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‘Get Me Giles!!’ Herc Loves BUFFY 8.8!!
SPOILER ALERT !!
I am – Hercules!!
The first eight issues of “Buffy The Vampire Slayer: Season Eight” make up for the continued absence of “Buffy: The Animated Series.” They even almost make up for the continued absence of those proposed straight-to-DVD Buffiverse movies.
Buffy 8.8, which came out Wednesday, is titled “No Future For You Part III.” It is the third part of a four-issue storyline scripted by “Lost” writer Brian K. Vaughn, and it rocks so very hard.
Because this Faith-centric arc was borrowed in part on material developed for an aborted “Faith” TV-movie (one that would have starred Eliza Dushku but not Sarah Michelle Gellar), I was thinking this stretch would play like a supersized “Tales of the Slayers” saga, which is to say set in the Buffiverse but not having a lot to do with Buffy herself.
I was thinking wrong!
Buffy comes off the sidelines in a big way with 8.8, and plunges us deep into the overarching twilight story stewing since issue one. Spoiler-cloaking invisotext on!!
It turns out snotty, rich, young, gorgeous, sexy, Winehouse-loving rogue slayer Lady Genevieve Savidge wants to slay Buffy, take Buffy’s place as leader of Buffy’s “brainwashed” slayers, and use their collective superpower to enslave the rest of us. What’s more, she wants to install Hope (actually the undercover Faith) as the planet’s co-ruler. “Buffy has forced our kind to be the serfs of this world,” she grins within kissing distance of Faith’s very kissable lips, “when we should have been lording over the masses.” And the perennially disenfranchised Faith, already bonding harder with Genevieve than she ever bonded with the Sunnydale crowd, is starting to see a bigger picture.
What’s great:
* The appraisal of the situation offered by Trafalgar, Giles’ “freelancer.”
* The bad girls cavorting nakedly in the same bubble bath.
* The bad girls’ continued bonding over musical selections.
* Two pages of Buffy/Willow banter.
* A reference to the “anonymous donors” financing Buffy’s operations. (Interesting! From which wealthy individuals is Ms. Summers comfortable taking huge amounts of money?)
* The timely return of Dark Willow.
* And more.
Herc’s rating for “Buffy The Vampire Slayer 8.8”:
*****
If you need additional incentive to visit your local comic store this week, note that the new issue of the Joss Whedon-scripted Astonishing X-Men hit shelves the same day.
The First Five Issues of Season Eight!!
TALES OF THE SLAYERS
by Joss Whedon, Jane Espenson, David Fury, Rebecca Rand Kirschner and Amber Benson
TALES OF THE VAMPIRES
By Joss Whedon, Jane Espenson, Drew Goddard and Ben Edlund
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Yep.
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I had to say it....HAD to...
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The art. Check out my review of the prior issue on this very Ain't it Cool website:
http://tinyurl.com/2rrpua
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That was the most badass entry by a character EVER. I was cheering.
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...how about working out some deals with actual comic stores? Maybe having 'featured' stores every few weeks. Work out some game plan ahead of time with them so they can up their orders to fill demand for the product. If they can't fill every order, the customer can then order it through Amazon.Amazon and other online conglomerates make enough money in DVD and CD sales. Let's not encourage people to buy their comics from them as well. I'd love to see AICN champion the little guy and not the bloated juggernauts of the world.There are so few comic stores left, why help them die?Just an unrealistic thought. So there ya go.
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@Negative Man - i think you miss the point a little.
or, in fact, a lot.
deals with 'actual comic stores' would be nice but i'm sure even the largest specialist store doesn't have a turnover anywhere approaching Amazon and - here's the rub - one suspects that AICN needs to get something out of the bargain too.
you see, like banner ads, amazon links are the price we the AICN talkbacker pay for AICN. although i'm sure AICN makes money, it probably doesn't make as much as some people think it does.
in any event i saw Herc's article and went on ebay and bought buffy 8.8 from some comic book store on ebay in the UK like i always do.
p.s. Herc, i should score some of that amazon cash, just for being such a suck-up. -
I know there's a writers' strike and all, but they put out some solid episodes this week...
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Unless it's the opinion that I should jump off a bridge.
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now they just need to get a new artist
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Still wanna wait for a coffee table book version of the whole thing.
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He ruined JLU. And did it without even being directly involved with that show. So, that's incredible suckage.
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So I agree that supporting the local shop is important when it comes to individual issues. However, when buying in bulk, I'll resort to Amazon because it's cheaper for a college student who can't afford $5 or 6 extra here or there.
Additionally, another solid issue, but it felt a little short. Not enough story to keep me satisfied for a month. -
Just saying what a lot of us are thinking.
Anyway. I've only started picking up issues rather than waiting for the trades this year, and Buffy was a big part of that. It's not as satisfying to read the issues, but in the long run it has its own certain magic, particularly with these third issues. Seriously, this issue and number three of The Long Way Home both gave mean amazing experience on the last page. It makes me frustrated and happy at the sametime, and that's what art is all about. -
Well, it sure looks like Faith's showing some on that cover. Very good issue. I was worried about this arc, 'cause the first two parts of it were all set-up and hardly any action. But things definitely picked up steam with this one! Whedon and Vaughn should work together more often...(hint, hint!) And Y the last man is drawing to a conclusion and so far, it's gonna be a very bittersweet ending. Why'd you do it, Yedida, why?
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How exactly did Whedon indirectly ruin JLU, any interesting anecdotes there?
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Wake me up when Herc *DOESN'T* love something Whedon.
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The comic stores around you didn't close because some douchebag expanded the market, they closed because they were owned by people who didn't know how to run a business and assumed that the market would always be what it was in the 90s. Too many comic shops are run by guys who just want to sit in a room surrounded by comics all day long and don't take the time to learn how to stay in business.
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Comic book, not TV. Yet it's in the COAXIAL department.
Why not just get it over with and call this section "Herc's blog" or "Whedon News" or something like that? This column doesn't cover television at all-- It covers things Herc likes. It's three steps from a 14-year-old girl's Myspace page.
Was there anything on TV this week Herc? Any news related to television? New HD channels on DirecTV perhaps? Maybe some new technology or TV shows in the works? -
It'll probably be that soon...
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even to the point that it's a direct adaptation of a television script. Once again, get over it or move on. And oh yeah, awesome issue.
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If they're going to combat the growing perception they're behind DirecTV in the number of HD channels. I'd gladly trade Dish's 20 PPV movie channels for 20 actual channels like Sci-Fi and Fox Soccer Channel, for instance.
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Not to be a grammar/spelling nazi, but don't you use a dictionary (online or print)? As for who the donor is/are: Maybe W&H? (Would Joss be allowed to use W&H in this comic series?) Why would W&H fund Buffy's operations. Maybe world governments are threatening to shut down W&H and/or its major client base.
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I don't spend very much times looking at 14 year old girl's myspace blogs, but the followers of Buffy have to be much older than that. The show has been off the air for over four years now, after a seven year run. Assuming most Buffy fans were 14 years old from the beginning of the show, they'd be in their mid twenties by now.
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buffy stinks though so whatever
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oh wait...Didn't The Grudge 3 come out yet? Oh, her character died? Uhm...what's she doing?
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But I would have gone with a thread for the season finale of Curb over one for a comic book... But hey, what do I know... Oh, and not that anyone cares, but that Susie moment right at the very end of Curb went right into the top 5 greatest moments in Curb history...
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What about tonight's CYE?
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Its still just fiction, Q.Buk.But the point of fiction is telling a compelling story with interesting characters. For those people vested in the Buffyverse, the comic book is a welcome addition to the unwelcome alternative of a whedonesque void. It's like chocolate - some people love it, some people don't care, and one would be hard pressed to force a person to switch camps.That said, it would be lovely if comments were about the quality of the story, not the quality of Whedon in general, Herc in general, Buffy-lovers in general, and other trollish sour grapes. Either you liked it or you didn't or you had some reservations: how hard is that?
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were actually the minority. The demographics showed over and over again that the typical Buffy viewer was late 20's to early 40's.
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The Wolf, Ram and Hart need humans top survive and prospe along with all their vices to enhance. Recall that Illyria said that the Wolf, Ram and Hart were weak when the original demons ruled.
Maybe, they supplied the demon energy that created the slayer line and then as humans ascended to the top of the food chain they absorbed the power of human evil to become nearly all powerful.
That would also explain why they would send the amulet that closed the Hellmouth in Buffy season 7. I believe Lila Morgan first introduced the amulet as an incentive to get Angel to join the company so Lindsey probably came in later and took adavantage of the Spike situation.
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If he'd write this in the vein of "Lost Girls," it would make for one heckuva read.
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"Do you have the first four issues of the new Buffy comic? I missed them and really want to start reading it because I see you have the others...""No.""Are you planning to get them in?""No. I don't think so""Oh..."
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I have DirecTV, and I'm LOVING getting SciFi, USA, all the Turner channels, and various others in HD. It's what I pay my extra $9 a month for, and it's worth it.
I used to have Dish, but they aren't as nice about the free installation as DirecTV was, thus my current allegiance. I think I picked wisely, because you can most certainly not count PPV channels as part of your HD lineup. It's REAL channels that count.
The only negative is that DirecTV has a hell of a time getting locals in HD wherever Comcast is entrenched. I get locals on sat, but not in HD. I still have to use rabbit ears for that. -
And Fury. And Noxon. And Espenson. And Greenwalt. And DeKnight. And Goddard. And Edlund. Whedon.¸
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between Buffy and Faith. Oh you never thought about, you lying sack of shit, right. I want to see them ass to ass and grinding coochies.
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