Canon Watch (Spoilers for current issue)

ok, i have a question...the cover for #16 has been released, as has the alternate cover for #15...where's the regular cover for #15? have i missed it?
 
Will you settle for a best guess?

Dark horse has only released the cover officially up until # 14, near as I can figure. Georges Jeanty released the # 15 variant. Jo Chen released the # 16 official on her MySpace page.

Who's the # 15 artist for the official cover? Do we even know yet? Is it still Jon Foster?
 
i think it's still Foster. it'd be stupid if he didn't finish off the arc.
 
Yeah, it's still Jon Foster. Jo Chen posted the cover on her MySpace saying it's the one she's coming back with.

Expect DH to release the regular for issue 15 next month. Perhaps together with the cover for the 3rd TPB, which I'm guessing will also be by Jon Foster.
 
8.12 Wolves at the Gate #12

OK so DH previewed the official Jon Foster cover for # 15 a couple of days ago, and I imagine you've seen it, but on to issue # 12 also released a couple of days ago.

The big story with # 12 as far as stuff introduced into canon is concerned is the one even mainstream media outlets such as the NY Times and ABC is talking about.

Buffy has a lesbian experience.

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Joss Whedon says Buffy is not gay. She was just experimenting. Satsu claims to understand, and accept this. How true that is remains to be seen. Basically it goes like this. In earlier issues it is suggested Buffy is feeling lonely, and isolated in her role as leader of the slayer army. She laments early in the run of B8 she misses the sex. Her life consists of the company of Xander, ocassionaly Andrew, and hundreds of slayer girls. One of those girls appears who has sincere, romantic, girl on girl love for Buffy. Buffy has shown appreciation of her slayer skills, and fashion sense. Plus she's cute. Buffy has always been open minded to the whole lesbian thing, but last issue she attempted to discourage Satsu thoughtfully, based on her misgivings to the relationship, even disregarding the idea it's girl on girl. One thing apparently led to another after the events of 8.11, and the two slayers wind up in bed together here in 8.12. Whatever...one gets the impression it rocked Buffy's world a bit. Are those scratches on Satsu's back?

SatsuBuffybackscratches.jpg


(Sidebar: Buffy still has Mr. Gordo. He's dumped on the floor, amongst strewn undergarments.)

Also on the relationship front, a relationship between Xander and new slayer Renee continues to develop.

XanderRenee.jpg


Giant Dawn sleeps in a barn when it rains.

Andrew looks after a group of slayers in Italy, but he will on occasion visit the Scottish castle when business requires it. In this issue Willow flies him there.

A cadre of Japanese, Gothic, Vampires are introduced. They have Draculaesque powers of transformation into mist, bees, wolves, and panthers. One at least (Kumiko) has the power of flight. It is not clear at this point if they all have the same powers, or if each has his, or her own individual set.

Willow is not, as her new super witch powers might suggest, invincible. She is vulnerable to sneak attack.

WillowKumiko-1.jpg


A scene occurs which many are describing as hilarious. It takes place after the vampire gang raids the Scottish castle. First Xander, then Renee, then Andrew, then Dawn, then Willow break in on Buffy and Satsus' romantic tryst. So everybody knows now.

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The vampire gang steals the scythe.

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Something occurs towards the end of # 12 which is, I believe, more significant to Buffy Canon than the Buffy/Satsu romantic fling. It is important not just because of what happens, but the fact it's happening affects the way canon is perceived.

Dark Horse previously published an anthology of vampire tales called Tales of the Vampires. It took place in the Buffyverse. Joss Whedon wrote part of it, and appeared to have at least some organizational power over the rest. If you spoke of it as canon though, there would be a good chance you'd get an argument.

There is a story in TotV which tells of Xander living with Dracula for a year. Buffy takes him out of Dracula's castle. Here's a link to the actual story if you'd like to read it. Antique. It isn't near the quality of Buffy Season 8.

Antique was written by Mutant Enemy writer Drew Goddard. Goddard also writes this Wolves at the Gate arc for Buffy 8. The 2 stories are connected. By making that B 8/TotV connection the feeling is Tales of the Vampires now becomes official Buffy canon.

OK so this is what happens. The Scoobs notice a similarity between the powers of the goth vampires, and the powers of Dracula. Xander is (according to Antique) still on good terms with Dracula so they send him to investigate. Renee goes along to keep him grounded, as Dracula still can have a mind control kind affect over Xander.

Here's a section of the final panel of 8.12.

XanderDraculaMaster.jpg
 
scratches on Satsu's back?

SatsuBuffybackscratches.jpg

i don't think they're scratches. if you look at the pannel on the top left of that page, where they're laying facing each other, you can see the 'scratches' on the pillow Satsu's lying on. i think it's her hair.
 
Ah, OK. I see now from Rowan Hawthorn's posting in the discussion thread, they're braids. This is why I asked. I wasn't sure what they were.

satsubraids.jpg


There is of course clear evidence of the wildness of the experience as well - the beads of sweat on their foreheads, the coupled expressions of 'Wow!".
 
Andrew looks after a group of slayers in Italy, but he will on occasion visit the Scottish castle when business requires it. In this issue Willow flies him there.

I think that was Andrews first time to the castle? Cuz willow offers to give him the grand tour?

What about those things that are like 'Previously on' where it says whats happened so far. In this issue's one it Says Buffy has cut Giles off, thats a little different then just not talking to him?
 
I think that was Andrews first time to the castle? Cuz willow offers to give him the grand tour?

Good point.

What about those things that are like 'Previously on' where it says whats happened so far. In this issue's one it Says Buffy has cut Giles off, thats a little different then just not talking to him?

You know...I stopped reading those. It never occurred to me they'd change, but you're right, they do. So, here's where we are right now then.

"The slayer population of the world has gone from two to nearly two thousand. Buffy and Xander have established a base in the highlands of Scotland where they continue to train Slayers, and command their forces around the world, building their defenses against new threats. Willow comes and goes; Buffy has cut Giles off; and Dawn's a giant. They've battled familiar foes, deranged zombies, and military goons, but only Buffy has faced the elusive new enemy apparently behind it alll; Twilight."
 
I have a question. In 'Antique', Buffy goes to rescue Xander from Dracula, traking two new Slayers with her, Kira and an unnamed girl. Does anyone think they'll show up in this arc, or be referenced in anyway? It would definitely cement the Tales story into the canon of the verse.
 
I want to go back to # 10 Anywhere But Here for a sec. There some stuff I feel needs to be emphasized or pointed out.

First why are people around the internet insisting on calling the demon Tichajt? I stand by my original claim. Its name is Sephrilian.

sephrilianname.jpg


Tichajt is the name of the demon elite.

Tichajtname.jpg


On another thread someone was pointing out there is something in # 10 which could be interpreted as an inference to Fray and the part where Demons and Magic are banished from this earthly reality sometime between the present and the the future. That may be important as a Fray arc is coming up.

Deathofmagicanddemons.jpg


Also, notice "Hellmouths" are spoken of in the plural. I get the impression Sephrilian is speaking of more here than just the Hellmouths in Sunnydale and Cleveland. People bring up the subject from time to time of how many Hellmouths are there.
 
Also, yes Alexa, I did notice Joss said the scene of Willow and the Snake lady was a flashback, not a flash forward. It's in an edit in the original post.
 
8.13 Wolves at the Gate # 2

Dracula

He's becoming a Buffyverse character so the question becomes what are the character qualities of Buffyverse dracula. There's some good material for debate here in 8.13, but I'll take a crack at guessing some stuff on Buffyverse Dracula.

DraculaOld.jpg


(OK, feel free to challenge my assumptions here if you've read 8.13, because I think it would be a mistake for those who haven't to assume any of this is clear-cut.)

Buffyverse Dracula is either old in his natural state, or he loses the will to maintain the magic that keeps him young as a result of his current depression.

He is depressed in 8.13. One gets the impression it has something to do with his loss of Xander as manservant in the Tales of the Vampire story Antique. Xander wrote Dracula letters after the events of Buffy versus Dracula in Season 5. Dracula is proud though, and will not admit he has any affection for Xander.

He drinks when depressed. Apparently he will eat food. He vomits cabbage.

Xander taught Dracula to ride a motorbike.

Dracula still refers to Xander as manservant.

Renee, and Dracula don't like each other. Dracula refers to her as a Moor.

In fact Dracula appears to have a kind of old world bigotry about him. He tells Xander his Moor can wait in the stables. He calls the Japanese vampire gang "Filthy yellow swine".

It's not clear how much actual brain control Dracula maintains on Xander. Xander appears to zone in and out of it.

It's not clear exactly what kind of affection each has for the other. Does it cross over into the almost romantic? It's not clear.

Dracula mentions the fact Season 8 Xander has lost weight, something readers have also noticed.

Andrew gives a little lecture to his slayer charges on Dracula's powers.

AndrewDraculaLecture.jpg


Dracula explains where his special powers come from.

DraculasMagic.jpg


Dracula thinks he gave up the secret to his powers as a result of a gambling bout with the Japanese vampires. He was drunk. He claims he was cheated. He didn't know it had even happened until Xander told him about the gang using his powers. The event was foggy in his mind. Whatever. Dracula is angry now. He's off to Tokyo now to, as he puts it, bathe in their blood.

Here's the line-up I have of the Japanese Gothic vampires so far.

Toru - The leader.
Kumiko - Female. I think Dracula calls her a witch. Even Raidon doesn't want to mess with her. She can fly.
Raidon - The largest of the three. Appears muscular.

There's some clarification on Buffy's current sexuality preference.

NotaDyke.jpg


And this is interesting. Apparently Willow has always had a curiosity concerning Buffy's sexual performance. She asks Satsu what she's like in the sack. The conversation continues.

WillowCurious.jpg


Buffy had a slayer agent in Tokyo. Her name was Aiko. The vamps drained her of her slayer powers with the stolen scythe, and some sort of amulet, then Toru kills her.

AikoZapped.jpg


The threat now is they will do the same to all the new slayers, or as Toru puts it "take the technology global".
 
Buffyverse Dracula is either old in his natural state, or he loses the will to maintain the magic that keeps him young as a result of his current depression.

I think that one might be a bit of both. He tells Butterfield to fetch him a razor which suggests his beard is real and affects the glamour, maybe if he didn't shave first, he would look young but with an old beard, also young Dracula has the same nails as old Dracula, just cut shorter, so i would say the glamour doesn't change all of him, maybe just his face.



Dracula also likes to feed Xander Mealworms and makes him wear manservant bloomers 😉
 
8.14 "Wolves at the

First of all, time for an updated slayer death count.

The last one HERE, had it at three. Add two - Japanese slayer Aiko, and gulp Renee, takes it to five by my count. Who did I miss?

New Buffyverse magic. According to Dracula there's a spell called Carolina's Grasp which you can use to contain vampires such as himself who can alter their mass to mist. 2 grams of crimson powder, a sprig of dwarftwhistle, and some sea salt, then incant.

The Slayer crew capture one of the vampires' lackeys, and contain him in Carolina's Grasp. Buffy interrogates him on why his bosses want the scythe.

Planforthescythe2.jpg


The spell will be focused through a lens that sits atop the Japanese vampires private building. They seem to be wealthy.

Here's what you can do with a vampire contained in Carolina's Grasp (First pour some gas on him)

CarolinasGrasp2.jpg


Speaking of magic. Willow seems to be going a little Harry Potter these days.

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We were led to believe the Satsu/Buffy romance thing would fade into the distance, but it keeps lingering. Buffy appears to be trying to protect Satsu by keeping her out of the main action (much as Willow seems to be doing with Kennedy). Satsu won't go for it. She tells Buffy "I'm not following your orders. Not this time. I'll see you on the battlefield Ma'am". To which Buffy muses...

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Some new info on Willow and teleporting. You remember Dawn's a giant right? When they attack the vampire lair they need a distraction, so Willow teleports Dawn from Scotland to Japan.

DawnTeleportedToJapan2.jpg


What I mean is, Willow's got the juice.

Stuff is happening in Xander-world too. The Xander/Renee romance is getting hot and heavy. They have their first kiss. All is going well, so of course this is going to happen...

DeathofRene2.jpg
 
Angelic Slayer
Angelic Slayer
Poor Xander, he's just got no luck!
8.15 Finale Wolves at the Gate

So Renee's dead. It's for sure. No, Willow doesn't heal her. Does that have canon implications? I don't know. We do know Willow can do massive quick healings, but Renee appears to be dead before Willow can get to her.

This much is canon though. Xander had a romance with a slayer. It ended when she was stabbed through the heart with the scythe. Don't you hate it when that happens?

Satsu is second in command in battle situations.

Satsu2ndincommand.jpg


We get some more info info on Kumiko, the Japanese, goth, vampire witch.

Full name: Kumiko Ishara.
Daughter of Kazuo.
Trained by Saga Visuki.

The last bit is interesting. It turns out Kumiko's teacher was also Willow's. She looks to be the snake woman we saw naked Willow with in Anywhere but Here. And she appears to have an agenda...

SagaVisuki.jpg


Buffy does a Fray dive off what appears to be about a 30 story building, and possibly slays Kumiko.

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I say "possibly", because this is the last we see of Kumiko. Top right.

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So, does she live to fight another day? I don't know. Are those 2 gold blotches dust, or something else? Who really knows, until they tell us for sure.

The rest of the vamps don't though. Buffy's final command "Slay em all".

Oh but I got ahead of myself there. Yeah, there's a big battle. Slayers against a vamp army. Many, if not all of them appear to have Dracula's power of changing shape.

It's a back and forth battle. Slayer's retreating, then Dawn turning the tide, by squashing vamps under her giant foot, then some sort of mega-bot, Dawnzilla turns up to wail on Dawn. Enter Andrew who has seen everything Godzilla to Anime. He instructs Dawn to remove the head. After a few robotic insults Dawn rips Mecha-Dawn's head off.

MechaDawn.jpg


Ok, yeah, that bit's silly. Fun though.

In the meantime the vamps are setting up the giant dish to rob the slayers of their power using the scythe.

Back and forth though. The slayers regain the scythe.

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Dracula knows how to stop the vamps from using the power they stole from him.

DracandWillow.jpg


You caught that right? The scythe is "bound with demon spirit". Whatever that means, I'd say it has importance as canon.

So Willow angles a reverse incantation of St. Augustine's curse through the portal. The Vampire's (possibly including Dracula) lose their morphing abilities, and are now easy slays.

As I said before, Buffy's final command...

Killemall.jpg


(No, that did not include Dracula. And did he also lose his morphing ability? I don't know.)

But why is Buffy's command of interest from a canon perspective? Just opinion maybe, but there seems to be a character transition happening with Buffy who as champion of the Hellmouth often appeared happy to just to get out alive, but as commander in chief of slayerforce now wants to scorch the earth.

Speaking of character transition... The Buffy/Satsu thing has been getting all these little hinting insinuations through the last 2 issues. Yeah Buffy's decided not to go that way, but she's still thinking about it. Satsu also has been thinking about it. She decides she wants to get away from the situation. She requests a transfer to head the Japan arm of slayerforce. Buffy agrees. So is that the end of it? I don't know. Joss says it's going nowhere, but does that mean nowhere unless...

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Willow also has demons from her past to encounter.

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Another lovely update for those of us without the means to buy all the issues. Cheers N4H!

So Satsu is going out of the story for a while? Or will it follow her activities in Japan do you think? It's a shame if she does go out of it, I like Satsu.
 
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