[MENTION=11031]Aloverssoulz[/MENTION] and [MENTION=8557]Skytteflickan88[/MENTION] are the only ones who voted for Buffy so far. I would also enjoy hearing some reasons why people believe Buffy #1 is better than A&F #1 too
Well, let's face it, that issue was a big "Let's explain a few of the things that made you crazy with confusion and anger in Season 8" which I appreciated, but it wasn't much of a issue. It felt like a "necassary" issue, you know what I mean? Needed to make sense of it all, but not very entertaining. It was good, but not as good as Freefall. Better than a lot of season 8 issues though.
I think it's also partly because I like the Buffy gang more than Angel & Faith(and the Buffy comics has Spike, lets not forget that). And I like the fun drama of Freefall, more than the "Oh, Angel did something bad and he needs to redeem himself" plot, which I'm so tired off by now. I'm glad it took a new direction, specially now that it seems he like he was dumb and possessed in season 8, not dumb and evil. But, that means that the old storyline of "I was souless/not myself but I still regret what I did" is kind of repeated. Atleast they didn't make him out to be possessed all the time by Twilight. Then it would be that damn old storyline.
So while I appreciate both that we got some closure and a new-ish direction for Angel (and Faith, glad she gets a new story), Freefall was lighter, filled with characters I can admire, and had Joss' writing. And they published my letter.
---------- Post added at 03:18 AM ---------- Previous post was at 02:55 AM ----------
Have to go with Angel & Faith by far being the best - what was the big difference for me? with A&F I felt like I was dealing with mature adults and that the themes were presented with a very serious quality and great emotional impact. With Buffy, they only thing that I felt was a great deal of sorrow for Buffy - but there was little else that I found particularly interesting. Buffy hiding her sorrow, pain and guilt from the events of BS8 by trying to play act and turning into the party drunk was very painful to see. Having that man yelling out in that juggling scene "naked" to me was a horrible statement on the character and where she is right now. To have Willow describe her drunken actions as adorable - talk about a crazy upside down world.
Love the artwork for Angel & Faith and I thought that Georges Jeanty did some very good images when showing Buffy in her shame and grief in the morning after panels.
You know, I had begun to write a post saying I saw things diffrently,then I re-read the issue, and I see what youre' saying, but I still like Freefall more.
While I see the emotional impact and seriousness you speak of in Angel & Faith, I feel that and see that it's a great story that promises more, while Freefall was less serious and didn't make us think something horrible was going to happen later on (I don't think Buffy slept with Xander), but I'm also bored by it. But to be fair to the issue, I was bored of the "Angel's bad, he needs to redeem himself" story while the show was still running. Thank God they added Faith.
I do see how Buffy's trying to pretend it's all better and having fun at the party, and how's that bad, but I think she needed to make this misstake, and probably lots of other misstakes, to move on. She's not hiding in guilt, she's making an effort. The possibility that she was taken advantage is horrible, and if we could have skipped that part I would feel better about the issue(it would have been better if she had been fine with having sex with someone unknown when drunk), but I think the positives are more than the negatives.
Freefall mixed fun, with action, with drama, with inner turmoil. I just didn't get the same "high" from reading A&G, for reasons stated above.
