Buffy 9.01 "Freefall": news and previews

[Moscow Watcher]

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BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER SEASON 9: FREEFALL #1

Joss Whedon (W), Andrew Chambliss (W), Georges Jeanty (P), Dexter Vines (I), Steve Morris (Cover), Jo Chen (Variant cover), and Georges Jeanty (25th anniversary variant cover)

On sale Sept 14
FC, 40 pages
$2.99
Ongoing

Season 8 ended with a bang when Buffy cut the world off from the hell dimensions and all supernatural influence. Great, right? Except Buffy has left her best friend, Willow, powerless, and ended the long line of vampire slayers, leaving her hated by the hundreds of girls who recently stood behind her. Newly relocated to San Francisco, Buffy can count on a fresh start, and focus on what she's good at"”slaying.

Policemen join the party? Looks like it's a spell.

Spike telling strangers about his encounter with Willow in "The Initiative"? Priceless.

 

[Kean]

OK, I kinda love this. Spike telling the story, and Buffy and Andrew's whole "OMG ME TOO", and was that Spike making out with some random girl on the couch?

But sadly, it looks like this is fantasy going in Buffy's head where she is surrounded by all her friends, but in actuality she is on her own, as we see her in the last page.

 

[Icarium]

My word, Jeanty's "art" is even worse than usual. Spike and Willow telling (presumably) the story of him trying to kill her in "The Initiative" makes me sick. Who goes to parties and tell such stories? Even Anya only told them to people who already knew who she was and her victims weren't expected to join in the laughter...

 

[Kean]

When I saw the last page, my first though was that Buffy was recalling the party as she walks alone after some badness happened.

Possibly, but I don't think so. Given what we know this season is going to be about and that the Scoobies and Buffy part ways a bit, I don't think they are going to be having parties like this. Also, a lot of the people who are there seem rather implausible, Oz, Riley...I can't imagine them coming all the way to SF, just for house warming. Then there is the last shot of Buffy and Willow dancing with the Police officers.

I think Buffy is playing "Anywhere but here"...but on her own.

 

[white avenger]

I noticed that her top changed from solid red on Page 1 to a checkered pattern on 2 & 3. And I agree, she was just having too much fun for that to be any sort of Buffy reality.

The next page will probably have her waking up next to Spike and telling him all about it before they head out for a night of patrolling together.

 

[Moscow Watcher]

Kean
Oz, Riley...

I don't think it's Oz. The guy who plays the guessing game may be Buffy's boss from the coffee shop (or not). The guy with whom she talks about disaster relief organization is Andrew (I think).

(edited: On another place, on LJ, another fan thinks it's Oz. Maybe I'm wrong, after all.)

white avenger
I noticed that her top changed from solid red on Page 1 to a checkered pattern on 2 & 3.

I remember Newsarama posting something about the artistic process in #1 - and the color of Buffy's top was different on preliminary and final stage.

The next page will probably have her waking up next to Spike and telling him all about it before they head out for a night of patrolling together.

"You are weird, Slayer, and you have weird dreams!"

 

[Tranquillity]

That's an intriguing idea - that the party is all in Buffy's imagination... That hadn't even occurred to me when I looked at the pages, but you might be onto something here - Riley (sans Sam), Oz (all the way from Tibet), Andrew starting a disaster relief organisation, all those references to the past and everyone having a 'party pash' with someone but her (Dawn and Xander are, Spike and some random are and Willow and some random are while she is stuck talking hacky sack with her coffee shop boss).

It will be interesting to see how this unfolds...

 

[white avenger]

Kean agrees: What you describe happening on the next page is actually the stuff of your dreams.

My dreams and your nightmares, Miss K, My dreams and your nightmares.

 

[Chosen Enemy]

I think it's Buffy's birthday party. Or what she's imagining it to be like. The cover has the number 25 on it. Isn't it Buffy's age?

 

[Icarium]

The story was probably being told as something other that Spike trying to kill Willow and not being able to function properly, or at all. Use your imagination there.

Does it really matter how it was told? Spike and Willow finding it funny is bad enough. If Spike tells the story of trying to rape Buffy, would you expect her to laugh? And the bunch of hacks who came up with the idea that people would love vampires based on Harmony's reality show don't really deserve the benefit of the doubt.

 

[Moscow Watcher]

That's an intriguing idea - that the party is all in Buffy's imagination... That hadn't even occurred to me when I looked at the pages, but you might be onto something here - Riley (sans Sam), Oz (all the way from Tibet), Andrew starting a disaster relief organisation, all those references to the past and everyone having a 'party pash' with someone but her (Dawn and Xander are, Spike and some random are and Willow and some random are while she is stuck talking hacky sack with her coffee shop boss).

It will be interesting to see how this unfolds...

I doubt that Buffy would imagine Spike making out with a random guest...

 

[sosa lola]

I don't think that's all in Buffy's head. We've been promised that Buffy was going to get too drunk and make a mistake, so the party is real.

I love the panel with Spike and Willow talking about one of their rare funny scenes together. I also love that Riley is sitting on the couch with them and listening to the story, too.

 

[VisionGirl]

I'm unsure if that's Oz (& who is the girl talking to him and what are they talking about?), but that's for sure Riley & Andrew. I've been thinking a lot about Riley since I just re-read his One-Shot. I've been wondering if he's kind of pissed at Buffy about this whole thing. He sacrificed a lot and it didn't really get him anywhere and certainly didn't seem to help matters. Then Buffy does it (outer space-style) with Angel/Twilight. So him being here doesn't really fit. And yeah, there's definitely too much fun going on, I think there's something behind this. There's a lot of stuff in the previewed covers about dreams. I usually don't mind Jeanty's art, but I'm not hip on it here. I know that Buffy is channeling Satsu WRT the hairstyle, but I don't like it.

 

[wickedtiger86]

Hmm. I am just kinda glad that Spike has some people to talk to and they are listening and not just yelling at him that he's a thing.

Always like to see that.

 

[Tome]

Oh my god! On some of these panels, Buffy doesn't look like herself AT ALL.

''Hmmm... Any chance I can make you beg?'' ''Not this year.'' LMAO!

 

[Reddygirl]

I love the preview and I'm pretty sure we're seeing what actually happened. Always a good party when there are "magic" brownies. Or so I've been told.

The scene between Willow and Spike was in the Initiative was always played for laughs. At one time ME seriously discussed pairing up Willow and Spike in season 4.

 

[Icarium]

The scene between Willow and Spike was in the Initiative was always played for laughs

So? I am obliged to go along with that then? If Spike tries to rape Buffy again and it's played for comedy this time, would you be okay with that?

 

[zobothehobo]

So? I am obliged to go along with that then? If Spike tries to rape Buffy again and it's played for comedy this time, would you be okay with that?

I think you're taking everything way too seriously. One of my favorite things about this show is that it is able to make fun of itself and the characters are able to make fun of the dangerous situations they're in on a daily basis. Which includes this one.

 

[Reddygirl]

What happened between Spike and Willow in the Initiative is on par with what happened between Buffy and Xander in the Pack when Xander tried to rape Buffy. I have no idea if that scene in the Pack, which was pretty much played for laughs, upsets you or not.

The scene in the Initiative was clearly meant to be a light-hearted comment on erectile dysfunction, not forced sex.

 

[Icarium]

What happened between Spike and Willow in the Initiative is on par with what happened between Buffy and Xander in the Pack when Xander tried to rape Buffy.

No, it's not. Buffy was never really in any danger since she is way stronger than Xander - and unlike Willow, who had no idea if whatever it was that was stopping Spike from killing her might not stop any moment now, she knew it. Plus, you never hear Xander or Buffy fondly reminiscing about that incident.

I think you're taking everything way too seriously. One of my favorite things about this show is that it is able to make fun of itself and the characters are able to make fun of the dangerous situations they're in on a daily basis. Which includes this one.

I notice that you didn't answer my question.

And no, I don't mind the show using humour even when it's about potentially traumatic situations (for instance I love Willow, Buffy and Xander wondering how come the demons in Go, Fish left the skins intact -"Any demons with high cholesterol?"). But I hate it when scenes or whole characters (cough, Anya, Andrew, Harmony) are treated differently just because they are seen as "funny". This breaks my suspension of disbelief and makes me either dislike the characters for being OOC or pretend those things never happened.