in pain. And Angel has another murder on his conscience, and one more wedge driven between him and Buffy.

Comments

[turtlefu]

That panel of Willow in the air as the seed is breaking is way too funny. She looks so cartoonish.

Also, I see Buffy clutching her lower stomach. Possible baby?

Did they fridge Giles? That sucks.

[icon_uk]

The new Universe is her baby, sorta... no? There might be some sort of link between them.

[long_silence]

It looks like everyone in the slayer army lost their powers too.

[icon_uk]

Since Willow was the conduit for awakening all the Slayers, her losing her powrs affecting them makes sense.

I confess I never warmed to the Slayer Army approach, for one thing, all the neo-Slayers in the last season detracted from the existing cast, and to be fair, what actually makes a neo-Slayer any more useful in a fight than anyone else? Neo-Slayers are normal girls.

I don't follow the comic that well, but did they ever address the FULL implications of the Slayer-Army activation?

All things considered, it seemed improbable that every activated Slayer would come over to the side of right automatically. As we saw in the actual finale, girls in a variety of situations were suddenly granted Slayer powers, including those being subjected to abuse. Whilst them overcoming that abuse was an empowering notion, were we supposed to just accept they would moderate their reactions?

[icon_uk]

Forgive me, but when did this come out? There's a four page limit on new issues, and this looks to be a bit more than that.

[recognitions]

Whoops! I didn't know it was different for new issues. I'll edit it.

[selke]

As much of a Buffy nerd as I am... I'd rather they just kill the character herself. I love the show and the characters, but I just can't stand Buffy herself.

And Giles was one of my favorites. Friggin' Whedon. Kills everybody all up in here.

[polarisnorth]

No.

[sailorlibra]

Wow. No.

[jlbarnett]

Joss is secretly trying to get people on board the Buffy reboot.

[shadowpsykie]

he would never do that. he is already stated he is so not okay with it

[majingojira]

I can't integrate this into the greater Crossover Continuity I'm working with, primarily.

I'm kinda crazy that way. THAT'S my biggest concern. I think Joss got so enamored with the limitless possibilities of comics that he made some basic mistakes in conceptualization and storytelling.

Though I don't mind Giles death as much as I thought I would, which is quite odd.

[fifthie]

so why are Buffy and Angel fighting?

[shanejayell]

Because the make up sex is so good?

Other than that, I stopped following this YEARS back.

[deepspaceartist]

Basicly, Buffy and Angel had a kid, which happened to be an alternate universe, then abandoned it to save Buffy's team. Now it's got universe sized abandonment issues and a super powered Vampire body to fuck shit up with in this universe.

[laschifosavita]

I seem to only read Buffy comics all at once after a year of issues have come out, so I'm not sure if I'm just confused. Are they seriously saying that there is going to be no magic and that this might be able to cause magic that is in effect currently to be undone? *brain explodes*

[deepspaceartist]

That actually sound interesting, all the permanent magic in the Buffy verse turing off. Will everyone lose their memory of Dawn pre Buffy season 5? Will Connor's normal family lose their fake memories? What about the spells/curses holding Spike and Angel's souls in place? Will Willow be able to deal with her ridiculously huge issues about being ordinary? (And will the various normals that are on team Buffy have any sympathy at all?)

That's actually one of the things I like about this, the possibility of exploring the repercussions of the Buffy/Angelverse losing it's magic.

[bluefall]

here've been hints of, at least, strong feelings between Faith and Giles for several issues now.

Lolwhut?

I don't even care that they killed Giles, killing people is what Joss does anymore and I just can't get worked up about it at this point. But hinting Giles/Faith is just wrong. o.O

[darklorelei]

Word to all of this.

[lucky_gamble]

Would this be considered a case for the Refrigerator?

[shadowpsykie]

nope not with Joss.

also Giles knew full well what he was doing. most fridgings are a secondary character getting killed by the bad guy to get the main character to react. and it is done against the will of said side character.

GILES seems to be more genre savy, or buffy savy. He willingly sacrificed himself because he knew the ONLY way to get Buffy to put her heart into it was to lose some one close to her. and other than her sisters and her best friends, her "father" is only character that could do that to her.

[zechs80]

I don't get this at all. Why is Angel all kill happy now? What about the Master from the previous issue? Was that the First or the actual Master?

[deepspaceartist]

The universe he and Buffy created is possesing him. And since it views the two as his parents, it's pissed off at them.

[shadowpsykie]

i REALLY didn't like the Fray series... mainly because of the whole, destroyed magic thing. i don;t mind it being an Alt reality, but not MAIN reality.

i think this might be a mislead. Willow's unlocking the "slayers" was the ultimate culmination of the Theme of he show. Female empowerment. Buffy, while a good example of a powerful woman, is not an Empowered woman. She was given, or was born with her powers.

on the other hand Willow, went from geeky/smart nerd, to one of, if not THE most powerful wiccan on the planet. Her act was the ultimate act of female empowerment.

now, just taking away her powers like that... THAT might be fridging... but this is Joss Whedon... that's not how he plays it... i think he has something up his sleeve

at least thats what i like to believe. he would not back pedal this far....i hope

[drakyndra]

It looks like the set-up for Fray. Sort of. But there's supposed to be more comics coming, so who knows what's coming up.

And it's not Joss Whedon unless there's at least one death near the end just for Teh Angst.

[auggie18]

Haven't been following the comics for a while, ever since the whole "bring back Oz to help us have less magic" crap and this proves that it probably was a good idea.


Meh death for Giles! No more magic for Willow! (Didn't happen before in this series?) Buffy and Angel get MORE complicated!

To quote Willow: "Bored now."


The only way I will EVER acknowledge the comics as countinuity is if Willow gets her powers and Tara back. Seriously. Tara's happy resurection is all I ask.

Sigh.

[redkingcrab]

So, um

when was the last time that Buffy actually slayed any, y'know, vampires?

I mean, the series worked because it was an amusing low-key juxtaposition between the ordinary and the supernatural. Now she's giving birth to universes and leading armies and fighting alien invasions and having magic sex? I would expect better from fanfic.

Did Joss himself write this? Because if so, it's depressing just how completely he's lost his mojo.

[whitesycamore]

This, exactly. Suddenly I realise that the limited production budget on Buffy was a good thing.

[afghanant.wordpress.com]

Aliens?

[recognitions]

Spike ran into them in some off-panel adventure. It's not really explained.

[sil]

And I am officially on board with a Joss-less Buffy movie now. Ugh. Stupid Joss.

[team_mummy]

Damn, it's gotten really un-enjoyable. I bowed out at the end of the previous arc. Spike returned too late for me to continue to care. It really got too ridiculous for me after the space-screwing. I'm just gonna say goodbye and choose to remember Buffy and Angel when they were great shows. I was so happy when Angel came back as a comic for "Season 6" but then it started to overstay it's welcome. "Not Fade Away" was just a great way to end everything with the message of "Keep fighting."

[jlbarnett]

would have been better if the keep fighting battle hadn't been a battle they caused and logically couldn't survive.