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Before I get to the posted artwork, I wanted to throw out the average score for "The Long Way Home" since I did that for Spike: After the Fall and Angel: Blood and Trenches.
"The Long Way Home" arc receives: 4.125 out of 5.0 stars...
And now, some of the nice panels of Buffy: Season 8, #4 -
Angel: After the Fall
Issue 3
Just a Note: I’m happy to report that Angel’s S6 has continued in Angel: Aftermath and I think it has started out generally stronger than After the Fall ends up being.
Plotted By: Joss Whedon & Brian Lynch, Scripted By: Brian Lynch,
Illustrated By: Franco Urru, Colored By: Jason Jensen, Lettered By: Robbie Robins,
Edited By: Chris Ryall
Cover By: Andrew Robinson
Where We Are: In Los Angeles. In Hell.
Page 1: Angel goes flying through a window and into the interior of a spacious apartment. As we know from Issue 2 – Illyria is annoyed at him for annoying her ‘pet’, Spike.
Page 2: Angel lies stunned on the expensive carpeting as Illyria follows him in. Suddenly without warning, he’d once again Liam – wondering who the crazy lady is and what she wants.
And then, he’s back to Angel. He figures out quickly that he had just experienced a timeslip… Illyria’s being affected by being in Hell and she’s time-displacing like she had done when she first showed up in the W & H offices.
Page 3: Angel continues trying to avoid Illyria’s punches. He, obviously, has little effect on trying to fight back. What’s important here, however, is what Illyria observes about Angel:
“You’re half of what you were.”
It’s a little foreshadowing of something we will discover at the end of this very issue. And, it’s something that was also hinted at in the first two issues (Angel’s getting beaten up so easily, his using a parasite to help heal).
Page 4: Angel pulls a gun from a former victim… either of Illyria’s or whoever was there before her and Spike took over the place. He demands to know what Illyria knows about the Westwood stadium massacre… remember, there were Sanskrit ruins that led him to suspect Illyria in the first place. You add the vampire victims, and he’s thinking Spike isn’t so “soulful” now, what with Hell being everywhere.
He’s wrong, of course. As we know from Spike: After the Fall, the other vampire with a soul was out playing the hero. It was actually Gunn who attacked the human vampire victims, and killed the Lord of Westwood. He’s after some sort of mystic discs to “save everyone”.
Page 5: Alas, Illyria doesn’t really care about guns. Plus, she’s really fast when she wants to be. She easily disarms Angel…
And pins him to a wall by driving knives through his palms! Ew.
Page 6: Illyria hesitates to kill Angel (but, of course!). As she is holding the knife to his face and telling him that he is “sullying my eyeline” with his presence, they are again timeslipping: Angel as puppet guy, a possible future Angel (I didn’t catch it at first, but if you look closely, you’ll see he’s aged… another foreshadow?), and little baby-Angel.
They “pop back” to the here and now.
Page 7: Spike finally decides that Angel has had enough and tries to call her off. Illyria isn’t ready to let things go… I believe, by her dialog, because she’s having trouble “moving forward”, possibly an allusion to the fact that she keeps timeslipping into the past when she becomes stressed (From Spike: After the Fall, we also know she has a habit of slipping into being Fred… more timeslipping?).
Page 8: Fortunately for Angel, this is the time when the dragon shows up, crashing through a wall.
Page 9: Illyria is pleased. This is a battle she can really get into… instead of winning far too easily. She offers the dragon the first strike….
Page 10: … he reacts by blasting her with his flame-breath!
Illyria lies on the floor for a moment, before looking back at the dragon… “More.” she says.
Page 11: While Spike unpins Angel, he’s concerned with who else might know that he’s there. His palatial estate has been an oasis of calm in the turmoil happening through out the rest of the L.A. area and he obviously doesn’t want a demon horde crashing the place.
Above them, the dragon flies into the sky with a blast of fire and Illyria pulling on it’s face spikes…
(Angel, to Spike): “Right about now, I’d say anyone in a twenty-block radius who happens to be looking up [knows they are there]” he deadpans.
Page 12: In the air, the dragon manages to wrap a long tongue around Illyria and drag her into its mouth. He clomps down on her.
While Spike and Maria (from Spike: After the Fall, she has spider-legs that pop out of her spine) exchange words about what to do about Angel’s arrival, in the background the dragon raises its head up….
Page 13: …And spits Illyria out… with a big “PTTTTTTU”… LOL… that’s great!
In the meantime, everyone is completely ignoring the two as Angel and Spike continue their grand tradition of arguing. First about Angel destroying the good thing Spike has going, then the dragon using Illyria as a spit-wad to destroy his fountain of blood, then Angel’s still trying to figure out who killed the Lord of Westwood and finally about Illyria’s erratic behavior.
Page 14: Interrupting the arguing, Connor appears from off panel.
In the background, Illyria kicks the dragon in the chin.
Connor explains that Spike is on the good side… which Angel, naturally, is hesitant to believe.
Page 15: Connor explains that Spike has been rescuing refugees and has them set up in a large underground basement suite. Spike has also been training a she-army to fight in order to act as protectors to the mortals.
Angel isn’t happy. He’s back to square one. Illyria is also unhappy because he stops the fight between her and the dragon before she has sated her bloodlust.
Page 16: Angel leaves, grumbling that things are easier when Spike is killing people. The dragon follows him back to W & H.
Page 17: Wes awaits his return. Wesley warns Angel that the Lords are meeting to decide what to do about the death of Bruge’s son… whom Angel killed.
Angel puts together the fact that the massacre with the ruins inscribed and the death-by-vampires-victims were a set up to frame Spike. Somebody (guess who….) was trying to instigate a battle between Spike and Angel.
Something that, I should mention, is awfully easy to do.
Page 18: The remaining seven Lords of Los Angeles are in a meeting. The other Lords are not sure that they want to destroy Angel. If it wasn’t for him, there’d be no Hell in L.A. right now. But, Bruge is insistent that he wants Angel.
Page 19: Angel crashes the party, with Wesley in tow.
Page 20 & 21: Angel demands a duel with Bruge for his new domain. The Lord decides he’ll assign a champion to fight Angel on his behalf, instead, but the duel is accepted with that caveat.
That isn’t all though. Angel challenges all of the Lords. If he wins, he becomes the new Lord of Los Angeles and ergo, there will be less of the slavery and death going on.
I’d like to just toss in here that the Lord of Santa Monica is the same type of land-shark demon that was a loan shark in “Tabula Rasa” in Buffy, S6.
Anyway, Angel’s rash decision is accepted by the Lords. In two days, they will all send their champions against Angel for control of Los Angeles.
Page 22: Throughout this whole exchange, we’ve seen Angel is still injured. As he’s leaving the meeting with the Lords, we get his thought bubble letting us know the secret that has been hinted at for the past three issues:
Angel is no longer a vampire!
The Good: Let’s start with the cover – I love the Illyria portrait and the reflection of Angel’s dragon-pal in the axe head.
I really like the Spike/Illyria interaction. And, I like how Spike’s “Hugh Hefner-ing” is all an act to hide the fact that he’s got human refugees hidden away and is raising an army to guard them.
The Illyria vs. Dragon fight is a highlight, especially how most of it isn’t taken seriously and is, if fact, taking place in the background of others’ dialog scenes. There’s something very Joss-like in that, I think.
I like how Angel still is working on his mistaken assumption. No one knows, yet, that Gunn is the real problem.
Obviously Angel’s reveal on page 22!
The Bad: Well… considering Angel’s current status, the fact that he’s taken as much punishment as he has seems… misleading. Especially when we see Illyria punch him in the jaw this very issue! And, since when can Illyria be stabbed with a knife successfully? I guess it isn’t a big deal, but there’s something dishonest in how they hid Angel’s mortality from us.
The Score: Things are heating up in Hell! Angel’s ploy against the Lords of L.A. seems ill thought out by him, considering….
And, then there’s Wes’ continued ambiguous involvement which I find interesting. Illyria’s attitude toward Spike is amusing and I had fun with the battle against the dragon. I liked Connor putting Angel in his place regarding Spike’s actual role in protecting the civilians and how quickly Angel figures out he’s been played. But, he still doesn’t get who is behind things, yet.
I liked the flow of this one, too… I give it 4.0 out of 5-stars.
Buffy, Season 8
Issue 3
Script: Joss Whedon, Pencils: Georges Jeanty, Inks: Andy Owens,
Colors: Dave Stewart, Letters: Richard Starkings & Comicraft’s Jimmy
Cover By: Georges Jeanty, Andy Owens, & Dave Stewart
Where We Are: In the last issue, we found out that the American military is working with Amy Madison in order to bring down Buffy Summers – who, along with the Slayers – are considered terrorist cells. Amy had placed Buffy into a mystical sleep in which she remains trapped until a ‘true love’ gives her a kiss. In the meanwhile, zombies are attacking Slayer Central and Willow has just arrived to confront Amy. And, Dawn is still a giant.
Page 1: Also last issue, a person whose face we didn’t see, came to Buffy in her dream warning her that there were things she needed to know. This person called her “my love”, but wasn’t stocky enough to be Angel or Riley. With the long, leather coat we are meant to think it’s Spike… however, last issue was full of fake-outs, leading me to think this isn’t Spike.
We now see the same figure (from the neck down) reaching a hand out to Buffy. She reiterates in her thoughts that he called her “My love.”
Page 2: Buffy’s monologue: “And then I threw up in my mouth a little.”
It is not Spike.
It turns out that Buffy’s visitor is a long lost face from Season 4: Ethan Rayne! Uh-huh… I was shocked to see him too… the last time we heard from him was when he was being led away by the Initiative, where we were promised he would spend a good long while.
He explains to Buffy that he hitched a ride to her “dreamspace” in order to warn her that there is big trouble a-brewin’… including the factoid that she’s trapped in her sleep.
Page 3: In order to show Buffy what he means by her “dreamspace”, he chooses to reveal a dream image to her that is the most embarrassing he could find… of course.
Buffy is in a sexy nurse’s outfit. Angel is in front of her, completely nude. Spike is behind her… same state of undress. The threesome is wrapped together in chains. There’s a volcano in the background erupting. There’s a train headed into a tunnel. There’s little cupid-angels.
Yes, it’s all sex when thoughts turn to Angel and Spike… and apparently its sex together with Angel AND Spike.
Page 4 & 5: In the ‘real world’, outside of Buffy’s dreamspace, Willow and Amy are involved in a magical dual. Amy disparages Willow’s “weak craft”.
Page 6: But it is a fake-out by Wills. She tells Amy that she’s, essentially, clueless but I’ll give you her words:
“I saw the big picture. But, you, Amy… you’re as self-involved as your mom was. You think I’m fighting you. I’m just absorbing your mojo. So I can decode it.”
Willow lets loose with the magical burst.
Page 7: On the ground, the zombies stop with the attacking and instead start asking Slayers for a dance.
Willow tells Amy that the army was the pressing problem and she’s taken care of it. The light show she’d cast in Amy’s direction was just a smokescreen.
Amy counters with the fact that the zombie army was as well.
Page 8: While Amy uses some sort of pixelating magic against Wills, Buffy and Ethan are falling through her dreamspace. He’s looking for the interface between Buffy and ‘her enemy’ so that she can see some of her attacker’s daydreams and figure out who it is.
Although we know that Amy is the problem, Buffy doesn’t yet.
If you look really close at the ‘memory cubes’ of Buffy, you’ll see a portrait of Joss.
Page 9: Willow gets pissed and turns momentarily Dark. She fires a mystic burst directly at Amy, who is able to shield herself. She asks what else Wills has got.
In the control room, Xander says over the open mic, “Say it with me now: Fe fi fo…”
Page 10: Dawn continues, “… F%$#ing Fum.”
And then steps on Amy! (Despite the big ‘SHOOOOSH’ blurb, though, she’s not squished and Willow quickly engulfs her in a magical trap.)
Willow asks why Dawn is a giant, while Dawn asks if she’s gone evil again…, Will tells her it’ll be fine: Amy just pissed her off.
In the meantime, Buffy is seeing red bars across a black background.
Page 11: In Buffy’s dreamspace, she sees a giant habi-wheel and realizes that Amy is responsible for whatever is happening in the real world, and for trapping her in her dreams.
Rayne gives Buffy a valuable clue, three Roman numerals for ten… ‘thirty’.
Page 12: Buffy and I have no idea what that is supposed to mean. Ethan insists that what she sees needs to be remembered, however. That it is important because twilight is falling… which is the name of the organization of the guys with the symbol carved into their chests – which include the general leading the military against the Slayers.
In the meanwhile, with Amy secured again, Willow recognizes that Buffy is under a ‘true love’ spell.
Page 13: Willow has everyone shut their eyes so that the person in love with Buffy can kiss her with some anonymity. We’re led to believe it will be Xander, but I’ll spoil it now and say it’s another fake-out. You see, when Buffy awakes, she yells, “Cinnamon Buns!”
And it just so happens that Satsu, the Slayer who likes cat-masks, also likes Cinnamon lip gloss. Uh-huh.
Page 14: We join Giles, where he is meeting a demonic representative. The demon is pissed off because the Slayers killed three of their race’s children.
Giles points out they had broken protocol by being out there causing havoc.
The demon insists that they were lured to that spot and set up. He gives Giles a piece of paper with the symbol that we’ve come to recognize as Twilight’s.
Page 15: Xander has called Andrew to report the attack on HQ. But, Andrew is complaining that all is quiet in Italy. He’s says its Dullsville… even though he is playing strip poker with some buxom Slayers… one of which is even now taking off her bra. Poor Andy… does nothing for him.
Page 16: Xander checks in on their injured troops, including the flirtatious Renee. He gives her some razzing:
“Well this is really unimpressive. One attack by the undead and Renee has to take a nap, ‘oh I’m all run through with a broadsword, I have to lie around and heal…’
“Back in my day, which was about a week and a half ago, we took our lumps and we got back up and we cried like babies and quit and then put on weight.”
Xander tells her to stop feeling down about the zombie attack.
Page 17: While Xander is checking in on the troops, Buffy and Willow are bonding. They have Amy mystically held and Wills is running a scan. She says that Amy’s magic-works “reeked of tech. She’s working with someone.”
They have a few moments to try to get caught up. We do find out that Kennedy died!
But, it was one of those mystic things and only lasted a month. She’s currently dealing with that so Willow has been respecting her space.
I have to say at this point, too, that everyone seems to be awfully cavalier about Dawn having had sex with a demon….
Page 18: Xander joins them. They joke about his and Buffy’s current lack of a sex life. Buffy just begins to wonder who kissed her (with the Cinnamon Buns flavor), but the question is interrupted by Willow saying she’s getting a reaction from a mystic scan she’s performing while she talks to them.
Wow – remember when magic used to take some effort?
Page 19: Willow gets information from her trace that Amy has been hanging out with the Initiative sort. Unfortunately, she also gets caught in a mystic trap – Amy was two steps ahead of her and arranged for her scan to trigger a portal.
Amy, evil smile on her face, yanks Willow into the portal and vanishes.
Page 20: While Xander is barking orders for a team of Slayers to suit up and a team of mystics to get to portal-reopening duty, Buffy is stewing – pissed off at being played.
Page 21: Willow is the one restrained this time: she’s mystically tied down to a metal table. While she lies temporarily helpless, a rough voice speaks from off-screen. We’re finally going to meet the “thing” that Amy has been calling boyfriend.
Page 22: And somehow, someway it’s…
Warren!
And he’s holding a bone saw….
The Good: The interesting return of Ethan Rayne is a plus.
The toe-to-toe mystic battle between Willow and Amy is really good. Especially since Amy shows herself to be always thinking ahead and Willow seems far too complacent about assuming that she’s the stronger and better witch – which bites her in the end.
Giant Dawn putting her giant foot to good use!
Xander Harris… *sigh* … love the way his character is handled throughout.
Amy’s spring-trap and what’s waiting for Willow on the other side.
The Bad: Warren?! How?! Why?! (future self – they really screw up the explanation next issue – but that’s a bitch for then).
Buffy’s cavalier attitude to Dawn’s having had sex with a demon and being turned into a giantess… and Willow’s joining in not being very concerned about all this.
The Score: Willow is put to good use in this issue, as is Xander. Dawnie gets to use her new status for some good, which was nice. The next issue closes out the “first episode” of Season 8, so this one is a typical ‘move things along’ issue and there’s nothing really wrong with that. I do have to wonder why Buffy’s eye color seems to keep changing… and then there’s the problem inherent in yet another dead guy coming back… a weakness of comic-storytelling in general: that plot is extremely overused.
3.75 out of 5 stars.
- Mood:SUPPORT OUR TROOPS!
A review....
Spike: After the Fall
#3 of 4
Written By: Brian Lynch, Art By: Franco Urru, Colored By: Jason Jensen,
Lettered By: Neil Uyetake, Edited By: Chris Ryall
Cover By: Franco Urru
Where We Are: In the aftermath of Angel’s royally pissing off Wolf, Ram & Hart and his decimation of the powerful Black Thorn society, the evil law firm has their vengeance on. In order to punish Angel, they’ve arranged for
Page 1: Spike and Fred are wandering through a department store. Fred is going on and on about a waffle-maker and is dressed like a 1950’s housewife. A salesman offers to assist them. He’s wearing a shirt saying, “Big Bad Bath & Beyond” and also has a name tag which reads, “Hello My Name is the Reason We’re Stuck Here”.
It turns out that this is a fever-dream of Spike’s as he tries to recover from his latest round of torture at the hands of the Annoying Woman, Lord of B.H.
Page 2: Spike comes to, surrounded by the desiccated bodies of the many humans he had attempted to defend. They’ve been drained dry of their energies by Psychotic-Lord a.k.a. Annoying Woman.
Page 3: Spike’s torture continues by what looks like a red-hot whisk! But, the Lord has something to see to and decides the torture will have to continue by somebody else. The job goes to the demon-chick with the spider-legs that shoot out of her spine.
Page 4: The “glorious” Lord is named ‘Non’. She’s a wanker. Spike spends some time insulting her before she leaves – with instructions for spider-girl to burn her name into his face.
Page 5: As soon as the Lord is gone, spider-legs-chick immediately lets it be known that she’s actually turning sides. She’s appreciative to Spike for not treating her like crap after he defeated her in battle (which happened off screen, see issue #2).
She also kind of has the hots for him… and really, who’d blame her?
But his mind is on Illyria/Fred.
Page 6: Spike works on spider-legs-girl to free him and
Page 7: In the meantime, Non has gotten a bit of a pick-me-up by sucking dry three Slayers who’d been trapped in
Page 8: Remember that appointment? The one she had to stop torturing Spike to get ready for?
It turns out that it’s with Gunn! Gunn, the vampire with a need to hurt Angel and ‘save’ everyone from the mess he’s caused (see Angel: After the Fall #2).
Page 9: Gunn finds out that both Spike and
Page 10: Gunn gets pissy… not so much about Spike. He doesn’t care about him, but he does care about
Anyway, he and Non fight.
Page 11: Gunn kicks Non's little ass for her. The important thing about this scene (at least I’m assuming) is that
Non’s attempts at a partnership of sorts with Gunn go nowhere.
Page 12: Non complains to her pet-telepath, Noelle, about how her meeting with Gunn has ended so badly. She decides to lift her spirits by killing
In the meantime, Gunn, now angry over Non’s attempts to manipulate him with his two former teammates takes on the Slayers that Non had previously drained, but are now back to normal… (okay, I’m confused) to work out his aggression.
Page 13: Spike is dragged out of his cell. He’s half-naked with his pants ripped just so and wow, they did a good job catching his sexiness. I’m just sayin’.
Page 14: As Spike is dragged to the “main stage” of Non’s, we see
Page 15: Non’s plans are clear… behead
Page 16: Non swings the ax, but since she’s swinging it at
Illyria
Page 17:
(
Page 18: Spike breaks free of his bonds. He’s driven with worry over Fred – if
Page 19: Illyria stays
To do this, she “re-claims” him by planting a whopper of a lip-lock on him!
Page 20: Spike’s not exactly sure how to respond to this turn of events. We get a hint that maybe he’s somewhat fallen for Fred though, beyond the teammates thing and that is why he keeps
His attention is diverted from her, however, when Jeremy (the only human male who conveniently hasn’t been sucked dry yet) calls on him for help. Non had decided now is the time for another little pick-me-up.
Page 21: While Spike and
Page 22: Spike is surprised the identity of Jeremy’s savior… Connor. And, he’s ready to give Non a little butt-kicking.
The Good: The art work is good, again.
The twist with
Maria’s willingness to ease Spike’s pain via sex is kind of funny… and there are some, to be frank, hot drawings of Spike.
Spike’s master plan of seducing the other female followers of Non via his hot bod is also kind of funny in an arrogant and Spike-like kind of way.
The Bad: Gunn’s inclusion is seriously pointless. Just as Spike’s meeting with Angel’s dragon was pointless.
It has allegedly been a month since Spike’s capture… would
A little Non goes a long way… and she’s the main villain, thereby taking up way too much space with her irritating blathering.
Spike gets the cooking-utensil of pain.
Non can be a bad-ass... when she's not talking.The Score: Well, better than Issue #2, but still relatively pointless. In the review for Issue #2 I stated that this story is more a subplot of Angel: After the Fall and didn’t need its own series to explore – I still feel that way: 3.0 out of 5.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Season 8 #2
Script: Joss Whedon, Pencils: Georges Jeanty, Inks: Andy Owens,
Colors: Dave Stewart, Letters: Richard Starkings & Comicraft’s Jimmy
Cover By: Jo Chen
Also, Dawn’s a giant.
Page 1: A cup of steaming coffee (or tea with cream) is sitting on a table. In a ‘narrator blurb’ we read, “I used to be a Watcher.”
Page 2 & 3: It’s Giles! Of course. Oh, how he was missed in Issue 1 – he’s not in
His narration continues, “The organization existed since before there were cities. The Watchers’ Council, always moving, always secret, but very much alive. There were hundreds of Watchers. And one Slayer.
“Scales have tipped of late.”
Giles is overseeing a large group of those 500 mentioned in the ‘Where We Are’ section. Giles calls a halt to the fighting exercise he is overseeing. He compliments the Slayers on their fighting skills, but then informs them that despite their excellent form, it is all useless. They, you see, are fighting alone and not as a team. They get in each other’s way, they’re not protecting one another’s back and failing to use their single most valuable asset….
Page 4 & 5: We shift to Buffy and her trainees. She finishes Giles’ lesson “… each other.” Buffy calls on three of her Slayers, Leah (the red headed Scottish lass), Satsu (Asian, and who wore a cat mask last issue) and Rowena (blonde and favors baseball caps):
“Would the three of you please kick my ass?”
Buffy, naturally defeats her three teammates… and quite easily:
“Three perfectly valid avenues of attack, good form – on three seasoned, well-trained corpses, one of whom, sidebar: has her best hair ever; Satsu, you’re making me think I need a new look. See me after. So. Let’s break this down. The first clue this was going downhill? Clearly….”
Page 6 & 7: We skip over to Andrew’s team around a camp fire. His lesson is less instructive, as he probably isn’t completing Buffy’s pointers:
“… Lando Calrissian’s outfit. And I know a lot of you were going to say Ewoks, but that’s too easy.”
One of his Slayer’s, a punk-rocky, pink-haired, Mohawk sort has to repeat the question which Andy was supposed to have been answering before obviously getting off on his Star Wars tangent. It’s a question that, no doubt, every single fan has asked – “Why don’t we get a gun?”
Andrew’s response is less than satisfactory and he quickly moves on to headbutts. I do believe that Ms. I-Want-A-Gun will be named Simone. (I just jumped to the future of Issue 23 – and yes, it’s Simone… and yes, she will be a problem.)
Page 8 & 9: Xander is commiserating with Dawn re: Buffy’s continual lack of attention to her sister in order to spend all her time with her fellow Slayer “sisters”.
Xan starts to suspect that perhaps Dawnie made herself a giantess on purpose in order to gain some of Buffy’s attention. Dawn is also using a lake as a bathtub.
Page 10: Xan gets a giant wave of water in answer.
Elsewhere, at “Drextalcorp Recycling Technologies”, which ‘natch is a fake, General “Slayers-Are-Terrorists” is talking to a suit, for which, he has little respect. The skinny – an ‘op’ is taking place that night against Buffy.
Page 11: While suit-guy is trying to convince the General to let Amy and her magic handle the ‘op’, but General clearly would rather find Buffy’s site and nuke her.
Page 12: A mention is made of the “monstrosity that [Amy] calls a boyfriend”. But the main point of this page is to show that the General has a scar carved into his manly chest… a scar matching the corpses that Buffy found last issue. “Twilight”.
Page 13: Xander and Buffy are talking in the hallway of her castle fortress. Again, it’s about Dawn’s current giantess issue, her Thricewise demon dating and Buffy’s continuing ‘guilt’ complex.
There’s also a HUGE shock – Buffy:
“I’m sorry. I’m tired. Just tell me now, so we don’t have to do a whole awkward-dance… are you coming to bed?”
SAY WHA!?!
Page 14: Xander tries to tell Buffy that it would be a horrible mistake, but Buffy’s not hearing it… she swears that this time she can be gentle!
She lip-locks Xan in a way that he has been dreaming of since S1…
… and his head pops off: “So, gentle.”, says he.
“Oh, balls.” says Buffy.
OH – BALLS, is right! A big dream-tease! Joss, you are evil and must be punished! Possibly with a harness, ball-gag and whip of some sort.
Xander’s disembodied head also shares that Buffy’s floor lint is “so Scottish”. I’m not sure what that means, but it’s very funny.
Page 15: Buffy’s dream gets more disturbing as she’s pulled out of a window and then skewered through her hands and feet by a giant demon’s claws. He adds fire and begs her to keep screaming for his delight.
Page 16: In the real world, Amy is standing over Buffy with a sacrificial dagger. The door bursts open with Xander (in cute PJs) and a Slayer Squad. Buffy is still unconscious and her wrists and ankles are being held tightly by magical shackles.
Page 17: Amy’s dagger plunges down into Buffy before Xan can intervene and she screams. Amy gets a crossbow bolt through the shoulder, but she’s already delivered the dagger!
“Oh my God.” Xander says.
Page 18: Xander continues… picking up a dagger that has been ruined, “This is the crappiest sacrificial dagger I’ve ever seen.” HAH – Another Fake-out.
He continues, “You really think we let Buffy sleep without mystical protection? This isn’t open-wand night in Sunnydale, Sweetcheeks. You’re dealing with pros.”
“Open-wand night”… lol… I’m in love with Xander Harris. And, possibly Joss a little bit.
But, Amy isn’t finished by a long shot. As she points out, Buffy is still asleep – she’s been placed in a mystic nightmare that can only be broken by a kiss of true love.
Amy has a big mouth, on top of her amateur-magic hour.
Page 19: On a parapet, a pair of Slayer guards gab. One of these is Renee… Ms. Flirty to Xander from Issue 1 (she of the “nerd points are accumulating nicely”). The discussion of Xan is interrupted by sounds of ‘clawing’.
Page 20: Looking over the parapet, we see a large amount of grody-looking zombies climbing up the walls of the Slayer castle.
In the meantime, back in Buff’s bedroom, Xan is interrogating Amy on this whole mystic nightmare spell… he double checks that a sister’s kiss wouldn’t do the trick –
“Well, a twisted sister…” is Amy’s response.
“Ha! But no, I hate you.”
Page 21: Xander musters the troops when he finds out that zombies have breached security. In addition, he points out to Amy that she can’t go anywhere. She needles him about trying a ‘true love’ kiss to wake Buffy….
Page 22: Slayers vs. Zombies. In Buffy’s nightmare, she’s suffering pain and is curled into a ball of suffering.
An off-panel voice tells her that she can’t give up quite yet, however.
Page 23: “I have so much I need to show you,” says a mystery man whose face we don’t see. He’s dressed in a long leather coat and a red T-Shirt. First impression – Spike!
But this is Buffy dreaming, so it could be another humorous fake-out.
Elsewhere – Satsu informs Xander via com-link that headshots aren’t killing the zombies as expected (Romero-shout out!)
Back in Buffy’s bedroom – Amy is gloating that with all of the Slayers present, there’s no one who can take her on…
“As a friend of mine once said…” another off-panel voice states…
Page 24: “… I’d like to test that theory.”
Yes! And a perfect entrance line, too!
The Good: Oh, my goodness… the dialog! Xander is perfect throughout (well, this is Joss scripting after all).
I’ve warmed up to the idea of Amy as main villainess for this first arc… with one reservation, see below.
The artwork, with reservations (see below).
The twists… especially the Xan/Buffy pairing fake-out.
The fake-out with Amy’s dagger of doom – and I LOVE that the Scoobies are way ahead of her before she even starts.
Willow
The Bad: I really don’t want to give any ‘bads’ because I loved this issue… but… Giles and Andrew present artwork problems. Now, it’s hard to say if it’s the artist, or the issues one runs into with using actors’ likenesses from the legal perspective, but Andrew, especially, does not look Andrew-like.
Again, poor Dawn is getting short-shrifted as a character … how much more “Buffy doesn’t pay attention to me” do we have to hear from her. Give her something Scooby-ish to do (remember S7 and her researching) or send her back to
Concerns: I have some concerns about Giles’ and Buffy’s looks this time out (but again, is it the artist or just legal issues with actors’ likenesses?). I can’t name exactly what bothers me about Buffy this time, since I didn’t have an issue with her not being SMG-like in issue 1 – maybe because I was just so excited still that Buffy’s tale continues.
Amy still concerns me with the amount of raw power she’s showing (teleporting? Remember when
Willow
The Score: Wow, what a terrifically written issue full to bursting with the Xan-Humor I love so dearly. There’s also quite a bit going on, so the issue is always moving forward. We get to see two of our missing and the coming
Amy's backup.
The Scoobies' backup.
4.75 out of 5-stars.
One last note – during the Buffy run, I wasn’t a Buffy/Xan shipper. I liked them strictly as friends… best friends. But with time and distance from the series, I think I’m ready for them to get a heck of a lot closer now, if Joss intended to pursue Buffy’s attraction outside of her dreams.
And, a small off-topic note: For those Spandeverse-interested, I’ve written the first chapter in the new story – The Coming of the Scooby Army.
Angel: After the Fall #2
Plotted By: Joss Whedon & Brian Lynch, Scripted By: Brian Lynch,
Illustrated By: Franco Urru, Colored By: Jason Jensen, Lettered By: Robbie Robbins,
Edited By: Chris Ryall
Cover By: Tony Harris
Where We Are: After the defeat of a W & H most-valued customer consortium that went under the name the ‘Black Thorn’, the multi-dimensional evil law firm turned on Angel and his team for their betrayal. Using their considerable power, they sent an army after Angel, but even more impressively, they’ve dragged
Page 1: Angel is in the W & H garage with one of his many sport cars. Wes is at his side and the air between the two is obviously tense. With the killing of the Demon Lord Bruge’s son, Angel needs to get to Santa Monica – he tells Wesley he’d really rather not have him come along.
Page 2: Angel drives out from the relative peace of the W & H building and out into the chaos that
The whole scene is drawn so that we see it as if we were in the backseat of Angel’s car and looking front through the windshield over his shoulder. That was a neat choice.
Page 3: In Westwood, Angel has an awkward meeting with Nina, the half-werewolf, not quite in control of herself that he briefly dated before all Hell, literally, turned loose. He’s looking for Connor, but finds his son is off in Westwood investigating a Lord’s death… and presumably wishing to rescue any of the humans the Lord may have had enslaved.
Page 4: Sometime later… In Westwood: There is a free-for-all among the demons to decide who is going to be the new Lord of Westwood. Angel wades in to the brouhaha, looking for Connor and people to save.
Page 5: As Angel kills some of the larger specimen of demons his mind is on his son. Well, I’ll just quote his thoughts here:
…I mean, this is literally the second time I punched his ticket to Hell, not many fathers can say that. He and I are probably back to square one. It’s going to take a while before I earn his trust. Before I deserve it.
Page 6: Naturally, Angel’s big angsty build up to meeting with Connor again is completely undercut by the young man; he just wants to know what took him so long to show up. Putting that “Destroyer” title to good use, he has one demon run through with a spear like a fish on a spit. In the other hand, he’s got a sword that looks almost as big as he is tall.
Page 7: Angel informs Connor about killing the son of a Lord, which of course, now paints an even larger target on his own son. Connor blows it off – again, he just wants to know where Angel’s been the last few weeks.
Page 8: The Angel/Connor bonding scene doesn’t really get a chance to get off and running though. You know Angel - it takes him so long to get to the point when it comes to his feelings and all. And, right now, Gwen is taking center stage. She’s found something disturbing and considering where they are, when she says disturbing she really means it.
Page 9: Switch to Gunn’s pad: he has the telepathic ‘fish’ webbed down to a bed. We find out the ‘fish’ calls himself George. Gunn tries to make the fish believe he’s one of the good guys.
Page 10: George tries to assess his new situation: See he’s the reason that Gunn attacked the Demon Lord in last issue – the jazzy-cool looking Kr’ph… who got himself good and dead by Gunn’s team. They grabbed the telepath and an orb that was within the Lord’s body.
It’s obvious with the conversation that Gunn has big plans. He’s also really pissed at being turned and puts the blame and his rage entirely on Angel.
Page 11: Gunn has a major hate-on for Angel’s “giving up on everything. On us.” But he’s determined that he’ll be the one to save everyone from what Angel has allowed to happen – if he can get over his anger-management issue – he clocks poor George.
Page 14: It’s not about the soul! I’m living proof of that!
Gunn rages, sounding a few letters short of a full alphabet, if you get what I’m sayin’.
Page 15: Gunn placed the Orb from Kr’ph at the foot of an altar, which appears to be made up entirely of dead, rotting demon corpses. Charming.
Page 16: Back with Gwen, she’s showing Angel and Connor what she’s found in the stadium… which is demons torn asunder. Both boys knew of Kr’ph, but only Angel knew how such a “bottom feeder” became a Lord in the first place. We find out both the name and general power of the Orb that Gunn now possesses. In addition, Gwen informs them that vampires did this massacre. She knows this ‘cause:
A few ladies told me. Not so much with words, but with their necks and horrified dead expressions.
Page 17: The walls have been painted in bloody fingerpaints. Connor wants to know who did this, Angel claims to not know, but we get from his inner thought square that he already knows who did the deed. He sends Connor to collect his dragon-pal.
Page 18: While Connor is off to get the dragon, Angel is in his convertible and racing toward… “All signs point to it. It was bound to happen. Our paths were going to cross. I should have handled this before. No time like the present.”
Spike.
This scene can only take place after Spike: After the Fall because the second heroic vampire is not with his ragtag group of refugees now. He’s in a swanky estate surrounded by women of different skin colors and species. But, all of them are gorgeous, amply bosomed, bikinied, and doting on him hand and foot. And, he’s spinning a tale which grossly distorts his role in the final battle in the alleyway.
Page 19: Okay, its not just a distortion, it’s a bloody fable about the last battle in the alleyway in which Angel is blubbery and they’re facing down the Devil himself and Spike is the brave one shouting in Satan’s big, red face.
The ladies drink up the studly bravery of our hero’s alleged exploits.
Page 20: Angel busts in on Spike’s tale, snarking it away:
After he led us to victory, we proclaimed we’d be friends forever and did a synchronized hand-jive at the big carnival. Hey, Spike.
Someone’s seen Grease.
Among the sycophants is Spider – the girl with the arachnid legs that can spring from her back which Spike was fighting in his comic. Nice to see old enemies becoming allies. She also says something that will have greater relevance later – that Angel is “reeking of magic”… there’s a specific reason for this aura.
Page 21: Angel informs Spike he needs to talk to him, but the busty chicks have something to say about that. Another of Spike’s new team is the nose-less ‘commandant’ chick serving ‘Princess Annoying’ over in Spike: After the Fall.
Anyway, Spike being who is he, acts childish and Angel gets bossy and it all turns wrong – as things always do when these two don’t stay away from one another.
Page 22: Spike’s big mouth gets him punched in the face by Angel… again.
Page 23: Spike and Angel share more words… and Spike gets another fist to the face. Angel is there because some ruins on a wall written in blood back at the coliseum were in Sanskrit. Angel’s made the wrong assumption. He’s there to find
This seems like muddled thinking. On the other hand, Angel has never believed in Spike, unlike Fred for instance. Since they’re in Hell, I guess it isn’t a stretch for Angel to suspect that Spike may be giving free reign to his vampiric side.
Unfortunately for him…
Page 24: …he finds that
The Good: Making Gunn the ‘big bad’ of the plot continues to pay dividends. Especially with the new twist of his wanting to “save us all”, while at the same time it is obvious that he is not in control of himself thanks to being turned into a vampire.
Skipping the angst-ridden Connor/Angel thing and going directly to a “hey, where the hell you been” thing was the right choice. We’ve all had enough of whiney Connor to last forever, I’m sure. Plus, Connor gets to kick some ass here in keeping with his character history.
I continue liking the artwork – especially the bold coloring.
Momentum: This story actually reads like it is leading somewhere – which if you’ve read my review of Spike: After the Fall, you’ll find me bitching about its lack of the same thing.
The Bad: There are things that are thrown in from Spike: After the Fall which you have no clue about if you didn’t put money down on that title. I don’t think it would have killed anything for an asterisk and a note – guess that isn’t a real big deal.
The Score: While there are no major jumps forward in the plot, we can see where things might be leading. Gunn’s trying to be the hero still while driven by his demonic rage is sorry to see. Gwen, Connor and Angel all have some good scenes and Spike’s introduction into the story is handled alright. No glaring problems jump out in this issue, but nothing fantastic does either. It’s a workman-like issue building toward the Gunn/Angel conflict:
3.50 out of 5 stars.
Angel: After the Fall #1
Cover Art: Tony Harris
Set Up: In the series ending episode of Angel, Not Fade Away, the Angel Investigations team was in some serious trouble. Angel and his allies managed to bring down an ultra-powerful group of evil known as the Black Thorn. Basically, they were the demonic version of the Hall of Doom.
Wolf, Ram & Hart were not at all pleased by this turn of events. Angel played them, signing away his right to Shanshu (become mortal as reward for his redemptive deeds) in order to get in close with the Black Thorn group. By doing so, he was able to identify their members who were responsible for much of the evil at the highest levels of government among the elite of
Now, in retaliation, the power behind the evil law firm of Wolfram & Hart has pulled all of
Page 1: Appropriately, we start with Angel. He’s busy at the moment fighting a cadre of demons who are running wild throughout
It all started with a girl. (It’s not who you think.) I joined a corporation that was, quite literally, evil incarnate. I thought I could channel their resources into something positive. In an existence defined by bad choices, that was the worst. I didn’t change them. They changed me. Then they killed her (leading me to surmise this isn’t about Buffy, but Fred). That opened my eyes. I took a stand.
Page 2: Angel is tackled to the ground and three of the demons are standing over him, big and evil grins on their faces. Until they find a surprise! (see below) 
Page 3: Angel speaks to one of the save-ees. He gives her the address where she can find help, a car to get there… and an ax. He plays the mysterious hero, hops on his transport and flies away.
He lets us know, via more monologue, that this has been going on for a few months now.
Page 4 & 5: We have a splash page here. It’s here that we’re told that Wolfram and Hart sent
Page 6: On his way back to his base, Wolfram and Hart’s legal building, Angel tells us what has happened. Little time passed before the human population figured out they weren’t just stuck in a temporary nightmare. It was about the same amount of time before the demons realized they were home. They immediately took charge, the Lords of Hell carving up
Page 7: After Angel sends his dragon down to the garage, he discovers he’s had some callers. In his words:
Burge. Lord of downtown
Again, Angel seems outclassed (there is actually a good reason for this, too, but we don’t learn why he keeps getting his ass kicked here). And, again, the artwork is excellent in this issue – I especially like the close up of Burge’s ‘moron’ son. Especially charming, is the droopy saliva dripping against Angel’s chin… eww.
Page 8: Angel’s getting his butt kicked is interrupted by another visitor. The new visitor is a familiar man with dark hair and glasses (except as first, I didn’t recognize him… the artwork doesn’t look much like Wes). Wes’ fate is disturbing. He is “the last official representative of this branch of Wolfram & Hart”.
Apparently, his contract has enslaved Wesley upon his death, as it did Lila.
Page 9: Wes is able to talk down Burge, if not is dim-witted son. We also get a hint that Wolfram & Hart still do not want Angel dead. Wes makes this clear to Burge in this exchange:
I can also assure you, Angel’s fate isn’t up to you. We kept him around, even after a fairly alarming indiscretion. So I’m thinking you should tell your steroid-ridden hellspawn to step down before he kills Angel and ruins things for the rest of us.
Page 10: Burge’s son isn’t willing to let it go, and tries to take his anger out against Wesley. When he goes to claw him however, he finds his hand passing right through him. Wes is still dead (see AtS: Not Fade Away), but is being kept around to serve as Wolfram & Hart’s voice… as a ghost.
Page 11: Wes isn’t fully on board the demon train, however, as he expresses some sympathy for Angel’s mission to save whom he can. We cut away from Angel and Wes to follow the save-ees from a few pages back.
Page 12: The humans arrive at some sort of building with other humans and a few demons are seeking refuge. We’re re-introduced to Gwen, the electric girl from AtS.
Page 13: In addition to Gwen, we see that Nina, the Werewolf woman is also doing her part to try to protect the humans that Angel has helped. We learn here that the day/night dichotomy of regular Earth no longer applies. Nina is particularly affected as she not only sniffs one of the save-ees, but then licks her cheek!
(Nina to woman she just licked): Did I?
(the Woman): She’s tenderizing me, she’s tenderizing me, she’s tenderizing me…
(Nina): No! It’s the sun/moon situation! They’re both out at once. do you have any idea what that does to a werewolf?
(Woman): Make you hungry?!
(Nina): No!
(Woman): Makes you bi-curious?!
Now, far be it from me to point out an inconvenient fact, when it sets up such a humorous back and forth, but I’ve seen the moon and sun out at the same time here in
Page 14: In addition to Gwen and Nina, we find that Connor is also involved in keeping this ‘safehouse’ operating. He knows that Angel sent the latest refugees, thanks to the Wolfram & Hart parking sticker on the car they’ve showed up driving.
Elsewhere, Angel is being healed by a parasite.
Page 15: Angel and Wes share some words regarding the situation with Burge.
Page 16: Angel and Wes walk through the complex (passing the dragon resting) and discuss what Angel plans to do long term. Their relationship is… strained… by Wes’ having to ‘represent’ what W & H want. Angel cannot entirely trust him. On Wes’ behalf, he isn’t pleased either with having to play W & H’s plans, but he is also bound by contract.
Page 17: Across town, in Westwood, another demon Lord forces humans to fight to the death with one another. He uses a telepathic, air-breathing ‘fish’, also enslaved, judging by the chain. This demon Lord is a neat creation, but the telepathic fish just looks silly.
Page 18: The Lord’s fun is interrupted by a rival group attempting to kill him.
Page 19: The fish is knocked out, leaving the Lord vulnerable. But, he has his own demon crew and orders them to defend against the invaders. They don’t do a great job.
Page 20: The skeletal Lord is angry, but willing to bargain with the invaders. In the meantime, his defenders are being easily wiped out.
Page 21: We find out that the invaders are led by Gunn! Now, when we left this member of Team Angel in Not Fade Away he had been grievously injured.
What’s important now is that Gunn has a very specific reason for defeating this demon Lord. And it’s not just to save the enslaved; he is specifically trying to get a glowing disk that the Lord contains within his translucent body.
Interestingly, in a panel on Page 16 – Angel is looking at a drawing which appears to be of this disc.
Page 22: Team Gunn is also interested in the Fish… and the skimpily clothed slave-girls.
Page 23: On the street in front of W & H’s building, Burge’s son is back. This time, he’s there to prove a point. As Wes watches, the demon prepares to slaughter six humans in exchange for the six demons that Angel killed earlier to save the human group he subsequently sent to Connor.
He then appears to visit the ‘white room’. Or at least, he fades out to white.
Page 24: Angel again intervenes. Now, Burge demanded of Wes that Angel not leave the building for patrolling that night as ‘punishment’ to ‘think about what he’s done’.
Angel doesn’t leave the building.
Page 25: (Burge’s son to Angel): My father told you! MY FATHER TOLD YOU!
(Angel): I know. Not allowed to leave the building.
As Angel stands on a ledge of W & H, Burge’s loud-mouthed, moronic son charges him. Angel pulls out a good-ol’-fashioned stake from a pocket inside his jacket. He throws it. Exit Burge’s loud-mouthed, moronic son.
Page 26: The followers of Burge’s now-quiet, not as stupid son warns Angel that he has now declared war against Burge, Lord of downtown
In a slightly confusing cut, we see dead bodies of some men piled in a hallway. It appears to be inside W & H, which wouldn’t say anything good about Angel. Turns out though, it’s a completely different location… as made clear on page 27.
Page 27: A woman screams as a man bites her… obviously a vampire. The vampire turns toward our POV, and we seen it is Gunn!
Which explains why he isn’t lying dead in an alleyway, as you would have expected at from the end of Not Fade Away.
The Good: The artwork from the cover throughout the interior of the comic is excellent, with one exception, but we’ll get to that.
The storyline is great.
We get to check in on characters who weren’t in that alley (Connor, Nina and Gwen) as well as getting enough information to intuit what has happened to Wes and Gunn. Gunn’s fate is a heartbreaking twist, considering it was one of his biggest fears (and after having to put down his former sister in AtS- War Zone, I believe).
The Bad: Wesley, I afraid, doesn’t look like Alexis Denisoff. It took the dialog for me to figure out who Angel was talking to.
Scoring: This was actually a relatively strong start for the series. We know exactly what has happened by the end of it. Angel sets up a major conflict with a major Lord, Wes’ involvement is left ambiguous as far as whether he’ll be more help or hindrance and the showdown between Angel and Gunn is clearly coming. While not as strongly written as Buffy: S8, #1 … it’s still quite good and isn’t as repetitive as Spike: After the Fall. I’m scoring this one as 3.75 out of 5 stars.
- Mood:
mellow
Spike: After the Fall
Creators: Brian Lynch & Franco Urru
Cover: Franco Urru
Set up: In the series ending episode of Angel, Not Fade Away, the Angel Investigations team was in some serious trouble. Angel and his allies managed to bring down an ultra-powerful group of evil known as the Black Thorn. Basically, they were the demonic version of the Hall of Doom.
Wolf, Ram & Hart were not at all pleased by this turn of events. Angel played them, signing away his right to Shanshu (become mortal as reward for his redemptive deeds) in order to get in close with the Black Thorn group. By doing so, he was able to identify their members who were responsible for much of the evil at the highest levels of government among the elite of
Now, in retaliation, the power behind the evil law firm of Wolfram & Hart has pulled all of
The team ends up split apart – separated from one another across the expanse of the new
Page 1: Spike is ‘somewhere’ in the hellish wasteland of the
Things go less than well for Spike.
Page 2: ( Spike’s narration): These loser freaks are better brawlers than the previous loser freaks. Or maybe I’m still tired from the last ones, can’t tell.
Spike finds himself getting a bit beat up by the long-tongued, orange-brown skin lizards. And his feeble attempts to talk himself out is, well – lame and unhelpful.
Page 3: (Spike’s narration, continued): Fortunately for me… I’m not going this alone.
As one of the demons asks where another of their party is,
Page 4: As Spike gets ready to kill the leader-dude,
With the demons killed, its time to deal with the humans rescued by their daring-do. Alas, its
This one is wet on both ends. We should end him.
As Spike’s monologue informs us,
Page 5: Spike steps in to grab the kid from
Page 6: Oh! Here it is on page 6… the sun and moon are up simultaneously. Spike’s group, for lack of a better name, have taken refuge in the ‘Happytime Studios’ theme park. Uh-huh. Anyway, while not exactly comfortable, at least it has food designed to survive the apocalypse… tourist park hotdogs!
Page 7: Spike has a quicky flashback of what he’s been going through, lately. The fact that
Page 8: Still in flashback, Spike tells us that after he and
She chooses a lot of battles, actually. Even if that’s not one of the choices, she’ll find a way.
Page 9: Spike confers with a guy named Jeremy that they’ll need to move on soon, as there are more and more demons encroaching. This is interrupted however when Spike hears Fred’s voice trying to comfort the toddler they rescued. For some reason this upsets Spike mightily and he grabs and drags her away.
Page 10: Another confrontation as Spike tosses responsibility for the toddler to a random set of people. He makes it absolutely clear that Illyria/Fred is to have no contact with the bratling. Jeremy is forced to accompany Spike and Fred, as well.
Page 11: Jeremy is able to work the electronics of the amusement park. Spike’s goal is apparently to distract ‘Fred’, so she’ll re-become
Page 12: Giant robo-duck, amusement park gimmick attack! Fred quickly vanishes and
Page 13: Jeremy is given orders to send
Page 14: More snarkage, more slappage.
Page 15: Spike confirms my hypothesis: For now,
Jeremy offer some words basically stating that Spike doesn’t like to see Fred because he has… had… real feelings for her.
Page 16: The mood is about to get all sickly sweet, which isn’t Spike in the least. Fortunately, a group of teen brats interrupts. And, like teens everywhere, they’re bored and want to do something fun… despite the fact that they’re in the middle of Hell and surrounded on all sides by hostile demons. They want to start up a few rides. After all, they have taken refuge in an amusement park.
Page 17: The kibosh is put on the plan, due to noise. Noise attracts attention, attention in Hell is bad. And, also, in Hell – the television only plays “that awful show about the witch sisters”. Spike suggests that instead they go play with
Spike decides to take off for awhile. Unfortunately, he’s being watched by the members of the earlier slaughtered demon group. Their plan – slaughter the men, kidnap the women for tribute.
Page 18: While Spike is out scouting for the next location to move to, the lizard demons are in turn slaughtered by a new group. A greenish-blue woman easily rips through them, while accompanied by a brown, bald woman. Spike lets us know there is a mystic wall that has trapped everyone within the borders of
Page 19: Spike finds his way to the Wolfram & Hart building, which he is seriously considering as a good place to hide out.
Page 20: At least, until a really large, fire breathing dragon pops up.
Page 21: As Spike is having his confrontation with a dragon, Jeremy is being hounded by the bored teens. And, he’s getting a bit miffed that he’s being called on to ‘be in charge’ when Spike can’t even remember his name (he keeps calling him Jerry, which everyone else is picking up on). As he’s trying to tell the teens it’s a bad idea to activate a dinosaur ride, he suddenly becomes aware of a more pressing problem.
Page 22: A squad of women in tight black cat-suits (including the ones who just killed the lizards planning an attack) swoops in. The humans are ordered to submit to them, or they will face certain death. The teens are cluelessly excited by the interruption of their boredom. Because, apparently, their eff-ing morons.
The Good: The cover is really nice and the first few pages are really good. Spike trying to deal with an unstable
The Bad: The nature of the story gets repetitive. And, the explanation of why Spike needs to keep the Fred personality in
Scoring: While I wanted to see how being sent to Hell impacted Spike, this is mostly just battling one set of demons after the other.
- Mood:Fine.
Buffy Season 8 Review, Issue #1
The Long Way Home, Part I
Script: Joss Whedon, Pencils: Georges Jeanty, Inks: Andy Owens, Colors: Dave Stewart, Letters: Richard Starkings & Comicraft’s Jimmy (uh, yea, Jimmy?)
Cover By: Ju Chen, Designed By: Heidi Fuinzu
Note: Page numbers may vary with individual reader. I skipped counting the ‘ad pages’ in the ‘page descriptor’ in the review.
Inside Cover Blurb: “This story takes place after the end of Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Seven.
Page 1: We open Season 8 of Buffy with a view of the planet Earth, sun rising over the horizon as seen from an orbital perspective. Our narrator for the opening passage is Buffy, herself:
The thing about changing the world… Once you do it, the world’s all different.
Pages 2 & 3: Everybody calls me “ma’am” these days.
Buffy and three other young women (presumably Slayers) are rappelling from a ‘copter hovering.
Page 4: As the group of Slayers descends toward a boarded up building, Buffy fires a ‘gun’ at the roof. This fires some sort of magical blasts, which open a rift in a mystical field surrounding the place. The girls land on the rooftop. But with Buffy’s continued narration, we’re reminded that “There used to be one Slayer in all the world.”
Now, there are at least (by the last count) 1800. Of these, Buffy and her allies have managed to recruit five hundred of them which is spread around the world. She has ten separate squads around the world. We’re also told there are “even three of me”.
Page 5: As the group begins to recon the roof, storming toward an entrance, Buffy’s narration continues. We discover that everyone figured that Buffy might be an especial target. To thwart any attempts to find where she is exactly, they have two blondes playing “Buffy Summers”. One of these is “underground. Literally.”
The ‘third Buffy’ is currently living it up in Rome (in a very clever nod to AtS: The Girl in Question) which basically sucked because they had a stand in for SMG, and ergo, managed to never show her face. Now, retroactively, we find out why! She also specifically mentions that the faux-Buffy is supposedly dating someone called “The Immortal”, again a shout out and way to make fun of the Angel episode.
We further, amusingly, find out that this Rome-Buffy was all Andrew’s idea. He thought it would be really funny after researching him… and obviously finding out his past run-ins with both Angel and Spike. Buffy hasn’t a clue as to why Andy thought it was so amusing.
Page 6: We’re now introduced to the comic book version of Xander Harris. He’s at ‘Central Command’, playing the part of coordinator to Buffy’s efforts. You might have expected Giles to take that role… at least I certainly did, hmmm?
Anyway, the place is full of Slayers. They also have a team of psychics. As Xan is giving information via radio feed to Buffy, one of the other Slayers mentions a situation in
Page 7: We find out that the
As Xander is dealing with the
(Xander, re: Andrew’s orders to take a squad of Slayers to
(Slayer Renee): Yes, Mr. Harris.
(Xander): “Xander.” Renee, I told you, it’s “Xander” or “Sergeant Fury”.
(Slayer Renee): Wasn’t Nick Fury a Colonel when he ran S.H.I.E.L.D.?
(Xander): I like him better in the Howling Commando days. But, your nerd points are accumulating impressively.
Anybody else thinks that sounds a bit flirtatious? Which, naturally, makes me think Renee is dead meat walking but we’ll see.
Page 8: Back with Buffy’s squad, she’s busted into the abandoned building (turns out it’s a church) in order to engage a gaggle of demons. They’re big, they’re brutish, and they’re perfect for a comic book. Alas, they’ve also already managed to take out a few victims, which Buffy isn’t at all happy about.
Page 9: The Slayers go on the attack and we follow Buffy as she puts in a few good moves, before getting knocked into the disused, large cross. It appears two of our other Slayers may be in trouble… one with a cat-mask on her head and another with long, flowing red hair. No names for these Slayers, yet.
Page 10: The two Slayers in trouble (cat-mask is Satsu, red-head is Leah [I think]) is saved by another of the paratrooper Slayers. There are also two late comers to the party who must have jumped after our ‘splash-page’. Anyway, no Slayers get killed in the making of this page. But, Buffy sure puts that large cross to good use!
Page 11: With the demons killed, the Slayers begin to make some discoveries that are a bit unsettling. One, the bodies have an image carved into them. Two, the skin carving isn’t fresh… in fact, it may have been self-inflicted. And three: the ‘random victims’ were heavily armed with automatic rifles… not really ‘civilian-victim’ issue. It looks like somebody came looking for a fight and they lost. Buffy orders Xander to get a good image of the symbol (the Slayers aren’t just wearing mics, but cameras as well) and to “copy Giles on it”. Interesting… why isn’t Giles with Buffy?
Page 12: The baseball capped Slayer also surmises that the forcefield they had to break through was also with the victim-guys. They wanted to be alone with the demons. Buffy doesn’t like the math on this caper, but hopes the symbol they found will clear up the matter. In the meantime, a pair of boots is high above the wrecked, abandoned church. Someone is keeping an eye on our girls.
Page 13: We jump to another ‘copter. This one is Army. Within, berating some suit is a four star general, who is obviously extremely hostile to our Slayers. In fact, according to him, Buffy and her girls “got a hard-line ideology that does not jibe with American interests”. He further describes Buffy as “charismatic, uncompromising, and completely destructive”. It’s more than obvious that he considers Buffy’s ‘squads’ as just another word for ‘cells’… as in, terrorist cells.
Page 14 & 15: Still with General Hard-ass. He offers the suit further proof of his assertions that the Slayers are, in point of fact, terrorists: “… Look what she did to her hometown.”
The helicopter is flying over the Sunnydale crater. What’s more, there is a government presence on the ground as well. Things get a bit interesting here… there are some scientist bio-hazard suit sorts wandering under the crater (60 feet under) and they report “no mystical readings”.
It appears they’ve come a long way in the four years since the Initiative chose to treat the demons as nothing more than exotic animals. Now, we have the resources to pick up mystical energy on hand held scanners. And, they’re looking for something specific….
Page 16: Just like in a horror-movie, right after the guy reports that he’s all alone down there, he’s screaming. We see a man’s face distorted in his visor, but we can’t make out who it is. And, why in the hell there’s anyone down there at all.
Page 17: Back at Slayer central, Xander and Buffy are discussing the symbol. Xan thinks maybe it’s a monocle-wearing guy who is frowning. Far more interesting than the symbol discussion though, is when Buffy jokingly tells Xan that he’s a terrible Watcher. His response seems awfully forceful to me as he responds, “I’m not a Watcher… Don’t call me a Watcher”. When you add the fact that Giles has been nowhere to be seen throughout this entire issue (nor has
Now, as to
Xander also tells Buffy that she needs to talk to Dawn. Buffy complains that she’s only going to whine. So, one, Buffy and Dawn aren’t on the best of terms either… again! And two, we have a shout back to the fans’ complaints that all Dawn did during S6 was bitch and moan. Xander reminds Buffy that she has a lot to whine about these days….
Page 18 & 19: Buffy relents under Xan’s pressure and goes to speak with Dawnie. And, we find out that Dawn is a friggin’ giant!
Buffy tries to find out what exactly happened to cause ‘Kenny the Thrisewise” to make Dawnie a giantess, but she won’t speak to anyone but 
Page 20: The convo between Buff and Dawn goes about as well as it always seems to. Buffy finally decides to walk away… again.
(Dawn, glaring after Buffy): I could swat you like a flea.
(Buffy): Your butt looks big in those giant pants.
Page 21: Buffy goes out on a parapet for some air. And we get into her head a bit about what has happened in the last year: I miss my mom. I miss the gang. And churros. And sex. Great muppety Odin, I miss that sex. Ooh! I just know Dawn had sex with that Kenny and won’t say anything to me -- But, she’ll tell Willow, fine, her first time and it all goes wrong which I’m totally well versed in and anyhow Willow’s the expert on boys since when now?
Outstanding. I can’t even feel sorry for myself in a linear fashion. Suck it up, Summers. You’re a big girl now.
This scene actually seems like a good place to leave the issue, but we’ve got a surprise awaiting us…
Page 22: We rejoin General Ass-hat in a large laboratory type facility (Initiative-like?). He looks into a room through one of those sliding panels and reacts with revulsion and shock:
How is that thing alive?
We don’t know what ‘thing’ he is speaking of at this time, but it appears that it’s whoever they took into custody under Sunnydale. Remember the distorted male’s face in the visor?
A scientist responds that it’s obvious that magic is keeping ‘him’ alive. And, it is their belief that ‘Subject One’ was who was keeping ‘him’ alive. Meaning, there were two ‘subjects’ under Sunnydale… staying alive by, probably, eating whoever got buried with them and didn’t survive.
Page 23: The scientist reports that ‘Subject One’ is more vocal than ‘it/him’ in the other room. Further, he explains that “her” first words were, “I’m gonna help you kill her.”
There are several tidbits, here. Subject One considers Subject Two her ‘boyfriend’, even though the General wasn’t sure how Subject Two could possibly be alive, suggesting that the second subject is in a world of ugly.
Subject One is also interested in their magical hardware and having a lab for said ‘world of ugly boyfriend’. ‘She’ also wants release from and immunity for any crimes her and said ‘boyfriend’ have committed, if she succeeds in taking Buffy Summers down. And, here’s the real kicker… she wants “a lot of cheese”. Any guesses who Subject One is?
Page 24: Amy. She says her name is Amy.
The Good: First and foremost, I have to give a hand to the artists. Both the fabulous cover, and the excellent artwork within the issue. Outstanding work.
I also loved how we get caught up on Xander, Buffy, Dawn and Andrew. We don’t get any hints on Faith, the S.i.Ts., or Robin, but we do get some mysteries surrounding
The church-demons… they were great looking! And, I loved Buffy’s takedown of them. I also liked the mystery re: the symbol and the fact that Buffy quickly realized that the ‘victims’ weren’t just a random tragedy. The floating figure was mysterious and is obviously tied to this plotline.
The view of Sunnydale (now just a crater). Though, of course, it is located so far from the ocean (see S2, S3 and S5) that it isn’t even on the page. I swear the entire town teleported around for 7 years.
Giant Dawn.
The dialog throughout was great, especially among Buffy, Xander and even Dawn.
The Bad: More Amy Madison… really? Her character didn’t make a whole lot of sense in S7 and they continue the psycho-witch routine here.
Again… no ocean near Sunnydale… bad continuity (but consistent with the bad continuity in the series ender of BTVS).
Psycho military… cliché anyone?
Concerning: I don’t have strong feelings, either good nor bad, but I do have to wonder how anyone could have survived an entire city imploding and sinking into the ground. Amy Madison just shouldn’t have that type of power, unless she’s suddenly gotten far, far more powerful since she was returned from rat-hood.
I’m concerned about how
Rating: A strong first issue for Buffy: Season 8 comic series and strong for a “Season Premiere”. I like the mysteries set up, similar to setting up a season’s big bad if it’s seen through (i.e., not wrapped up right after “The Long Way Home” wraps). The ‘bad’ is utterly minor and two of them are just a personal preference (evil military may not bother anyone else, and some may really dig Amy’s character as evil witch). I say, “4.25 out of 5 stars”.
- Mood:Relatively happy.
With company at the house, I don't have the time at home to do anything on the PC. I may go ahead and post from work, but I'm leery of doing so just because I've only got half an eye on what I'm doing... you know, with that work-thing going on. I don't like to do anything but a quick post from anywhere, but home, where I can really read through it carefully for typos, confused sentence structure, etc., but we'll see.
For Watchers reviews fans... the next review will be for High Art, episode 20 of Season 1 of the after-Buffy spin off series.
In addition, I'm changing my ratings system from half-points to quarter-points and will be going back to my older reviews to re-rate them to the new standard. For instance, one of the reviews was given a "soft 5 star" for a rating... that will be changed to a 4.75 rating. I'll also be correcting spelling errors that I've found on re-reading them. I'll issue a post with links to all of the older reviews once they've been cleaned up.
The BTVS and AtS reviews are awaiting a DVD drive so I can image-capture. These reviews (so far just a few BTVS reviews are posted) will probably be re-written completely at some point. I WILL get to them... eventually. I want to purchase an new system, since the one I have is outdated and can't play the new game that I've been drooling over forever and that the Honey bought me for x-mas.
I am vacillating between writing Buffy S8, and After the Fall reviews now, or wait until I reach these "seasons" after I review their respective shows (which could obviously be awhile). I've also been considering the idea of reviewing fanfiction that I find and read... I'm not sure I want to start issuing reviews for fanfiction... on the other hand, I'm doing that already with Watchers. That's just different, somehow, than 'straight fanfic'.
So... that's where my head is at these days and I plan on cracking down and doing a lot of reviewing/writing/posting in the coming few weeks and months.
- Mood: content
