BtVs Comics - Summaries VS Comic

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HellmouthJunkie

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WARNING: SEASON 8 SPOILER








I'm not sure whether this bugs anyone else but I've often learnt that people discredit or complain about the Buffy comics based on a summary they've read without having read the actual comic first. I think a summary of the comic and reading the actual comic are two entire different things. When you base a comic's arc or issue on a summary you've basically read a quick outlineon the storyline. However when you've read the issue you can take in the characters, the writing and the comic art. Just my opinion 🙂

Here's a summary:
Warren is back

Here's the comic:
buffy8_4p2.jpg


😀
 
I completely agree with you! That is something that bothers me. I'm sure if we'd seen some of the TV arcs on paper, we might've said "That's stupid/ridiculous, etc". Seeing it with the graphics and the dialogue is sooo different than simply reading a summary of the plot.
 
VisionGirl said:
I completely agree with you! That is something that bothers me. I'm sure if we'd seen some of the TV arcs on paper, we might've said "That's stupid/ridiculous, etc". Seeing it with the graphics and the dialogue is sooo different than simply reading a summary of the plot.
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Yaaaay! 😀 Exactly! You're right. I mean okay. Here's a quick summary of Buffy Season 2: Spike and Drusilla in Sunnydale. Angel turns evil. Buffy kills him with a sword. Doesn't sound so impressive right? And we all know how amazing it turns out to be or in fact how any season of Buffy or Angel does. A summary is a few lines long compared to 22 episodes in a season or an entire storyline arc in the comics.
 
I sin. But I did try reading the comics. I've bought the first 5, the fifth still lays there unread, but couldn't keep going. It's just not my media and it was hard following. you'd have to buy every month the new one, and it got tired fast. I did try, that's what I'm saying. However, I'm still interested, even though I don't like the comics format or the storyline, because I don't want Buffy to end. So I read summaries, I read what people say, and I love reading spoilers. I'm trying to stay in the loop without having to read it, and that's fine by me.
 
Haha that's 'acceptable' 😛
At least you've read some of the comics. So far I've only gotten three of the comics and I'm a little skeptic towards the rest of the season but I'm determined to get through it and then have a final opinion. But I do admit it, I read spoilers too 🙂 I was talking about when people judge the comics purely on summaries. So you prefer the tv series to the comics then?🙂
 
I understand people not liking the comic medium, I really do. It's a completely different medium. The medium doesn't bother me, but I understand that it does others. And I think that some people dislike Season 8 in general because of the medium. I don't think that's a fair assessment though. I guess you could still like the plot without liking the medium. But part of the appeal is the graphic & written likenessess of the characters. I like much of season 8, but the parts I dislike are huge parts (like
Angel as Twilight, kind of the clincher of the season, and I didn't like what they did with Angel's character
).
 
VisionGirl said:
I understand people not liking the comic medium, I really do. It's a completely different medium. The medium doesn't bother me, but I understand that it does others. And I think that some people dislike Season 8 in general because of the medium. I don't think that's a fair assessment though. I guess you could still like the plot without liking the medium. But part of the appeal is the graphic & written likenessess of the characters. I like much of season 8, but the parts I dislike are huge parts (like
Angel as Twilight, kind of the clincher of the season, and I didn't like what they did with Angel's character
).
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Yeah, I take into account that people won't like it because of the large switch from tv series to comic. Y'know it's completely their opinion and I respect that 🙂 I guess some people are put off by the new layout or story arcs. But I also remember that some people are put off by the name 'Buffy The Vampire Slayer'and I know a lot of people judge the series by the name. Joss Whedon.. give Angel a freaking break! 😀
 
VisionGirl
VisionGirl
ITA with your last statement!
I agree with Chosen Enemy. I read some of the comics, up to the end of the third trade paperback. I didn't like them - partly due to the medium but mostly due to the weird plot.

I kept up with summaries (though pretty detailed in-depth summaries) for the subsequent issues and well, the plot seemed to get even more cracky and weird as the season went on.

I did however read the scans of the pertinent parts of the plot (Twilight reveal, character death, important Spuffy parts). Still don't like, lol.
 
Apparently Season 9 is going to be more 'down to earth' and there's going to be more Scoobie Time. Joss Whedon's going to make it more like the tv series; with arcs and storylines etc. We'll have to wait and see🙂
 
HellmouthJunkie said:
Haha that's 'acceptable' 😛
At least you've read some of the comics. So far I've only gotten three of the comics and I'm a little skeptic towards the rest of the season but I'm determined to get through it and then have a final opinion. But I do admit it, I read spoilers too 🙂 I was talking about when people judge the comics purely on summaries. So you prefer the tv series to the comics then?🙂
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I'm sure that goes without saying, yes.
Fact is, the comics is just not the tv show. Not the other way around.
 
HellmouthJunkie said:
I agree, the comics don't really live up to the show unfortunately. Hopefully they'll improve through Season 9.
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Somehow I just don'e really care that it's pretty bad at times. I mean, it does bother me. But I'm just glad that Buffy lives, in any medium, in any way. They might wreck it or might already did, but all I care about that Buffy is still around.
 
Well, already what bugs me about that panel is that Willow has red hair instead of black hair. I'm sure she had black hair by that point, the artist should have researched more. Plus, I think its slightly weird that Willow has all the power, Amy acknowledged this, but Amy was able to bring Warren back from wherever Willow sent him to (which to me looked like his body was disintegrated). How could Amy do that if at that point Willow was all super mcWicca?

I think summaries vs actually reading the comic doesn't really matter. The summaries highlight the important things that happen in the story arc. So it doesn't matter how things happened, what matters is it happened. Warren's back, which already seems like a misstep so why care how it happens? It wouldn't change my opinion on him being back.

And ultimately, even though I don't like the storyline, the art is mostly what kept me away from the comics. The covers are gorgeous but the inside art...
 
Personally I think warren coming back is as lame as it sounds, and I have read the comics. I think it was one of the worst things about season 8. Even just looking at that panel as Deus Ex Machina pointed out they didn't do their research, Willow was Dark by the time she flayed Warren, her hair should be black. Also Warren was dead, that is how the First was able to be him. Bringing him back wasn't just a retcon it completely changes what happened on the show. Rant over.

I agree that some of the summaries do not do the comic justice. But for the most part they do. This season was pretty bad and I read the summaries first and still gave them a try.
 
xaphania said:
I agree with Chosen Enemy. I read some of the comics, up to the end of the third trade paperback. I didn't like them - partly due to the medium but mostly due to the weird plot.
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But the plots do end up making a little bit more sense in the entire scheme of season 8. I mean, we didn't know how things fit together at the time, but at the end, we do. Well, not all of it, I still have unanswered questions!

Deus Ex Machina said:
Well, already what bugs me about that panel is that Willow has red hair instead of black hair. I'm sure she had black hair by that point, the artist should have researched more. Plus, I think its slightly weird that Willow has all the power, Amy acknowledged this, but Amy was able to bring Warren back from wherever Willow sent him to (which to me looked like his body was disintegrated). How could Amy do that if at that point Willow was all super mcWicca?
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How funny, I hadn't even noticed that! But yeah, that stuff should've been noticed by Joss & the other writers/editors. And bringing back Warren was a mistake as far as continuity goes, and they admitted that.

Deus Ex Machina said:
And ultimately, even though I don't like the storyline, the art is mostly what kept me away from the comics. The covers are gorgeous but the inside art...
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Overall I didn't dislike the art, although there were times that I didn't like it. However, I'm reading Fray right now and the art in that is fabulous. I know they brought in Karl Malone for Time of Your Life, but I kind of wish they had used him more.
 
You raise an excellent point.

I also get severely pissed off when people watch a dodgy downloaded movie thats been filmed on someone's camcorder and then proclaim that "the movie was shit!"

Of course you're gonna think its shit! Grrrrr.......
 
I agree. I think it's best to actually read the comic instead of basing views on a transcript. That said, I'm a huge comic book fan and have read all the issues and still think it's crap. I've since sold them and bought comics I do like 🙂. I do actually like the art work, it's the writing that let it down. I did keep Brian K. Vaughan's run though. A shame he didn't write more, as a newbie to the Buffy-verse, he did far better than the shows established writers. Maybe the comic format didn't suit them. That's true of Joss too. IMO he has great way with dialogue, also seen in Astonishing X-men and Runaways but his story-lines are usually pretty weak.
 
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