Finally coming clean

[aadler]

 
It’s been over a year now since I posted “the Silence in the Spaces Between”. I acknowledged at the time that it was the re-telling of another story, well-known in certain quarters, and I expected the source material to be identified in days if not hours. Well, that didn’t happen (or, if it did, nobody mentioned it to me). Time, then, to put the matter to rest.

The source? It was the G.I. Joe comic book #21, the classic ‘Silent Issue’, and can be seen at this link (each click on the big image will take you to the next one in sequence).

So, okay, this was 1984, over thirty years ago … but, trust me, folks, such an approach was groundbreaking then, storytelling refined to a high gloss. I enjoyed it at the time, I enjoyed re-reading it when opportunity allowed, and I got a HUGE kick out of adapting it into a Buffyfic when the notion struck me.

Adapting? I gleefully stole it outright, I used the artwork as a storyboard, following it panel by panel to tell the tale I did. I think it works (certainly kept me entertained!), and most of the fun came from making the necessary changes while still sticking so precisely to the original.

Finally, in recognition of the source — and of my own unabashed filching of a classic, inspired in part by yahtzee63’s retelling of Casablanca in “As Time Goes By” — I’m putting up new cover art for the story, likewise ‘adapted’ from the original:

Comments

[velvetwhip.livejournal.com]

I know nothing of comics, so there was no chance I was going to guess.


Gabrielle

[aadler]

As I said, this one came out more than three decades ago, and — while acclaimed by those who follow such things — wouldn’t have poked the awareness of any outside the clique. It’s not that uncommon: I was a MASSIVE comic-book geek, and I’d been hearing references to Watchmen for years, but never read it (meaning, never ran across it in the normal course of things, nor felt any need to go seeking it out) until I saw the trailer for the movie, and realized, “Okay, apparently this is a really big deal and I don’t know anything about it.”

Hopefully the story can stand on its own, but since it was essentially done as a huge in-joke, it’s more fun if one knows the basis of the joke.

[snogged.livejournal.com]

I've never read the GI Joe comics, but the artwork is nifty!

[skarman.livejournal.com]

Never read the comics, but watched a few of the cartoons. It never really was my thing. I confess that I didn't read your story before so it was a great surprise to actually read it and truly enjoy it. There is a dearth of good BTVS work out there, particularly as it pertains to Xander and Faith.

I have to say, Dawn is pretty delusional if she thinks that what she's doing will make her desirable in Xander's eyes. True, like Faith and Anya, she's stepped over to the Dark Side and he's forgiven both of them. However, both knew they what they had become and both showed genuine remorse. I know some will argue that Anya didn't but she did. In her time, women were nothing but playthings for the males. If you want to see what it was like for women in her time, look no further than the Middle East, Afghanistan, Pakistan and much of Africa, today. Punishing such men for their behaviour towards women? It would seem justified to her and other women. Anya reversed the wishes she granted after the wedding disaster. She helped out against the Scoobies foes. Dawn willingly turns a blind eye to the evil perpetrated by her employer and his minions, all in the name of 'becoming strong'. As long as she keeps her eye on the prize, she is not evil according to her warped view.

Xander might forgive her, but I doubt it will happen as Dawn doesn't show remorse at all, in the few scenes we've seen with her thoughts. Reminds me a lot of Buffy after she came back from vacation, after dying by the Master's hands. And we all know what Xander told her that night, after his minions had taken Willow, Cordy and Giles.

[aadler]

I could pick some bones with a few of the panels, but as a consolidated work it really did set new standards. If it’s been overshadowed by later work, that’s because it laid the foundations on which those works were built. And, the storytelling itself — without any words — was clear enough to make all its points, and to give me a template to use for some solid fun decades later.

[aadler]

Some telling analysis there. My points in reply:

Xander would forgive a lot, I think, even if he didn’t agree with any of the reasoning. We have to remember, this is him working with Faith, who did much worse things during her dark period than collude with evil; these guys live in a world where people screwing up and atonement are a regular thing.

And Dawn isn’t doing this to make herself desirable to Xander; she’s doing it to displace her own sense of guilt and unworthiness. She’s trying to get herself to the point where she’s able to face him again, and that’s something she needs to clear up in her own eyes. More, I believe she’s mostly aware of that fact.

I’ll agree, however, that there’s some not-so-subconscious romantic fantasies lying at the bottom of all that. She may not think making herself strong will make her desirable to him, but it seems fairly clear that she has some (as we can see, not entirely realistic) plans for once she’s able to return to him at all. And — given his new bond with Faith, Dawn’s less-than-happy ‘partnership’ with thReen, and the fact that all her priorities are still wrong — the odds don’t look too good for her.