The legend continues

[aadler]

 
I drove to my unit headquarters first thing in the morning, but the unit administrator was out when I got there. I didn’t know when he’d be back, so I sat down in an empty classroom and turned out another 800 words on my remix_redux story.

When he did arrive, I got all my pre-mob prep done. The only thing waiting now is travel arrangements, and the guy I’ll working with (he’s stationed out of Texas) will put those together and let me know when they’re set.

Finally, on my way home, I stopped by the proper book dealer and picked up my Buffy Season 8 issue, just arrived in a supplementary shipment.

My thoughts in the cut:

Open Cut — Buffy, Season 8

So, the first issue, henceforth referred to as Ep #08-01.

To begin with, I didn’t enjoy it to the extent I otherwise might have because, for reasons of my own, I did my best to acquire advance information about the upcoming issue, actively searching out spoilers when it had always been my habit to avoid them. I’d have gotten more out of it if I’d let it come to me fresh, so that can’t be blamed on the production itself. From now on, back to my spoiler-free existence. The alternative is too costly in terms of my ‘viewing’ pleasure.

It’s short. I mean, short. Were comic books always that short? Exactly two dozen pages. Maybe I’ve outgrown the medium. But it seemed short to me.

Introduction of a number of interesting things, but somehow nothing except intro. The stage is being set (but only partially), goodies promised for the future … I’d hoped for a little more. Did I always feel that way about the first episode of a new season? I loved the openers for Seasons 2 and 3, and wasn’t disappointed by that for Season 4 (though I’ve heard sharply different opinions elsewhere). Season 5, meh, and pretty much the same for Season 7 … maybe it’s just me.

I love the individuality of the Slayers we’ve seen. That’s good tactics for dealing with a bunch of girls suddenly drafted into superherodom: teach them their place in the group, but encourage them to hold onto and demonstrate aspects of their own unique personalities.

I wonder where all the money came from for helicopters, satellites, global communications networks, everything we’ve seen of the new organization. It’s cool, but who’s paying for it? And why, even apart from the non-Slayers, does everyone we’ve seen in Command Central appear to be under the age of thirty, if not sub-twenty?

Yes, there’s a Slayer named Leah (I said I’d freak completely if there was); no, her accent makes it abundantly clear that this definitely is not the Leah I wrote about a year ago in “Learning Curve”. So I’m deferring the freak for awhile. Still, Xander in Scotland, and a Slayer named Leah … if this was real life, I’d wonder about psychic forewarning.

Did anybody else notice that the guy in the copilot’s seat (page 13, panel 2) has a name-tag that appears to say “GOLDEN” … as in, same name as the author of several BtVS/ A:tS authorized novels?

Giant-sized Dawn makes a nice sight-gag, but where do they intend to take this?

Xander wanting to be called ‘Sergeant Fury’. Hmm. First he does an obvious eye-patch tie-in, then contradicts it by harking back to a time (“the Howling Commando days”) before Nick Fury wore the eye-patch. Psychological conflict, anybody? But his sense of humor is still operating smoothly.

Where’s Willow? Who cares? I began to tire of her in Season 4 ― browbeating Giles over Thanksgiving traditions, as if a Briton gave a rat’s arse about Thanksgiving ― and by the time the series ended, I simply couldn’t stand her. Maybe the graphic version will be less annoying. That would be nice, because I liked her a lot in the beginning.

Dangling boots, and the ends of a duster or trenchcoat or cape. Well. Obvious first thought is Spike, but since when can he hover a hundred feet up in the air? Either a new character, or a known one with new capabilities.

Nice to see Amy again, and learn that she’ll feature heavily in future events. I’m a bit sorry that the decision was made to turn her totally to villainy; she started off as a wholly sympathetic character, and at her worst (“Wrecked” #06-10, “Doublemeat Palace” #06-12, “the Killer in Me” #07-13) she came across as irresponsible and petty rather than actively evil.

And her ‘boyfriend’? His desire for access to a weapons lab definitely makes it sound like Warren or Adam, but there are good reasons for Amy not to have been able to find remains of either of them to reanimate. Again, I suspect this is either a new character, or a new twist on a former character, and I trust in the ability of Team Whedon to surprise us.

Military observations:

• None of the military vehicles or equipment show any identifying markings. Is this a clandestine unit, a là the Initiative? If so, why is a general officer wandering around in his Class A’s?
• Two guys in the back of a helicopter, sitting without straps and talking without microphones? Unh-uh. You’re belted in with a five-buckle harness ― those sliding doors have been known to pop open ― and there’s too much noise from the rotors for you to talk without yelling.
• General Voll’s uniform has no nameplate. But it does have the two black bands towards the ends of the sleeves, which is a detail lots of people miss.
• The radio techs in the tent (page 14, panel 3) seem to have their sleeves rolled up Marine-style, while wearing what appear to be Army BDU uniforms (the Army went to digitized ACUs a couple of years ago, but the Marines digitized their uniforms shortly after the first Gulf War … and Army guys, should they be allowed to do it at all, have an entirely different way they’re required to roll up their sleeves). So what branch exactly do they belong to?
• The guys in boonie hats guarding the tent (page 14, panel 2) … the one facing forward seems to be holding a pump shotgun. Another note for ‘non-conventional’, assuming it’s not just an artist who’s fuzzy on the details.

Final thoughts? First: definitely worth the time, and definitely showing promise for the future. Second: I want to see Faith. I want to see Buffy and Xander get together (but then, I’ve been wanting that since Season 2). I want to see Dawn do something besides be a giant mope. Third: at one issue a month (presumably), and twenty to thirty issues overall, this is going to be a long season.

Close Cut

Gotta go. New episode of Jericho coming in tonight.

Comments

[jgracio.livejournal.com]

The age issue, well, the Scoobies are all sub 25, and the age of the rest of the people can easily be explained by the FE cullings. Or maybe JW wants to set up a young people good, old people not so good vibe. Dunno.

[aadler]

Like I used to tell my daughter when critiquing her fiction attempts: “There are any number of plausible explanations for this, but as the author it’s your duty to provide any explanations that are necessary.” The youth-oriented communications center crew isn’t wrong, but it’s unusual enough that we deserve some justification for its being that way.

[mkcrl120.livejournal.com]

Part of me wondered (in initial readings) if this young-backup-crew was what some of the Slayers were doing... in fact it'd make sense for them to do it after a certain level of training. You've got used to obeying instructions and being part of a team; but afterwards you need to move one and learn that this is how your backup see it, this is how they're seeing the situation you're in - watch, learn and hopefully make useful comments; and then understand the differences between the remote view and the on-site view so that whatever position you're in you can best interpret the info presented to you.

Mike

[aadler]

I don’t think we can count on that being what’s going on, but it strikes me as a fantastic approach. Of course, you’d need experienced liaison to provide oversight for the ‘trainees’ — can’t leave the field-deployed Slayers at the mercy of newbies — but it would be a marvelous prep for the more active side of things.